<p>Our son is accepted at his no. 1 dream school, Reed. He's a liberal arts/creative/non-career-oriented/ learner seeking close intellectual community, so we thought Reed would be ideal. Now, however, we are sagging under the $240k price tag.</p>
<p>We would love to hear experiences - good, bad, decided to save the $ and went to another college, transferred out, etc. - from others, and how the price tag, or work load, or anything else affected you in your situation.</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Reed meets 100% of need,they don’t offer merit. Were you aware of your difficulty to pay your EFC when your son applied?
We found Reed to be very generous. They not only offered a package with very small loans, but when our income was reduced a month into freshman year, they increased the grant .</p>
<p>My S is considering Reed as part of decision making now that he has offers from several LACs. What a great school if you can afford to send your son. I learned yesterday that Reed ranks 4th nationwide in the percent of students it sends to graduate school. And their financial aid offer is quite generous.</p>
<p>DD1 was totally enamored with Reed and, fortunately for DW and I, was waitlisted. It saved us having to tell her we could not afford the school since we were full pay. Apparently you didn’t look at what your EFC would do in your case. You can decide to take loans to make it work (many families do) or drop the school from the affordable list (many do that as well).</p>
<p>We do not qualify for aid, so we’re trying to decide if the price tag could possibly be worth it…
:]</p>
<p>If you can pay for it without taking out massive loans it might be, but if you have to take more than 30K in loans I personally wouldn’t consider it. Paying for college out of savings, modest loans, and by either increasing income or cutting back on expenses is a fine choice. Lots of people are full pay or nearly full pay at these schools.</p>
<p>Our second year Reedie is thriving. 
It’s lived up to “dream school” expectations. From the parents’ perspective, so far, Reed’s been a good fit for “that” kind of kid. </p>
<p>I empathize with your sticker shock–college costs are obscene across the board. We found that once we decided to fund beyond State U, we were on the proverbial slippery slope! With both our Reedie and our current freshman (at another pricey school :eek:), all of their favorites clumped in the top price band, so there wasn’t much cost-driven decision angst. Gah!</p>
<p>On a hopeful $ note, most students move off campus sophomore year, so your housing and food costs are likely to drop off considerably after freshman year. Also, it depends on your son’s interests, but I think the majority of students spend less on fun at Reed than they would at other schools…there’s no Greek life, no significant intramural sports scene, rare underage concerts in Portland, no appealing restaurant/retail scene in the neighborhood, no nearby fee-based attraction like a water ski lake or ski mountain (it’s more time-consuming than you’d think to get to Hood, but at least you can stay in the Reed cabin once you get there!), etc. Besides, Reedies do tend to be serious about either doing their assigned reading and writing or engaging each other in far-reaching philosophical conversations about their reading and writing and everything else under the sun! So they don’t have so much free time that they are often looking beyond whatever’s free and cheap and “on campus” for their entertainment!</p>
<p>Do you trust your son’s conviction that Reed is the one? Has he visited? Is he comfortable with the social environment? Is he excited about tackling Reed’s unique curricular challenges? (Considering fresh Hum, jr quals and sr thesis & orals, I think soph is the only “normal” college year for Reedies!) If yes, yes, yes and yes, then there’s a good chance he, too, will thrive at Reed! </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. Good luck!</p>
<p>Kathieh1- you give sound financial advice - thanks.</p>
<p>Do you have any knowledge of Reed?</p>