@jym626 - The daughter’s dad told me one thing, then a few days later the mother told me something else when I ran into her and neither of them knew that each had talked to me independently. So, for anyone out there who want to lie about these matters, run it by the spouse first!! 
Time article- title says it all........"My son was accepted to a College he can't afford- now what?"
<<<<
Also UVa and Chapel Hill have much higher entry requirements for OOS, the need based aid may be in fact quasi-merit aid.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
I realize that. I just wish that schools like UVA, UNC, and UMich would just call their OOS aid, “need-based merit” so then people wouldn’t necessarily expect the aid and it would be less confusing.
@TomSrOfBoston Yes, I know that the UCs have moved away from need-based for OOS. It’s about time. That said, even when they did provide, the grants themselves weren’t huge because OOS were expected to pay EFC + $23k …then add in full loans and WS. Really, only those who were Pell eligible or nearly Pell elligible saw much in grants. the formula was confusing so probably resulted in low yield.
<<<<
I hate to see these kinds of scenarios- the older kid gets to go OOS, then it suddenly dawns on the parents that the they need a cheaper option for the younger kid. I don’t
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Yes, in cases where the bank got broke so Child #1 could go where he wanted, but then younger child must “make do,” it is sad to see younger kids get stuck. However, in the featured family’s case, the older child went to UNC, so would have gotten aid there. The family was surprised when another OOS public didn’t follow suit. They didn’t realize that UNC is rather unique.
UVa doesn’t call it “need-based merit” because it’s not merit aid. Access UVa, the university’s financial aid program. is not a new program at all. It has been around since 2004 and is designed to help the university “admit prospective students based on merit and not ability to pay.” UVa also has had lots of fairly affluent IS and OOS students in the past and it is also helping to increase diversity . As a Virginian, I am glad to see UVa focus its efforts primarily on need based aid. The Jefferson Scholars Foundation is a an alumni type group that does provide about 30 merit type scholarships a year but that program is not administered through UVa or connected to its admissions office… Admissions to UVa is need blind. https://news.virginia.edu/content/board-visitors-reauthorizes-acclaimed-accessuva-financial-aid-program
There really didn’t seem to be any reason for them to be that “surprised” by anything regarding the University of Wisconsin and their financial aid. They just needed to do their homework. They may very well have known that UNC was one of the only schools that meets full need for OOS students, who knows. That could have been one of the reasons they targeted UNC as an OOS family.
I still can’t get past the mother’s over-ths-top behavior here. You’d think her kid was going to prison rather than than to college.
This article tells me a whole lot more about the author and her husband than she probably intended to convey. I feel bad for the son and wonder if she asked him if she could write about his experience.
Yes, Even the title seems strange- She says My son was accepted to a college that “HE” can’t afford. I also felt bad for the kid whose dad wrote the book a few years ago about his kid having to settle for “Big State U.” Crazy U I think.
^^^ Didn’t “Big State U” turn out to be UVA? That author was such a twit.
“I still can’t get over the mother’s over the top behavior here. You’d think her kid was going to prison rather than to college.”
Agreed. A good editor would have put a red line through that entire passage. All it does is make the author sound like a nitwit. Well, actually the entire article makes the author sound like a nitwit.
Just out of curiosity . . . does the tendency of NJ residents to (want to) snub NJ schools extend to to Princeton? I’ve heard it’s a pretty good school.
@sevmom Yes! I also thought that the title seemed odd. Unless the parents had a 0 EFC, which it doesn’t sound like it, why would she word it like that?
And, yes, I know that UVA doesn’t call it need-based merit aid for OOS students, and has had their policy for awhile. That wasn’t my point. I was just saying that I wished schools like UVA, UNC, and UMich would describe their OOS need-based aid that way. The fact is, it is hard for an OOS student to get into those schools, so the need-based aid that they’re getting essentially has a merit aspect to it. And, it should be clear what is funding that aid (not VA, NC or Mich taxpayers). It would help diffuse the expectation that other OOS publics will provide need-based aid.
Providing need-based merit would not at all change a school’s mission to admit w/o concern of need. Need would still be met. (BTW…most schools are need-blind.) As a Virginian, you may be happy that the school focuses on “meeting need,” but I imagine that most Virginians prefer that OOS students’ need is being met with endowment dollars, and not tax dollars.
“But it doesn’t feel like a luxury to my kids, who have grown up in an affluent community among competitive kids.” Oh please! This author lives in a community so wealthy they won’t allow my Kia to enter it. Move out of the affluent community and send your kid to the college of his dreams. Commute from Newark and stop grumbling, is my suggestion to the author.
Rutgers loathing by NJ residents reminds me of Groucho Marx:
In fairness, newspaper and magazine authors don’t often get to write their own headlines.
@millie210 No, Princeton is exempt from the loathing of New Jerseyites.
But otherwise NJ is lacking in prestigious schools. Rutgers is a good but not top state flagship. The top Catholic school is Seton Hall which is not that well regarded. The top Jesuit school is tiny St. Peters which few have ever heard of. There are no selective LAC’s in the state either.
On the other hand there are many here on CC who claim that the College of New Jersey (née Trenton State College) is a top national school.
OOS kids to UVa are being funded by philanthropy, federal grants , institutional resources, loans and outside scholarships. So, I don’t think taxpayers need to worry about much, if any of their money funding a bunch of OOS students. UVa has had lots of OOS students for decades( usually about 28 or 30 % or so) . More taxpayers are probably more concerned about the number of OOS students that are admitted rather than the amount of money they are getting once they do get in. There are some taxpayers that do feel that more seats should be reserved for instate kids at our state schools, like UVa, W & M, and Virginia Tech.
Need based aid is not merit aid. Lots of schools give only need based aid. I don’t think UVa 's or UNC’s position is confusing about meeting need. I think each state’s and schools positions should be fairly clear if any research is done about the policies. These are highly educated parents . If they did not bother to figure out Wisconsin’s policies or know whether or not they would be getting any aid before they started telling everyone their kid was going to be a Badger, that’s on them.
Yes, @Joblue ,Crazy U was about UVa.
Tcnj is equivalent to Rutgers at the undergraduate level. It was repositioned thus a few years ago and it’s been quite successful.
(who cares what it was called before it became the state’s honors college/lac?)
Better than Seton Hall, there’s Drew.
What percentage of Rutgers students are domestic out of state?
Drew U. used to be a well regarded LAC in the area, but seems to have slipped quite a bit in the past 6 or 7 years, or maybe even before that. I think TCNJ siphoned off some of Drew’s demographic, at a lower price point, and Drew itself had had quite a bit of management issues. They heavily discount tuition, but are unable to attract the type of student body that they once did. So they lowered their standards for admission, which is like a sinking ship taking in more water.