<p>An often overlooked aspect of honors programs/colleges is re: how many honors courses can one take per semester. Many of the programs at the best state univ.s restrict honors students to one or two per term. Is this right for you?</p>
<p>crudmudgeon: Is your child currently in college?</p>
<p>mark , as to IR (IS) are you talking about the Croft Institute? Not up my D's alley but I am familiar with it in passing.</p>
<p>My info. is that South Carolina"s honors college does not even allow priority registration.</p>
<p>Yes. I cannot openly state the main concern, but it is significant.</p>
<p>OT mark, could you just refer to me as Cur, everybody else does. It still sounds bad , but we can pretend it doesn't. Or how about just "C"? "Crudmugeon" just ain't making it real easy for me to be polite. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Is your child currently in college?
[/quote]
Mark, yep. My D is a freshly scrubbed first year. I am a recent veteran of the admit wars (both need and merit, too I might add) and soon to be retiree. I hope.</p>
<p>Your story is.....?</p>
<p>Also South Carolina"s housing for freshmen and sophs is way behind schedule.</p>
<p>We have several USC parents. Maybe they'll see this and step in and help.</p>
<p>And for everybody , I think mark's 265 responded to my 263 "The Croft Institute". NOT South Carolina.</p>
<p>Texas is outstanding, especially Plan 2, but i believe Texas has multiple honors programs.</p>
<p>South Carolina has great housing re: location for jr.s and seniors, but many want to leave for off campus during upper years.</p>
<p>Texas is outstanding, especially Plan 2, but i believe Texas has multiple honors programs.</p>
<p>They have a fine General Honors, and a wonderful Business Honors but Plan II is the nuts.</p>
<p>mark, if you'll scroll back up, I answered your Q in an edit. My D is a first year. We, that would be me LOL, lived our last 2 to 3 years somewhat openly (outloud) on this board . 14 apps. About 15,000 miles on the ground and several plane flights. Maybe a 1000 hours of time. Maybe well over that but I doubt I'm going to admit to the real numbers.;) </p>
<p>I asked about you , what's the story?</p>
<p>This has been an interesting thread as my D is now at the point of comparing her several LAC offers while preparing for scholarship interviews and weighing the atmosphere and costs of the two state unis. </p>
<p>First, though, I would like to suggest to Mark123 that he check older postings by Curmudgeon. As a new member, Mark123 is apparently unaware of Cur's extremely talented daughter's search over the past couple of years for the perfect college and how she weighed all the excellent offers before selecting Rhodes. Cur's postings have been most inspiring to me and many other CCers. Carolyn, whom the Mudge mentions, is also an excellent source of information for CC members.</p>
<p>In fact, my DD will be interviewing for the Presidential scholarships in Feb at Beloit, where Carolyn's D is a freshman. This school is probably the best "fit" for my D, who has already received 1/2 tution merit offers at several other schools. She is eligible and has applied for "full-ride" offers at 3 schools, although I accept going in that her chances of getting one are quite small. She will be in the honors programs at most of the schools where she has been accepted (even receiving since Sept the HP newsletter from a school that won't send her acceptance till mid-Jan).</p>
<p>sorry--hit the wrong key too quickly! </p>
<p>Our dilemma is that even with 1/2 tuition awards, my EFC will be over $11K--not too high by CC standards, but tough for a divorced mom with a younger D (adopted after divorce, so no paternal support) heading to college in 09, and we won't qualify for federal FA. To complicate the decision, both I and my ex have recently weathered CA and heart disease which adversely impacted our finances and we are looking to retire within 2-4 years, so we don't want to take on loans or load D (2 Ds in my case) with large UG debts--both girls are looking toward professional degrees (law and pharmacy respectively), so any debt they incur we hope to postpone for them till graduate school. </p>
<p>My senior D can attend a state uni nearly free of charge since we have managed to provide a prepaid tuition plan for her; thus we only need to pay for R&B and incidentals. Seems like a no-brainer to her dad and all our friends, but she really doesn't want to attend a big-10 flagship with 30K UG students, and the state safety school with 13K students, while a lovely campus near a major city w/ newer dorms, etc, has only a 43% graduation rate and a 71% retention rate. She is eyeing this school since she feels it will be 'easier' and likes the suburban location--not to mention it is closer to her HS beau's school but admits her preferences are LACs. A full-ride here would allow our prepaid tuition to be saved for grad school (or used for D2). But this school is not in the top 70 like all her LACs and is nowhere as renowned as the big 10 school.</p>
<p>So I sit up late worrying if I am doing my D1 (or D2 who has only 1.5 yrs prepaid) a disservice to send her to the state safety rather than urge her to tackle the equally inexpensive 30K student body or try to help her afford the LAC where she would surely be happiest </p>
