Experienced Parents: What was DCUM right/wrong about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

W&M is almost exactly $40k/year. My kid is a freshman, so this is accurate as of the current school year.

You can look up tuition and room and board costs at UVA, W&M, and every other school, so seems weird that there's so much misinformation here about costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What DCUM got right: being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

+1
Talent and hard work in athletics and in the classroom can really pay off!

What do people do with kids who are not talented athletes?

Let them develop other talents. E.g. debaters do great on admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

This is the type of response that makes this forum so frustrating. Anyone can lookup these numbers, but many prefer to talk out their a$$ and others are too lazy to fact check them, maybe erroneously dismissing a good option. Here’s the reality based on the UVA website. A business school class is 350 students. Since it’s only a two-year program, 700 students of 18,000 undergraduates are in the program at any given time. Also, 3,000 kids are in the engineering school, 800 of which are CS students. 3,700/18,000 = 20% of students are in one of these more expensive programs. There are other programs that requir additional charges, but I wanted to clarify that HALF of the students are NOT in these two programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

W&M is almost exactly $40k/year. My kid is a freshman, so this is accurate as of the current school year.

You can look up tuition and room and board costs at UVA, W&M, and every other school, so seems weird that there's so much misinformation here about costs.

Everyone sh$ts on W&M’s charges but no one explains that tuition is fixed when you enter. In other words, while tuition bills continue to increase throughout one’s four years at other schools, the tuition at W&M remains the same.

[Anonymous]

According to W&M’s website, tuition, room, board, and fees are $37k this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What DCUM got right: being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

+1
Talent and hard work in athletics and in the classroom can really pay off!

What do people do with kids who are not talented athletes?

Get them started with a sport they enjoy when they are young. You don’t need to be a natural athlete. It can be learned.

Yes, any kid can learn a sport and get better. But, if your goal is for your kid to be recruited, that’s another matter. Many parents waste 10s of thousands of dollars and tons of time trying to turn their mediocre athlete into a recruitment star. It overwhelmingly doesn’t work. If your kid loves their sport, they get playing time, and they excel relative to others in the game, you may have something. Otherwise, put your money in a 529.

Point taken. My kid is a recruited athlete at a high academic D3. Good but not great athlete. We spend less than 5k per year. Grades and stats in the top 25% of applicants in a school that accepts less than 7%. The investment in the sport was well worth it.

But that is basically a needle in a haystack. One DC played club for years and opted not to pursue recruiting in college. Only 3 kids got scholarships. Two were generous, one knocked down the price and the remainder covered by EFC and need. The other three are playing but minimal money - in that group, all probably measure up with your DC.

One kid really expected to get a scholarship AT ANY SCHOOL and it simply didn't pan out. Kid was super fast, quite talented, not always the best team player, and on the very small side for even a D3 school. Parents were devastated.

Finally, how are you paying less than 5k at a high academic D3 as D3s do not offer athletic scholarships? Perhaps your DC got a robust aid package, even merit, but not an athletic scholarship.

The poster meant they spent 5K per year on their kids youth sport as if that is a bargain. That is so DCUM bubble. The vast majority of us families do not have 5K available for youth sports for each child every year.

Agree. That was not clear from their post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

This is the type of response that makes this forum so frustrating. Anyone can lookup these numbers, but many prefer to talk out their a$$ and others are too lazy to fact check them, maybe erroneously dismissing a good option. Here’s the reality based on the UVA website. A business school class is 350 students. Since it’s only a two-year program, 700 students of 18,000 undergraduates are in the program at any given time. Also, 3,000 kids are in the engineering school, 800 of which are CS students. 3,700/18,000 = 20% of students are in one of these more expensive programs. There are other programs that requir additional charges, but I wanted to clarify that HALF of the students are NOT in these two programs.

Those two are what matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What DCUM got right: being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

+1
Talent and hard work in athletics and in the classroom can really pay off!

What do people do with kids who are not talented athletes?

Get them started with a sport they enjoy when they are young. You don’t need to be a natural athlete. It can be learned.

Yes, any kid can learn a sport and get better. But, if your goal is for your kid to be recruited, that’s another matter. Many parents waste 10s of thousands of dollars and tons of time trying to turn their mediocre athlete into a recruitment star. It overwhelmingly doesn’t work. If your kid loves their sport, they get playing time, and they excel relative to others in the game, you may have something. Otherwise, put your money in a 529.

Point taken. My kid is a recruited athlete at a high academic D3. Good but not great athlete. We spend less than 5k per year. Grades and stats in the top 25% of applicants in a school that accepts less than 7%. The investment in the sport was well worth it.

But that is basically a needle in a haystack. One DC played club for years and opted not to pursue recruiting in college. Only 3 kids got scholarships. Two were generous, one knocked down the price and the remainder covered by EFC and need. The other three are playing but minimal money - in that group, all probably measure up with your DC.

One kid really expected to get a scholarship AT ANY SCHOOL and it simply didn't pan out. Kid was super fast, quite talented, not always the best team player, and on the very small side for even a D3 school. Parents were devastated.

Finally, how are you paying less than 5k at a high academic D3 as D3s do not offer athletic scholarships? Perhaps your DC got a robust aid package, even merit, but not an athletic scholarship.

The poster meant they spent 5K per year on their kids youth sport as if that is a bargain. That is so DCUM bubble. The vast majority of us families do not have 5K available for youth sports for each child every year.

We do sports and music. We don't do it for college but to support our child's interests and exercise.

