Co-term is basically the same as a Master’s degree. I am not aware of needs based financial aid for co-term in the same way as is given for undergraduates. There are plenty of scholarship funds available for research projects and stipends working as an assistant to a professor.
@nw2this , my son received generous need-based aid as an undergraduate, but for his co-term had to find his own funding, since as @googledrone rightly notes, there is no need-based aid for graduate students, unless you count loans. As a Computer Science student, he was able to find a half-time research assistantship to pay for half, and then a scholarship to pay for the remainder. If he hadn’t gotten the scholarship, he probably could have gotten a half-time teaching assistantship to make up the difference. I was relieved that he came up with the funding–we wouldn’t have been able to help him much financially since his younger sister started college this year.
@bwaygirl1 When I reserved, they asked for the number of people staying and I put down 2 because our kid will be staying with Room Host after first night. Putting down 3 was more money. That’s why. Lol Seems like there is a campus bus or hotel shuttle to take you back and forth from main area of campus. Believe it or not, Guest House was cheaper than private hotels nearby.
I thought Stanford Guest House would be full for the Admit Weekend days but surprisingly, some rooms were available, so I quickly reserved the room. One of the benefits of getting accepted by Stanford via REA I guess because I am sure there will be no rooms as the Admit Weekend approaches. May not attend Stanford next year though because our kid might take a gap year and defer enrollment. There is also a very slight chance, something like 0.1% chance, that my kid will decide to attend some far away state college on a full ride scholarship.
One thing I noticed: Dorms at these cheaper public colleges seem WAY BETTER than Stanford dorms. Maybe food also. I was telling my wife “Stanford should have better dorms for the amount of money they charge.”
I’ve stayed at the Stanford Guest House and it should be no problem for your son to stay there the first night. The room I stayed in was easily the smallest hotel room I’ve ever had, so if you are counting on floor space for him, that may not work!
It is a several minute drive from the GH to the main part of campus where most of the prospies stay, FYI.
All that land. And they can’t make bigger rooms? Lol
My kid will be making his decision to attend Stanford right after Admit Weekend. The reason is if he ends up not liking Stanford after the Admit Weekend for some reason – which I don’t think will be the case – he can choose UCLA, UC Berkeley (if he gets in) or a Honors College at some public school.
What are some Parents activities that are worth going to or you found to be helpful during the Admit Weekend? Also, do we need to bring some kind of sleeping bag for our kid if he chooses to stay with a Room Host on campus (which he will)? I guess what I am asking is is there any special items we need to bring other than the essentials you take on any short trip? We plan to drive up. Thanks in advance to more experienced Stanford parents.
Gotta go to all of them, @websensation! It’s a good way to get in your cardio for the weekend…
In truth you need to go, and can only accommodate into your schedule, the presentations which are high on your list of ‘must knows.’ I think for me the most informative presentations were the ones on study abroad and some engineering support/engineering program opportunities. For study abroad, a small panel of students who have successfully navigated multiple study abroad experiences, as well as faculty, will be there to offer up information on how students make this work.
One thing you should try to plan out ahead of time is which dorm facility you would like to stroll through when the students open up their rooms and parents are given guided tours. You absolutely do not want to linger through the last moments of any musical/performance presentation (such as the band’s heralded arrival; will really be a big deal if suspension is broken just for you guys) before you break from the crowd and determine which of the dorms you’d like to visit. You should be able to see dorms on two separate days, which allows you to start out really early on your second day and make it to the third dorm (if you choose) that you may not have gotten to when it was the chief event of the day.
One important thing as well, when they give you a time for the president’s address to the parents, get there 15 minutes early. Seems like nothing, but you would be surprised. I made it in, but my daughter and plenty of others had to go to an overflow room where they only listened to the address. The moment when the president and department heads and other administration address the parents and families is such a big-crowd, funny, bonding experience. People are really on their best toward each other in that moment.
Thanks for the above recommendations. Do we have to bring a sleeping bag for our kid if he intends to stay with a Room Host?
Popping in to wave hello. My D17 was accepted REA to Stanford, and we will be attending admit weekend. I also work for Stanford although I live out of state. I make regular trips back to spend time at my office, so I’ve stayed at my fair share of way-less-than-fancy hotels up and down El Camino Real. I’ve also stayed at the Guest House, which is nice but it’s on the SLAC campus which is a few minutes drive from the main campus. I’m not sure about the shuttle situation. Your car has to be waved in by their security guys after explaining where you’re going and sometimes showing ID, which may or may not be a big deal for some. It is true that the room that I stayed in was extremely small, and probably no floor space for an extra person unless you get pretty creative.
Palo Alto area is crazy expensive. Hotel rooms that might be less than $100/night elsewhere will be $200 plus. And they are often pretty run down. So don’t be surprised. I’ve never found a way around it, other than to stay quite a bit farther away. Mountain View is sometimes an option, or even further south. Anyway, I’m happy to try to give advice about the area.
@websensation I don’t know about the sleeping bag, but I would guess so. Online registration opens on Feb. 1, I think. I expect they’ll give more information then.
@picklesarenice Tx for info. I will wait for additional info. One more question regarding Cardinal Care Health Insurance. If our son is covered under our Obamacare Health Insurance and we “waive” Cardinal Care coverage, if our kid has health issue, can he still use health staff at Stanford’s Cardinal Care site for money? Do they take other insurances? How does that work? I have to decide which route is cheaper.
@websensation You will want to bring a sleeping bag, this is the norm. Some student hosts may be able to provide sleeping bags for those who forget/didn’t bring them, but I’d recommend just bringing his own.
