<p>Surely there are lots and lots of colleges with need-blind admissions for international students. But most of them give no financial aid to international students.</p>
<p>Wondering what you all think about a program like Apprentice University. <a href=“http://www.apprentice-university.com/”>http://www.apprentice-university.com/</a> This is a good way to keep debt down and I read about other programs similar.</p>
<p>From the beginning of my daughter’s college search we have talked to her about getting as much “bang for our buck” as possible. She visited some state colleges, a branch of the U of MN, and a handful of private colleges ranging from very expensive to moderately expensive. By far the nicest school she visited was the most expensive. It fired her up to retake the ACT to bump up her score to get into their top 25%, which she did. about 6 weeks later I took her to a private college that had a lot of the things she loved about the expensive school, costs about $12K less, isn’t quite as prestigious as the other, but is still thought of as a high quality school in our state. Her scores are at the very top and she has been guaranteed a scholarship that puts it right in line with the U of MN (her parents budget). She is interviewing for their top scholarships next month. She is likely to get a couple thousand more taken off. If that doesn’t happen we plan to point out that another similarly priced school will offer her x amount, would they be willing to match it? She’s interviewing at another school as well. </p>
<p>Oops, posted too early. In the end my daughter crossed the expensive, really nice school off her list after talking to admissions rep who told her that she would get $, not their top amount, and that loans would be part of her package. She decided that going to the other school that she really liked and will leave with zero debt is a much better decision. We encouraged her to still apply to the other school and see what kind of a package they put together. She’s actively filling out scholarship applications trying to bring down her first year costs as much as possible. We definitely have done what this article talks about.</p>
<p>I see some folks getting smarter and others getting dumber. The dumb ones are sending Junior off to a four year college (both parent and student loans) even when Junior has signaled plenty of times during HS that he’s not ready to live independently and that he plans to major in Beer Pong/hooking up. Junior then comes home sometime during Sophomore year (flunks out, kicked out, dropped out) and the loans need to get repaid- even though Junior is a few credits short of having “junior” status if/when down the road he’s ready to apply himself to college.</p>
<p>Expensive lesson here. Kid likely has two semesters worth of college credit although the parents have paid for four. Everyone is paying back loans. No degree, and Junior is back folding sweaters at the Gap which is what he did summers during HS.</p>
<p>Both my kids ended up at colleges I had selected for them to put on their lists based on “good value”…Binghamton which is a “Best Value for Out of State Colleges” and TCNJ which is a great value for in state.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to figure out why anyone felt a need to send students to colleges and universities with resort-like facilities in the first place. When I went to school, the idea was to live as frugally as possible.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to figure out why anyone felt a need to send students to colleges and universities with resort-like facilities in the first place. When I went to school, the idea was to live as frugally as possible.</p>
<p>This is a mystery to me as well @JustOneDad </p>
<p>If you’re wealthy, sending your kids to college primarily to socialize and make connections, if makes some sense.</p>
<p>Attending some of the more expensive colleges supposedly has a long-run higher pay off. We’re going to have some tough decisions - knowing S will get few $ at the ‘name’ universities and big $ at the lesser known. I am confident in an excellent education at the lesser known but concerned about eventual employment and potential graduate school opportunities. </p>
<p>@JustOneDad: the rich have gotten richer, and kids who grow up in that environment now expect Good Things.</p>
<p>@singermom4: Depends a lot on the industry, type of grad program, major, possibly geography, and type of school (private RU vs. LAC vs. Public RU & honors program or no).
The distinction will pretty much never depend on lesser-known vs. better-known.</p>
<p>Haha. I’m in agreement that expectations have gone up, but hasn’t going away to college traditionally been the time to knock some reality back into the darling children?</p>
<p>
This is so good to hear! Your son sounds more qualified than mine so I’m really glad to hear he is happy with the CBHP. We are in a situation where we simply cannot pay a huge amount for college, and I don’t want my son taking on a lot of debt. Alabama is quickly becoming the front runner in our search. He has already been accepted into the Honors program with a full tuition scholarship (presidential scholarship), and we are really hoping he makes it into CBHP as well! He applied to a number of other schools, but they would have to send really good offers to top Alabama. Our state school, Arizona State University has sent a good offer (full tuition), so it will probably ultimately come down to those two choices, unless a wild-card school surprises us.</p>