Etown is a wonderful school! Especially for the merit seekers and students of this thread.
We live in central PA not too far from Etown. So we know the area very well. It is in Lancaster County. While F&M is in the “city” of Lancaster, Etown is further out a bit and more rural. But not far from Lancaster proper and the train which runs to Philly.
Visited for an open house with S19. We spent time with just the English chair in a break out session. I was really impressed. It’s a very nurturing type of environment. I loved it. S19 did too. But it was just a bit too close to home for him.
Another great school not mentioned often here on CC is Lebanon Valley College. It’s a small LAC just outside Hershey. S19 loved it there. Got in with great merit.
If you haven’t already, check out Goucher in Baltimore. When you say “She’s an artsy/theater kid who is LGBTQ and in need of a school where she’ll find her people.” it’s the school that immediately came to mind.
We did a “tour” there and what came through in that meeting was different even than what we saw on their site. They were very clear in who they stand for, who they want on their campus. Your D may well find her people there!
And their admissions approach screams “we want to see the whole person” not just facts and figures.
@eb23282 I wish I had more first hand knowledge of Wheaton but I can pass through info from kids of friends. They love it. Strong academics but supportive not competitive. Great location between Boston and the Cape but very suburban area. Not a lot to do beyond campus. One girl was a recruited athlete, loved her time there and went right into a top grad program.
For kids that want a campus, smaller school setting, to be challenged AND supported, definitely worth a look.
@ububumble thank you. I feel reasonably good about my S’s chances for admission at Wheaton, and your comments echo what I thought I knew about it…fingers crossed he gets in, because I think it’s going to be in the final 3 he’s deciding among if he does, and if I had to guess right now, I’d say that’s where he ends up.
She is going test optional for UNC and State I think. TBH, State is not that competitive if you take out their Engineering kids. Their average is 27 ACT/1250 SAT. I know at least 3 kids with ACT 24-25, GPA 3.5-3.6 from Wake county that got in no problem. But these are pretty competitive HS in Cary/Apex area. Go with your gut, there is no wrong answer this year.
Well, unfortunately, according to the sneak peek of the NMSF scores posted on the Compass Prep website, it looks like S21 missed the cutoff for WA by one point! Obviously so disappointed, but now I guess the real work begins as I think he can still qualify for some merit scholarships based on hopefully still qualifying for the National Hispanic Recognition Program. There are some schools that I found listed here on CC that give merit money to NHRP. So I have to do a bunch of new research to see what schools are good in CS that would still give good merit money since we won’t qualify for any need-based financial aid.
I emailed the school principal to see if they would offer an in-school SAT in October, but no dice as they are pushing the PSAT administration out to January. We’re scheduled for the SAT in October at a local Catholic school, but I’m worried that it won’t happen and then all the merit scholarships that need an SAT won’t have one. Geez, this is all so stressful!
My D was able to take the SAT this morning. All the schools she’s applied to are test optional but some of them are still using it for merit aid. She said there were a ton of people there taking it (we’re in Denver).
Since we are mostly anonymous here, may I ask how much each of you have tucked away for college? Also, what % of your household income are you willing to pay to send your child to college? I am doing some net price calculators and what I am being asked to pay ($40K++) is just not doable.
I will start. I have been saving since kids started elementary school. Hoping to put them through NC state school (~$20K average) without financial aid. That’s assuming nothing goes wrong for the next 6 years.
We were not able to save anything. I homeschooled my kids when they were younger so was out of the workforce, and H struck out on his own and earned a much lower income for quite a few years. Now that H is back at a corporate job and I am working part time, we are lucky enough to be able to pay it out of salary. It is about 28% of our income (two kids). Both of them do take the subsidized loan. We wanted them to have some skin in the game, though we may decide to pay those loans off for them when they are done.
We don’t have much at all saved up. For many many years we just got by with little extra money, we started her 529 maybe 4 or 5 years ago. Our plan is to see what she has to pay and either make payments to the school or take out loans and we will start paying on them while she is in school. We pay a lot for dance for her now, my hope is to put that monthly expense towards her education to lower the loan needed.
Hi, all! Been reading this thread for a while and wanted to say hello. I have 4 kids; D21 is my 2nd. She is a great kid, works hard, but doesn’t have the high stats that her sister, D20 had. She is looking at our in-state publics because she feels the flagships (if she could get in) are just too big for her tastes. Reading through the threads on CC always makes me wonder if we are the unusual ones, but I’m guessing that more students than not are looking at lots of different schools, and that cost is so often an issue!
