<p>Basically I'm applying to a lot of really really expensive schools. Money is not exactly a huge issue but now that I am receiving information about schools I could go to essentially for free (or even practically pay me to go there) that aren't terrible schools I'm starting to rethink everything. My parents said that they will find a way to pay for me to go wherever I want but I feel so awful turning down free money to a perfectly acceptable college simply because I would rather go to the more prestigious and harder to get into therefore no scholarship school.
Can anybody help me justify spending the $200,000+ of my parents' money? or should I start applying to more "free" schools?</p>
<p>Sorry for the freaking out and I'm sure many people have much bigger problems but this is stressing me out like woah</p>
<p>Bethy, you sound like a great kid. I think the place to start is with your parents. You should have a serious talk about college and the costs they are willing to pay. I would suggest that you look at a variety of schools. You may find that one of those "free" or "close to free" schools is as much to your liking as some of the others. There is no question that there are some excellent colleges out there that offer terrific merit aid to students, and provide a fine education. Perhaps your parent would be willing to save that college "fund" for graduate studies at one of those "selective" schools. If that is the case, you could end up with the best of both worlds...an inexpensive undergrad experience that is still wonderful, and then grad school at that selective dream school. BUT one cautionary thing...look quickly. Some of these "free or close to free" applications need to be sent in ASAP. Please don't miss any deadlines. Good luck to you and let us know how it all goes!!</p>
<p>I'm in a similar situation, well actually kind of the opposite. My parents want me to go to the college that is not necessarily the most prestigous, but the best fit for me as long as the price is affordable (up to around 20-25K a year). There are a couple of schools I expect to get close to full rides to and personally I would feel far more satisfied by that accomplishment than just being another student at a more prestigous college.</p>
<p>As for the type of school you should be focusing on, I think it really depends on what type of college experience you want and what career you are going into. There are certain professions in which the school you go to plays a significant role in what type of jobs/salaries you will get and then there are others in which it plays virtually no role. If you have any idea of what type of field you want to get into, I and others can try to give more informed input on your personal situation. Specific school names might also help us understand your situation a bit better.</p>
<p>Why not also apply to prestigious colleges that also offer merit aid? If you have the stats to be an applicant to a place like HPYS, which don't offer merit aid, you may have decent chances of getting merit aid at places like Wash U, Grinnell, Emory and Wake Forest as well as top public universities like Wisconsin and Michigan.</p>
<p>northstarmom, i don't have the stats to be an applicant at hyps nor do i most likely have the stats to get merit aid to the places you listed</p>
<p>notthatgood4- i would like to go into engineering, but this is not definite so it's not a huge consideration for me in the process right now.
the expensive schools that i am looking at are schools like vanderbilt, wake forest, davidson, williams, brown, duke, georgia tech, pomona, and uva. these are all schools that i have applied to and while i have a small chance of getting into most of them, hopefully i will get into at least one as these are my top choices.
the "free" schools i'm looking at are schools that give full rides to national merit scholars. i don't know the full list but i think fordham, florida, and arizona are some of them. i really started thinking about it today when i recieved a certificate from alabama telling me i could go there for free and they would pay for my laptop, room and board, summer study plans, and 1000 additional a year. also i am being recruited by small D3 schools like rennselaer for tennis and although they don't give athletic scholarhips, the coaches have told me that there is a very good chance they could get me significant merit aid. all of this is hard to turn down because it would not be like i would be giving up the chance to go to harvard, just a school that i would really like to attend.</p>
<p>oh and notthatgood- i know exactly how you feel about that sense of satisfaction at getting a fullride somewhere. i would love that feeling to know that i am essentially paying for myself to go to college through my prior years of hard work.</p>
<p>Since you are a female NMS who's planning to go into engineering, you have a better than average chance of getting merit aid to engineering schools offering such aid. Females are underrepresented in the hard sciences.</p>
<p>And your stats couldn't be that bad if you are a NM finalist and are applying to places like Duke and Brown even as distant reach schools.</p>
<p>Being a recruitable female athlete also is a plus.</p>
<p>I'd think that you might have decent chances for merit aid at solid schools like Lehigh, U Wisconsin, and Rensaleer Polytechnic Institute.</p>
<p>A female engineering student who is a national merit finalist may be in line for at least a partial merit award at Vanderbilt. It all depends on the rest of your record, of course, but like most engineering schools, they would like to increase the number of females.</p>
<p>If you don't have the stats to get into HYPS, or merit at the lower tier schools that Northstarmom mentioned, you likely don't have the stats to get into Williams (the most selective LAC in the country) or Brown, another Ivy League school.</p>
<p>Have you visited any of the schools like Rensselaer that are offering you money? You may find that these are also "schools you'd like to attend". </p>
<p>The daughter of a poster named curmudgeon faced the same issues you face. She ultimately turned down Yale for a full ride at Rhodes College in Memphis. Search these boards for her story; it may help you.</p>
<p>Have you considered talking to your parents - maybe you could take the potential "free ride" to undergrad - and then you parents can help with grad school. Our guidance office suggests considering smaller, lesser known schools for full scholarships - then putting the big money into grad school.</p>
<p>I didn't read the other posts so they might have already answered your question. But I can tell you my situation.
