Your advice is appreciated

Paying for College
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<p>Actually Tulane does give a number of merit scholarships, its just that the stats to get them keep rising as the competition grows. </p>

<p>We are also a full pay family. We are using the age old method of some savings, lots of scrimping and paying out of current income stream. Last year with only one in college we did not take loans but now with two in college, some loans are also in the mix. </p>

<p>We did the “cast a wide net” hoping for some scholarship money. Older D netted a variety of offers, most of which did not bring down the private schools to within our state flagship. Our state flagship also gave a merit scholarship, however did not offer the major she was (is) interested in, so we bit the bullet, tightened the belt and let her go to the private school that offered essentially a half tuition scholarship. Younger D, also with a solid SAT, but a bit more of a mismatch with grades (different HS-the one that didn’t weight) also cast a wide net. Her best offer was University of S Carolina, which ended up less expensive than our state flagship. I loved the school, but she felt it was a bit too big, was worried about Greek life, and the southern feel. We ended up full pay with her taking some loans and working her butt off this summer and she knows other options may be more limited financially in the future.</p>

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<p>thank you for sharing bhmomma</p>

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<p>2013VAmom - don’t assume that a $20k EFC means $20k loans every year. You are already paying $500/month for high school, so you have $6k right there.</p>

<p>You son can easily earn $3k working over the summer and another $2k working 4-6 hours per week during the school year. Look for ways to cut your household budget to squeeze out $200-300 per month. This shouldn’t be too hard since your grocery bills and utilities will be much less when he leaves for college.</p>

<p>That leaves only about $6k for loans. This might be able to reduce further if you and he are able to track down some third party scholarships. Also, can you add some more hours with your second job? If your son is not home it might be nice for you to stay busy outside the house.</p>

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<p>Another option is University of Minnesota- Morris. It is public but a liberal arts college (under 2,000 students) and does not charge out-of-state tuition. I think your son’s gpa and scores would fit in fine. Their estimated direct costs are right around $20K. With student loan and a couple of thousand from summer work, that could go down to $13K. They do give out scholarships. </p>

<p>[University</a> of Minnesota Morris](<a href=“http://morris.umn.edu/]University”>http://morris.umn.edu/)</p>

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<p>*2013VAmom - don’t assume that a $20k EFC means $20k loans every year. You are already paying $500/month for high school, so you have $6k right there.</p>

<p>You son can easily earn $3k working over the summer and another $2k working 4-6 hours per week during the school year. Look for ways to cut your household budget to squeeze out $200-300 per month. This shouldn’t be too hard since your grocery bills and utilities will be much less when he leaves for college.</p>

<p>That leaves only about $6k for loans. This might be able to reduce further if you and he are able to track down some third party scholarships. Also, can you add some more hours with your second job? If your son is not home it might be nice for you to stay busy outside the house.*</p>

<p>The mom likely only pays $500 a month for 10 months. However, she may still be able to come up with more money.</p>

<p>Unless her house payment is quite high, her income is substantial for a household of 2 people (1 parent, 1 child). I would guestimate that an income of $84k for 1 parent/1child is equivalent of $100k for 2 parents/2 children. Just the cost of 1 additional adult generally adds a bunch of costs to a household…car, insurance, medical expenses, clothing, day to day spending, etc, etc.</p>

<p>There may be ways to cut back. If the child has a car/car insurance, then get rid of that while in college. that may save a few thou right there! </p>

<p>Once her child is in school, maybe she could move to less expensive housing? Or maybe rent out a room? </p>

<p>She mentions some kind of second income…maybe there’s potential there to earn more?</p>

<p>Yes, the student should be able to earn $3k over the summer and another $3k during the school year. At least half of that should go to direct school costs (tuition, room, board, books). The other half can go towards personal expenses and misc. </p>

<p>There’s no need to borrow $20k per year. </p>

<p>The mom should be able to figure out how she can come up with $7k-10k per year, the student can come up with $5500 in a student loan and $3k from earnings. If then necessary, a Plus loan for a couple thousand wouldn’t be terrible. </p>

<p>That said, they should also look into schools that want more males. Some of the CTCL schools want more males.</p>

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<p>Is this a male child? I don’t see any “my son” or “he” from OP.</p>

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<p>I assumed male, but the OP has studiously avoided using any pronoun to avoid identifying the sex which is her privilege to do. Though, looking for male seeking LACs is not going to be useful advice if the student is a female.</p>

