<p>Please help me & our son in making a case either for U Miami or U Florida.</p>
<ul>
<li>In state student</li>
<li>Got in UF and also in UM Business School without any Scholarship.</li>
<li>Have 100% Fl Bright Futures</li>
<li>Have Fl Prepaid covering 4 yrs of Fl state school Tuition & 1 yr Dorm.</li>
<li>Keen Sports enthusiast, do not any loyalties to Hurricanes or Gators at this Point.</li>
<li>Middle to High class family financially. Have 529 saved up for a Private 4yrs College.</li>
<li>Want to eventually do Law, but not sure yet</li>
</ul>
<p>So some facts & some gathered assumptions are-</p>
<ul>
<li>University of Miami</li>
</ul>
<p>$ 50k a year x 4 = $ 200k
Smaller classes & some personal attention
Geographically diverse & multilingual student body
He will have to take loans for Law school as by then all saved up money will be spent.
He is not sure but the hearsay is "Some are rich & stuck up kids & "Nothing but Designer Clothes ".
I am not sure about this also, but it seems like the peers will be a tad less academically prepared than UF as some of my school friends got into Miami but not into UF.
A good percentage of the pre professional students go to Professional Schools.
I know this year's higher US News ranking than UF.
Hurricane Games at times are not sold out, school spirit ?</p>
<p>--- University of Florida - </p>
<p>Already paid up 4yrs tuition & 1 yr Dorm & I understand all left over Fl Bright Futures money will be deposited in student's bank.
Keep the saved up money for Law School & come out a debt free attorney.
Like many large state schools - Large classes, some are taking online classes, teach yourself with the help of Teaching Assistants while in lower classes.
The peers are 90% from Fl, mostly 4.0 GPA, economically diverse and down to earth.
Every Gator game is sold out.
Till last year had the leading US news rank in Florida schools.</p>
<p>Please help me & our son in making a case either for U Miami or U Florida.</p>
<ul>
<li>In state student</li>
<li>Got in UF and also in UM Business School without any Scholarship.</li>
<li>Have 100% Fl Bright Futures</li>
<li>Have Fl Prepaid covering 4 yrs of Fl state school Tuition & 1 yr Dorm.</li>
<li>Keen Sports enthusiast, do not any loyalties to Hurricanes or Gators at this Point.</li>
<li>Middle to High class family financially. Have 529 saved up for a Private 4yrs College.</li>
<li>Want to eventually do Law, but not sure yet</li>
</ul>
<p>So some facts & some gathered assumptions are-</p>
<ul>
<li>University of Miami</li>
</ul>
<p>$ 50k a year x 4 = $ 200k definitely a consideration. that’s a lot of money.
Smaller classes & some personal attention my favorite part about UM
Geographically diverse & multilingual student body
He will have to take loans for Law school as by then all saved up money will be spent.
He is not sure but the hearsay is "Some are rich & stuck up kids & "Nothing but Designer Clothes ". you see what you look for
I am not sure about this also, but it seems like the peers will be a tad less academically prepared than UF as some of my school friends got into Miami but not into UF. and I have lots of friends who got in to UF but not UM
A good percentage of the pre professional students go to Professional Schools.
I know this year’s higher US News ranking than UF.
Hurricane Games at times are not sold out, school spirit ? 9500 students, student section fits 7500 people… we did sell out for students once last year, and that means we had nearly 80% of students in attendance. Of course, most games aren’t like that. on the other hand, all of our sporting events are free… whereas, at UF you have to hope you can get a season pass for $300</p>
<p>— University of Florida -</p>
<p>Already paid up 4yrs tuition & 1 yr Dorm & I understand all left over Fl Bright Futures money will be deposited in student’s bank. again, very important thing to consider. $200k is a LOT of money
Keep the saved up money for Law School & come out a debt free attorney.
Like many large state schools - Large classes, some are taking online classes, teach yourself with the help of Teaching Assistants while in lower classes. definitely another consideration. I have friends at UF who have classes with 800+ people. at the same time, once you get in to the upper level classes, they do trim down substantially
The peers are 90% from Fl, mostly 4.0 GPA, economically diverse and down to earth.
