When we filed FAFSA for D19, H had gone through a lay-off with severance and our numbers were very unlike reality. I don’t think we would have qualified for need-based aid anyway, but the EFC was outrageous! I still have to see if D19’s college will need us to file every year since more scholarships become available to upperclassmen and I wouldn’t want her to miss out on any opportunities. 2019 will be our first “regular” year, so by the time D21 goes to college, the EFC should be correct, but every one tells me it will still be high.
Even NEU’s website says you have to file FAFSA each year. All schools require that if you expect to get any sort of need based aid.
@3kids2dogs I’ve had two interns, one of whom I’ve now hired on full time, from Elon. One was majoring in business and the other media analytics. Both were strong performers and seemed to really like Elon. Only negative comments were from the media analytics major, only that she was in the first cohort to go through the program so there were some rough spots in advising on pathways and scheduling classes.
Thanks @JESmom. Elon is coming to her school next week, so she’s going to attend the presentation. and see what she thinks. The website makes it look very nice - except it’s a very small town. I’m not sure she’ll like the combo of small school AND small town, especially because she won’t have a car.
That is completely a statistical game the colleges play. We got $1000 in financial aid, drop in the bucket at a$60k school, but we count in their stats of families given aid.
Right, but the comment I responded to was about schools where only 50% of the students get any aid. I haven’t seen any that claim anywhere near that low of a percentage.
@Johnny523 here’s Bowdoin. Only 49 percent receive aid.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/bowdoin-college-2038/paying
At Wake, just 30 percent receive aid.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/wake-forest-2978/paying
I don’t know why you kept saying that everyone gets financial aid.
Good Morning fellow parents. D is taking her very last SAT today! Closing that chapter that started with Duke Tip in 7th grade. May the SAT Gods smile on all our kids today and may the curve be kind.
@homerdog I said I stood corrected many posts back. Then someone made a comment to me about average costs, so I clarified that I was referring to the “percent receiving aid” statements, not “average cost” statements. I’m not sure why people feel the need to keep pointing out I’m wrong after I already said I was wrong.
As I said earlier, my family has been looking at a different class of schools than you and others here, and your mention of Bowdoin and Wake make that very clear. My D21 is interested in schools like Western Colorado, Northern Arizona, Montana State, Boise State, Utah etc. My S20 is going to go to Arizona next year (he was also accepted to Washington State and Oregon State), again a different class of schools.
@Johnny523 do all kids (even out of state ones) get need based or merit aid at Arizona?
@homerdog ASU and U Arizona are known for lots of out of state merit. There are merit calculators on the websites. (Plus out west there are WUE discounts for students of neighboring states.)
@BingeWatcher Hope the SAT went well for your daughter yesterday! She has done such an excellent job of preparing, and may the standardized test stars align for her.
Hi All,
My first time posting here. I am hoping I can get some pointers as a parent to help my teenager. She is a very responsible teen but youtubers, tiktok and netflix have taken over her life lately.
She is a junior and still doesn’t know what she wants to do in school. She gets carried away by her social life most of the time and wastes her time. She also doesn’t know what school she would like to apply to. She is just not interested at this point yet looking into it and research but do know for sure that community college is not for her.
She is a smart kid and taking 3 AP classes this year, just took her first SAT last sat, plays soccer, a member of a City youth council. She also has a black belt in Martial arts and it teaching currently.
She initially wanted to go to Medical school but then after I explained her how long is the school for, she has kind of changed her mind. Then, she applied to girls who code program during the summer and had an immersion program internship at a BlackRock so now she likes the coding and may want to do CS but still not sure and haven’t made up her mind:((
How do you guys give guidance to your kids to on choosing a major that they may like ? How do you help them choose the universities/colleges that they may want to attend to?
Trust me, we have visited Stanford, Berkeley, UCI, UCR and UCDavis so far and nothing has wowed her yet:((
My S21 is very unsure at this point as well. I’m thinking that I’ll direct him to schools that have a large variety of options in case he changes mind while there (his “best guess” right now is engineering, but maybe not extremely focused engineering schools in case he changes his mind). He might go in undecided - although I realize that isn’t an option at some public schools where you have to declare when applying. I’m frankly hoping he’ll get a lot more clarity this year - but we’ll see.
Welcome @Prep4Uni
Summer camps exploring different majors/careers have been helpful. I think when peers start talking about and visiting colleges, your D will start coming around. Also look at “YouScience” we found it very helpful.
The Elon admissions representative came to D’s school yesterday. She really liked the rep and the presentation (there were only 6-8 kids there so it was more of discussion rather than a presentation).
I can’t tell if these admissions officers are just really good sales people or what. Last week, she saw the Clemson presentation and she came out with a very positive feeling for Clemson. Now the same for Elon (though she had an even more positive response about Elon - she said she’d rank it #2 right now, behind UofSC)
I think we’ll figure a way to fit Elon into our Spring Break trip - it’s only 4 hours from Clemson and three hours from University of South Carolina; two schools were were already planning on visiting.
Four of the kids at the presentation were seniors who had already visited, all of them were applying, one of them ED, the others EA. They all loved it. I think that helped, too - to think “kids like her” could see themselves there.
I don’t think I’d even heard of it, except in passing. It literally just came onto our radar after doing the College Board College Fit search and they happened to be coming to her High School a week later.
I think these AOs can make or break a student’s impression about a school. D21 thought the Colgate rep was “chill” and showed why he really loved the school. She did not like the Lehigh rep and took the school off of her list after that meeting. Both sessions had only three students so she had a pretty intimate 45 min experience with each.
Our NJ school sends 4-6 kids to Elon each year. About 35 apply each year and a good majority are accepted. Might explain my son’s opinion when we visited two summers ago… “lots of rich white preppy kids” seeing as he goes to school with lots of rich white preppy kids. With that said, I haven’t heard any complaints and everyone seems to like it.
From out here in Chicago, I just can’t wrap my brain around Elon. Up until a couple of years ago, I’d never heard of it even though we’ve known about other schools nearby like Davidson and Wake. Elon just seems nondescript to me. Nothing makes it stand out or makes it interesting. The kids at our school who apply tend to get in but then choose other schools. It doesn’t seem to be a favorite for anyone. I wish we had reasons for looking at it more because I think D21 would get some merit there but I don’t see that happening. If anyone out there can defend it and call out how it’s different or better than some other schools, I’m all ears!
Elon is popular in our neck of NJ too. @homerdog if you’re applying to Wake and Davidson and getting in, I don’t think Elon would be the top pick. It’s an easier admit than those (our Naviance has it about 60%). But I’ve heard it’s a beautiful campus and a good mid-size school.
Edited to add- friend’s son is applying to both Wake and Elon now - Elon had 3 extra, kind of fun 200 word writing requirements. Wake has 7 - and I’m pretty sure they were longer.