100% agree. When I finished law school and started my career with a great job and relatively high entering salary, I had a spouse, a toddler, a baby on the way, and ~$175k in total student loan debt. It took many years to extinguish the debt while supporting a family of (eventually) 5, and I’m proud of that accomplishment. The downside is that we couldn’t save much, so our college savings for D22 won’t even cover one year at a private school. If your family was able to fully fund your education, remember to thank them - it’s an incredible, generational advantage to start a career from zero rather than deeply in debt.
15 Likes
Just FYI, when my 21 applied, Case Western did meet our need with Stafford Loan and Work Study. She is elsewhere (OOS University), on a full tuition scholarship and need met through additional grants (no loans or work study).
1 Like
I never heard of Barry, until our HS sent 2 on athletic scholarships last year. It looks like a beautiful school.
3 Likes
I’ve taught my kid to be self sufficient all their lives…laundry…cooking…minor car repairs etc…they can handle it all. What I apparently failed to educate them on are mundane topics like the CITY YOU WERE ACTUALLY BORN IN!! 
Acceptances are coming in and Thing 1 received an email from one of the schools to set up the portal and view his acceptance. The set up page asked for DOB and City of Birth…he was sitting next to me doing homework while I was doing the portal set up…I kept getting error messages and then got locked out for too many incorrect tries. Very confused I asked him to pull up his common app on his ipad and check the actual application for this particular school…sure enough…the City he entered for where he was born is the City we live in, NOT the neighboring city 6 miles away where the actual hospital he was born is located
I just called the University’s help line and of course he has to be the one to request them to unlock him and they are only open 8-4:30 and he doesn’t get home from marching band rehearsal until 7:00-7:30 on weekdays. So yea…either he tries to call them during the school day or he has to wait until this Friday when they have early release and he call in the middle of the day 
2 Likes
Adulting 101. Now he gets to deal with the consequences of his error.
Yeah, this stuff will be funny after a while, but when they first do it, you want to throttle them!
2 Likes
Thanks for that info! Yeah, i did the NPC and it came back with a $35k grant, the usual loans and work study, bringing us right down to our EFC range, no surprise there.
@Momof3B your story reminds me of something that happened with one of my sons. He took drivers ed after school and during the class they had to fill out paperwork the driving school sends to the MVA on their behalf, which puts them in the system when they go to the MVA to get their learner’s permit.
He texted me from class to ask how to spell his middle name. 
In his defense he was named after my father and the name is 11 letters long. My father goes by a four letter nickname. The name itself is not unheard of, but not common, especially not in its long form. I was just glad he asked me so that it was not butchered in the computer system and cause problems, but I did get a good laugh out of it.
3 Likes
People continue to use this acronym what is TE?
Tuition Exchange, which is offered as a benefit by colleges in the network.
Just got a postcard from Duquesne (Pittsburgh) advertising scholarships, some new this year. Just thought I’d share these descriptions from their website.
University Scholarships (listed as full tuition on the postcard)
Spirit of Community Scholarship
Duquesne University is pleased to announce an exciting new program for students passionate about engaging with their community and expanding their understanding of social justice. In addition to a commitment to community engagement, chosen participants will engage in meaningful and challenging conversations with peers around biased, systemic injustice, power, and privilege and their impact on our community and society at large. Apply by January 15, 2023
National Hispanic Recognition Scholarship
We are awarding a full-tuition scholarship to the highest-ranked first-year National Hispanic Scholar in the entering class. Utilizing a holistic admissions review, rankings will be determined by GPA, class rank, high school rigor and leadership potential. No separate application is necessary!
Spirit of Excellence Scholarship
In the spirit of our founding, commitment to excellence, mission of service, and in alignment with University Goals, Duquesne will award five exceptional leaders with a full-tuition scholarship for four years. Apply by January 15, 2023
STEM Scholars Program
A cooperative program among Duquesne University, the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, the Citizen Science Lab, and local industries for incoming students who are from an under-represented population.
4 Likes
Well - 85% of students will be rejected from T20 schools, no matter what the applicants’ stats are, because there are only 6-digits spots for 7-digits application.
So, yes, everyone’s individual probability is extremely small, specially for RD. However, if you look BEYOND the shiny “admitted class of” profile, and instead check the stats of the actual ENROLLED students, you may find that “averages” of the students that actually attend, are in line with the numbers you quoted.
The important factor here is a school’s “yield”. Let me take NYU as an example. The mean of their “admitted students” is a lofty 1540 SAT, but their yield is only 40%. In other words, 60% of admitted students had OTHER, (in their mind) “better” offers.
So by the time very many of the top scorers went elsewhere, the ENROLLED student’s SAT range (for 50% of the class) is in the area of a much more achievable 1350-1530, with a typical u/w GPA of 3.7.
(Naturally, by the time to get to the Ivy’s, the yield will be 2/3rd’s and more - so there is a lesser gap between admitted and enrolled stats.)
6 Likes
Look I get it. Most kids applying to those schools have those numbers and very limited spots especially after legacies, athletes etc.
Additionally schools like UNC, UVA UT etc just not attainable with the OOS limited admissions.
Totally understand the realities.
My point to @Gatormama was there are a lot of great schools where these types of kids can get affordable great educations and get into great graduate schools or great jobs if they apply themselves and do well.
For the westerners amongst us, just a quick heads-up: Oregon State now participates in the WUE program, though the scholarships are apparently quite competitive. (They just deluged my kid with postcards mentioning that.)
It finally joined in 2021, but is still listed in some places online as a nonparticipant.
(The University of Oregon is still a nonparticipant, though.)
5 Likes
Definitely starting to feel real! S23 working on finishing his common app today, the common app essay done subject to review by the college advisor, college list complete with ED and EA decisions made… almost there…still lots of “why us” and other supplemental essays, of course. And one early app is annoyingly to UWashington Seattle which is not on the common app!
3 Likes
UW Seattle will be on the common app this year. We will start checking for it to appear 9/1 (admissions said that their target date to get set up is 9/1 at the same time their own app is supposed to open, but to be patient in case it might take slightly longer).
5 Likes
Wow are you sure??! Thank you!
1 Like
Yep! It’s here on this page, too: How to apply | Office of Admissions
"The UW is pleased to announce we intend to accept the Common App for freshman applicants applying for autumn quarter 2023. Winter quarter applicants should plan to use the UW application. Watch this space for more information prior to September 1. "
5 Likes
Just saw! This if great, he can apply via Common App to all the schools!
2 Likes
Yes UW will be on common app. It’s in state for us so lots of mentions hear locally about it. Yay!
1 Like
Nice we are OOS and it is very rare for anyone form our school to apply to UWashington Seattle - S23 really loved it when we visited and although he is ED elsewhere he would be happy to go to UWashington if that’s how things turned out. As a mom, of course I would prefer he didn’t end up so far…
1 Like