college admissions process so far, financial aid disappointment

[Anonymous]

OP - also try to keep the perspective of really how much better those targets and reaches are. Not having UMDCP as an option stinks, but outcomes from Towson will be similar. Also, if a 3.8 is the UW GPA from mid ranked MCPS, your child wasn't going to be going to a T50 anyway. Towson is awesome, its what UMD was for smart instate kids 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

It does feel crazy to have saved $200k for college for each of our kids and that still means we have to chip in extra if they go any top 50 public school that doesn’t offer significant merit aid.

[Anonymous]

What about st Mary’s college of Maryland for pre-med? Or a SUNY? They are pretty cheap OOS and may not be too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does feel crazy to have saved $200k for college for each of our kids and that still means we have to chip in extra if they go any top 50 public school that doesn’t offer significant merit aid.

Yea, college costs are out of control. But, we keep paying it. Crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about st Mary’s college of Maryland for pre-med? Or a SUNY? They are pretty cheap OOS and may not be too late.

Take a look at SUNY Geneseo. Science is fantastic there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter had to turn down her first choice because of cost. We had warned her at the time that it wasn’t in the budget, but she said she just wanted to see if she could get in. HA HA.

She was salty about it for a little while, until she found her people at the school she ultimately attended.

And then after graduation, when she was living in NYC, she told me how much harder it would have been to live there in an entry-level salary with student loan debt and how grateful she was that we didn’t let her take any loans.

An 18 yr old cannot fathom or understand what it means to have student loans, or spend $300K on undergrad from not a T10.

I'm struggling with this with my 18 yr old who has chosen to go oos. It will be about $300K, but they will use some of their inheritance to pay for it. They got lots of merit aid from lesser ranked schools, but they still want the oos flagship. Granted, this oos is much more highly ranked than the next best option, but I just cannot stomach leaving all that merit money on the table.

I've tried to talk them out of it for several weeks, but they won't budge. I suppose I can put my foot down, but if they are willing to use their inheritance money on this, then that's on them. I have explained to them as detailed and clearly as I can why spending their inheritance on this oos isn't the best option.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm so sorry. College costs are out of control, and being offered $30K off of $100K just doesn't move the needle for many of us.

DC had to turn down athletic recruiting offers at some top schools because they don't give merit or athletic scholarships and we don't qualify for FA. These schools say we can afford the $400K, but we don't believe that would be financially prudent to do for our 3 kids.

This is very difficult for donut hole families.

[Anonymous]

See if your kid can still apply to College of Wooster. My daughter got 40K in merit there with grades a bit below your child's. It is a great research school and has excellent admit #s for medical school! Wishing you luck!

[Anonymous]

Op, your daughter will find many classmates at your MoCo public going to Towson and Salisbury. A little surprised your daughter did not also apply to UMBC.

[Anonymous]

^ Good idea to apply to some LACs, Juniata is still accepting apps, it’s strong in science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand. Didn't you discuss the financials and run the NPCs for every school before applying? Sounds like substantial college savings means no need-based aid. Your child shouldn't have applied to any schools you both weren't willing to cover the difference for (given limited merit almost everywhere except a few schools for NMSF/NMF). Unfortunately you set your DC up for disappointment, which is a shame.

An alternative is taking a gap year to work and save as much money as possible, and to plan on working during school years and summer to help offset the extra costs. But a smart motivated kid will can do very well no matter where they attend UG!

Don't be a dick. Until you do it, you don't realize how stingy the FA or merit aid at these school really is. You hope for the best. Rubbing it in that "you did this" is just an a-hole thing to say.

Not everyone has time to research every school, possibility, etc. like the people on this board.

OP- my child had a D1 sports offer to a very high academic school (top 15). DC turned it down. That school was $90K a year. Even with athletic money (but no FA and no merit given by this school at all to anyone), it was not worth it. That's an absurd price tag to pay at almost full freight. We didn't know how stingy they'd be until DC got the offer. It was devastating to turn it down but . . .

DC is at a high performing d3 program at a school that people on here often mock. But DC is Dean's list, an athlete, and having a great experience. DC will graduate debt free with prob $100K+ left over for grad school. While many of DC's peers will be drowning in undergrad debt. Spin it as such.

Also DC talked to lots of professionals in the field of study and all said "it doesn't matter where you go to undergrad."

