@lisaol with a D headed to law school, I would definitely save the money and have your D go to UF. If she has strong grades at UF (which she likely will) and a good LSAT school, she can head out of state (even to an Ivy) for law school. Once she becomes a lawyer, for the rest of her life, people will ask her where she went to law school, not where she went to undergrad.
OP–For engineering I’d go UF for the money differential.
lisaol–As I re-read my post it has mixed messages perhaps because I started off thinking your D had already been accepted to law school and then realized she was just starting college.
Just to clarify.
Undergrad:
- Cornell undergrad over UF will not increase chances of being accepted into law school. It will be grades and especially LSAT score dependent. Where she goes to law school won’t be decided for several years.
- She needs to major in something she’d want as a career in case law fades as the main interest. Focus there first. Don’t throw your money at Cornell unless they have a unique undergrad program that she would pursue if she DID NOT go to law school.
- Depending on the major it doesn’t matter in most cases where a students get their degree. Graduation from a reputable, well respected university with good connections is important.
- You HAVE to consider finances. You DO NOT want debt. Especially for undergrad. It will affect lives (parents and students) negatively for YEARS. Consider not only money spent but additionally the value of your money if it had otherwise been invested. It adds up very fast.
Law school:
- Go to the best law school you can get into if over top 20. This is one point where your D is correct (but she hasn’t gotten there yet) It does open more doors career-wise. The better the law school the easier it may be to pay back loans (but you can never “bank” on it).
- But it does not rely on your undergraduate experience. It will be grades and LSAT. LSAT. LSAT. Scholarships come from LSAT.
- Save your money (undergrad) so you can even attend.
- Before you spend all the money (when and if you get there)–consider ultimate goals before making a final decision on where to attend. Be smart.
UF vs Cornell students as undergrads and perceived intellect (according to your daughter)?
Did your D get invited to Honors at UF? If so, did she visit? 15 AP’s won’t raise any eyebrows. Great for your D (really! and congrats! I mean that!) but not special at UF. She doesn’t earn bragging rights by any means on campus.
UF is the top FL state school. The top students at UF are those who have turned down or not been able to attend those “tippy top” US NEWS schools including HYPS (mostly because of finances).
Sure your D will enjoy her experience no matter the ultimate decision!
Just don’t sign your or your kid’s future away. Being in debt is a long haul. Don’t go there unless it has very clear benefits.
In Tampa they put out a yearly list of valedictorians and where they are going to school. The majority of them are going to UF. I went to a Pinellas County Merit Scholar finalists breakfast ceremony and the majority of them are going to UF. My daughters IB high school (Palm Harbor University HS) is the best public school in a county of 900K people and most of the top students go to UF.
There are a lot of smart students at UF. For most of them, UF was the safety school. They either got rejected from the national schools or the dollars speak very loudly.
I consider my finances worst case. I’m not poor enough for need based aid, but not rich enough to be paying $40K / year without some real suffering involved. My daughter got into GT, but it was $44K COA and they gave her zero aid.
Strangely what ended up being a real factor was an education account I had for her for the past 15 years. It is technically her money now. I told her you can go to GT, but that account (which she thinks of as her money) will be empty when you leave. Or you can go to UF for free (FIS scholarship full ride). When they are spending what they perceive as their money it may change their viewpoint. You can literally retire on $100K that you invested at the age of 21 and accumulated interest for 40+ years. Think about that.
So why is UF a safety school? Not as prestigious? I guess. I wonder if it has a lot more to do with FL not gaining its population except in the last 40 years. NY, CA, TX all have more prestigious schools for big states. FL has no high end tech schools. But prestige takes time, it is generational. I think FL will get there, but it is probably 40 years away.
I think the actual undergrad education at UF is comparable to just about anywhere, perception not counting. Being smart is also about recognizing value.
My niece went to Cornell for Chem. E.and graduated with $100K of debt. She is now attending UGA vet school. Money well spent? It’s a personal decision.
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Unfortunately hard working middle class and upper middle class families with 2, 3 or 4 jobs get the short stick when it comes to financing college for their children. They don’t have the disposable income to afford top privates and don’t receive enough aid to make it work.