Access to Vaden Health Center is free to all students, and basic services including first aid, medical appointments, and mental health appointments is all free as part of the small mandatory Campus Health Fee that is rolled into the tuition. Vaden’s new director is trying to restructure things this year, so it’s possible things will change for the better with more services being available at no further cost. See here for details: https://vaden.stanford.edu/insurance/health-insurance-overview/insurance-vs-campus-health-service-fee
Given what happened at Columbia University (see below link), I would like to ask: is Stanford’s Vaden Health Center good about making appointments for depression/stress and supporting students who might get stressed? To be honest, one reason our kid likes Stanford over other high-ranked colleges is because of his impression that Stanford seems to have the system and staff to be supportive of their students and because he heard that the culture at Stanford is to encourage students to collaborate with each other and not compete with each other. Not sure how true this is but that’s what our kid heard and liked that quality about Stanford. Our kid is a type who likes to work with other kids on a project and give and receive “feely-good” working together feelings. I would like to think Stanford saw this quality and that’s why they admitted him – but who knows.
http://nypost.com/2017/02/02/suicide-wave-grips-columbia/
We already told our kid to get enough sleep if he goes to Stanford and don’t focus so much on grades and get involved in other activities.
@websensation Stanford is no different from most of the other colleges in support for depression. They have had their own problems with suicide recently http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/01/25/a-letter-to-stanford-radical-vulnerability/
I read the article. I am actually impressed by Stanford allowing the student to return to school after allowing the student to take some time off.
Anyway, starting today, I told my kid he can put Stanford University sticker on his/my 7 year old car; and my wife also put a Stanford University sticker on her car. I cannot and don’t want to think about college application again. At least, I am done with the undergrad college application and admission process.
Full pay w/o financial aid. Non-stem major. But I am in. I figure 5 or 6 Mercedes Benz are not too much to give my kid a great education and a great environment to learn from profs and other students. And I never bought and drove Benz in my life. Lol
Now, I have to return to working to make more money to buy me a Benz.
Now that we finally made the decision to attend Stanford, I would like to (and would be grateful) hear from Stanford parents whose kids graduated from undergrad with International Relations and/or East Asian Studies major(s). How was their experience and what are they doing? Any advice?
websensation:
Your impression of Stanford is spot on. In truth I actually don’t think Stanford Profs teach/instruct better than other profs in other schools but the student body is spectacular. Its what sets Stanford apart from all the rest. The students are all fairly self motivated but not competitive. On the contrary they are extremely inclusive and collaborative. I’m from the northeast. I’m just naturally suspect of people who are willingly helpful. So when my S would say things like “Stephanie is going to recommend me for an internship at the company she is working at.” or “Tom came by to help me with my CS program because he heard I was struggling.” I was shocked. Why would these kids be so giving. Thats not normal. Aren’t they suppose to worry that if they give someone something that it could come back and bit them in the butt? Aren’t they worried that their help could make my S do better than them? NOPE!!! That never happened. Students really help one another. It was truly amazing. I have never seem so much camaraderie, and decency in my life. What I realized is that they are all so brilliant and confident that there was no need to compete. They know they will all make it and if anything, they will actually make it together. This atmosphere is what set Stanford apart from the rest. (I had heard stories of some kids at some of the Ivies that would tear out pages from the library reference books, just so that other students couldn’t get the information…that in nonexistent at Stanford!)
Lastly, you mention the Benz analogy. When we visited for admit weekend, a bunch of the parents, who were evidently full pay like us, said that this education was like buying a new Benz and driving it off a cliff every year. Then buying another one and doing it again for four years. I laughed at the time, because I too, had never owned a Benz but all I can say is that it was absolutely worth it!!!
Congrats!
Oh one more thing…The other fantastic thing about Stanford are the alumni. My S joined a program ( I forget what it was called.) that paired him with an alumnus in the SF area. He did this for two years. These people would come to the school several times a year. They would meet with my S, buy him lunch and talk about anything that the my S wanted to discuss (School work, jobs, internships, four year plans, etc). I remember in his freshman year he was particularly bummed with his grades. He had a B average and thought he would never succeed. His mentor was fantastic and made him realize that there were many ways to be a success and grades were not everything. He took my S under his wing and would email him and always make sure that S was feeling okay .
So there are programs like that at Stanford too. In addition, the RA’s are truly hand picked and trained to help kids. My S had a good friend who was an RA, the training was rigorous. And mental health issues were big on their list of responsibilities. They don’t take this job lightly. Lastly, you also have a professor and his/her family who are in the freshmen dorms. Again, our experience was fantastic. My S lived the prof’s spouse. He was a great guy who bonded with the kids in the dorm.
Stanford thinks of everything. It is truly a well oiled machine!
@Dungareedoll I am also wary of and do not believe all the hypes of HYPSM but I do believe that Stanford students are more collaborative. That did impress me. I also attended receptions sponsored by Stanford alumni, and prospective Stanford kids did seem like very nice, sociable kids. That also impressed me.
@Dungareedoll Thank you for the shout out to RAs 
That was easily one of my favorite parts of Stanford.
As for alumni help, don’t forget to mention how powerful this network is for internship/job/graduate school/professional school placement! I know of several cases with my friends where an alumnus/a pretty much single handedly secured such a position for a Stanford student. As you mentioned, Stanford cultivates a very generous and giving nature; combine that with how successful many Stanford graduates are, and you have a recipe for a very powerful alumni network.