<p>OP, sorry you’re in this situation. Lots of great advice given … I’d also suggest going back to a school or two and explaining the situation. If it were my kid I’d ask them to develop a pecking order and go to the schools … School A is my first choice but we can’t quite swing the finances; if I was awarded a $10/yr merit award we will commit to attend right now. Congrats to your son on his acceptances … however this turns out he has nice options!</p>
<p>hammer1234 – I really wouldn’t worry about what is “top tier” and what is not. Clark University is a very good school and it places its grads who are interested in the health professions in many of the top med schools in the northeast, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Tufts, BU, Dartmouth and UMASS. Getting into med school is in large part GPA and MCAT. If your son really applies himself to his studies it might be easier in some ways to achieve that goal through Clark than through a “top tier” university where he will be up against a lot of 4.0 2300 SAT classmates.</p>
<p>We’re in a similar situation with my son, although he wanted to get away from the Boston area but still stay in the northeast. He’s been accepted for Engineering at UMass Amherst, UConn, U Delaware, and Syracuse. We’re still waiting to hear on 2 other privates (Villanova and Duke). Duke is a total long shot, 'Nova, not sure. He wanted bigger, non-techy schools (no WPI, RPI, etc.). Our EFC is about $60K a year and we have enough saved to pay roughly half that without borrowing. Since I’m in my 50’s and don’t have a pension plan other than what I put in my 401(k), I’m reluctant to borrow and I would rather he not borrow if possible. We’ve told him that we can pay up to about $30K per year. Obviously UMass is the affordable choice and would leave something over for grad school. UConn gave him no merit aid and I can’t see paying almost double for what is an essentially similar school to UMass and isn’t ranked as highly for engineering by USNWR (for whatever that’s worth). Delaware gave him a merit scholarship which will bring the cost in under $30K, so that is a definite possibility for him.</p>
<p>I want to be able to give him some choice and not say “you have to go to UMass”. I would be willing to pay the extra for Delaware to give him the experience of living in a (somewhat) different part of the country. He loved Delaware when we visited last summer (he also liked UMass). We haven’t heard about Syracuse’s financial aid, but I’m not expecting much based on what I’ve read on CC. If that’s the case, he won’t be going there since I can’t pay the $53K+ per year without going $100,000 in debt for what is a similarly-ranked school for engineering to UMass or Delaware. For my son, the OOS publics provided a more affordable alternative to the privates in the size range and location that he wanted, and proved to provide at least one reasonable alternative to the state flagship. I hope Clark comes through for you, but there’s no shame in going to UMass. Two of the people I work with have kids there now (one is doing something bio/science-related) who love it.</p>
<p>My wife went to UDel for graduate school and about the only thing she didn’t like about it were the summers…infrequent trips to the beach being the exception. On the other hand she loved the extended autumn, mild winter and early Spring, as well as the ambience of the “old” campus. I know UDel has a very highly regarded ChemE program. </p>
<p>We get a lot of kids from the Hudson Valley who apply to Syracuse, including the engineering program. From what I’ve heard the usual merit award for strong but not superstar students is in the $8,000 to $10,000 range.</p>
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Thanks…please don’t get me wrong, I liked Clark, thought it was a good solid school, and do feel it would be a good fit for my son. Fingers crossed for a good financial aid offer from them…</p>
<p>As you probably know, UMass students can take courses at Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst College and Hampshire. While I realize it isn’t the same thing as attending those colleges (of course, he doesn’t have the requisite genes for Smith or MoHo), your son can take at least some courses at a private school on UMass tuition.</p>
<p>You are in the same jam as our and others’ middle-class families. We have an EFC slightly lower than yours, which basically means that nobody was going to give us meaningful need-based financial aid. We got impressive merit aid packages from the safety schools, but our kids really wanted to go elsewhere. So, they went to one of the above private schools, then took a few courses at UMass on a private school tuition!</p>
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<p>LOL. I’ve been investing $2/week in the lottery option as well. So far I’m out about $100. But every week I get to live in hope.</p>
<p>Hornet, I know plenty of Connecticut parents who pay out of state for U Mass engineering vs. U Conn (for kids who got admitted to both). You might want to see if the reverse is true just as a reality check.</p>
<p>Blossom, my impression is that, in general, UConn is perceived in Massachusetts as more “prestigious” than UMass Amherst. There was an article in the Boston Globe a couple of months ago about how some Massachusetts parents send their kids to UConn but would never consider UMass. I know a couple of parents with kids at UConn and one said to me his kid wouldn’t go to UMass, even if he (the parent) bought him a car, which I think is ridiculous. My sense is that it has much to do with the nicer campus and successful sports teams at UConn. That said, I think the location of UMass Amherst makes up for the less attractive campus (UConn seemed very isolated), and the engineering school at UMass seems to be more highly regarded, if USNWR is any indication. I just can’t see paying almost twice the price ($20K vs. $38K) for my son to go OOS to another large, rural, public university about the same distance from home. Interestingly, UMass Amherst OOS is only about $32K.</p>
