I have a D who will be a HS senior next year. I have read some on this forum, but honestly have been sticking my head in the sand a bit and letting her “do her thing” until now (too stressed to think about her going off to college). So, now I am pretty much spending 24hrs a day trying to get organized on this stuff so we can have her lined up to do all she needs to do by August.
I just read a post where someone kept referring to an LAC program, and I cannot figure out what that means. Can someone help, or point me to a place where I can find that info?
TIA!!
I like LACs. They tend to be small, usually under 3000 students, mostly all undergraduates. The emphasis is on teaching rather than research so the students get to know the professors. It’s more of a community, IMO. More nurturing, more personal. More campus based. Not as much in preprofessional programs but the traditional academics.
LACs don’t cling strictly to the above but those tend to be the attributes. Amherst, Swarthmore, Middlebury are some of the better known LACs. Dickinson, Gettysburg, Bard, Kenyon, to name a few more.
Another one you’ll sometimes see here on the MT forum as well as the acting forum is “PA”, which on the theater forums means Performing Arts, as in " my child went to a PA high school." I remember one poster saying that for the longest time, she thought it meant all these kids went to high school in Pennsylvania!
Best advice is to figure out finances. Talk with spouse (or ex spouse) and determine an actual $$ amount per year that you will pay for education. Money can come from savings, current income, or selling assets. Do not take any money from retirement.
Have a money talk with your student. And do not let her apply to colleges that are clearly unaffordable. There are colleges with automatic merit aid, based on Gpa and test scores. You may have to apply to some colleges that offer competitive merit scholarships, but be clear with your child that no college admission can be accepted if the scholarship money you need is not awarded.
Keep reading, and keep asking questions. This is a great place to learn. (Although there is a bias for Top 20 colleges on this forum, and you will learn to resist the need for prestige or rank.)
I agree…figure out how much you can spend per year on college (keep in mind all 4 year and also if you have any other children). That needs to be the first variable you set in choosing colleges.
“Retirement” ok if the fund was set up for college. Our financial advisor recommended the best way to save for my daughter”s college was through a Roth IRA. My husband already turned 59 1/2 this year…and she is a freshman…was the best tax advantage for our situation. We had a 529 we used first semester last year.
Only loans we allowed for our daughter were the federal student loans that we knew we could help her if needed. I believe those cap at $25k total for 4 years, currently.
Also, private and out-of-State ended up being our cheapest options, not in state, due to merit aid. California basically gives no merit aid out (except for a few Regents scholars who are perfect score/5.0 students)