I received a full ride (plus benefits) to UVA and UNC and turned both down to go to Yale. I don't regret my decision - I love Yale and can't imagine being anywhere else. It was definitely the right fit for me and I really do believe (though I'm sure some will disagree) that Yale is providing me with a better education and vastly more opportunities than I would had at one of my state schools.
That being said, you need to be prepared to deal with the financial repercussions of your decision. I am not receiving any financial aid and paying for college is proving to be extremely, extremely difficult. I know also that I will undoubtedly end up with a great deal of debt. I believe it's worth it, but you should be very, very sure before you choose the more expensive school.</p>
<p>I am in the exact situation except the money is in a trust fund from my grandpa. If I were to go to one of the more prestegious schools like you are talking about, I would end up blowing the entire thing and have nothing but a degree to show for it. I am applying to only schools that I can get good merit from. I advise you to do the same. Think about your parents. They should not have to have such a huge burden(200,000$) for prestige. Don't fall for the lies of debt. If you can graduate from college debt free you will be so much further than any of those kids going to prestegious schools with large amounts of debt.</p>
<p>Maybe the first question to ask yourself is Post grad studies in the mix? </p>
<p>Lot's of money for undergrad floating around, very little for post grad. </p>
<p>Next, what kind of campus do you seek? Big? Small? somewhere inbetween? How far away do you want to travel? Off campus life? While it is important to study, it is doubly important to go where your free time can be spent (cheaply of course) having a great experience.</p>
<p>Work from what you want first and combine that with what you'll be offered. If you are a NMF, the pot is very sweet, even at schools that supposedly don't do much for NMF. Believe me, they find a way. There's an old saying that goes like this..."as long as the check clears." If someone else besides you or your parents wants to pay for your education... sweet.. there are people here who put that down and for the life of me, I can't understand that.</p>
<p>The reason? I truly believe the student makes the experience. A good student is a good student, anywhere.... If you want to pay for it fine, if you want someone else to pay for it, that's good too... where ever you go just kick butt... Your education is what you make of it. It isn't like a purse, clothes or a car.. You can make yourself anywhere...</p>
<p>Worry about it when all your acceptances and financial offers are in hand. You're way ahead of yourself. Put together a good balanced list of schools to apply to and wait and see what happens.</p>
<p>My Daughter was in the exact same situation last year--she was accepted to a very prestigeous college in New York City that she had heard many exciting things about. Being a NMF, she also received some wonderful merit scholarships to some fine universities throughout the country. It would have cost us about $45,000/year. She was not exactly sure of what she wanted to major in, but she knew that whatever it was in, there would be either law school or post-grad school later on. If we used all of our savings and dug deep into our pockets and borrowed a lot, we could send her for undergrad. but the rest would be up to her. She was confused and torn, but after additional visits, she decided on the Honors college at our state university, where she received full tuition and half room and board--with great dorms and pre-registration for classes. We wanted her to make her own decision, but she has told us several times how relieved she is not to be under the pressure having to look at loans for years to come. She is incredibly happy, and is exploring many interesting majors without the worry about spending all of our savings--she knows that there will be money for grad school when she knows exactly what she wants to do. She has the opportunity for studies abroad and internships in every major city in the world--all at a fraction of the cost of many other schools--and even though she is at a large school, all of her classes have been less than 25 students. One word of caution, however--there was a lot of pressure put on her by guidance counselors and other students all during her senior year to go for the big name school because it made their high school look good, so it was hard for her to make her decision, but all those people weren't paying for it--and as I said before, she has been SO Happy with her choice.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your suggestions and I looked up curmedgeons story like chedva and basically stalked her on here because her daughter's situation was similar and she had a lot of good thoughts on it too in case if anyone else needs help. oh and chedva i know i will probably not get into brown or williams or even duke for that matter but those have just always been kind of distant reaches that i would love to go to soo i'm applying and just basically ready to accept the rejection which is why i probably am not a candidate for hyps. in terms of visiting i am going up to rennselaer for an overnight with the tennis team in a couple of weeks and will visit florida over winter break. </p>
<p>collegeprep- i looked at rice but i really just don't think i would like texas (no offense to anyone from texas..)</p>
<p>i talked to my parents some more about the financial matters and its really just a weird situation. basically they CAN pay for me to go to whatever college and probs even grad school too its just a big expense that is basically unneccessary if i can go to school for free especially considering i still have two little brothers too.. and then if i go to a "free" school money will not be an issue at all.</p>
<p>opie- i really like your point about making yourself anywhere.. that's the philosophy i am trying to go by but its difficult with everyone so prestige oriented</p>