<p>I keep telling myself that the school itself matters less than what a student does there; that even a school with many jr college transfers or commuters will still have high achievers and honors programs, that a student can almost always find his or her niche if proactive, that a study abroad opportunity to Wales, for example, will be just as fulfilling as the long-desired semester in London that other schools might offer. </p>
<p>I expect this is a dilemma for many middle income families of 07 students, and that weighing the "fit" and opportunities against the financial realities will be a major headache in the next few months. It must be a sign of our generation to worry about which college we can afford for our kids when so many of our parents were just grateful to send us to any college!</p>
<p>One additional thought--Mizzou's journalism school is right up there with NW--and Walter Cronkite attended Mizzou!</p>
<p>Bookmom, if she can win the scholarships and bring down the costs to $11K -- that's not that much money if you factor in the savings of not having your daughter live at home, and if she also is willing to work to help pay her way. So before making a decision, be sure to factor in some of the areas where you might save. Here are some of the areas where my at-home costs have gone down:
1) I no longer give my daughter spending money as I did in high school -- I am expecting her to use her summer earnings and work study money, and so far she is doing o.k.
2) My daughter does not have a car at college - she had a car at home because she had to commute to from the burbs into the city for high school. So I gave away one car (to my son), and am functioning with one car -- less expenses overall.
3) Since my daughter is attending college in another state, I also took her off the car insurance.
4) My daughter had a separate health insurance policy from me (cheaper for me as a single parent to have multiple policies than a "family" policy). I found I saved a lot by buying the supplemental health insurance offered to students (only about $160/year) and then switching the main policy to a very high deductible plan.<br>
5) When she's away at college, I don't have to feed her at home, nor stock up on cosmetics (shampoo, etc.) for her. </p>
<p>Each family situation is different, but I think when you really start to tally up what you aren't paying, you might easily find several thousand in annual savings.</p>
<p>I'm having to worry about this right now.</p>
<p>MIT, Caltech (my dream schools)</p>
<p>or Georgia Tech (probably at least half paid)
or Nebraska (full ride)</p>
<p>It's sooo hard to decide. Luckily I still have some time. I want to major in math and physics, and I know that MIT and Caltech would be great places. Also, I want to get into a really good graduate program, and I don't want going to a school besides one of the elite to hurt my chances.</p>
<p>Im stuck in position similair to drunner. </p>
<p>I'm an International student who can afford full fees but I'm not filthily rich or anything. I'd like to do an Engineering major.</p>
<p>Right now I've got a UK offer from University College of London (UK) which is currently the school I would most like to go to (out of the schools Ive been accepted at).</p>
<p>I've also had acceptance from RPI, Purdue and Drexel. I've also been offered the Dean's Scholorship at Drexel ($16500 per year). I'm still waiting on Wisconsin - Madison, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UCSD and Michigan - Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>People have told me that using the current scholorship at Drexel I can try and get scholorships at other schools as well.</p>
<p>I'm confused as to what to do. My dream school now (rejected ED at Cornell) is either Berkeley, Michigan, UCL (UK), UCLA or Wisconsin-Madison in that order. I wouldn't mind going to RPI if I'm on a large scholorship. </p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Calmom, you bring up some great points on savings when the kid is not at home. With my boys, the food bill goes down, the hot water/electric bills go down, and the car bills go waaaay down. The car is the most significant savings. To commute, you generally need a car. A car is very, very expensive. If you are not in fixer upper mode, you need a safe, reliable car. I do not believe that is a luxery but something that should be up there in priorities. You need to maintain that car which means inspections, registration, tires, oil changes, etc. Unless you get a brand new car, those things can really add up, not only in money but in time and headaches. You then have insurance which is no small thing. You have gas, parking, tolls. If the kid is not careful, tickets. You have responsibility. A car is a major pain in the neck and a potential source of all kinds of trouble. Sending a kid off to college without a car, really reduces the chances of some true tragedies. The stats say that clearly. Also when your kid has a car, he is too often asked to do favors for others, often unwise ventures and it is very difficult to say, no. </p>
