That is too bad. Your son sounds like a great kid and combine that with his great options and he has the perfect formula for an amazing college experience.
@MrsFrenzy-the OOS tuition at Mn is about $21,000 and room and board around $8,000. Where does your $42K figure come from?
If you look back the 42k was for U of Iowa.
Oops. I must have read it wrong.
I admit it. I’m a parent and wasn’t paying attention. Yes, I am horrible, but please help, I have no clue about this stuff.
My daughter, a MN PSEO student, will be graduating from a MN community college with an AA in math two weeks before she graduates high school.
She is accepted to CSE (not sure if this is a big deal or not). I think she has done a really good job, but I’m not sure it puts her into rock star territory (she’s good at math though… took all the calcs, diffy q, vector/matrices, stats, etc). She gets As in her college courses.
So, we were looking at the financial aid statement and I pretty much had a heart attack. No merit, all non subsidized loans with parent PLUS covering the majority of the costs. She has grades that put her in the top 10% (or better) of her HS I think. ACT is decent, but not spectacular. The efaan part looks like it is still in step “3” which I take means it is not final.
Financially, my income took a jump in the recent couple years (making it appear we are better off that we actually are), but before that, it was modest. We didn’t save much. We prioritized our retirement and most of the years, we were a one income household.
Things look pretty dismal as we have more children that will be going to college. It will be hard to save for them and pay PLUS loans for my daughter. Yes, I didn’t research college costs, but I am in a big panic realizing that basically I am going to have to take what amounts to a huge mortgage to pay for my kids’ education.
All these years, I was thinking of when I went to college. I worked 20-40 hours a week and paid for costs 100%. I lived at home also. In the back of my mind, I thought there would be some debt, but not crushing debt.
Holy crap is college expensive today. Even taking into account inflation, it is literally triple what I paid. Once again, I am horrible for not planning.
Is there anyone out there who is in a similar situation as us who can tell us how you managed? Is there hope she will get some merit scholarships?
I know that the most expeditious way for her to get a Bachelor’s degree would be to major in math. She doesn’t like math. She doesn’t know what she wants to study. That means at least 3 years of additional college at the U for a Bachelor’s.
I feel your pain. My son is also a PSEO student who will have almost two years completed. Our family has a nice income now but we were wiped out and had to start over in 2008 so our priority is retirement. I have been telling my child that he will have to help pay, take unsubsidized loans and live at home. He would really like to live on campus but his financial award was unsubsidized loans and parent plus loans. I am not willing to finance living in a dorm when he can live at home. Is it possible for your daughter to live at home or do you live outstate?
Cyanne, looks like we have lots in common. 2008 was a very bad year (beginning of the great recession)
It just burns me, as I’m sure you, to see our kids with their noses in the books (mine getting As in Calculus, diffy q, getting AA degree in math, etc at the age of 17) and have to pay full boat.
It’s not our children’s fault for our financial situation.
I, as you, am not being a typical “my kid is the greatest” parent. My daughter IS awesome. She was, in fact, a below average student until she decided to get As.
We had a very honest (and heated) talk this morning with my daughter. She had visions of living on campus, studying on a grassy knoll while the other students played Frisbee. We went through our budget, etc, She really had no idea of the cost of life. We now have an appreciation for each other’s point of view.
Yes, she can live at home (and is most welcome to). That saves $9k. She is open to it.
She is now frantically applying for any available scholarships and is also applying to other schools that have rolling admissions (with the hope of merit scholarships).
Her younger siblings witnessed the drama and are now learning about PSAT scholar program, etc. Some good is coming out of this train wreck.
I’m sorry that you have to go through this. It wasn’t fun telling my son that he had to give up his dream school and live at home. We went through the finances with him and explained what choices have to be made. He also realizes that his parents’ income will not count for grad school and he should have more options if he keeps his undergrad debt low.
Please let your daughter know that she can still study on a grassy knoll. She should make an effort to join some clubs so that she meets like minded people. Many students commute to campus, graduate and go on to live fulfilling lives. I know because I am a U of MN alumni who was a commuting student.
Thanks Cyanne. I was a commuting student also and pretty much only slept at home. Debt is slavery.
Though I am very happy for others getting tons of merit $, and I would never wish any ill will against others, if just chaps my a$$ that my daughter got an AA degree in math before graduating High School (with As, music, lots of community service) and she gets the big goose egg.
It is probably her ACT. ACT supposedly is a test to “predict” college success. She didn’t even step foot in a high school during her Jr. and Sr years. She earned all As on a college campus. If getting As at a college is not a “predictor” of college success, I don’t know what is.
I bet a computer program automatically vetted her out because of her ACT. At least she was accepted the CSE (I think CSE is sorta difficult to get into).
…
Yes, @stikershok, CSE IS “sorta difficult” to get into. LOL. By my calculations it has something like a 20% - 25% acceptance rate. Congratulations to your daughter!!! It would be a shame that with all that hard work, she wasn’t able to attend the U of MN.
She’s looking at a very bright future, despite the lack of merit aid. At 4.66%, those unsubsidized Stafford loans are actually not a bad deal. If she borrows the maximum amount of $5,500 per year she’ll graduate with about $24,000 in debt (interest will capitalize and be added to the loan throughout her college career). That’s a payment of about $237 per month upon graduation. Assuming - and it’s a reasonable assumption given where she’s been accepted - that she gets a decent job upon graduation, she should be able to pay those loans off.
She can also work part time starting now and ramp up her hours in the summer. Surely she can earn at least $3,000 - $4,000 per year to help pay for her college?
If she can’t quite manage the finances to live ON campus, perhaps she can live just OFF campus in an apartment with friends/roommates. She’ll save quite a bit on food that way (those meal plans are typically big money makers for the universities).
Finally, she can lose the “dependent” status at some point which may help her get need-based financial aid. You wouldn’t be able to declare her as a dependent on your taxes at that point, however.
Remember, that Cost of Attendance is “All In”. In reality, one needs to calculate how much MORE it would cost to send the kid to school. If your daughter does, in fact, remain at home, and works to support her textbook, transportation and other expenses, then the incremental cost would be just tuition of $13,600. If she borrows, then the incremental cost is about $8,000 (with a claim on her future wages).
With a combination of reasonable levels of borrowing, an outside job, strategizing on her major so she’s out of there in four years or less (and I’d be pushing for the “less”, given all the hard work she’s done to date on the PSEO and AA degree front), she should be able to swing an education at the U of MN. If she’s numbers-savvy (she’s good at math, correct?) then perhaps she can figure out a way to stay in the res. hall at least her first year (when it obviously matters most). Best of all, it will be HER choice.
Good luck to you and her!
Edit/Update: Of course, once she gets to the U of MN there will be opportunities for scholarships throughout her years there. At the very least she can keep in touch with financial aid throughout the year and snap up scholarships as they become available. I know someone who basically financed her engineering degree at Marquette that way.