<p>I'm concerned we've been unrealistic in the schools D applied to. It's so hard to know what type of scholarship is out there until the offers roll in. I've created a spreadsheet with D's colleges - cost of tuition and books, less scholarships, less loans, and am still coming up with a gap. She's been accepted at every school where she applied - Honors Program included, with the exception of Wash U where she's been wait-listed.
She scored a 33 on her ACT - so we targeted schools we thought would reward with fairly good scholarship. Unfortunately - when I add everything up - these schools are just coming up too expensive (the exception being Alabama).</p>
<h2>I'm interested in any advice for those of you who may have been in my shoes.</h2>
<h2>Alabama - full tuition and definitely the most affordable for us. The problem is D really doesn't want to be 15 hours from home, and the school is much bigger than she wants (she agreed to apply because of the generous scholarship). I admit - I hate to see her that far from home, too.</h2>
<h2>Rhodes College in Memphis; Loyola in Chicago and Miami U in OH - all awarded nice scholarship but still about a $15K gap (calculating in transportation, personal expenses, etc)</h2>
<h2>D is interested in medicine - so we tried to focus on schools that had good pre-med counseling, connections with hospitals, etc.</h2>
<h2>We still don't have the 'final, final' from Miami U - but give the awards from Rhodes and Loyola - I'm guess it will be a similar outcome. </h2>
<p>Are there some affordable options we should consider - other than the obvious in-state, state schools that she's not that interested in?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what schools you should look at. But my concern for your D is that it’s pretty late to be applying to colleges now. I would think most scholarship deadlines have past.</p>
<p>Could you be more specific about what you mean when you say there is a $15K gap? Within the context of your sentence, it almost seems like you mean the $15K is what you would have to pay. Or did you mean it is the gap between what you are willing to pay and what your D has been awarded?</p>
<p>Tulane $38,000
U MN $25,000
Arizona State U $24,000
Montana State U $21,000
Iowa State $12,500 (in state)</p>
<p>He ended up choosing Iowa State. We felt that Tulane clearly was not worth the money and not really affordable for us anyway. The others were within our budget. He chose Iowa State and the savings will be used to fund a semester abroad, summer abroad experiences such as an archaeological dig in Greece, etc. </p>
<p>There are probably some small Midwest LACs that wold come in at a price similar to Bama but I would stick with Bama.</p>
<p>We knew that even if Son received a big merit scholarship from a private, say $20,000 from a list price of $55,000 still leaves a balance of $35,000…not something we could afford to pay even tough it is less than our EFC. We didn’t even bother.</p>
<p>Well, IL is one of those states where the state universities give poor financial aid to in-state students (so is PA). Students living in places like NC, FL, WA, VA, CA, and MI are likely to find better in-state financial aid (at least at their flagships).</p>
<p>What is the net price for each school after deducting scholarships and financial aid grants (not loans) from the list price? How does that compare with the AFC (actual family contribution) and ASC (actual student contribution) that you and she are able and willing to put in?</p>
<p>A realistic ASC is likely to be no more than $8,500 per year (Stafford loan + some work earnings), but preferably less to allow for some buffer against unforeseen expenses, and especially if expensive medical school is under consideration.</p>
<p>As discussed in the thread on CC vs. Gap Year, your daughter may be one of those for whom a gap year and applying to a new list is the best option. If your family can’t come up with the extra $15k each year for four years, and Alabama doesn’t look so good to your daughter, then re-visiting the lists of good merit-aid institutions might be just the ticket. Ask her how she feels about that.</p>
<p>I know you’ve made your own spreadsheet, so you might not need this calculator. I like it because it has lines for all the various loans and will run those numbers for you as well: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>
<p>Did any of the colleges offer you loans as part of their FA offer? Or did your D only receive scholarships? You could try sending letters of appeal to the FA offices, giving detailed information about additional expenses your family has or will encounter that may not have been taken into account by the FA office. Just remember- you musn’t use or mention the word “negotiate” - you are appealing their generous offer. period.
In those letters you should mention the U of A scholarship-it may nudge them to make a more generous offer, depending on their FA policies, how much $$ they still have available in their budget, and how much they want your DD.
