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Remaining schools are Northwestern, Florida, Stony Brook, Albany
@Mom2physicsgeek That was never my plan. My parents haven’t given me a set number. My mom said one step at a time. So I guess we will just evaluate each package on a case by case basis.
It may be but it’s only April 7 and Calicash is going about the whole thing in a very intelligent way and appears to be making forward progress in getting her mother’s head out of the sand by bringing in an intelligent and experienced person. There is potential for parental movement on the issue and I see no benefit in closing off any options early. While you’re worrying, she is executing. It’s quite possible that her parents can afford the EFC and will come around to seeing the value. It’s possible an appeal will bear some fruit.
Since Northwestern is far and away the best option, worrying about junior or senior year seems to be putting the cart before the horse since she doesn’t even get to Northwestern unless parents come around, and if and when they come around, they might even go for full pay for junior or senior year after they’ve seen the benefits of two years of Northwestern education.
They might, or they might balk, with the OP coming back here two years later with a post “Help! My parents don’t want to pay for my junior and senior years…”.
Something else to consider by the OP is that if the parents pay a lot for the OP’s college, that could create more family drama due to the financial limitations applied to the OP’s older sibling, who could end up resenting the whole situation.
But don’t you already have packages to compare? It is seriously doubtful you are going to see anything other than a token shift. When looking at the gap you want to close, $0 to $35000, $2000 isn’t going to mean anything.
Fwiw, I don’t think your plan matters much at this point. I think the ball is in your parents’ court and that they pretty much control the outcome.
This may have been asked and answered but do you have a guidance counselor who can either email her or even send an invite to any college workshops your school may sponsor? Or even giving her the financial aid info from schools to which you’ve applied (the books/pamphlets that usually come in the mail when you’ve indicated interest in a school). If the reality of the situation comes from outside (i.e. school) rather than you, it may lead to a better understanding of how the process works. Good luck. I am a parent and the looming financial obligation (times 3 eek) is something my husband and I have been discussing for years now.
My school has a financial aid night where they help you sort through all the packages with financial advisors.
In addition, though there has been a lack of transparency on my parents behalf, they aren’t bad parents. They aren’t the type to jump ship and leave me out to dry. I never meant to make you think that I have dead beat parents, because I don’t.
I read this thread in a much different way. These parents already have a child in college and they expect to be paid back. The sibling started off at a CUNY and then transferred. They have been through this process before. I don’t believe they are ignorant of the process.
This is all complicated on every front.
Cali as much as you want a top program in journalism, many roads lead to Rome, so to say. A lot about building a successful career in communications today is about the depth and breadth of your knowledge base, your analytical skills and critical thinking- which you can accomplish at schools not known for “journalism.”
If you have some experiences in this already, you can build on that to get internships as you go forward, even from a non-preferred college. A local school would keep you just as close to NYC or Albany for that. Or even smaller cities have interns.
I think it’s time for “glass half full.” Yes, that’s hard and you have my sympathy. But if you are determined, you chart your future. Don’t assume where you will be miserable. Focus on your determination to pursue this arena.
Central NY state can be a tough area to predict admissions to selective colleges. I don’t know the competitiveness of the hs and what the gpa represents. Maybe you could have gotten better merit aid at different schools than you chose. We only know “what is.”
Nothing wrong in going with a Plan B- or even Plan C- if you truly are determined. This is one of those cases where your will power matters- not the dream schools or the perfect school or the campus tv station. You think about it.
Also has anyone mentioned the NY Guaranteed Transfer program? Yes means starting at cc. Are there transfer targets in the NYS GT program that would offer substantial merit awards to juniors?
My D’s friend who went to Northwestern for Journalism got a job right out of a BS at one of the nation’s best and most widely read newspapers. There is definitely a benefit to going to Northwestern that the other options may not offer.
It’s not clear to me that these parent’s can’t afford it, it’s just that they don’t want to pay that much. If there is a chance that they will come around, she’s going about it in exactly the right way. One step at a time. Talk with experts. Keep mom as part of the process. File the appeal. Visit the school. Look at what you get for the money. Look at how much money. Look at the other options. Make a decision.
Nobody doubts that Northwestern is a fine school for journalism. The issue, rather, is whether Cali’s parents happen to have a spare quarter of a million dollars in their pocket to pay for it. Will they devote one quarter of their gross income to their daughter’s education for the next four years? Nothing Cali has said makes me believe this is even a remote possibility.
Re: Post #294.
The OP hasn’t visited any of the four remaining schools?
^Again, feeling sympathy for the OP if this is true. It’s up to the parents to help visit schools. Heck, many parents (per other threads here) are even starting junior year! The train is clearly off the rails if OP is having to do this at the wire.
Oops, #307 should read that the sibling started off at a CC then transferred to a CUNY.
Which is up to them to decide, don’t you think? Cali is working to get them educated as to the benefits while working to get the cost reduced. She may have success on none, one or both fronts.
April 7th is way premature to throw in the towel or to create more obstacles. There are still 23 more days.
Not really. Decisiveness and resolution will not put money into a brokerage account if it isn’t already there. If the parents haven’t got the money, they can’t decide to have it. (Although it would be nice if it worked that way.)
@Cardinal Fang Yes, but even if they have the money, they could decide not to spend it on that.
How do you know that it isn’t already there? These are not poor people. They aren’t revealing their cards to their child. Northwestern seems to think that they can afford it based on information that they did provide. We’re more likely talking about a willingness to pay than an ability to pay. There are still 23 days left to close the sale and get them to see the benefits. Shutting down the shop now is premature.
“worrying about junior or senior year seems to be putting the cart before the horse since she doesn’t even get to Northwestern unless parents come around, and if and when they come around, they might even go for full pay for junior or senior year”
They might or they might not. IMO it wouldn’t be a good idea for anyone to start freshman year at an expensive university without having a very good idea about how senior year was going to get paid for.
She’s got 4 good options. Might as well keep them all open for now. But she is going to have to accept whatever the final results are at the end of this month. Her parents may just be unwilling to pay NU’s high cost. But she will be fine no matter what, because she’s got two good financial safeties. 