Every Gator game is sold out.
Till last year had the leading US news rank in Florida schools.</p>
<p>We will appreciate any & all opinions</p>
<p>Don’t forget to take a tour of both schools and get a feel for campus life!</p>
<p>Go to UF for free. I have tons of student loans now and if I had the opportunity to go to school for free, I for sure would have taken it. Especially if he wants to go to law school.</p>
<p>I love Miami so much and would advocate for anyone to go there, but it is just not worth $200k over UF.</p>
<p>As a FL resident who sent my first child to UF, I’m very familiar with costs and the UF campus. If your son attends UM, Bright Futures and FL Prepaid will each pay the equivalent of UF tuition to UM for a total of $10K per year. Additionally, all residents who attend in-state private schools receive the FRAG grant, which is worth about $3K per year. They do not receive this if they attend public schools. Therefore, the cost at UM is reduced by about $13K year for BF, Pre-Paid and FRAG. </p>
<p>The $50K cost you’re using for UM includes housing and meals. At UF you will also pay housing and meals, which combined cost much more than their tuition. You are right that the Bright Futures money ($5K) can be used towards that cost since you’ve already paid the tuition via the pre-paid plan. </p>
<p>In hindsight, I wish my D had gone to a small, private school like my S is about to do. I didn’t realize at the time just how important it is for a campus to be a good fit. I only looked at cost and ranking. In my opinion, if the environment is not a good fit, it’s worth the extra money to go elsewhere, if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestion of looking for other Scholarships apart from UM, as I said he did not get any UM.</p>
<p>Any pointers where to start looking will be appreciated. The admissions & financial aid want us to wait till March when a FA package will be sent, no comments on how much, will it be loans or grants or scholarships.</p>
<p>We suspect the FA package from UM may come in the form of LOANS. I do not want him to start accumulating loans from the undergraduate schooling, if I can help it. We will end up spending all the saved up 529 money & when we get tp Law School we will see how to skin that cat, one school at a time I guess. If push comes to shove, we will spend some of the money earmarked for our retirement.</p>
<p>Last night, our son was talking on the lines about going to UF for BS & save the money for the graduate school. We do second that, but the final decision will be his.</p>
<p>But no Loans, as I keep reading about the Loans of some of the new graduates in this ECONOMY & I find it disheartening . They have a bad taste in their mouths whenever they look back on their undergraduate decisions, it does not have to be that way.</p>
<p>I look for scholarships on a website called [Fastweb</a> : Scholarships, Financial Aid, Student Loans and Colleges](<a href=“http://www.fastweb.com/]Fastweb”>http://www.fastweb.com/) - as new scholarships become available, they will automatically send you e-mails. When you register, you fill out a profile which includes all the things typically used to classify scholarships (race, economic status, country of birth, sports you play, special talents you have, etc.) and they pull up everything for which you are eligible to apply. Unfortunately, lots of the scholarships they show you are the giant ones that everyone across the country is applying for.</p>
<p>I know that the Elks offers some good scholarships (I have two from them) so if anyone in your family is an Elk, you can take advantage of that. Not many people apply for those, so they’re not too competitive, and you can go all the way up to the national level where I think they pay quite a large amount. Also, building on that, local scholarships are a great place to look. I bet the rotary or some other organizations in your local community offer scholarships. They’re great, because you’re not competing with 20,000 other people to try to get one scholarship. And, if you add a bunch of these scholarships together, it really covers a lot.</p>
<p>And I also agree with CPR777 - the small class size and small university population is definitely worth a bit of extra money. I mean, this semester I have two classes with 7 people in them. Half of our classes have less than 16 people in them, and 75% have less than 25. In the communications school, I think the classes have a maximum size of 16 people, and in the philosophy department, I know that the classes are limited to either 8, 16, or 25 people, depending on the course (usually 16). But it’s up to your son to decide just how much it is worth to him.</p>
<p>Im wondering if someone can help with a frag question. Is FRAG based on need or is it automaticly regardless of EFC? Can it be used for room and board if you have scholarships for tuition. I called the FRAG office and they said it was distributed by the schools. I called the University and really didnt get a straight answer. Anyone?</p>