Well funded and no funded students get to go wherever they want and they go to the best universities because cost is not an issue for these students. The middle/upper middle class students fill the honors programs at the state flagships. The middle/upper middle class have to tell their elite students they can’t afford a top private and send them to the state U. It sucks! Top privates need to revisit their aid policies. The state flagships know this and target these students. UF is no VU but the numbers make a strong argument for UF. The bottom line, go to the best university you can afford. If you can swing VU with some overtime and summer jobs great. If the difference is 50K go to VU but don’t go if it means >$100,000 debt
Hello everyone, sorry that I was little busy and not on CC for a while.
Here is our update :
About 2 weeks ago, I took S3 for annual dental exam, during the conversation about college decision, the dentist told S3 about his friend’s son, who had to make a difficult choice between Duke and UF (it was in 2010). At that time Duke was about 55K/yr. Duke gave him 10K aid, so his family had to pay 45K/ yr. Even though the son loved to go to Duke so much, he chose to go to UF to save money.At UF he applied and got accepted to the Junior Honors Medical Program (7 years BS/MD) and now he just finished his 2nd year of Med School, and about to do rotation in hospitals. All the money he saved not to go to Duke in undergrad , he now used to pay for Med School. He also saved lot of money because he did not have to apply for many Medical Schools and did not have to spend time and money for MCAT. ( That’s the best part of get accepted to JMHP)
The dentist told S3 to go to UF for Chem E, save money for Grad School for his PhD, or invest that 120K-150K , or use it to buy a house.
The next day S3 asked me to take him to visit UF again, this time he went in the Honors Housing Building (Hume Hall) met and had some conversation with several honors students. All of them said they’re happy and love it there.
That night S3 decided to enroll at UF, and reported to NMSC that UF is his 1st choice. He told me that it was honor to get accepted to Vanderbilt, but it’s now history.
S3 seemed happy on his decision, especially he found out few of his best friends also chose to go to UF. He enjoys being UF President Platinum Scholar.
Honesty, my husband and I did prepared to get equity of our house to pay for S3 to go to Vanderbilt, We also tried to appeal to Vanderbilt FA office 2nd time, but all we got was a " can’t help, and won’t be able to match…". So we just prayed that S3 would give up his dream school and go to state flagships. The advice of the dentist did change his mind.
Lisaol, sorry that I did not answer your question before May 1st, but I hope your D made her best choice of college for herself. My son will go to UF with 8 AP classes, and hopefully a full IB diploma. I’m so thankful for all the advices that I got from all of you, specially from Lenny2, Faline2, Gators88NE…
WVU1985, so glad that your D chose UF. Our kids will graduate with no debt, thanks to our FIS
Great decision. You should be proud of your son’s intelligence and discretion which many of today’s kids sordidly lack. As a middle-class parent who has been spending tens of thousands of $$.for a son’s education at a marginally elite college, I truly envy you.
That’s amazing! Good for him!
I honestly think your son has made the smart decision. May he have a splendid four years with many opportunities. Although we are sad he will not enter Vanderbilt, there are other experiences ahead of him that can also be very wonderful. The engineers at Duke seemed to do their foreign study abroad semesters in Australia and New Zealand–can’t recall why but I am sure UF has something brewing abroad for engineers. Engineer students are also in high demand in foreign public service semesters just to look into ways for him to also have more of a traditional adventurous college experience.
And nothing feels better than earning your own way and financial independence.
Hello every one, I found this article in Business Insider, and wanted to share with you,
Smart kid, followed the money. Surprised he didn’t get a big merit scholarship at Vandy. Probably didn’t apply.
Vandy merit scholarships are not easy to come by. My son had better stats and Vandy gave very little scholarship money.
I am an incoming transfer student to Vanderbilt from UF. I personally did not like UF for many biased reasons. I have spoken to a LOT of students at UF about acceptances to schools like Vanderbilt. It seems like the majority of students I have spoken to are in the same boat as you - the financial aid is a killer and that is why they choose UF.
I wish your son the best. There are many resources on campus for engineering students.
If you have any questions, I can try to answer them for you!
Similar situation here. Son was accepted to several top oos univs, but with Bright Futures and FIS (he is also NMF) he is getting a full ride instate at FSU honors. Also, he got an AA through his HS and all 60 credits will transfer - not likely at an oos school.
I think this is a huge advantage. Financially, but also in terms of stress. I always felt like the meter was running when I was in school. He will have four years to explore, take grad classes, intern, study abroad etc. without a huge debt hanging over his head.