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<p>That’s only $18,000. And $200,000, earning 5% interest annually, would be $864,000 at the end of 30 years.</p>
<p>I have lived in Atlanta four times, and attended a college full of Georgians, so I want to comment specifically to gadad. And my father got a masters at Georgia Tech when I was a kid. Georgia Tech has tremendous bang for the buck in terms of relevance to the job market.
Our son winning a merit scholarship to Vandy…not to take away anything from our son who really does have fine character as well as the stats for Vandy and others…was the equivalent of being struck by lightening. </p>
<p>I know his first roommate. I know his current housemates. I know two National Merit Scholars with 4.0 averages who were not even admitted to Vanderbilt last year. My son is really not more “special” than any of his new classmates. He is definitely learning not only from his teachers but he is also learning a great deal from his peers at Vanderbilt on many levels. We all know that learning from people your own age is very valuable during these crucial years. The entire class at Vanderbilt could win merit money and honors admissions to other colleges. </p>
<p>My son had merit offers at 2 colleges so he attended Vandy Accepted Student Days and did a lot of thinking about where to go. On that day, we saw many Georgians with students with the exact stats as our kid who were realizing that they could not justify the expense in comparison to the program at Georgia Honors. A previous poster has accurately pointed out that the Georgians in Georgia Honors are a very tough peer group and a fine peer group to share four years of academic efforts with. </p>
<p>There are reasons however for your last child to do the work to apply for merit dollars at Vandy and elsewhere that I think are important. Vanderbilt does have some things to offer that are not the same as a top honors public. The student body is suddenly intensely national and international. The town gown match with Nashville is exceptional. The graduate schools on grounds are a great asset to the undergrad program. Classroom size is exceptional most of the time. While Vandy is not Davidson or Haverford re intimacy, my son has had many small discussion based classes and has had faculty support in many arenas already. </p>
<p>But mainly it is smart to do the merit money applications at Vanderbilt and other colleges for the experience itself. My son didn’t make every cut in every college, he experienced the word “no”, and was prepared to come up empty. But he has thanked us many times for encouraging him to put himself out there. Since he has been at Vandy (only three semesters so far)…I think he has applied for about six or seven things and has about a 50% rejection rate. He tells us that he would not have had the skills to even apply and interview for other opportunities if he had not done the merit money rounds at his undergraduate colleges. </p>
<p>Just as an example, both the Ingram Scholars and the College Scholars at Vandy take in additional students freshman year based on performance and interviews and contributions. Alternative Spring Break requires interviews and so does the Honor Court and so do all internships and artistic venues. This is true for programs at any college you are considering…opportunities continue to come in as they age up closer to 21 and beyond the tender high school years of 17 and 18. My son comes from a small town and is not a sophisticate but he learned from his undergraduate efforts and he uses those skills now on his own very well.</p>
<p>So my advice is to apply apply and always always be thankful you have the excellent options of Georgia Honors and Georgia Tech or your home college or wonderful match college with open doors that are financially viable. </p>
<p>But consider the work to apply for merit money to be a time to learn life skills and to assess yourself, your past and your future direction. </p>
<p>Back to the issue of borrowing…never ever borrow heavily or go into deep debt is our advice for undergrad school unless you are certain of the financial underpinning of the next round of education, employment and training. btw ROTC at Vandy and Duke produces wonderful outcomes…we know graduates. I speak as a parent who paid full freight for son number one with some regrets re our own personal ability to shoulder that decision since we did have wonderful offers in a state with great publics.</p>
<p>I second Faline’s discussion of the opportunities afforded by Vanderbilt. The academics are top-notch, and the out-of-classroom offerings are many & varied. My daughter is a senior. Among other things, she has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity (including a leadership position), served on the Music Group (involves interview/selection), tutored in the community, performed summer research for a professor (for which she received a generous stipend), studied abroad for a semester, hosted a radio show (formal training required), participated in GrammyU (which provides opportunities to network in the music community), and interned in her chosen field for the past year & a half (15-20 hours per week). I cannot imagine a better place for her to be. We were extremely fortunate to have been able to afford Vandy, which was made possible at first through need based aid and later, endowed scholarships. </p>