<p>It is not need-based at all. It is available to all FL residents who attend private universities within the state. My daughter gets it. The amount varies from year to year depending upon state funding but have been running close to $3K per year. I believe the purpose is to somewhat offset the subsidized in-state rates we give up when our kids go to private schools. In other words, if they go in-state public, the state subsidizes their tuition. FRAG does the same thing, albeit to a much lesser degree. There is a similar one called FSAG which is need-based.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I dont know why I cant get a straight answer when I call for information. They basicly said It was based on need and I wouldnt know until I got my financial aid package but at the same time she said she never heard of anyone not getting it. I have a friend who’s son is on a sports/academic scholarship at another Florida private school and she has never even filled out a financial aid form and he gets it. Thanks for answering.</p>
<p>Definitely go to UF…UM is highly overrated. Overall I think UF has a better reputation and you can’t beat the cost. My son was a UM student who transferred out. Feel free to PM me if you want more info.</p>
<p>^ LilyMoon, your post reminds me of the dozens of posts I’ve read about USC vs. UCLA. Exactly the same… Private vs. Public, Huge vs. Big, where the private used to be only for rich kids with B averages and the Public Flagship was for A students, and now that has all changed.</p>
<p>OP- You wrote “I am not sure about this also, but it seems like the peers will be a tad less academically prepared than UF as some of my school friends got into Miami but not into UF.” which I find odd, or at least should not enter into your consideration of UM vs UF. Your posted an ACT of 29. I believe the majority of students at both schools achieved much higher.</p>
<p>LilyMoon- Yikes… you just can’t get over that your son did not like or fit in at UM. This happens at every school. My good friend, and FL resident sent 2 very bright kids to UF- one hates it as does her boyfriend. Both still hate it but will graduate in the spring and move on to grad school somewhere. Great cost for these high scholars. She has yet to bad mouth the school based on her daughters experience. Most likely, your son was a poor fit at UM, just as my son would have been a terrible fit at your sons current school. I have nothing against SUNY-NP though. Great school and experience/location for artsy kids. Glad to hear the transfer worked out so quickly for him. (Son graduating in May? I think our sons started UM at the same time. Yikes, we’ve been on CC 4 years now!)</p>
<p>OP- posted same question on 4 threads. My vote still stands- UF for cost. May be numerous differences in the schools but either can be a great experience and there is risk of fit at every school.</p>
<p>I am sorry to hear about your son’s experience at UF.</p>
<p>If you care to share, specifically which part of the school was not a good fit, I for sure & maybe others can learn a few things from you sharing.</p>
<p>Looking at it from a long term perspective, the kids will all turn out fine no matter where they graduate from, both are excellent schools. You try to get as much info as possible, before you make an educated decision, at this point in time and move on. As crazed’s post above suggests there is no gauranty and one may transfer out from the best school on earth, because it may not work out for a particular student for a multitude of reasons.</p>
<p>Not that it matters at this point, but I think UF would probably be a better choice if your son did not have scholarship money. I went to UM and turned down UF twice (undergrad + graduate school) but it was only because of the scholarship. I’m sure you can have a good experience at either, though I preferred a smaller school.</p>
<p>One thing I would like to say is that your son should think very carefully about law school before deciding on that path. It’s not the financially secure choice that parents often think it is, and most lawyers end up buried in debt, making far less money than they thought they would, and working long hours (if they’re lucky enough to have a job!). Even worse, the law degree is worthless if your son decides to change his career path.</p>
<p>I agree about pursuing a law degree. My niece received hers from U Wisconsin, Madison over two years ago. She is over $100,000 in debt. She has passed the bar in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. In all three states she could not find a job. All her friends with law degrees are in the same boat. Think long and hard before going to law school.</p>