ucdprof - i hope you realize that this thread can help others as well down the line. so much to learn here for lots.
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The billable coats for you at University of New Mexico would be just under $20,000 a year. That’s tuition, fees, room and board. The other expenses are what you pay but not directly to the university.
So…if you are comparing apples to apples…you need to be looking at colleges where your tuition, room and board costs are $20,000 a year…or less.
It’s not LACs we’ve found, but LACs applied to and granted financial aid and merit. In our case, there is no merit that does not need to be topped off by financial aid to bring it near range.
So I wouldn’t assume this is a lead for others, but one CTCL college has offered 22k, including indirect costs (so billable something like 18-19k I don’t remember), before loans.
I expect to be able to use this offer to bargain for the same at a couple colleges other CTCL where the AO is absolutely enamored with my son, and the feeling is mutual. One has just sent me an invitation to discuss financial aid, and the other is yet to be applied to.
So that’s why very iffy claims of $4,000 room, board, books, expenses, and travel don’t stack up, and there isn’t a realistic cheap deal, oftentimes, at least in our case.
22k for UNM could be a great deal for others, especially other California families where they won’t find that here.
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I don’t see how room board and fees are 4750 like you claim. It’s clearly not. The billable cost 15,250 plus 10k something R&B plus 700 fees.
Also, I could recommend Hiram College which has a relatively transparent cost and I think published merit scheme. I bet for a good student it would come at least on par with UNM.
Haven’t applied yet but will. Son also has a relationship with that AO.
We are in conversations. Thank you for suggesting that my kids be able to have some ability to input their thoughts and partake in decisions that effect the rest of their lives. That’s a good suggestion.
There are a lot of European options that come in way, way lower than 22k, so even with fluctuations it looks much better, with some other advantages and also some disadvantages.
And we would only go where we could get info on real life experiences with living costs, which as you know exists on forum and groups and paid groups where this information is exchanged.
My son is TO because he did not take any tests, nor would he do well on them. I’m not claiming he is a huge academic achiever; I’m just working with the cards I’ve been dealt.
He happens to be excited about the prospect of going abroad and was very interested when it came up. He also told me yesterday that he is scared (as he should be-- such transformative experiences come with discomfort!).
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Why I asked for your stats - let us find cheaper.
Rates are headed up - so waiting to refi is not good. Rates on a HELOC will explode. As Jamie Dimon said yesterday (CEO of JP Morgan), he’d be shocked if there’s only 4 rate increases by the fed next year.
Paying for education with an HELOC, when there are more affordable options out there, is playing with fire and will ultimately cost thousands more than OP is budgeting.
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My daughter is 4.0uw #1 of 55, and my son 3.8uw, no tests taken.
They had AP Calc AB Junior year and my daughter AP Art Senior. There are no other AP classes or honors classes available. They have 2 years Spanish which is all the school offers. There are no awards or honors. They are allowed to play Varsity volleyball at a large HS, and play Club and Beach year-round, and are both former classical musicians now rock musicians. They pursued no strategic course of ECs but just did things they liked. They have some spots on volleyball teams already in D3, but did not pursue this aggressively nor are they particularly good. There are some desperate teams out there, you just have to find them.
Recommendations are excellent. GC, a part-time contractor, won’t show me the school report though. High School is small urban, poorly funded, with very little success at prestigious college placement. Grades probably don’t seem to be inflated at the school from a statistical point of view, as many students do very badly.
I’m not doing a HELOC, nor can I get one.
I’m confused then - your title is using home equity (HELOC = Home Equity Line of Credit)
Gotcha. Just model some “what if” scenarios with him. What if he does one year overseas and hates it (or doesn’t do well). Are his transfer options viable at that point? What if “just keeping up” requires twice as much work as what he’s prepared to do… many European U’s are not as generous with Withdrawals as their US counterparts… is he stuck with a transcript with the European equivalent of “No Credit”?
There are plenty of kids who don’t test well who do just fine at college in the US- less so overseas. But as I’m sure you know- most European U’s are either “high stakes tests” (i.e. end of semester, you pass or you don’t) OR ginormous writing/research papers, also just at the end of the semester. If your son’s learning style is anti-test, make sure he’s got the organizational skills to keep up even with nobody bugging him to hand in assignments.
I don’t know if you are describing a kid who doesn’t test well due to anxiety, some LD, other issues- but on those same forums where you are learning about apartment rental costs, check out what supports are there for kids with his needs. In many countries those supports don’t exist. AT ALL.
I have a cousin who would have been an engineer by now in the US. Her middle school testing pushed her onto a vocational track, and despite her extreme math ability, she got stuck on it. Her adviser was pushing cake decorating as a profession for a while. (I guess that’s what you do with someone with strong spatial skills who doesn’t hand in homework on time?)
You don’t need the GC for the school report (I assume you mean the district wide report sent to every college?) That’s a function of the superintendent’s office- they compile the stats and are responsible for generating the report.
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The health insurance can be waived. The schools need the full benefits description to waive it. It was about 20 pages.
I have 3 kids who attended 3 very different schools and locations. All of them had their health insurance fees waived.
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I meant borrowing against the equity of my home. I’m doing a cash-out refinance, with a fixed rate that’s already locked. I’ve paid about $300 in fees so I could back out.
As it stands now, I could be left with about 60k in the bank when doing FA again next year, compared to my zero assets now.
That was the point of my post – what to do with this 60k (I didn’t have a figure then but I do now)
So far, I see the most useful answers directly to this question are:
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pay off every which thing and what not you can find in advance.
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know that some colleges might only charge you 5% (CSS according mrose) or 5.6% of the 60k in the future, although I think colleges will do whatever they want with this new information.
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put much of it away in IRA to be mobilized after the two year look back has passed. I’m unclear if this retirement income could still be used against me.
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There are some business investments with delayed return I can do, but only up to the level of profit of my business. I can’t use losses as a way to keep family contribution low.
I hope I got that right and that I’m not forgetting other great suggestions here about how to use home equity without triggering a decrease in financial aid.
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This. I found the website for CA school reports in 10 seconds. I can’t imagine why your kids GC wants to keep it a secret.
My bad - ok, makes sense.
In this case, it’s better than borrowing- no up front fees.
But I’m guessing you can do better with that money and still go to a less expensive school. Will look tonight…but some gave you great ideas already.
she never responds to that question, and I don’t want to poke the bear right now while we’re still dependent on her.
care to share? I only find accountability report cards but I’m obviously not inputting the right words.
I meant I’m accounting for waiving health insurance when I’m comparing these figures.
While I haven’t checked my policy, I imagine it remains usable for my kids if they are away.