No money saved for college
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Anonymous
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Ok my son will be a junior next year and unfortunately we don't have any money saved for college.
I will be able to contribute $12k/year, my ex wife $12k/year and my parents $10k/year. So he will have about $34k/year from us. We are looking at colleges $50k/max. He took the SAT and got 1450 in his sophomore year, but he will retake it again at some point, but his GPA is not very high because although he has been taking honors science and math courses his final averages have been around 82%. He got 82% in honors calculus 1 in his sophomore year and he will be taking honors calculus 2 in his junior year. So we assume he will have a $15k gap to close. Can he get some kind of scholarship with those grades to close the gap? We don't want to take parents plus loans and also want to minimize his student loans debt. If he comes out with $50k loan after 4 years we feel it's reasonable. We don't anticipate he will go to graduate school because he wants to study civil engineering like I did. |
Anonymous
| I don't think B- averages lead to merit scholarships. But the good news is there are schools out there cheaper than $50k/year. Tell him to target $35k/year COA schools, and if he wants something more expensive he can take out loans. |
Anonymous
| Im sorry, but is there a question? |
Anonymous
| Where are you located? Unless you’re in DC, there are plenty of schools around for less than $50,000 a year. |
Anonymous
Oops. Found the question. |
Anonymous
| Can you and his mom put away 12k/year his junior and senior year in preparation for college? That would give you $47k/year to spend each of the four college years, including the planned cash flow. |
Anonymous
fixed |
Anonymous
| State schools. Most of them are < $35K. Or T100 down private. They will give merit aid for B average students. |
Anonymous
| Those SAT scores may help in getting some merit from some state schools- even out of state. Try Auburn and USo. Carolina. Auburn likes test scores and USC may give instate tuition for the right test scores. Also places like U Maine. The give everyone in state I think. |
Anonymous
OP here. Unfortunately the problem is that he took interest in fencing at a young age and we put a lot of money into it and still do. If he quit we could have extra to save. The problem is despite great athletics genetics 6'4 etc he is just not a competitive kid by nature. He is bright, but he is not the kind to push himself. And fencing scholarships are extremely rare. But he likes it and we feel that it gave me him a refuge from our divorce. |
Anonymous
Thank you. I'll add these to our list. |
Anonymous
OP here thanks again. The good news he is okay going to any school. And perhaps a less competitive school may suit him best because up to this point his "intelligence" got him by. He is not the kid to spend hours studying. But I am trying to change that it's not easy though..I feel like I still have to chase him to study. But I'll admit he got a lot better. |
Anonymous
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What about UMW?
https://www.umw.edu/admissions/in-state-merit-scholarship/ |
Anonymous
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If civil engineering can he look at vcu or GMU? If in va those are less than 50k a year. He could also do 2 yrs at NVCC and enter even VT under guaranteed admissions.
These are all very good options. |
Anonymous
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OP here..thanks. added to the list. I am gathering as much info now. |