@amsunshine Not sure if our situation is similar enough to be helpful, but when my S17 went to college (in-state), we kept him on our insurance, and we have since then. The school initially auto-added the full insurance package to his bill, but we made sure to switch it before billing processed. We switched it to their option for keeping him covered on our insurance, with the option to be seen by the clinic on campus (after providing them the insurance policy info). This went from maybe $2K+ per year for their policy (canāt remember exactly) to I think $225 per semester for this backup coverage. In three years, heās been to the on-campus doc one time when he was sick at no cost to us. His physicals he takes care of when heās home over the summer. Our insurance is nationwide so this would still work if he went out of state, but maybe not all companies are. Since we also have D20, we needed family health insurance anyway, so our costs were reduced just keeping him on the family plan as long as we could. Hope this helps.
Freshman year we relied on our own insurance with limited out of state benefits. After some costly doctor visits, we decided sophomore year to take the college insurance. I wish I remember how much it was, but I donāt- but it was not very expensive. The coverage was great. She had an emergency medical procedure with no co pay at all. (Sheās fine now). Our next child is going out of state next year and we will take the college insurance for her.
On the other hand, my older daughter, who got good grades almost effortlessly in high school, really struggled with college level courses. They were that much more demanding.
My D19ās insurance covers her worldwide, so we were able to get the school insurance dropped from the bill. That said, it hasnāt been easy or cheap on her. The closest doctors to school, despite being in network, wouldnāt accept patients with our insurance. The doctor she ended up with is a $20 each way Uber ride, plus a $10 extra Uber ride to an in-network pharmacy. Maybe if she never needed a doctor it wouldnāt be a big deal, but she sees hers regularly and itās been a source of stress for her. Just something to think about.
We are going to attend admitted students day for S20. Weāve put down the deposit so this isnāt to help with our decision. This is more academically focused, with classes to attend and a Q&A with your school of choice.
His HS offers senior exemptions on their finals, based on minimum grade and no more then 2 non-school related activities. Admitted student days count towards your two. Our day is over Easter break, so no worries for S20 and his exemption.
We are attending one admitted students day at a school we visited the summer before Jr year. Itās been a while since she was there, and they have made some big campus improvements.
We are hoping for one or two scholarship weekends - not sure if sheās a finalist yet.
My D20 will be attending admitted student day for her ED school - so not to help her decide. She wanted to go and meet some of the other ED students and they have a few programs on research opportunities etc. Itās a holiday weekend, so no issue with missing days although our school is pretty flexible with excused absences from parents.
This really comes down to knowing your student. Are you able to step back and assess your student without bias?
If a student is functioning independently, knows how to study/learn without being explicitly told what must be mastered, has a strong sense of purpose/self-directed, and is academically strong in general, I would not worry about GPA. If the student relies on parental support for executive functioning/organization, needs study sheets to spell out what they need to learn, might choose social life over studying, or has ever struggled academically, then GPA requirements might become an issue. The student needs to clearly understand what losing the scholarship means (forced transfer??)
All of our kids have attended on scholarship. 2 had(have) 4.0s and that has not been a surprise. Our current 12th grader will be attending on scholarship. She is not as strong of a student as those 2, but I donāt think she will have a problem maintaining the minimum GPA requirement for her scholarship (but I donāt think she will graduate with a 4.0, either.)
Without scholarships, our kids options are severely limited. These discussions are taken seriously in our household. $14K difference would eliminate the more expensive school.
Good question. I think something else to add to this is that not all high schools are created equal. Grade inflation is a real thing. If your studentās grades didnāt seem to match their standardized scores (APs, SAT, ACT, CLEP, etc.) then that may be another consideration when evaluating the GPA needed to keep a merit scholarship in college.
Same with my S18. Lots of struggles with classes in college (not so much with the classes for his major but with the ones heavy with writing and not in his major) and much lower GPA in college than in high school.
@Octagon with my S18 we only went to the accepted students day for the college he was pretty sure heād be attending (and he did end up at that one). With my D20, two of her top schools are in Florida and I doubt weāll travel from PA for another visit. We flew down in September for a long weekend when she had off from school and I had off from work so sheās seen the schools at least. The other one sheās leaning towards is a 4 hour drive but she is going later this month for a scholarship luncheon and that will be her third visit so I donāt imagine sheād get anything out of an accepted students day there.
As far as absences for school, her school counts college visits as excused absences and I am not even sure if they put a cap on the maximum number of visits.
@voyagermom Thanks for the feedback!
@voyagermom My D20 is heading to a scholarship event in Florida next weekend (Jan 24-25th). Wonder if they will be at the same school?
Until we have solid financial info to narrow it down my DD tentatively plans to go to a few accepted student days. Her school gives seniors up to 12 absences the second semester to allow for college visits.
I havenāt been able to decide about the admitted student days. He currently doesnāt like any of his options, so maybe it would make him more excited? Especially if he went and saw a basketball game. I want to wait until heās heard from everything so he can really be in decision mode. But of course thatās after basketball season. Thus my indecision.
@MBNC1755 Thatās so cool that your Dās school has an official policy about that! A friend/peer mentioned last fall that she didnāt want to pull her son out of school for optional events like college visits. Itās her first kid, so she didnāt understand yet that high school faculty WANT their students to go on to college, find the right fit, and succeed with admissions. Itās a no-brainer for me and my kids.
@NYC2018nyc If money isnāt a barrier, Iād recommended taking him (or sending him on his own if heās up for that). Most colleges/universities do an excellent sales pitch at these events.
@MBNC1755 her scholarship event is in PA, not one of her Florida schools. But hope both our kids have a positive experience at their events!
@NYC2018nyc , if you can make it to a few heās at least somewhat excited about, you should try to go to some. Could help make a decision if itās the right fit. Or maybe you can tie in a visit at a different time with a basketball game as well if thatās something he wants to do.
@NYC2018nyc I agree with the others who are encouraging a visit and basketball game - maybe to the one youāre most hoping he will get excited about?
Last spring I was concerned that DS20 didnāt have a high enough ACT/SAT for the schools he liked most. My focus was how to get the score up, but my husband suggested that we find a school he loved and he could get into with the scores he had in case he didnāt improveā¦we ended up finding one and even though he did get his scores up, it was such a huge deal to feel like there was a good, and more likely, option.
And I totally relate because DS20 is a huge sports fan including basketball.
For D17, we didnāt send her to accepted students day. She was an ED applicant, so was committed to going anyway. I figured why risk it by giving her more opportunity to experience buyers remorse?
For S20, we are only having him visit the schools he has been accepted to which he didnāt get a chance to visit before applying but not necessarily going during accepted students day. Planning it for when he is on spring break to avoid missing school, as these are a plane ride away. If the schools were within driving distance, we might consider it more.
I have also seen the sentiment expressed on CC that it is better to visit on a regular day when they arenāt going all out to impress your student as they will get a more realistic idea of what the school is like. Wondering what you all think about this?
The other thing I struggle with is whether to sign him up for an overnight visit or to have lunch with a student. What if he doesnāt click with his host or the student isnāt that welcoming? This is such a random thing that you gave no control over and I donāt want it to turn him off of a school that might be a perfect fit.