<p>Our HS junior son has Northwestern-level stats and wants a university with a big-time marching band in which he can play snare. Northwestern would be an ideal choice, but our Estimated Family Contribution is $60,000 a year. The family has a moderate income, but more assets - some in real estate with which we don't wish to part. Paying full cost at NU would use up 30% of those assets. Our son could go to Georgia Tech or the U. of Georgia for about $10,000 a year.</p>
<p>Would you consider Northwestern to be worth an additional $200,000 (part of which could be used to send him to grad school)? Why or why not?</p>
<p>There may be a couple of ways to look at the options before you. If you as a parent feel part of the education of your child will receive will come from the interface between the student body/classroom and Professors, then NU may be worth the expense. The number of students means smaller classes, and in our daughter’s case, actually finished in less than 4 years. Many state budgets are negatively impacting their universities. California is one, and maybe yours is too.</p>
<p>Gadad - did your son not apply to other great state schools? We are exactly in the same situation as you. Our daughter too is interested in Northwestern, but was just awarded an awesome OOS merit scholarship from Purdue - so, Purdue at $23,000 or if Northwestern comes in at $59,000??? Purdue also has an amazing marching band! We gave our daughter a $$ amount of how much we would pay a year and told her - she would have to take out loans for the rest. In some ways, as parents, we feel it is important for our kids to make a great financial decision and not get into debt. Anyway, Georgia Tech is a great school, but I can understand your son wanting to go out of state. Our daughter did not even apply to our state school, which has a great engineering program. Totally understand what you are going through. I think teaching your child the truth and dangers of debt is just as important as choosing a college. Good luck.</p>
<p>The state school would be either Georgia Tech or UGA, likely for Math, and with the $200K saved he could afford any grad school to which he’s admitted.</p>
<p>Your son is only a junior. If he is on par for Northwestern, he should be able to get some great outside scholarships, and even schools like Northwestern might give some decent financial aid, even with a high EFC. Also, your son will have to tour the schools to see if NU is really something that he would enjoy alot more than a local school. In the end, if he knows he wants to go to NU and gets in, he will never be truely happy if he has to go somewhere else. Make sure he works hard for outside scholarships, and keeping hoping for the best, but definitely apply!</p>
<p>Sue - He’s only a junior so he has another six months or so to consider it. I’m glad to hear about your D’s scholarship at Purdue - that’s been on my scholarship radar too, as have Southern Cal and Miami. But I’m not sure that other than leaving Georgia, any of those schools offer a reason to pay over double what Georgia Tech and UGA would run.</p>
<p>I was in this exact position, decided NU, and was accepted ED. The expected cost of attendance is $56,000… but when they give you $37,000 in grants, $2000 in work study, and $5,000 in loans things are definitely manageable. They have calculators to see how much grants and loans you are eligible for.</p>
<p>Again, the efc is not neccessarilly what a school thinks you can pay. The whole financial aid process paints a much bigger picture. Between the CSS, FAFSA, and the 2010 tax returns (as well as a written statement you can send), the financial aid process can be very forgiving.
Also, you have to be truly understanding of your sons feelings. If he REALLY wants to go to northwestern, he needs to know that this may put him on his own for grad school, but its time for him to start making some financial decisions on his own.</p>
<p>I don’t think they expect anyone’s efc to be $60,000. I know kids who’s efc is zero or 8 thousand. If you have a moderate income I doubt they will have you pay that much.</p>
<p>We intimately know people whose EFC is over $60k. I suspect many middle-class families pay full tuition.</p>
<p>Btw… I have a friend who has been a college councellor for 30+ years. She says she almost never hears of families regretting chosing the very best school their kids are accepted to, but they almost always regret chosing based on lower price. She says those kids often end up unhappy and dropping out or switching schools.</p>
<p>That said, I think financial honesty is critically important. It’s not fair for parents to tell their kids after thy graduate from an expensive school that they’ll have to support them in their dotage.</p>
<p>I’m with arbiter. Ga Tech would be quite good for math. If a kid’s planning on grad school, the truth is that it’s the grad school that matters much more than the undergrad.
I am fortunate to have been able to send my kids to private universities and pay full fare, but if that were not the case I probably would have leaned in favor of a good state school - with the low tuition - than expensive private ones, and would have saved money for grad school.</p>
<p>FWIW… both DH and I found it MUCH easier to get lots of financial aid for top-notch Grad schools than for undergrad schools, but that may have changed?</p>
<p>gadad,
A grad school PH.D. track student should be getting full funding from the university to attend, (tuition plus living stipend) especially in the sciences/math, so I would take that into consideration. That hasn’t changed. :)</p>
<p>I am enjoying this discussion as we are in similar situation. Our son is trying to decide between Northwestern and Madison. We sat down and he wrote a list of pros and cons for each school. He has to let NU know by Thursday, as he was accepted ED. We are struggling with the financial aspects. It is disheartenig that our EFC is 32000 yet we are still expected to pay $38000. He was accepted into Mc Cormick school of engineering.
He loves the school spirit, atmosphere and the fact that friends are going to Madison. He believes the smaller aspect of Nu, teacher ratio etc is great at Nu. Madison he will be able to bring 24 credits so far. It goes on and on. One day its NU the next it’s Madison. We were hoping that he would be so excited about a school that it would be an easier choice. He gave up the opportunity to play college football or soccer at 13 schools because they did not have an engineering program. He said that when this process started he made the decision that academics came first.Any input that you have would be great.</p>
<p>Coud he potentially walk on to either to either the football or soccer programs at NU and potentially earn a partial/ full scholarship? If it’s really just a difference of $6k a year, you can either try to negotiate with the school or have him take out more private loans. $24k in debt for college is not backbreaking, and with an engineering degree he’ll be very employable and be able to pay off the debt.</p>
I suspect many middle-class families pay full tuition.</p>