The best scenario would be to first send a letter, then meet with the FA officers while your D is visiting the colleges in April.</p>
<p>blueslipper, it sounds like your D is a strong student based on her acceptances (even WL at Wash U is an accomplishment), scholarships, and scores. Good students can bloom where they are planted. Does the Alabama scholarship mean that your D could afford to come home more often, study abroad, join a sorority, or do anything else that she might enjoy but otherwise not be able to afford? Does she have extracurricular interests she could pursue at Alabama that would help her find a niche and make it seem smaller? Is she the kind of kid who will seek out profs at office hours to develop connections even though the class size may be quite large?</p>
<p>From your OP, it sounds like she has been accepted to their Honors Program, which is a very different experience. If med school is in her future, minimizing undergrad costs is critical.</p>
<p>“Thou shalt love thy financial safety” should be printed in big letters on the Common App and repeated as a mantra at every high school conference/college counseling meeting.</p>
<p>Alabama - full tuition and definitely the most affordable for us. The problem is D really doesn’t want to be 15 hours from home, and the school is much bigger than she wants (she agreed to apply because of the generous scholarship). I admit - I hate to see her that far from home, too.</p>
<p>Bama isn’t that much further than Rhodes, especially by plane. </p>
<p>Bama is a large campus, but it’s laid out well. Courses within one’s major are in bldgs that are clustered near each other. If she’s coming in with AP credits, then she won’t even have to deal with many Core classes. What AP credits will she ahve.</p>
<p>What is her major. I know she’s premed, but what major?</p>
<p>What is YOUR goal net cost after scholarships?</p>
<h2>Thanks for all the good suggestions. $15K is the gap we need to fund (which doesn’t count any student loans she qualified for - so the debt would actually be higher than $15K/year). </h2>
<h2>I think she’s going to have to seriously consider Alabama. She does have a strong desire to travel abroad for a semester - so the point is well taken about accepting a school within our means.</h2>
<h2>Menloparkmom - your suggestion about sending letters of appeal - do schools actually increase their offers? </h2>
<h2>Mom2collegekids - Right now D thinks her major might be biology - or something in the sciences. </h2>
<p>ucbalumnus - you’re right - not great financial aid for IL state schools for what D is interested in.</p>
<p>yes they can and do- but they usually need to base the increased financial aid [ not scholarship$, though in truth, it all comes from the same pot] on changes in circumstances, or on additional financial information that you provide them that was not included in the FA application- additional medical expenses, cost of supporting an elderly parent, loss of job, etc, etc.
So do an comprehensive annual cost of living expense sheet for your family and send it to them with a letter of appeal. It cant hurt.</p>
<p>blueslipper - We are in the same position (some days).</p>
<p>DS got into Bama with a generous scholarship. The size is intimidating to him. </p>
<p>He also got into Rhodes with merit, Pitzer with their highest merit, etc.
He went into the process thinking Bama was the best safety option, but never really believing he would need to take it. The more we parents discovered, the more we thought Bama had much to offer above the financial issues.</p>
<p>We sat down and looked at the courses he could take in both his desired major and honors college. We looked at the number of students in each class. We then compared it to 2 other schools, including Rhodes. Bama did not come out on top, but it is very close.</p>
<p>I considered appealing FA, but most of the schools came in at the same band and I don’t think an appeal would yield an amount we are comfortable with. </p>
<p>A Gap Year may be a great idea. For our family, it won’t work. At the end of the year, out finances will still look the same and simply put, it is irresponsible of us to turn down the gift Bama is offering. As a parent it is heart breaking to not be able to meet all his desires, but we are doing what is best for all of our family members. </p>
<p>Good luck. It is a very emotional charged period of our lives.</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP can afford (AFC + ASC) $15,000, but the more expensive schools have a net price of $30,000, leaving a gap of $15,000 over what they can afford.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the comments and a few private messages - all very helpful!<br>
Mathmomvt - on the surface you would think it all breaks down to even out - but once I got my spreadsheet going - and couple of thousand more here and there on the details and it really added up to a significant difference.<br>
With twins starting college this year and a third coming up in two years - I need to be realistic.
I’ve seen enough posts on here that describe how awful it is when college junior year rolls around and students can no longer afford the tuition to graduate from their dream school. I want to make sure D can finish up where she starts.</p>
<p>If it’s coming down to a thousand here and a thousand there, you might want to take into account the American Opportunity Credit. If your child has a full tuition scholarship (that can only be applied to tuition explicitly) then you can only take the credit on the cost of books and required supplies (not room and board). At other schools you might qualify for the full $2500 credit.</p>
<p>Does a ten month payment plan help you out?
We have been paying that way for all four children since 2003, and not done yet.
Some years we put have put down a large chunk of cash like 3k or so, then enrolled in the 10 month payment plan. It reduced the amount of the payments. Occasionally schools have offered the 12 month payment plan, that you have to jump on and start paying right away, if you want to take advantage of that.</p>
<p>Most schools offer the ten month payment plan with Tuition Management Systems or similar setup.
I know what you mean, though, to me I have always viewed $1,000 as $100/month for 10 months and $2,000 would be $200/month etc.</p>
<p>OP, is the $15K <em>in addition</em> to the estimated family contribution? (i.e., your EFC is $10,000 and the school says they want you to pay $25K? Or is your EFC $12,000 and the school wants you to pay $15K?) Am still not clear on that.</p>