I think you take the Naval academy out of the decision process because it is so different. She either wants it go or doesn’t, and cost is NOT the deciding factor. You would not decide between UVA and Naval academy, but USNA or not USNA. (BTW, my daughter did consider the USNA and USCGA, but decided not to go that way)
I don’t agree that the cost of room and board is the same at every school. I have two freshmen this year and one’s cost is about $7500, the other’s is $13500! The more expensive one could have been lowered to about $12000, but then she wouldn’t have been able to be with all the other freshmen (about 80% of freshmen live in the ‘freshmen village’ and that’s more expensive). $5000 here, $4000 there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money! Another decision she’d have to make at Bama is sorority or no sorority, and that’s a big, expensive decision.
To answer your original question, I’d strongly point my kids to ‘free’ but if I could otherwise afford it, I’d let them make the decision if it is within the budget. Most of us could have sent our kids to much cheaper options like community college or the military, but didn’t because money is not the only factor. We decided what the budget was and many kids left a lot of merit money on the table at schools that weren’t what the kids were looking for.
I know you said you didn’t want to get into specifics, but how is SLO only $20k per year for an OOS student and only a small grant? Tuition for OOS is listed at $36K.
Our son on his own chose almost a full ride (we pay room and board three years) in a state schools honors college. Yes we could’ve afforded the $250k and paid cash without borrowing but would’ve had to work longer to retire where we wanted to be’ buy our dream home, own a business, etc. I am so proud of him. He also told us he is smart enough and ambitious enough to pave his own way and said regardless of where you go, you can make yourself stand out for bigger and better opportunities. Hope he continues that work ethic and frugality.
Question: is the Naval Academy still her first choice? I ask with the knowledge/experience of having 2 sons accepted to 3 of the service academies, and one daughter attend SLO.
Appointments can come any time prior to I-day. And depending how vocal her rep is, sooner than you think. Did she apply for a NROTC scholie? And what major did she put for USNA, a first tier?
If in fact USNA is her first choice, she can re-apply the following year. If she attended at CC, she can take some plebe classes to better her chances for acceptance. Her units won’t transfer but will place her farther along in her program and it will show them she can do the work. What was her math SAT? I ask to see how committed she is in attending USNA. Is she a legacy or are parent(s) prior navy? Was her MOC a congressman or senator?
Applying to the service academies is not like applying to other colleges or programs. The physical requirements, the leadership qualifications, the goals are far different…more like a D1 athlete at an elite level. Older son did attend USNA and there were many there who got in on their 3rd or 4th try. Much like middle son’s peers in med school, trying more than once or twice to get in.
SLO is a great school for a wide variety of degrees, aero eng, architectural eng, animal science…it’s in a great college town, but different from UVA. It’s better than some of the UCs and is a great gem. As far as Alabama one of the long-time posters here on CC son attended, chem eng major and is now in med school and received merit money to do so, pretty rare. So your daughter has some great choices.
Sometimes thinking out of the box can really help. What is her preference list? I actually think your question should be really specific vs. theoretical because she has some very specialized choices. USNA is a huge responsibility and honor, I don’t think it’s just a question of the money. Really.
I probably should have said that the R&B costs at the schools she is considering are pretty equal. She says no sorority wherever she goes.
'Bama is $12k per year for R&B.
UVA is ~$10k (although it is hard to tell if they say to add in 2k in mandatory health insurance cost).
Cal Poly is $10-12k depending on double vs triple etc.
My only thing was what happens if they can’t keep their scholarship? I was leery of some of DS’s scholarships offers for that very reason. IMO engineering is harder to keep a high GPA in. At most schools the rules were if you go below a 3.0 or 3.5 then the scholarship is lost for good. If you are OOS then all of a sudden your cost goes way up. That is one reason DS ended up In state with a scholarship versus OOS with a better one.
I am not sure where you got that. I just ran the cost calculator again and have listed the output below that shows tuition is 20,160 (and that is for next year, not this year).
Your estimated annual cost: $32,169
(This is not an official quote of fees)
Consisting of:
Registration and Tuition Fees: $20,160
On-Campus Housing: $7,176
Dining: $4,833
I went to the SLO website. Running the cost calculator and figuring out OOS tuition is not an easy task! I got something like $21,000 but I was just guessing at the number of quarter units taken in a year - I may have overestimated that.
Aerospace Engineering (tier one). Not sure if it is her first choice. She goes back and forth nearly weekly.
She already said she will not be reapplying. She said if she does not get in then it wasn’t meant to be and she will move on with her life. She has lots of friends from Navy families (several USNA). Math SAT was 680. MOC was our Senator.
That seems to be the case from what I have noticed just with this year’s acceptances.
Not only great choices, but blessed that she has parents who make a nice living and also saved for many years
although I still am tight with a buck in these uncertain times
I really don’t know her preference. I think the NA and UVA are about tied. She loved her time this summer at the NA and loves discipline, structure, order, and challenges. On the other hand, she is a pretty stereotypical UVA kid (even though she doesn’t want to go where she knows a lot of people. She wants to branch out and experience new things)
@SlackerMomMD re #67: amen to that. I could not figure out the one page where it looked like a base figure for everyone of X dollars and then a $248 per credit hour charge above that. That gave me one figure but the actual cost calculator gave me the 20k figure that I also saw listed somewhere else (maybe her acceptance letter).
Wow! Did you ever get the responses. Our situation had some similarities. S wanted prestige school in spite of full ride at other school; actually quite a nice one. We put aside what we thought would be adequate $ but missed that by a mile. We visited the scholarship school last and told him we would discuss after that visit. If he really didn’t feel he would be happy at the free ride school we would not have forced him but the financing would have been different (him some loans, co-op, frugal living, we would have made sacrifices, etc.). Barely into the visit he commented that the school was really very good and the elite school was certainly not worth the money. I am glad we let him make the decision.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the numbers, but it looks like UVA and Bama are both affordable and everything else gets a bit pricier…am I right? If that’s the case, I’d just let her pick whichever one (of those two) she likes better. Let her figure out the engineering thing herself; making this decision might help her decide if she’s serious about engineering or not.
@gearmom - I couldn’t disagree more. And both kids have taken engineering classes at very good (not elite) schools and we have also taken courses at lower tier schools. There is a BIG difference in the rigor of the course work. If your goal is to actually learn the material you are cheating yourself if you compromise on where you take engineering courses.
From my response above I’m sure you can guess what my choice would (and has been). Turned down very near full scholarships for close to full pay. No we are not wealthy, but we saved well and we judge the sacrifices we have to make as worth the difference.
Ahhhh, big difference! We visited Bama and liked it a lot, and that’s a great price! But what really matters is whether she likes it or not. As a parent I’d be nudging her in that direction, but not forcing. Hopefully she can weigh the benefits of all the schools and pick one that she likes AND is affordable. Good luck with this!
But didn’t you already tell her before she applied that you would pay instate costs? (and committing to full pay instate is different than committibg to full pay at a $60,000 + school). Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you are willing to pay and what you communicated to your daughter, but in answer to your original question-no, I absolutely would not force a free ride over full pay instate if I had already agreed to pay (and there are siblings that I had previously paid for)’.
@sevmom Yes, I already told her that and we honored that commitment. That is why this thread was a hypothetical one that somehow evolved into people asking me about her specific case. To reiterate: I promised to pay whatever it cost her to go to any IS school. She knows that and we have not changed at all. I was curious how many people would have made the same decision and how many would have chosen the other alternative.
@GMTplus7 Not sure where you got that. The OP says would you turn down a $109k scholarship to be full pay. It never says what full pay is, although that was specified pretty quickly, many pages ago.