<p>I was going to say the same thing as Alf; UMass Amherst students have the additional benefit of taking classes at the other colleges in the 5 College Consortium, all privates. Amherst is a fun place, although at times, all the local news covers are the arrests made at weekend parties at UMass, but the police and university are working on improving the situation where all that is concerned; it’s just too bad that it colors how people think of the school at times. It is a strong school, and plenty of UMass grads go on to prestigious medical schools. Living in Amherst for 4 years would never be boring, there is plenty to do, lots of students to get to know, and plenty of places to find one’s “niche”.</p>
<p>I don’t know the reputation of the Biology department at any of the schools mentioned, but GW does give some merit aid and is very big on internships. With a Biology major, if he gets accepted to GW and gets merit aid, I suggest asking if they have internships at NIH (National Institute of Health). Also, I hear that U. Mass has Harvard professors, but don’t know if this is just a rumor. Definitely take the lowest cost route and don’t worry about it.</p>
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<p>No, they are not. Especially not for someone considering medical school. I’m not just saying this, we went through something similar. </p>
<p>My son was offered no merit aid from Brandeis and 20K per year from GWU. Once the full-tuition offer came in from Northeastern University, his choice was much easier to make. </p>
<p>He’s having a great experience at Northeastern and I do not want to put NEU down in anyway (they are ranked #70 by USNEWS…proud of that!) but we would not have gone into debt to send him there. Just as we would not have gone into debt to send him to Brandeis or GWU. If NEU had not made the offer they did, he was going to attend UT which was not his first choice but it’s a great university. UMASS is full of great opportunities, I encourage your son to check out the honors college.</p>
<p>We were in the exact same boat. I pulled 3 USN&WR top-40 schools off the table because they offered no merit aid and I was unwilling to let either S or me take on $100,000+ in debt for undergrad. IMO it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>He ultimately chose UMass over the schools that were left (he is an engineering major). He loves it there and has no regrets at all.</p>
<p>UMass’ reputation suffers a bit in MA because there are so many other top schools, but it really is a great school. I have met dozens of UMass alumni over the years, and practically the first words out of their mouth is “I loved it there”.</p>
<p>I’d recommend you go to an Accepted Students Day, that’s what really sold my S.</p>
<p>Just received the package from Clark…$12K/year scholarship plus the usual $5K Stafford Loan. Brings the overall cost down to what may be a doable level. Nice to have two choices within the price range…</p>
<p>^ congrats … that’s great news … I really liked Clark a lot when we visited … and as I’ve mentioned in other threads it’s students win the award for most enthusiastic about their school … having so many students so hyped about their school HAS to be a good!</p>
<p>This same question comes up over and over again - and for good reason. Most private universities that do not give much or any merit aid are just out-of-reach for much of middle-class America. An $80K-$100K debt out of UG added to grad school debt can can cripple the start of a young family. Most Private schools have decided what direction they want to go to build the kind of class that they can be proud of. They want some rich and they want some who have overcome tremendous socio-economic challenges to prepare themselves for college. If you are in the middle-class and have the grades, SAT scores, ECs and are willing to take on considerable debt, you are welcome too.</p>
<p>hammer1234–just found this thread. We are in very similar situation…VERY disappointed re merit aid. Next time around (#2 son), will not even bother with privates. What a waste of time, money & effort!! (Have told several schools “kiss our grits” – politely, of course – after they offered nothing but Stafford loans.)</p>
<h1>1 son will be going to U of Alabama on full-ride National Merit scholarship. If we hadn’t heard about this option here at CC (via mom2collegekids), we would have been up a creek! (If you’re interested, these NMF scholarships are still available – at both Bama and Auburn.)</h1>
<p>“…and are willing to take on considerable debt”</p>
<p>Ay, there’s the rub.</p>
<p>In effect, they’re telling the middle class to kiss off. </p>
<p>I’m happy to return the sentiment… ;-)</p>
<p>notrichenough – love your moniker, LOL!!</p>
<p>When I was applying to college, back before the Flood, I foolishly did not even apply to UMass because (dumb reason) almost all my high school classmates were going there. (Yep, I’m from Massachusetts.) Now I see how stunningly stupid that was. UMass has awesome resources at its fingertips – Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, etc. And, of course, UMass itself. (My BIL got his doctorate in chemistry there. Now he’s a senior director at E.I. Lilly. Not too shabby.) </p>
<p>If we still lived in Mass., I would definitely have my kids apply to UMass.</p>
<p>Gosh, I’ve found the exact opposite. Every private schools my son has been accepted to gave him merit money. The best he has gotten is $30K a year - the rest were all between $18K and 22K a year. One OOS public gave him $8K and Binghamton gave him nothing.</p>