I wish our state schools were pretty good. I’m not saying they’re awful, but they’re middle of the pack, I guess, and there’s no aid thanks to years of budget-cutting at the state level. So we are probably looking out of state, just because it’ll be cheaper. Also, unless you make boatloads of money, privates often can offer need-based aid, is what I’m reading. But you’re right, the CC credits do transfer best in-state.
As someone who has just gone through the college search with DS16, I would strongly suggest no to rule out privates , especially if your child has good stats. DS16 was offered generous merit at 2 privates which made one school less expensive than one of the instate publics and the other private not totally out of the question.
Hi all… Just wanted to say hello to the Parents of 2019. I’ve been living over in the Parents of 2016 thread. With my D16 now committed to ASU, it might be time to start thinking about our younger one a bit.
In our case the lessons of D16 may be lost on the college process for D19. They are very different kids in pretty much every regard, although they are good friends, which I consider practically miraculous.
D19 is a pure humanities kid. Her loves center on theater, history, literature, choir. Although she will likely not go the theater BFA route, those are her people and any school she ends up at will need to have an arts presence.
We’re in the upper midwest and she’d like to go out of state, but is not set on it. I’m thinking smaller LAC. She has above average, but not tippy top grades (particularly not in CC land). She would NOT thrive in a high stress competitive environment.
If anyone has suggestions, please weigh in … otherwise, just wanted to say hi to everyone. I look forward to getting to know you all more and to follow your kids’ journeys too.
Agreed! We had several privates with merit aid that came out to be lower that our instate publics.
Hi to the new thread parents!
@MidwestMom2Kids_ – A good friend’s kid also did tech crew in HS (like my daughter) and ended up at Kenyon (though not in theater) with great aid. It’s an oft-recommended LAC school at CC.
@MidwestMomTo2 welcome to our new hangout thread for the next 3 years!
So, as evidenced by my username, I’m a UF alum. I thought it might make a bit of sense to, as we go down this path, share our views of the colleges we attended or are visiting/considering for our kids. If anyone is interested in UF, I’d be happy to go into greater detail, but basically, I went there for grad school and had an amazing time and wouldn’t be where I am now, career-wise, without the program. UF used to be a lot less selective, and was outrageously cheap, and both thing have tightened up, from what I hear (though it’s still cheaper OOS for my PA kids than our in-state PSU).
Hello and welcome everyone!
I’m more active in Parents of 2017 thread as I have a junior, S17 and S19.
I will post things that I am learning as we go through this process first time this year. So don’t consider I am obsessed with AP classes, college visits, and what not with a freshman ! 
I also have a D16 who is very different than my S19. The private vs public question is tricky. S19 would really benefit from the smaller classes and more personalized attention at a small LAC, but with a GPA in the 3.2 range (anticipating) and lower test scores than my D had (again anticipating), I think the chance of him getting any merit is small. One benefit is that the less selective LACs seem to be cheaper than the higher ranked ones, so even with no aid it should be below the 65k that my D’s most expensive option came in at. I’ve done some searching using a 3.2 GPA and a 25 ACT and there are some reasonable options out there.
@me29034 not sure where you’re from, or how open your S19 is to the upper midwest, but UMN-Morris is a rare, small, public LAC with very reasonable tuition. (i’m not sure but OOS might be the same as instate). It’s rural, too… not necessarily a draw for many out-of-staters, but it’s highly regarded and often shows up on “best value” lists.
@MidwestMomTo2 thanks for the suggestion. We’re in MA. I think MN may be too far for this kid. He’s more a homebody than my D. I think we’ll just look in the northeast at least to start. I’ll keep that school in mind though if things change.
@me29034 I wonder if Wheaton College (MA) would work. It still has more girls (used to be women’s college) but I liked the quiet neighborhood.
Welcome, @MidwestMomTo2! Loved hearing about your D19. Nice to hear about your Ss too, @payn4ward and @me29034! This list is going to be another fun ride!
Popping on over here to say hello, since things are calming down for D16. I, too, have a S19 who is very different than his older sibling. I know his journey to graduation will be different for that reason, as well as some things we learned along the way with our D. Looking forward to chatting with everyone over the next few years!
I’m another one with a D16 to go with my S19 with a D15 just finishing up her first year of college. I think a good thing to remember at this stage is that there are a lot of colleges out there not just the tippy top ones that are so hard to get into. Someone with a GPA of 3.0 can even get merit aid if they choose carefully. That’s the huge advantage of researching colleges this far out. You can get an idea of what is out there, what is possible, and as long as you don’t get your heart too set on any one option or type of option you can help guide your kid to the best fit financially, academically, and personally based on who they are not who you (or they, or grandparents, or whoever) think they should be.
Agreed, @mom23travelers, it’s actually quite freeing! With a solid B/B+ student, some super selectives are just going to be out of range, which will hopefully make it easier to focus on her and best fit, at least that’s my plan anyway.
And welcome, @LexieAnn there are a lot of us in this 16/19 boat.
I still can’t get my wrap my head around thinking of college for S19!
Me, neither! My employer sent out an email to Employees Of A Certain Age with an invitation to a get ready for retirement all-day workshop. I’m trying to take that in, never mind my D19 and then a S22 following behind!
I confess to always having had major concerns with the CC to 4 year path. I know so many people my age that had little to nothing transfer. In theory for our state, IF you transfer to an instate school, all will carry over. However that doesn’t really help if kids don’t know what their major will require and take classes that are basically useless credits. It also doesn’t work well with privates as we found with SS11. He did the CC path in HS and found that it left him with not enough language and not enough of the right math for his LAC, which meant some very pricey extra classes and a delay in graduation that almost negated the credits he did have carry over. He is still fighting to get his diploma based on that last math class…which he took at another CC to avoid taking the 3 required to get into the same class at his LAC. Had approval to do it but yet…it’s still not showing up.
I do think it’s too early to really tell on our 19’s for grades and test scores. I have a SS11, SD14, S17 and then S19. Even with some rocky patches, gpa’s are not lost with a bad first semester and there are lots of options out there for the B student. We had one solid B, an A and a B+. The college path for each has been totally different, as has their rigor and class load. So far we’ve done one private LAC and one OOS. I don’t know that any of the work to date will really translate to S19 other than knowing what to look for and how to do it but that right there is helpful.
UW grad here (UDub that is…Washington) so if anyone wants info on that, ask away. Or general PNW school info.
Out of town on a work trip/partial no kid personal trip Just looked at S19’s quarter report card and I am NOT happy. A ridiculous amount of missing assignments. Darn it, thought we’d moved past that.
<<. A ridiculous amount of missing assignments. Darn it, thought we’d moved past that.>>
Right?? I still see “is not handing in her homework” on DD’s interim reports and I’m like, you are FOURTEEN. Time management is even more important for us, because we live two counties away from the actual school, and she spends over two hours a day getting to and from school (that said, the public school is not much closer, so it’s not like we added something incredibly more onerous to our rural lifestyle - it’s what it is where we live) … So she has known for years that she will get home later than everyone else and every minute, free period, bus ride, car ride, etc., can be time for homework. She isn’t using those blocks of time wisely yet. I trust it will change.