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<p>It is not a safety school if he will not go there. “Safety” means if the other schools don’t pan out. Well, they didn’t pan out, so he has to go to the Safety school.</p>
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<p>Some of the “hard work” he needed to do was to apply to more than 1 school (a school you won’t go to doesn’t count). Applying to only one schools is presumptuous of a good outcome. If he had applied to 5 or 6 schools, maybe one of them would have “paid off” for him.</p>
<p>I second swimcatsmom. </p>
<p>Call up the fin aid office. Medical bills are one of those exceptions that are one of those “blind spots.”</p>
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<p>There are hundreds and hundreds of BIG colleges in this country. He only applied to one.</p>
<p>I agree with others…contact financial aid and explain the medical costs…but I will say…unless they were incurred recently and are ongoing, they are likely not to be considered at all. Financial aid is based on last year’s income and assets…and current events…not things that happened in the past (and YES I do realize your family is still financially recovering from the loss of income due to medical costs). But gather up the documentation of your medical costs and ask. This is up to each college to determine for EACH student.</p>
<p>There are other students like the OPs who wish to attend a particular school or schools and do not wish to pursue studies elsewhere. IF that is the case, this student should consider a well thought out gap year, with applications (more than two perhaps) next year. A well thought out gap year can certainly feed a thirst for learning. And the family can have some time to think through the financial and application processes while this student gains some knowledge during the gap year.</p>
<p>It turns out we worried a little too soon. As of today, son has received 5 small scholarships and 2 large ones (one of which he will decline because he chose another school). One is a prestigious scholarship in our state. All “estimated costs” are still not covered but at least tuition and room and board are. Hoping still for a couple of other scholarships to help out.</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS! I’m sorry about your husband’s heart–that must be very stressful. But at least you’ve got some hope for your son.</p>
<p>Thank you Endicott. This whole thing has been stressful but I hope we’re on the road to having most of this taken care of. I have learned alot on CC…some posters have been a little more critical than others, but I wish I had come here a year or two ago to have learned more of what I should or shouldn’t do. This being my youngest child, I could have done much better as a parent, but I guess we all feel that way sometimes. </p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>Glad things have worked out TNMom! While most students fixate on college admissions, in my opinion, getting college funded through FA and merit scholarships is MUCH more complex and difficult. So hang in there, we all do what we can.</p>
<p>Our son decided that he wanted to attend a private university. It’s a great school and he would learn lots. Unfortunately the only was to do it was to incur student loans. We agonized over it and finally came to the conclusion that we would be doing him a disservice by allowing him to incur $30k over 4 years, which doesn’t sound like a whole when it costs $43k per year to attend. However, we feel that it would limit his choices upon graduation. He is planning on grad school and not being in debt would give him more options. His chosen career is music composition which is not likely to pay well for some time. It was hard to say no. But then no one said it was going to be easy to be a parent. We looked at it that it is our job to protect his interests.</p>
<p>Another option could be attending the unwanted school for a year and transferring to another school for the sophomore year. Depending on the major, most of the first year is general education.</p>
<p>nanomug, this option can work for students who don’t expect to receive merit scholarships. Often times, merit awards are only given to incoming freshman so transfers lose out (although some colleges offer transfer scholarships).</p>
<p>Some schools are also virtually impossible to transfer into, also. My kid’s going to a school that only has a 17 percent acceptance rate for freshmen, and it gets much worse for transfers.</p>
<p>Well, not that it really matters, but when I started this post I guess I was just overly concerned. Just to update for the parents like me that worry that no aid will come…my son IS leaving in two weeks to go to the college of his choice. He ended up getting 7 scholarships, the last one was a big surprise just a couple of days ago. I didn’t realize they EVER come this late. First year is covered except for a few books. We are all relieved that this worry was for naught. Thanks again to everyone that offered advice.</p>
<p>YAY!!! Congrats!!</p>
<p>Re this:
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<p>I feel like that each and every day at some point!!</p>