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<p>No, no more hours from my part time job. I already work every Sat, every other Sun. I don’t have cable. My child doesn’t own a car. We live bare bones, lol. Yes, I would like third party scholarships but the GPA maybe too low. I will still apply and let them tell us no. Thanks!</p>

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<p>lol. Thank you.</p>

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<p>yes, I pay for only 10 months. My mortgage is 1,800. Have not refinanced yet to take advantage of low interest rates. That may help me save 200-300 a month if I do refinance. I guess if they attend george mason, they could commute to school and save on room and board. But loose out on the college “experience.” but low to no debt will trump that!</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your great advice. I am soaking everything in and following up on all leads!! This has given me more to think about and I appreciate everyone helping me out.</p>

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<p>George Mason is a good school. IF that is a commuter choice, you have a good strong one in your back yard. Once you have a few basic schools like that on the list, you and your child can add whatever and see what happens… The school counselor should have some valuable info on past kids from that school who have done well in getting scholarships and aid packages from colleges too. My kids also went to private high school, and there are some colleges that have some relationship with some high schools, and applications are given a bit of a boost for admissions and awards.</p>

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<p>Can your kid commute to NOVA for two years, and then transfer to GMU? That is more affordable and could be your kid’s rock-bottom safety option. On this side of the Potomac, lots of good students commute to a Montgomery College campus for two years and then transfer. Happykid did just that. Have your kid investigate NOVA. There may be an honors program or an articulation program with a 4-year institution that look good for your kid.</p>

<p>P.S. Love the use of “they” as a neutral singular by the way. This is something I teach to my ESL students. It is much more common in speech than in writing, but there is precedent in writing dating to the 1500s at least. Using “they” as a singular is tricky because it leaves all of us struggling with verb forms, and wondering if more than one person is under discussion - in many ways parallel to our struggle with “you”.</p>

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<p>yes. that will be plan B if financial aid does not pan out for the schools they will apply to in the fall. hmmm I guess plan C is not going to college at all?</p>

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<p>that is good to hear, but honestly, im not going to put all my eggs in that basket of the relationship with the admissions office. I have to be realistic in that the stats are the driver. I have a list so far of 9 schools they will be applying to. 2 in state public, 2 in state private, 3 oos private, 2 oos public. lol my wide net.</p>

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<p>If your student is a female, you might want to look at the women’s colleges…Mt. Holyoke, etc. They tend to give nice merit awards to high achievers.</p>

<p>If your child is a male, you might want to consider schools where the male population is in the minority and growing. One suggestion would be Vassar…a GREAT school.</p>

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<p>thank you thumper1. you have given great advice, im researching everything!</p>

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<p>Do any of the private schools and OOS publics offer merit for your child’s stats? Throwing in a guaranteed merit school if possible would be a good option along with a few competitive merit schools. Also look into the merit possibilities at the in-state publics. JMU, for example, has some competitive merit awards (some of which require a separate application and/or Early Action), ranging from smaller amounts like $1500 to full in-state tuition. JMU may not be the best fit for merit aid for your child, but you never know since often merit aid is offered by the college in which the child will major. VCU, Christopher Newport, Radford, and others may be worth looking at.</p>

<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>

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<p>Absolutely, look to many sources for ideas. I think your student will do fine with a good variety of choices. You have a handle on the situation and you are going to give it ago in many different areas as well as having some strong backup schools that are many people’s prime choices.</p>

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<p>Hi 2013VAmom,</p>

<p>I would recommend that you take a walk over t the parents forum and the following thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/939937-3-0-3-3-gpa-parents-thread-2013-hs-graduation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/939937-3-0-3-3-gpa-parents-thread-2013-hs-graduation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>you will find “your people”; parents who have children with profiles similar to your son. they may be able to put schools on your radar that you were not thinking about.</p>

<p>I would recommend that your son do some SAT/ACT prep and do a retake. Are there any schools where your son may be a good candidate to play his sport at the DIV II (partial scholarship)?</p>

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<p>Is there a merit thread for students with similar scores? If not, there should be a thread devoted to schools that give substantial merit to students with a 3.0+ GPA and a 1200+ M+CR SAT (substantial merit meaning that remaining costs would be at or less than a state school). </p>

<p>I think Annasdad was able to find good merit scholarships for his daughter who is an incoming frosh. I think she’ll be attending Truman State…but it doesn’t have eng’g, I don’t think.</p>

<p>U New Mexico is very generous with merit and I think it does have eng’g.</p>