30 for a really great program… possibly more, hopefully less. We have acorns squirreled away but would prefer to allocate them to the other boy’s special needs care.
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He will be tied down with his brother sooner rather than later<<<<
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Really? How and why? Siblings of special needs kids really have special needs themselves. It is a lot to have that expectation of him. You are saying he won’t ever have an option to live overseas?
A net price of $30k/year is very unusual to find on a merit basis. Your in-state option is likely your best bet.
I hate to be the one to give you a reality check, but parents in their 70s are occasionally taken ill, incapacitated, or pass away. Unfortunately, their disabled adult child cannot be just stuffed into a home with no family member to occasionally check in on him. I have no expectation of our younger son other than he follow his own moral compass. We will encourage him to live where ever he chooses, but the likelihood of things is that he will be responsible for his brother.
You do realize, I’m sure, that William and Mary’s cost for out of state students is ~$60,000, not counting travel and personal expenses. I don’t think W&M, or any of the Virginia public universities, give merit aid to many out of state students. Are you willing to pay that much? If not, probably better to cross that one off the list.
What is your home state? I thought it was Florida from the title, I asked about bright futures?
Yes, we know the COA for OOS there and agree it is highly unlikely that he’d get in/merit. I only mentioned as an example earlier in that what we will be happy to pay OOP will depend upon the school.
There is plenty of snow in DC, VA, NC and SC. Also hurricanes and other weather that causes trouble. My daughter who went to school in Florida had many more classes cancelled because of weather (at least 10 days I can remember) than my daughter who went to school in Wyoming (maybe 1 day?).
If your son wants to work in DC or for the military one day, he needs to adapt to the weather.
Yes, thanks, we are aware of the climate. DC is absolutely fine. Vermont is not. Minnesota is not. He does not specifically want to work for the military - when pressed for what he, as a 16 year old has considered for a career - he has mentioned government agencies in DC. He is more focused on his degree program than what job he’ll have ten years from now.
Still deep South, but have you looked at U Miss Croft Institute? International focus that might appeal to his policy and foreign language interests.
Actually, we did tour Ole Miss in May, and he was very impressed with the Lott Leadership Institute’s public policy program. It is one of the few PP undergrad programs that includes geography (a love of his) and he loved meeting Dr. Chen there. We were just last night looking at their month-long summer program… he is on the fence about it as it would suck up a big part of his summer. I believe there is overlap with Croft… we will take a closer look.
Thank you very much!
We feel pretty confident that we can spend 30 a year on a quality program without having to stay instate. Perhaps you meant full COA and not net OOP. Apologies if I misinterpreted.
The odds of getting enough merit at American to bring the cost down to $30,000 a year are very slim. The website states that awards range from $8,000 to $22,000 per year. I have a family member who actually received more merit at American (and GW) than what is listed on the website, but she turned down these awards to attend Swarthmore. Her stats were much higher.
If you are looking to bring the cost down to $30,000, in my opinion you should not discount your instate public schools. While I do think your son can increase his ACT score with some studying, his UW gpa …as it stands now…will hold him back from significant merit.
Schools in the Virginia/ DC area…U of Maryland CP, JMU…will not come in at your target cost.
My daughter recently graduated from a very strong public university and has a few friends who went on to work for the FBI. She also has friends at lower ranked public schools who work for agencies that are of interest to your son.
Getting the cost down to $30,000 won’t be easy unless your son is willing to attend schools that you might not have heard of…which is perfectly fine btw. I would really look into your instate schools.
You did mention paying more if necessary…depending on the school. How much more? I don’t see William and Mary as a likely acceptance. Have you looked at some of the NC public schools…excluding the flagship (its a reach)?
I also wanted to mention that even though you have not yet put money into a trust for your other child, it may still be considered a special circumstance. I would look into that further.
If your son increases his scores and UW GPA…it’s possible that some options will open up for FA …given your other child…depending on the school of course.
OP, it just depends on your definition of a quality program. $30k is a very workable budget.
I heard u of Richmond gives decent merit. That is a fine school
On another recent thread, you mention LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama as places you were considering. Has that changed?
I agree with others, with a $30,000 budget, your instate options might end up being your best choices.
You could look at the Colleges that Change Lives list, but many of those are in places with snow/winter.
If your son ends up working for the FBI, for example, will he be OK getting sent to Ohio or Boston? Both places with large FBI offices, and places where many new FBI employees start? Same with Homeland Security…lots of winter employment places in that agency.
Seems like getting used to winter would be a good thing to get done while in college, and while you are still the guardians for your older child. That way…options for employment won’t be limited by weather.
Thank you! It is really helpful to get a ballpark on what to expect for OOP. We know all of his schools of interest give merit (although some barely do so) - we used published reports to check that. He has sorted all the published lists by avg % non need students getting merit & avg amount, but that is still pretty nebulous info. We also have sorted the 40 year NPVs from the latest Gtown study (which doesnt break out degrees, though… schools w big STEM programs will skew income data). If a certain school has a lousy ROI, gives minimal merit, then the adage proves true - doesnt’ really matter where you go to undergrad. That said, if the public policy or history program is lousy, a nearly full ride still wouldn’t interest us.
On American… one or two folks had suggested American so I gave feedback on it to be polite (did the tour, the interview, on the list) but he did not particularly care for it. I’m loathe to state that because we all know they track DI and there’s only so much confidentiality in CC. Wink, wink.
This is what we’ve toured & researched (some he’s interviewed)… they vary in the Poli Sci, IS, H programs, but… -Catholic and GMU in the DC area are on the list. Disliked Gtown. Loved GW but the uber urban campus mostly kills it. Didn’t care for American.
-Richmond and W&M - outstanding in every way, have yet to tour/research other VA schools but W&L, UVA, JMU are ones we’ll read up on. No interest in Ham-Syd.
-In NC, Elon is on there, plus the two unlikely reaches (but not WF - toured & didn’t care for it). Haven’t seen/researched others.
-In SC, Furman is on the list. Didn’t care for Clemson. Haven’t seen/researched others
-TN - loved Sewanee, but locale & PS make it wobbly. Vandy - disliked. Rhodes - meh
-MS - Ole Miss - great PP, IS, leadership program, huge merit
-AL - good program, honors college, huge merit
-LA - Tulane & LSU (instate): meh
So, with that laundry list… what VA and PA schools might work? We’ve considered SMU (he’d be legacy), Baylor, Hillsdale, but the locations aren’t ideal. Denver has a great PP program but he doesn’t like the legal pot thing.
Can I suggest that your son forget about location? It’s kind of unrealistic to say that PA winter in ok, but not Connecticut winter, as an example. It’s pretty much six of one, half a dozen of the other. I took my kid to see William and Mary in Feb. It snowed six inches and the roads were appalling. They closed campus and simply seemed unable to cope with it. Virginia can be very cold in the winter too. He’s going to have more realistic options if he gets rid of geographical constraints.
He would need higher than 32 ACT for increased merit chance.
WVU, Towson, Ohio University might give good merit.
If he is interested in foreign languages, maybe focus on those departments.