@thumper1 -
Yes, my second child is currently a freshman at that Ivy league.
I do not know if he is able to switch, but I’m hoping to talk to him when he gets home and take it from there. I don’t know the steps of the whole admission process since I trained outside the country.
The Ivy league my first child is at was able to cut his total annual cost in 1/2 due to the fact the second child got admission in another college; that’s what I was hoping the second college would do for my second kid but they have declined to do that. My hope therefore is that if the second child is able to switch to that other college, I feel strongly they will cut his cost in 1/2 too.
Thank you so much.
You have to determine if that offer of admission AND need based aid is even still available to your second son. It might not be. Actually, I think it probably isn’t.
When your son accepted the offer and enrolled where he was attending, that other Ivy didn’t just keep his seat open in case he changed his mind.
You can contact them to see if the offer of admission is still open…and yes, I’m suggesting you do that before you talk to your son. Not sure others here will agree with me…but that’s what I would do. There is no point in suggesting he switch to that other Ivy unless this is a real possibility.
6 Likes
I would also add that there is no guarantee that your first child’s school will cut the tuition in 1/2 for your second child. Feeling strongly that they will cut his cost is not the same as knowing.
3 Likes
And adding…your student might need to apply to transfer…and it’s getting down to the wire to do that now for spring term. PLUS…there are some schools that meet full need for freshman admissions but don’t do so for transfers (or students accepted off the wait list, as another example).
You are making the assumption that this other Ivy will accept your second child after that student having declined that admission. That assumption might not be correct.
The Ivy League schools have tons of applicants…tons. And plenty who they put on waitlists. Your kid was accepted and declined the spot. That spot was likely given to someone on the waitlist who is attending.
Please…don’t make assumptions.
4 Likes
So please clarify…did your younger child even apply to the Ivy where child one is attending? …and write those two essays…and did he get accepted with sufficient aid.
You say your son got accepted to three Ivy League colleges. Did ANY of them offer sufficient need based aid for him to attend? But you wrote this in April 2020:
“The only college my son was accepted in os teh one where he is required to pay $81K per year. And I cannot afford that. What are my options?”
So which is it…did he get accepted to three Ivies…or just this one?
Also, I’m a little unclear on your timeline for this appeal. Were you able to show child 2’s college the newer and lower offer from the Ivy where child one is attending?
If your son needs to attend a different school for financial purposes, he can’t just switch to a different ivy. They aren’t connected like that. They are all independent schools that just happen to be in the same sports league.
He will need to apply for transfer and have a valid academic reason why that school will be better than his current one. The reason can’t be that he thinks the aid will be better. Applying will require essays, transcripts, and recommendations just like when he applied from high school. It would make sense at this point for him to apply to a range of schools where the NPCs indicate that they are affordable. Don’t just focus on ivies where the acceptance percentages are very small. He will need to widen his search to include less selective schools.
3 Likes
Neither college is affordable.
That’s the truth that you need to tell both sons.
You’ve sold your house to pay for an Ivy League school.
You have poor credit.
You don’t have any savings.
Why would you willingly put yourself in a financially unstable position?
There are over 3000 colleges and universities in this country.
If you can’t afford those Ivies, have your children apply to transfer to an affordable in state school. Your sons are now adults; they should be able to do the math.
They both have to apply to get in. No, it’s not automatic to get in. No, they can’t work their way through college because no child, without a degree, is going to earn that amount, at a full time job.
They don’t have to attend an Ivy League school to find a great job after graduation.
They don’t have to attend an Ivy League school to find a great job after graduation.
They don’t have to attend an Ivy League school to find a great job after graduation.
8 Likes
From your post it seems like child #2 is currently enrolled at the Ivy where he isn’t getting any aid. If you cannot afford it now, I’m not sure how you are going to cover years 2, 3 & 4. In terms of having son 2 transfer to son #1’s Ivy (where he was also accepted), he’d have to apply as a transfer student. Just because he was admitted the first time around does not mean he will be admitted again or that the aid will be as generous as they’ve given to your first son. You should not beggar yourself to pay for their college nor should they burden themselves with enormous debt to afford these schools - it will really limit their choices in the future.
6 Likes
Are your sons US citizens or permanent residents?
1 Like
OP- your son doesn’t even have grades from his first semester at college, so you really don’t know what his transfer options are going to be. Any college he applies to transfer to is going to look at his academic performance in college in order to decide if they want to take him.
