UCF is a great school. $20K - sounds like a lot but yeah, it’s cheap!!! It’s just very big.
Much bigger than the others. But it’s great - and the weather is nicer. UTK is a good school - we are Tennesseans but my kids wouldn’t look there.
Truth is, get a degree, enjoy your experience, and it will all work out at any of these.
My son goes to Alabama and it was like $16K all in the first year. My daughter has the same deal but won’t go. So time to open the check book. We are all excited for our kids - but I do hope to retire one day
@CMP2003 Check UCF again. I am coming in with over 20k. Did your son receive more than 44k OOS? U of SC Honors is still in the running for us due to the possibility of more merit as stated in the acceptance letter.
Hey - we got this email for my son regarding the VIP. He went regular decision. Claimed the VIP ID with the same error noted above. But the language is slightly different I think in the original email:
"The financial aid office has received the results of your FAFSA. For our office to tell you more about your financial aid status, you must claim your VIP ID. It is important that you claim your VIP ID so that we can send communications to you. "
Yes. My son received the UCF Pegasus Silver Scholarship which brings our yearly OOS tuition to around $12,00/year. Plus, everyone recommended to not get the meal plan because most dorms have a full kitchen on each floor and we are getting my son a frig and microwave. So if we forgo the meal plan, we will pay around $18,000 a year. Even if we get the meal plan we still will only be paying around $23,000 a year. Right now U of SC is coming in around $32,000 OOS with the $10,000/year scholarship. I am not confident that he will be offered more merit at U of SC to make it financially feasible for us.
Good luck. Mines top choices are UofSC and UCF (waiting on FSU and Clemson still) but it’s does come down to $. UCF is a gorgeous school. We visited last month and walked around. Was shocked that it didn’t feel huge considering the size of the school. If UofSC gives her more money (we also got the “at least 10k“ letter) then it will make a big difference.
That’s exactly where we are. Loved the UCF campus and all the amenities it has to offer. But also love the U of SC campus. So for us, it is all about the money at this point. My son is a competitive fencer so that is also playing a big part in his decision. Did you put the housing deposit down for UCF? Even if your daughter ends up not going to UCF, you can get your money back. There is not enough housing for freshman so we did it just to be safe. Beat of luck to your daughter!
No. We didn’t put down any deposits. She’s going to make her final decision in March when she has all her acceptances and merit offers. She got a lot of money from WVU and Saint Joes making them both half the cost of UofSC right now. But she loves SC so much so we are really hoping she gets more money.
Think about the meal plan. Know kids that didn’t do the meal plan at other schools and it became a social issue since all the other kids did have it. When they were all having group meals in the commons, she wasn’t able to join like normal and ended up as a bad experience. Just a thought. Every situation is different.
Does anyone know if I can still apply to USC for regular decision? It says their credentials aren’t due till 2/1. I know I’m pushing it but I was just wondering if anyone knew if I still could.
Toured USC today and it felt so dreary and sad. The trees have no leaves and the buildings were so void of color. these visual things were the focus since we maybe passed 20 students in total. The campus felt void of all energy. I’m assuming this isn’t the case all the time…but how can these covid time kiddos feel a better sense to campus life when this is what they see in weekends. (I work so going during the week is hard)
We toured today as well and yes it was dreary because of the weather, but my daughter left the campus so excited and energized by everything she saw and heard on the tour. Just goes to show how everyone’s perceptions of the same things can be very different!
I have been 3x (D19 tour, D19 admitted students days, so both PRE-COVID and D21 tour recently). Yes, it felt very lively with D19, especially admitted students day (best of 3 we did). D19 both times were sunny and was especially beautiful in early April with everything in bloom.
D21 tour was rainy as well and university was not yet in session from Winter break, so very few people. It definitely felt different. However, the tour itself was great (only one we have been on that acknowledged students who were touring as admitted students) and moved UofSC up D21’s list. We are driving distance so D21 wants to go back and see it again in better weather to give it a fair comparison. All the other places we toured with D21 happened to be on sunny days with school in session.
We toured last Feb, before the Covid shutdown. It was a warm (for us northerners) 68 and sunny, and things were starting to bloom. Even though our tour guide was meh, D got a good feeling about the campus. She was admitted in Dec w/ merit (rec’d her free t-shirt today!) Waiting to hear from (and then hopefully visit) a few more schools, but among the schools she’s already been admitted to UofSC is probably her favorite.
We toured last Feb pre-Covid during week and the campus was very vibrant and alive. It was also a super sunny day. We toured UMass on a freezing cold day and totally turned off my son - but also convinced him he wanted a school in warmer climate. I would not judge school though during COVID times and during a weekend. We also did separate Business school tour which was very impressive.
Funny how the weather can make a difference like that. Covid, cold, and clouds can sure make for a bland visit though. If you can, try to go back again on a warmer weekday and I bet it will look a lot different. We have walked campuses before on holidays when everything is closed and it’s just not the same.
Funny thing is my D18 fell in love with her school on the coldest day in January, snow on the ground, many buildings closed no one on campus. Before that she swore she was going south. You can never tell what is going to feel right to them.
