Potential SUNY student, need help with Excelsior, picking a college without too much debt

Senior daughter, debating between 1 private (St Bona) vs SUNY schools. Bonaventure is her first choice.
We will qualify for Excelsior for the first 2 years, nearing threshold for 2019 income ($125k) and moving forward.

Suggestions on how to make it more affordable, and hopefully maintain Excelsior.

3.6 GPA, 27 ACT
Undecided major, interest in business or psychology
Parents can contribute $2000-$3000 per year, no savings or 529

In addition to Excelsior covering tuition of $6870:
Oswego offered $5000 in merit (applicable to non-tuition costs)
Brockport offered $4000 if she enrolls in Honors
UB offered $2500
Fredonia offered $2000

St. Bonaventure
COA $49,016
Scholarships $27,000
Fed loans $5500
Remaining cost: $16,516

@sybbie719 and @thumper1 can you chime in?

Do scholarships reduce Excelsior at all?

Looking at the numbers, the SUNY schools are the way to go if you and your student do not want to be taking out much, if any in loans. The Excelsior basically ensures that tuition will be covered and even if income edges beyond that range, if the student can maintain those merit awards, there won’t be a financial cliff fall.

My understanding of the Excelsior is the same as @mom2collegekids ’ I think that any scholarships and merit money will be applied to the need factor, just as most financial aid is adjusted for these awards at most schools. It’s still a great deal, and your daughter has some excellent choices here. One of my kids is a UB graduate, and I was very happy with the overall education and experience he had there. I have another SUNY grad, one of the smaller schools, and I was pleased with how things were handled for him.

One of my kids got a full ride to St Bonnie, and I’ve known kids who have gone there. It’s a great school, but I would not want to be struggling to pay $60-70K over 4 years for its cost. Especially with these other alternatives on the table. Your daughter is in the enviable position of getting through college with just the basic student loans. A part time on campus job and summer work will defray further costs. Trust me, it gets harder to cough up those college costs as each year progresses.

Congratulations to your daughter for having such great choices.

How will you pay for St Bonaventure if you can pay $3,000 but there is $16,000 + left to pay after merit and student loan?

If you qualify for Excelsior for first two years, then tuition would be covered at SUNYs.

I think room, board and fees is another $15,000 or so.

Can she commute to any SUNYs?

She will need to see if the merit scholarships can be used for non-tuition expenses, in addition to Excelsior, which would pay for tuition.

Even if you would have to pay for tuition the last two years, that seems less expensive than one year at St Bonaventure.

She says…the merit at Oswego can be used for room and board. Good.

Sounds like Oswego is the most affordable of them all.

Are the merit awards at the other SUNY schools also able to be used for other than tuition?

What are your net costs per year at those SUNY schools. Affordable? Or not?

Ok…here is what I found…for Oswego…

Total cost is roughly $23,000. Of that, $6800 or so is tuition which presumably would be covered by Excelsior. Room/board are $14,500 or so. You have $5000 covered with the merit they say can be used for room and board. So…$9500 balance. Then she can take the $5500 Direct Loan leaving you with $4000 to pay for the year.

Then $1500 in fees. So you would have $5500 left to cover after Excelsior, school merit award, Direct Loan.

Your daughter should get a job…now. She could likely earn some of the money needed.

Things also to look at…look to make sure this is THE least costly housing option. Your daughter might also have a less costly meal plan option. Check and see.

Do you have any way to contribute any amount per month?

@sybbie719 does this sound about right?

I hope sybbie can explain more about how merit affects Excelsior because we’re seeing mixed info.

Also…is there a way for this family to stay under the 125k limit so that they’ll get Excelsior for all 4 years (and not lose it after 2 years)?

AND…how likely will the 125k threshold rise in two years? It’s risen a couple of times in recent years.

@BelknapPoint can they put money in a pretax IRA? Can they put money in a pretax 401k? IRA? Will any of these reduce their AGI so that they won’t lose Excelsior for the last two years?

