Good luck @thshadow with the visit. I hope you get to visit RPI before you make a decision. I think your daughter would fit in there and have lots of opportunities afforded her. They are making a serious effort to bring more females to campus. I think girls graduating from RPI will be very sucsessful and will have no problem getting a job. RPI was my son’s second choice I think. We had a good visit there.
Just came back from RPI’s admitted students day last Saturday. The campus was nice, and I did see quite a number of female students there. A nice mix. The only downside is that Troy outside of campus is pretty much of a dump.
QOTD: We’ll have Fall 2017 housing/rent due on 7/26, and tuition is due after the 2nd week of classes (after add/drop). Both can be deferred if waiting on financial aid. At UF, 1 semester of rent ($2,500-$3,400) is about the same as 1 semester of in-state tuition ($3,000 to $3,200).
Meal plans can be purchased at any time, but the do have a “credit card payment plan” that’s breaks up the fall meal plan into four payments that occur on 7/1/17, 8/1/17, 9/1/17 and 10/1/17
What hurts are those spring semester charges that start up in late October.
Payment due dates: For D17’s school, there’s a $50 fee to set up spreading tuition over ten months starting in June, or you can pay the whole thing by August. (2.9% gets added on if you wish to pay by credit card.) I don’t know how it interacts with external financial aid, but based on what I can see on their site about what they do with student loans, it looks like they credit the expected amount at the outset.
We’re heading up to RPI tomorrow for D’s visit - we weren’t able to make it for their official accepted student shindig. My college boyfriend went to RPI in the early 90’s and I haven’t been up there since. Will be interesting to see how much I remember and how much has changed!
My D didn’t apply to any schools that weren’t going to offer guaranteed merit for grades / GPA. Now I have swag envy.
I’m trying to remind myself that we could buy our own swag for less than the application fees…
Any outside scholarships that the student gets will need to be reported to the school. My D’s school credited half of the scholarships to fall and half to spring semester.
Loans will have to be accepted, and entrance counseling and MPN done, the school will probably contact the student about when this has to be done by.
Loans will also be split up between both semesters, and the amount posted will be minus the origination fee (around 1% for Stafford loans I think).
If a student qualifies for Pell or state grant, those will be divided up between semesters as well.
My D’s school has the student specify an authorized payer and as authorized payer I can access the account details and pay the bill. Student and authorized payer get an email when a new bill posts (there are no paper bills at her school).
Usually a FA award has an average amount listed for room and board, since particular dorm and meal plan haven’t been chosen yet.
After room assignment, we could see the cost of her dorm and meal plan in the account details.
Fees were mandatory fees all students pay, and also some lab fees for classes she registered for.
We got $200 of our $300 enrollment deposit credited towards fall bill, and the housing deposit gets credited towards spring bill.
@Gator88NE We went to Florida days yesterday. Made good use of the dorm tour opportunities, D passed on the SWAG (SWAB for me). Only Albert made an appearance, must have been Alberta’s day off.
No Prom for D, she is a mash of @dfbdfb 's two Ds
@CaucAsianDad Pretty sure Alberta had a softball game Sunday night, and then again on Monday (we crushed Georgia!). Best mascot team in the biz 
@thshadow Have fun on the decision tour! i’ll be looking forward to hearing all about it.
QOTD: Our first payment (aside from deposits) is on August 8th. There are payment plans available, but I think I would choke if I had to look at a monthly bill so I’m considering paying each semester up front. Out of sight, out of mind! $-)
D is very close to be comMITted to MIT at this point. But it s tough to walk away from free tuition from Vandy!!
What would you choose? Free tuition at Vandy renewable at 3.0 GPA vs. $65-70k for MIT (full pay) each year? Either CS or Econ for major.
We are in the position to pay. Being practical kid, she wants to work in tech or consulting or IB when she graduates. She feels it is hard to justify $180k of out of pockets while she also would have easier time at Vandy! Would MIT allow her to have a much higher starting salary to warrant the extra spend and hardship she has to go through at MIT. We try to stay out of the decision, telling her to make the decision more on the fit.
Being so busy with work, will have to read 30 pages to catch up with you and your amazing kids!
@SincererLove thats a hard one. The easy answer is go to Vandy. But there is something about saying that you went to MIT.
@SincererLove $180,000 is a LOT of money. It could be used for grad school, home, car, etc. And your DC can always know that they were admitted to MIT…
My D asked to change her start term from Fall to Summer and we just found out it was approved.
I am having a hard time accepting she will be gone in just over two months. She is over high school and cannot wait to move on. Starting during a slower time is good for her though.
Yes, tough decision! @SincererLove But where are you getting 180K from? You mean 280K?!! Unless that was the difference in cost between MIT and Vandy assuming you will have room and board, etc at Vandy?
Below are some statistics about salary off of College Start Class - They list the most popular majors at each school. Not sure exactly how they get their information though, so I can’t speak to the ‘value’ of these stats!
MIT
Major Median Starting Salary
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
$300,000
Finance
$105,000
Nuclear Engineering
$94,800
Computer Engineering (CE)
$90,000
Environmental Engineering
$88,000
VANDY
Major Median Starting Salary
Mathematics & Computer Science
$147,000
Mathematics
$77,000
Computer Engineering (CE)
$68,800
Chemistry
$65,000
Biomedical Engineering
$62,500
But think of what you could do with 180 or 280K - maybe start e-trading, buy some stocks!!
@SincererLove If it were me, I’d go for Vandy, assuming your child liked the school well enough. Personally, I think the campus is gorgeous. The weather is certainly pleasant. And it’s not as though you’re comparing MIT to North-Central Podunk U.
Then again, if MIT is her heart’s desire and you can afford it, you’re in a very good place!
You have a problem with North-Central Podunk U?
Go Platypuses!
@Fishnlines29 — I need to figure out what that Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods degree is all about and point my son in that direction promptly! (Not admitted to MIT, so hopefully he can arrange it elsewhere!)
@SincererLove, that is a difficult and personal decision. Neither of my kids applied to MIT (or Vandy either, partly due to cost). MIT and Vandy are very different schools in terms of atmosphere and student type. Is MIT your D’s life goal (for now) or will Vandy be an equally good fit and opportunity? So you’re looking at a total of $80k (estm room, board, incidentals at Vandy) and $280k all in at MIT. Is MIT worth the $200k differential to her and you as a family? Is she going to grad school? I personally think that if grad school is in the future, then that is the place for the Ivy/super elite school. And both my kids are pretty practical and the cost difference would sway them.
@SincererLove I’d have to vote for MIT. I’ve personally only known a few people that have gone there and they are very successful and have done some cool things in life. There is something to be said for being a MIT graduate too.
No disrespect to Vandy, that is a fine choice too.
But they are totally different in vibe, like total opposites.
Southern school with sports, frats, some preppy people vs the gritty city vibe of Boston with access to everything and several other very good universities nearby.