OP here. Thank you for your story! For those who said we didn't prepare perfectly and I set my child up for disappointment, maybe. But we thought their solid gpa (3.8 unweighted, 4.8 weighted, multiple 5s on AP exams, slightly above average SAT), plus multiple meaningful awards and varsity sports would be enough. And it wasn't. Lesson learned. And we are still learning as this process continues. At this point we've determined around 40k per year is around our max, with medical school down the road. This is actually a good lesson, although disappointing, in making informed decisions about finances. We don't hear enough about kids who do NOT go to their dream schools because of money but end up loving where they go.

Did you run NPCs?

What is the issue with using your savings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DC could take a gap year to regroup and, as a PP said, save a good amount of money. There are a few schools that are test optional that might give her excellent merit. The first to mind if Oberlin, which has merit awards between 35-45K for high stats kids. You could do a little hw to see if test-optional kids ever get those. Excellent for pre-med. Case Western, too.

With OP's DC's stats, neither Oberlin nor CWR will award him much if any merit aid.

[Anonymous]

I think there are a lot of kids who choose schools due to finances, OP. You're far from the only one, if that brings any comfort.

Are you talking about merit money when you say "financial aid," or do you mean actual need-based aid? My FCPS child has similar stats (though potentially lower SAT than yours, depending on what you consider an average score) and she got a decent amount of merit from schools that are ranked T100 and up, and nothing to date at the schools ranked below. As much as our kids are hard workers, I'm not sure their stats are competitive enough at many schools for merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand. Didn't you discuss the financials and run the NPCs for every school before applying? Sounds like substantial college savings means no need-based aid. Your child shouldn't have applied to any schools you both weren't willing to cover the difference for (given limited merit almost everywhere except a few schools for NMSF/NMF). Unfortunately you set your DC up for disappointment, which is a shame.

An alternative is taking a gap year to work and save as much money as possible, and to plan on working during school years and summer to help offset the extra costs. But a smart motivated kid will can do very well no matter where they attend UG!

Don't be a dick. Until you do it, you don't realize how stingy the FA or merit aid at these school really is. You hope for the best. Rubbing it in that "you did this" is just an a-hole thing to say.

Not everyone has time to research every school, possibility, etc. like the people on this board.

OP- my child had a D1 sports offer to a very high academic school (top 15). DC turned it down. That school was $90K a year. Even with athletic money (but no FA and no merit given by this school at all to anyone), it was not worth it. That's an absurd price tag to pay at almost full freight. We didn't know how stingy they'd be until DC got the offer. It was devastating to turn it down but . . .

DC is at a high performing d3 program at a school that people on here often mock. But DC is Dean's list, an athlete, and having a great experience. DC will graduate debt free with prob $100K+ left over for grad school. While many of DC's peers will be drowning in undergrad debt. Spin it as such.

Also DC talked to lots of professionals in the field of study and all said "it doesn't matter where you go to undergrad."

OP here. Thank you for your story! For those who said we didn't prepare perfectly and I set my child up for disappointment, maybe. But we thought their solid gpa (3.8 unweighted, 4.8 weighted, multiple 5s on AP exams, slightly above average SAT), plus multiple meaningful awards and varsity sports would be enough. And it wasn't. Lesson learned. And we are still learning as this process continues. At this point we've determined around 40k per year is around our max, with medical school down the road. This is actually a good lesson, although disappointing, in making informed decisions about finances. We don't hear enough about kids who do NOT go to their dream schools because of money but end up loving where they go.

Did you run NPCs?

What is the issue with using your savings?

Not even her savings. It’s family money but they want to have it go through med school. She tried to get the kid financial aid but didn’t get it so now it has to be a lower ranked school with a cap on what the family will pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been hard. My child has gotten into their safeties (Towson/Salisbury) which they are NOT enthusiastic about. They have also gotten into some of their reach/target schools. Unfortunately, those schools so far are around 60k per year with merit (child has 4.8 gpa). Financial aid is minimal. I don't have an amazing salary, but child has substantial college savings because of extenuating circumstances (not enough to cover 240k though). They go to a decent high school in Montgomery County, and it is sad for them to see their classmates commit to schools they cannot commit to. How do you help your child handle going to a safety so they can graduate college without debt? My child is so disappointed to have to go to school with peers who didn't grind like them and sacrifice time. But they/we just aren't willing or able to pay 50k PLUS per year. They want to go to med school after college as well, so the price of undergrad really matters. Please tell me your stories of going to a safety bc of money and kid thriving.

This is such a hideous comment. I won't bother to respond, aside from -- do better!