We have been saving since the kids were in preschool. Unfortunately, it won’t be nearly enough to pay for everything. They will apply for any scholarships they can find, will take out the government loans when offered, and will work summers to help pay for whatever they can.
D20 accepted a very nice scholarship (earned through a competition) at CMich that pays full tuition, so that will help a lot. D21 has a 3.6 so she won’t qualify for that competition, but we’ll see what happens with the other schools. If anyone is considering a public U in Michigan (other than UMich or State) and has questions, I’m happy to offer any info I have! Although D20 did give State a long look, so I do have info to share about them, I guess.
@1dadinNC We have about 30K in each of the girls’ 529 plans. Our FAFSA EFC with D20 was 30K. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, changes when we file FAFSA this October. We feel the kids should be a big part of their own college funding, so they will work, just like we did, to help pay for it.
Thanks for all the helpful and interesting information!
I have nothing saved (divorces are expensive lol). Have a daughter in college now, thankfully pretty much on a full scholarship.
I’m willing to do a lot to send him wherever he wants to go… most likely it will be a public school but in a different state since NJ publics are quite expensive, and I will move to that state to get residency and in-state tuition for years 2-4 (yes I’ve done research on this and I know where this is possible and where it’s not).
The max I’d probably do is whatever Rutgers costs, which is about $35k/year, since that what I’d have to pay if he stays in NJ… There are a lot of states where the OUT-of-state CoA is around 35K, and then in-state for years 2-4 will be more like 22K or so… Decent savings over the 4 years. I have a huge spreadsheet with all the costs if I move, if I don’t move, with or without possible scholarships, etc.
We won’t get any need-based aid at all, so if he wants to go to a private he’d need some merit to bring it down to the 30k-ish range.
My husband and I took a different approach to college savings. We have always operated as a one income family…household budget runs on his salary only. We live pretty frugally, don’t drive fancy cars or carry car payments etc. My income varies depending on how much I work (I’m a Realtor) and has gone straight to joint savings and is used for real estate investments (we now have 3 rental properties), house flipping, vacations etc. When my parents passed away, my share of their estates went to savings as well. Last year, my husband made a career change (went from a directors position as an engineer to pursuing his hobby of flying full time and is now a FO w/a commercial airlines)…that came with a 60% pay cut from what he had been making. We used a big portion of our cash savings to pay off 2 of our rental homes so that the rents could help replace his income. The third rental doesn’t have much left to pay off on it. We currently have about 2 years of S21’s college left in savings…he will be taking out the max $27,500 over 4 years in loans to have “skin in the game”, we’ll pay the rest. My income will go towards his tuition to make up the difference.
For S23 twins who are higher stats then their brother we are going to hard core chasing merit aid and for whatever difference needs to be made up after they also take out the max $27,500, we will probably sell off one of our properties (that was bought for the purpose of the twins’ college funds anyway) if needed.
That’s our plan so far lol, fingers crossed it all works out that way .
I forgot to add, S21 is only applying to instate public schools. The twins will most likely do the same unless they can get enough merit aid to justify OOS schools.
I am a long time single mom. I have savings, but no “college savings” or 529. I plan to use current income (very frugal) and some savings and D is chasing merit (only applying to schools she will get great merit from). Hoping to use federal student only for the last year or 2 if it will be needed for room and board when away for internships while still paying on apartment in college town. Then there is COVID, if things are no better a year from now. She will likely commute to local state uni.
United Airlines announced their furlough/lay-off numbers and as a FO with only 9 months seniority, the hubs will probably be in the first batch to get the axe…could be end of September…or end of October…so yea…thank you Covid-19 and the wonderful State of Texas for not knowing to contain this crap.
He can pick up some side consulting gigs for his old boss (which he’s been doing anyway) but he doesn’t want to go back to engineering full time…being out of a cockpit for 6-9 months will make him very rusty. He’s going to start looking for simulator instructor openings at DFW (he’s got his FAA instructor certifications already) or possibly look into some US Customs Border Patrol options…that way when hopefully the commercial airlines industry bounces back in 2021 (fingers crossed) he’ll be able to jump back in.
I’ve been teasing him that I literally have been waiting my whole adult life for travel benefits (i’m a huge travel junkie) and look at the cruel twist of fate that a worldwide pandemic hit just when I got free airfare lol!!! I had 3 international trips planned in 2020 that went poof! bye bye!
Obviously so disappointed, but now I guess the real work begins as I think he can still qualify for some merit scholarships based on hopefully still qualifying for the National Hispanic Recognition Program. There are some schools that I found listed here on CC that give merit money to NHRP. So I have to do a bunch of new research to see what schools are good in CS that would still give good merit money since we won’t qualify for any need-based financial aid.