<p>Is anyone else doing this? Are we alone in the world?
$20,000 yr. we will do, just FORGET $40,000. And no discussion of need here.</p>
<p>We're in the same boat. My husband is an accountant and has painstakingly calculated what we can afford and it is lower than what our EFC is. Our son has already received generous merit offers from lower tier schools and he will likely attend one of them. I keep hearing you get out of college what you put in to it, so hopefully he will get as good an education.</p>
<p>I think it's a great question. My son is a junior, but I can already see that issue coming. I can see the choice coming down to University of Michigan vs. Michigan State, where State is $10,000 less. I don't think State is that much of drop in quality, so it might be easy. I hate to think of it as "selling out" though. Parental guilt, guilt, guilt.</p>
<p>We just got another letter from our state flagship: since my daughter is NMSF, our net costs for tuition, room, board and computer allowance would be 11K total for ALL FOUR YEARS! Very tempting, considering that figure would cover about half a semester at her top choices (no need based aid possible).</p>
<p>I mean, there is plenty opportunity to attend an Ivy grad school later.I know many local kids, well they are no longer kids, who have done this.I feel like we are being sensible.And the honors colleges at many colleges are good.
Now my husband is more preoccupied with tiers, ranking, etc. but I know, hands down, in the end he would rather pay $20,000 than $40. We worked HARD ours lives, those long hours when neighborhood guys are having their beers in their driveways and gossiping, and we are being taxed to the hilt. And multiple kids just don't figure in when the ivies calculate aid.We have done the math too.</p>
<p>Oh, ours is a sad story!.........</p>
<p>I have a friend from Great Britan who says that, in his opinion, Americans worry far to much about undergraduate studies. He believes that there are myriad great options for undergrad, and that the money should be spent on the best grad school. In the end, if you are going to grad school, that is where reptuation really matters. He's a very successful fund manager who has his advanced degree from London School of Economics. </p>
<p>Makes sense/cents to me.</p>
<p>That's so incredible audiophile! Congrats, you must be SO proud!</p>
<p>Don't feel too guilty. My son wanted to attend an expensive private school (he's a freshman) and the financial aid just wasn't there. Also, our EFC was ridiculous and we made a financially responsible decision to go with the money at a public school. I also felt alot of guilt at the time and thought that I failed my son be being just too darned middle class. But, after one semester, he has met some outstanding people , is very happy and making all A's. Now I just feel anger at how we were treated by the private school and I'm really happy that we all didn't go into huge debt for him to attend a college that really didn't care about him anyway (at least not enough to make attendance feasible).</p>
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That's so incredible audiophile! Congrats, you must be SO proud!
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<p>Thanks! We are. She hasn't received an offer of admission yet (decisions late February), but it ~should~ be a safety since they so heavily recruit NMSFs.</p>
<p>I don't see that as selling out. If the money makes the college a place that your kid would love attending and would thrive academically and socially, then that's not selling out, that's picking the best choice.</p>
<p>IMO selling out is doing something that's against one's values. I don't see that happening here.</p>
<p>go5870:But I understand both sides of the issure. Go to a better undergrad program so you confront real competition early and are prepared to go to an excellent grad or professional program so you can suceed at the top level there and then graduate into the best and highest paid jobs in America. But SO much depends upon consisitent stellar quality. It's pressure.</p>
<p>Sorry about the run on sentence. Did not edit.</p>
<p>With four kids we're going to be casting a very wide net for merit aid. I don't see it as selling out, I see it as taking advantage of talent/hard work. </p>
<p>My father went from a school which gives out full rides for NMF to Yale Law School. That was back in the 60's but it can be done. </p>
<p>We do qualify for some need aid despite being high income. Family size plays a part in the EFC calculators. There's still a gap of about $10,000 per year though between EFC and what I think we can afford. That's where it gets complicated. We may do better at top tier schools who give slightly more generous definitions of need than merit schools who give a mixed package with more loans. I don't think there are all that many full rides out there, but a deep discount would be welcome. It's all so complicated.</p>
<p>That's really wonderful financial news, audiophile! </p>
<p>I'm staring down some incredible costs in a few years (son's in 9th grade, we've not saved nearly enough--a pittance, it seems, in light of costs..).</p>
<p>Just curious, if I might, what goes into a National Merit Scholarship Finalist? Um, would be great to try for that (son tests well.....). </p>
<p>Thank you for any ideas..! :-) :-)</p>
<p>Jolynne,</p>
<p>It's 99.9% dependent on Junior year PSATs. Many schools offer significant scholarships based on this. It gives them bragging rights. University of Florida promotes that it is second only to Harvard in number of NM finalists. They achieve that by recruiting them as they would a top quarterback (maybe not quite, but one can dream ;))</p>
<p>Educate yourself about NMF and start preparing your child for the test NOW. The colleges that give rewards for NMS are not the top tier, because there are so many of them represented there!</p>
<p>Audiophile--really??? I had no idea, I thought the PSAT was just for that (measly, in my mind!) $2500 NM scholarship! </p>
<p>Wow. Son took the SAT last June & did pretty well, plus did okay on SSAT. Definitely worth putting some study time in to the PSAT. I wonder if you need a perfect score for NMF. </p>
<p>Appreciate the info. Hope your daughter gets an offer! :-)</p>
<p>Educate yourself about NMF and start preparing your child for the test NOW. If you and your student take an aggressive study approach with pretests and study he may do well and this will make a big difference as to merit aid from many colleges.However, the colleges that give rewards for NMS are not the top tier, because there are so many kids of this caliber represented there!</p>
<p>backhandgrip---oh, I didn't realize about the 'non-top-tier' schools being the ones only that offer aid based on NMF. Who knows where things will be in a few years (son's in 9th grade -- hoping for the best, we'll see how grades/ECs go...). </p>
<p>Great, great to have a possibility re: aid though. That makes me feel a bit better. Funny, one of son's good friends' mom had him studying last summer for the PSAT. I had son join in (figured it couldn't hurt...) but now I understand her motivation better!! :-)</p>
<p>The cut off varies by state, but far from perfect scores. My daughter would have qualified by her sophomore score, but it doesn't count. I was hoping for her to do at least as well Junior year, and she went up a few points. Here's the link for more info: <a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.php</a>
I think the $2500 is from the NM corporation, but there are several schools which give $25K or more. If you do a search on CC, there is a list somewhere.</p>