Also…will they qualify for Education Tax Credit?

Thank you for reply - just to clarify though, we will still need to take out loans for all of the SUNY in addition to her Federal loans. Room & Board and fees for any of the SUNY is in the $13-$14k range.

Definitely need to add room & board. Only 1 school is commute distance and it is least desirable due to size and wanting to dorm.

Need also to clarify, as of now she has no desire to attend Oswego. More likely to look at Brockport. Although none are her preference.

I know very little about the differences in SUNYs. Can you tell us why she likes or dislikes various SUNYs?

I realize that her first choice is Bono, but at her age, she can’t comprehend what that kind of debt would do to her at age 22.

She’s looking at about $22k in loans for frosh year. But each year, costs go up but merit does not. So the following years she may need to borrow more and more. She could easily end up with $90k of UNDERGRAD-ONLY debt or MORE because of how debt grows while in college.

And what if she needs some sort of grad degree? The debt will grow even more…and she may need to take out more debt due to grad school.

If Brockport is her fave SUNY then see if they’ll match Oswego’s merit offer.

Merit awards are not always guaranteed for all 4 years. Sometimes,they require GPA and other factors to keep them. Sometimes, they are reduced if a school comes up with budgetary problems or the fund dries up. It’s one thing to lose < $5000 in scholarships, and a whole other to lose >$20K. That the SUNY schools have a lower sticker price, makes it possible to continue even if some awards disappear. Trust me on that one–merit awards and scholarships can vaporize very quickly.

She likes the smaller feel, and green space. UB is huge, in excess of 25,000. Brockport is about 8000, Oswego is 7000, but farther away and in the middle of nowhere, Fredonia is about 4300.
That’s why she loves Bonaventure ~ less than 2000 students

I am a St Bonaventure grad (psych major) and did love it, but I would strongly advise her to choose a SUNY.
She’s unlikely to get a good paying job to pay back those loans with a BA in psychology. She would need grad school, which would mean yet more debt. The business program is good but it still would be very painful with that level of debt.
I can’t say I exactly regret my choice to go to SBU over Brockport’s honors program, I mean it would have changed the entire trajectory of my life. But I will say that the smarter and more practical decision would have been to go to Brockport. I do often wonder what career opportunities would have arisen if I had a lower debt at graduation.

UB might be too big and busy for her. Oswego isn’t super far from Syracuse and Brockport from Rochester as far as potential internships and alumni connections that could be beneficial, but those aren’t quite as big and busy as UB. They might be a good balance.

Very concerned about losing Excelsior in years 2 & 3, because I will have a sophomore starting at that time.
We are just below $125K cutoff for 2017 and 2018 ~ meaning approx $122K. If she gets a job this summer (which she needs to) and/or works during school year, it could feasibly bump us over. Also, I have opportunity to work summer, which would definitely put us over that threshold.

My older D is a SUNY grad. Why does she like Brockport over Oswego? Is it the location? We found Oswego’s campus to be beautiful…if your D does want green space. Lots of students outside by the lake playing frisbee, etc.

I would take St. Bonaventure off the table and try to get one of the SUNY schools to work.

@mom2collegekids, I think the maximum Excelsior is about $6,500/year. The Excelsior is last payer and only covers tuition, not fees. So if Brockport offers a $4,000 tuition grant the maximum Excelsior would be ~$2,500.

@mom2twogirls I agree with everything you said above! Glad to know you went to Bona, so have firsthand experience. I also went there, graduated in 1989. UB is definitely too big, and she absolutely does NOT want to commute. We are visiting Fredonia this week, but they did not give near as much scholarship.
She is really undecided with major, but had orig put psychology. Honestly does not have direction as far as occupation goes. Thank you for responding!

@austinmshauri The scholarships that she has been offered at Oswego is DEFINITELY applicable to room, board, and fees. I double checked that. I will confirm again with Brockport, but I am almost certain theirs is as well.