<p>I would weight the costs of the "away" in state school against the commuter school taking a fresh look at the cost of having her at home. With money very tight, none of us can be cavalier about $11K and that may well be the tipping point of your decision. I know a family whose daughter turned down Yale for a local commuter state school since she had her heart set on med school and did not want to rack up the loans before then. Worked in her case, but I know another young lady who accepted a UG/Med situation which was not the type of school she wanted but had the program, and was then in a school she hated when she changed her mind about med school. I tend to go for the fit now, but that is my personal bias. I feel that way cuz kids really do change their minds a lot over time, and better they get the best suited stuff now for them instead of trying to save it for later, when later may be a whole different story. And I am saying this as a mom who trying to figure out how to get something (LAC) for my kid without paying those prices which we are not in the position to afford either for a number of reasons that unfortunately trump my philosophy about all of this. </p>
<p>Wishing you a wonderful 2007. Once the decision is made, there'll be some clear sailing since your daughter will have a directed goal to reach, and you all will know what the challenges in that case will be. She sound like someone who will do fine regardless of the choice, but I know as a mom that you want the best possible one for her. Good luck, and keep us apprised, as many of us are in such similar situations.</p>
<p>drunner2007 - You have some very good questions and there is no easy answer. Free rides are great and will help both you and your parents out in the short run, but the long run may be a different story.</p>
<p>When you mention MIT and Cal Tech, you are talking about the 'Top Dogs' in Math and Physics. If you can get in there, it is obviously a great opportunity.</p>
<p>However, there are lots of very good math schools. Georgia Tech has a very good reputation. Having grown up in the midwest, I know schools like Illinois and Purdue have very good reputations. Cal-Berkeley, Texas, and quite a few others can also provide outstanding educations. Additionally, if you can get into MIT or Cal Tech, you can get into places like Amherst that would likely prepare you just as well and give you a different type of school experience.</p>
<p>I have friends who attended Nebraska in Biology, but I must say it does not have quite the reputation in math and physics. That isn't to say it couldn't work, but if you end up applying to grad school at MIT, for example, it would probably look better to have come out of Purdue (for example) than Nebraska, everything else equal.</p>
<p>I would contact or visit the schools and find out about how well and where they place their students in graduate programs. Professors often come from elite programs and have connections to them. </p>
<p>You also have to decide where you want to live for the next 4 years. Boston is quite different than Lincoln.</p>
<p>If you are good enough to get into MIT and CalTech, then find out about those programs as well as some good, lower-priced alternatives. If you keep up such outstanding work, you'll likely have a great college experience wherever you go and get into an outstanding grad school.</p>
<p>drunner2007 - You have some very good questions and there is no easy answer. Free rides are great and will help both you and your parents out in the short run, but the long run may be a different story.</p>
<p>When you mention MIT and Cal Tech, you are talking about the 'Top Dogs' in Math and Physics. If you can get in there, it is obviously a great opportunity.</p>
<p>However, there are lots of very good math schools. Georgia Tech has a very good reputation. Having grown up in the midwest, I know schools like Illinois and Purdue have very good reputations. Cal-Berkeley, Texas, and quite a few others can also provide outstanding educations. Additionally, if you can get into MIT or Cal Tech, you can get into places like Amherst that would likely prepare you just as well and give you a different type of school experience.</p>
<p>I have friends who attended Nebraska in Biology, but I must say it does not have quite the reputation in math and physics. That isn't to say it couldn't work, but if you end up applying to grad school at MIT, for example, it would probably look better to have come out of Purdue (for example) than Nebraska, everything else equal.</p>
<p>I would contact or visit the schools and find out about how well and where they place their students in graduate programs. Professors often come from elite programs and have connections to them. </p>
<p>You also have to decide where you want to live for the next 4 years. Boston is quite different than Lincoln.</p>
<p>If you are good enough to get into MIT and CalTech, then find out about those programs as well as some good, lower-priced alternatives. If you keep up such outstanding work, you'll likely have a great college experience wherever you go and get into an outstanding grad school.</p>
<p>^^^
thanks for the ideas. i'll keep them in mind.</p>