I hope your DC is not as tone deaf as you are here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What DCUM got right: being a recruited athlete is the best hook.

+1
Talent and hard work in athletics and in the classroom can really pay off!

What do people do with kids who are not talented athletes?

Get them started with a sport they enjoy when they are young. You don’t need to be a natural athlete. It can be learned.

Ha! Just make sure if you are looking for sports scholarships that you pick a sport with a lot of teams at a lot of schools and not one that has fewer than 100 schools with less than 15 per team. Look at sports like soccer.

LOL soccer waste total waste. Lax too.

Soccer is the best sport in the world.
A lot of people play it for life time.
Look at the fields around you.

Seriously? You really don't understand what PP meant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right:

There is no real merit aid out there. You must plan and save a lot and early, or be prepared to take on significant loans. Even if your kid is very smart.

Wrong. Our kids both got big merit scholarships which resulted in us paying roughly half of the full sticker price.

Agree. One DC got a huge merit package, knocking 50% off the price, and that was not even the largest award for the school. Ended up at a different school.

Merit is out there, but where your DC gets merit and where you/they want to attend may not align.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough
Thinking little Johnny or Susie should get a full ride academically or sports.[i]
Making your kid do a ton of crap volunteering etc. John Hopkins gifted makes a difference LOL
Claiming essays make a difference in large state school applications.
Not understanding data schools that admit on gpa/test scores.

I gotta admit I find this incredibly annoying. Parents in FB groups whining about their EFCs, then in subsequent posts mentioning that they have "good incomes" and later indicating that they have high monthly expenses that are not mortgage, health, sandwich generation obligations. If you choose to carry two auto payments every month, that is a decision you make and I would not want the college to underwrite your choices. If you didn't have a conversation with your DC on the range of schools you can afford and their top 3 choices are all schools that do not provide merit, then that is on you. Senior year isn't the time to level with your kid and/or rail against the machine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

This is the type of response that makes this forum so frustrating. Anyone can lookup these numbers, but many prefer to talk out their a$$ and others are too lazy to fact check them, maybe erroneously dismissing a good option. Here’s the reality based on the UVA website. A business school class is 350 students. Since it’s only a two-year program, 700 students of 18,000 undergraduates are in the program at any given time. Also, 3,000 kids are in the engineering school, 800 of which are CS students. 3,700/18,000 = 20% of students are in one of these more expensive programs. There are other programs that requir additional charges, but I wanted to clarify that HALF of the students are NOT in these two programs.

+1. Also UVA is 30K a year - all in - for most majors. When our DS went tuition was only $12K. As soon as possible he moved to cheaper digs with a group off campus so we could drop food and dorm costs. he did his own cooking. No car. No Greek stuff. We were able to save and now send him to grad school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

Well I disagree with that vehemently. But regardless, the tuition for the College is NOT $42k. I pay $10k per semester right now including a small meal plan and my kids apartment is about $9k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

This is the type of response that makes this forum so frustrating. Anyone can lookup these numbers, but many prefer to talk out their a$$ and others are too lazy to fact check them, maybe erroneously dismissing a good option. Here’s the reality based on the UVA website. A business school class is 350 students. Since it’s only a two-year program, 700 students of 18,000 undergraduates are in the program at any given time. Also, 3,000 kids are in the engineering school, 800 of which are CS students. 3,700/18,000 = 20% of students are in one of these more expensive programs. There are other programs that requir additional charges, but I wanted to clarify that HALF of the students are NOT in these two programs.

Those two are what matter

uh, no. My kid was in Arts & Sciences and is now doing a DPhil at Oxford

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not saving enough with the justification of being in a good school district and relying on merit or financial aid and being disappointed when its not what you deem enough.

Realism is sometimes hard to come by on this board. College and college prices have changed so much over the last 30 years that some are totally disoriented when they understand the current landscape. For some, that updated understanding occurs only as their kids are applying for college. That’s where state schools can be helpful, but some people don’t want to be bound by those options.

It is so irresponsible. This is nothing someone should be surprised by when your kid is a senior. Our financial advisor told us 20 years ago to save roughly $350k-$400k for each of our kids for private colleges and $200k for public college.

You advisor is absurd. You don't need $200K for public. You do the prepaid, like we did and then save for room/board/graduate school. You tell your kids that they are going to a state school as that is what you can afford.

UVA is over $42K/year for in-state. So the $50K/year is not that far off.

To clarify, UVA is NOT $42k per year in state. ( and neither is W&M). You are talking only about engineering. My kids go to UVA college of arts and sciences and it’s about $30k per year. W&M is about $35k. PP, you need to clarify that you’re talking about engineering.

Engineering and Business are most popular and it's like half of the university

This is the type of response that makes this forum so frustrating. Anyone can lookup these numbers, but many prefer to talk out their a$$ and others are too lazy to fact check them, maybe erroneously dismissing a good option. Here’s the reality based on the UVA website. A business school class is 350 students. Since it’s only a two-year program, 700 students of 18,000 undergraduates are in the program at any given time. Also, 3,000 kids are in the engineering school, 800 of which are CS students. 3,700/18,000 = 20% of students are in one of these more expensive programs. There are other programs that requir additional charges, but I wanted to clarify that HALF of the students are NOT in these two programs.

Those two are what matter

Says you but in the context of the cost discussion, which is the topic at hand, students at UVA are paying closer to $30-32k depending on housing
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/uva-6968/academics