So given the number of unknowns- here’s is what you DO know:
you cannot afford either college, whether it’s for one or two kids. Do the math. You are all on a very perilous path right now. So take a deep breath and have a family meeting where you walk through the options.
You’ve got smart kids. They’ll get it when you present the numbers. You have terrible credit right now, and repairing that is going to take time and some uncomfortable belt tightening. You might not believe me, but I’ve known several people who have gone into their retirement years with bad credit and it REALLY stinks. It makes EVERYTHING more expensive and harder than it needs to be. You might end up paying a lot more renting an apartment down the road because the nice/less expensive ones reject your application after they see your credit report. And once you retire, you really don’t have enough runway to get back on track financially.
So getting your own financial house in order right now is priority one.
Then- your kids are talented. There are going to be lots of colleges excited about having them on their campuses, and willing to pay (merit) in order to get them. Your kids need to do their research in order to figure out which ones will do that, especially since they are transfers and not freshman admits.
Your kids may want to think about a leave of absence for next year- to give them time to get their lists and applications together, they can work and save money at the same time. Ivies are incredibly generous about a leave- you don’t need to withdraw until you’ve all got Plan B wrapped up with a bow.
Your younger son is going to have to take a leave anyway since it doesn’t look like you are anywhere near coming up with the cash to pay his bill in August.
Sure- have a sit down with the financial aid office at College A (your older son’s). But your younger kid has to get admitted FIRST- and then comes the sharpening of pencils to see if the current aid package is affordable to you. I suspect not- but I wish you luck.
Hugs all around. This is challenging for sure. But you can’t bankrupt yourself putting your kids through college. That’s insanity.
6 Likes
Your previous post indicated that you weren’t “trained” in the US, so you may have mistakenly assumed that the ivys would be free?
The Net Price calculators have been on the financial aid pages of the college websites for a while.
The first thing I always asked of my former students was “did you check out the price?” “Is it affordable for your parents?” Many were unaware of finances and that the colleges actually cost money, but typically the parents knew that they were going to have to pay.
@mixedfeelings101 I sent you a DM
@Mixedfeelings101 is there any chance you can go in person and meet with a financial aid officer at DS number 2 school? Ask them to go over why they declined your request, and show them the financial aid award from the school your other son attends. Go line by line…bring your other son’s Profile form as well.
Perhaps there is something they overlooked when doing your appeal.
Appeals are not guaranteed by any college and are handled on a case by case basis. So…sit with them and go over this.
6 Likes
That’s a great idea!
Or even a zoom meeting if in-person is not possible.
The OP did not say she sold her house to pay for college, she said the house was sold as a short sale (assume some time ago) and that now her credit is in bad shape. Having a bad credit score does NOT mean she wouldn’t get a PLUS loan or other loan, especially if the short sale was not a government guaranteed mortgage (VA, FHA, etc) as then it wouldn’t be a loss of a prior government loan. Also can’t imagine where it was located as houses around here are going for double the mortgage amounts now, not at short sale prices.
But that doesn’t mean the parents should borrow all that money for an Ivy league school. MANY students chase merit because they can’t afford an Ivy, MIT, Cal Tech, etc.
Sorry…I thought this comment was about Son 2. It was about son 1.
I’m going to put this out there…and I don’t think it’s going to be popular.
These kids applied to expensive Ivy League schools that were not affordable for the family. The whole family needs to reconsider these costs moving forward.
Both kids need to consider a transfer. The second kid shouldn’t be the only one.
4 Likes
Please explain this. You did a short sale of your house to get a college loan? Is that what you are saying?
For my first child- I used up most of my salaries and all my savings and so did not try to borrow since I knew it would be a disaster since my credit is a mess…I was hoping both costs should total roughly around 74k I paid for my first child last year.
If your EFC is $40k per child then that’s the minimum you’ll pay for each at schools that don’t offer merit. You’ve already said you had to use most of your income and empty your savings to cover the $74k last year, so it’s obvious that your EFC isn’t affordable. Most families are in a similar position. Unfortunately, that means neither of your children’s schools are affordable.
I think your kids need to take a leave of absence after the Fall 2021 semester to give you time to figure out affordable options for both. If you tell us your budget for each child and their current stats and interests we may be able to suggest options. The first school on their new application lists should be financial safeties. That means if you can pay $20k for each child they each need a college that they’re sure to get into whose net cost is $20k. Since you’ve already wiped out your savings I would budget conservatively because costs always go up.
3 Likes