<p>If I had to choose between Vandy and a different school for her, and if it came down to finances, I would choose Vandy IF it would still be an option we could afford. In other words, I would not simply choose the least expensive option … but finances would absolutely be a factor. There would be a point at which I would say no. We are dealing with this with our son right now, because he is transferring schools. The two schools he is choosing between have a pretty big price differential. However, we can still afford the more expensive choice. We are willing to pay for either school - because we can. If he wanted to revisit some of the schools to which he was admitted last year but turned down for financial reasons, our answer would still be the same … no, because they cost too much. </p>
<p>Remember that a loan that seems a bit of a stretch can become more that a bit of stretch as the interest accumulates over time. Just take a look at the interest accumulated in a year’s time on $3500 unsubsidized loan … then take it to the next year if the interest remains unpaid. You will see just how large a loan can become in a short time.</p>
<p>Great post Faline 2. So nice to see a post that promotes a school without being negative about Georgia and Georgia Tech. I am not referring to this thread just a general tendency to undervalue these Georgia schools because the HOPE scholarship makes them so affordable.</p>
<p>Wow. Excellent posts, all of you! And I completely agree with the parent who said apply, apply. I have seen the same benefits for my kids who have applied for just about every opportunity under the sun at their prospective schools, as high school seniors, and later as attending students … lots of personal growth and maturity comes from those experiences, from both the "yes"es and the "no"s. It’s not just the scholarships they may gain by applying, it’s personal growth and experience … that’s such a good point.</p>
<p>I concur - great posts, and thanks!</p>
<p>If admitted to Vanderbilt I will find myself in a very similar situation… </p>
<p>I recently got admitted to University of Florida and got invited to apply for honors. With bright futures, I will be able to graduate debt free.</p>
<p>From the EFC estimators I’ve looked at, I’ll be expected to contributed 20,000 dollars a year. My parents will be able to cover about 12,000 a year.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how i feel graduating with 32,000 dollars of debt…</p>
<p>^And wouldn’t that be $32,000 dollars of debt PER YEAR? Yeah, way too much for an undergraduate degree, imo.</p>
<p>^^^No, the shortfall is 8K per year, assuming the estimates are correct.</p>
<p>If you work during the school year and during the summer, you can cut the shortfall in half.</p>
<p>I am not encouraging you, or your parents, to take on debt. However, if your total family contribution is 20K per year, that is not an unreasonable amount of money to spend on a Vanderbilt education, although that depends on your prospective major and the extent to which you take advantage of what Vanderbilt has to offer.</p>
<p>UF also offers a lot to a lot of students. One of my sisters has a UF degree (food science) and has done extraordinarily well in her field. </p>
<p>There is a lot to consider.</p>
<p>EDIT: this post is a response to post #27, not to gadad, the originator of this thread.</p>
<p>ZapadniyRus, undergrad debt is difficult to shoulder if you need further education to really get a place in the job market. You should wait till you get your letter from Vanderbilt and find out what they will be expecting from you. These figures vary from institution to institution. If you are on an engineering track or hard science track, you should also be studying the specific progam at UF Honors vs Vandy’s program. UF may be very strong in your chosen concentration. One way to make these final decisions is to attend classes on Accepted Student Days, submit mitigating factors that might not be reflected in your financial aid papers if any exist, look into job pathways for both schools, or/and to consider taking on campus jobs for a couple of thousand a year. It is possible that in engineering your UF offer will be very compelling. Regardless, hope you have more than one solid option to choose from in April and best wishes.</p>
<p>^Oh. My bad. I thought Z was saying that HIS EFC was 20k and his parents’ was 12k! (Rich KID, I thought!! lol) I misunderstood. :)</p>
<p>I strongly encourage anyone who is unsure to just hang tight until you get an aid package. You may get an unexpected scholarship, or better need based aid than you expected. It is important that you look at ONLY tuition/room/board/fees when you are reviewing your aid offer. Subtract your “free” money (grants & scholarships, not work study). This is what you will owe the school. Vandy’s Cost of Attendance has a pretty decent amount of padding, and you can control the non-mandatory costs … buy books used/online, don’t spend a ton of money on non-essentials, etc. You certainly should make sure you have a school you would be happy to attend that you are sure you can afford, but don’t write off Vandy until you find out what they offer. They send the award notification with your letter of acceptance.</p>
<p>Thanks Faline, midmo, Simplelife… </p>
<p>Only a month till April 1st… :)</p>