Surprise early RD decision from Rutgers today. Accepted, New Brunswick College of Arts and Sciences and Rutgers Business school.
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Nice! Congratulations 
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My recommendation would be to let the schools know as soon you know. That way, kids on the waitlist who have the school as number 1 can hopefully have the spot.
(I do realize that some schools are very good with yield predictions so this may not matter as much for those schools with good data. But we parents donât know which school does what.)
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I read full pay is a hook.
Interesting.
If so, would it be an advantage to let a school know you can pay in full? Wondering how that works.
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Iâm here too!
After scholarships:
Accepted w/ COA of 20K; not excited about this one at all
Accepted w/ COA of 30k; excited, yay!
Accepted w/ COA of 40K; top pick right now; great city, wonderful school
We will need need-based aid for that third one. It shows up on the NPC, but we havenât gotten the letter yet. He still has several schools to hear from, a few of which are too expensive for us. We jumped into the process on the late side and didnât know how it all works. We encouraged him to apply thinking he just might get scholarships at one of them that make it possible. We still have a few relatively âinexpensiveâ ones to hear from.
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I donât think we should worry right now. My message did not sound as encouraging as I meant. Just that I understand. I should have said the NPCs âmay not be accurateâ or âpossibly not accurateâ â I really donât know that, because I donât have the offers yet. Neither you or I should need to worry right now. 
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Hopefully #2 works for you financially since you put a âyayâ but if not, hopefully #1 does.
You only need one. In fact, you can only have one!!!
So hopefully youâre good as is !! And any other is icing on the cake!!
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Iâm 85% sure we can do #2, so weâre relieved for that. Just steeling ourselves for the rest of this process.
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Schools are very adept at figuring this out - ie; zip code, current HS, parent/guardian occupations, parent/guardian education history, studentâs paid activities - not 100% accurate, but the application can tell a lot between the lines. Is CSS profile filled out, FAFSA etc - could also play a role. You can view full pay as advantage in some cases, but yield, fit and meeting institutional priorities also matter. It is my understanding (from reading on CC and also in Jeff Selingos book) full pay could be the piece that puts you over to an acceptance for the waitlist piece.
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It may be a hook at some colleges. But definitely not at the highly selective ones.
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And not in most or even all cases at lots of the rest of them, either, even the selective plus need-aware ones.
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D23âs applications asked if she would be applying for need based financial aid. I think thatâs how they knowâŠ
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Question: All of my daughterâs close friends are going in senior trips. Is this common for most seniors in your area?
Weâve told her that itâs just isnât in our budget for her with college expenses looming.
Sheâs not mad at us about it but is feeling sad and left behind. I know it is what it is and we as her parents shouldnât feel guiltyâŠ. I guess Iâm just amazed so many families can afford so much. But I know weâve made our choices just like everyone has and itâs fine.
Yes, it was popular in my area but in a low key way. My D went hiking and tent camping with friends.
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Ok well camping she can do. Iâm talking Europe, Hawaii etc.
Weâve told her we will fully support her in a study abroad opportunity in college.
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Mix in our area - with us knowing kids that chipped in and/or paid the majority of their expenses with summer earnings plus graduation money from relatives. Not crazy expensive trips except for a couple kids and their parentâs treated all the participants.
Almost everyone at our school goes on the senior trip except our kids, at least it seems so. We would let them go if they could pay for it themselves since itâs not really a good use of our limited resources. We tell our kids we will make an equivalent contribution when they buy their first car instead. That worked for one kid and then the next one got her sisterâs car so we havenât had to put out money again yet.
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âSenior/Beach Weekâ has been popular since I was in high school. Most kids in the DC area go to the beaches that are two hours from here. At some schools, it is traditional to go down to NC and rent huge houses on the beach.
Mine did a mix - oldest went on a short cruise with small group of friends and paid for it with her part time job. #2 went to NC and after four days was ready to come home b/c he was done with being stuck in house with so many people (but stayed rest of week b/c he didnât drive there). #3 went to the beach here, but stayed for free at a friendâs fatherâs condo. D23 is going to the beach here also but my parents are allowing her friends to use their rental house for free.
Edited to say, âsenior tripsâ that involve flying somewhere or are expensive are not typical here.
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We are doing a family trip that is a bit more than we normally would do, and our senior got to choose the location. He doesnât want a grad party so this is partly in lieu of that, but itâs also our family trip as a last hurrah before he leaves for college. It may look like we are spending boatloads on a trip for his graduation but reality is more that we are amping up a typical travel. Still extra expenditure but less than if it was a separate event from our family vacation. And nothing happening with just friends, trip wise.
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A noble sentiment - however, a college might expect 40% or more of their admitted students to not enroll (given that people apply to 10 - 20 colleges), so they might send out 130% of acceptances.
Consequently they canât touch the waitlist each time one ânoâ comes in. They pretty much are stuck waiting until they see who the 40% are that actually have declined, which typically is near the end of the deadline. Until then they donât know if there really are open spots at all, where, and what kind of student demographics/geography they might prefer to âfillâ for the âclass ofâ.
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