Did your senior apply to schools where neither of you knew the COA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have enough saved for our children to go to any school they want, so no, we didn't pay attention to the cost of where they applied (we have grad school covered as well, should they choose to attend, and we expect they will).

One is at an OOS flagship, with a merit award that brings the cost down to matching state tuition, and the other is at an expensive private, but on their own applied for and received a lot of scholarship funds. Not quite as inexpensive as their sibling, but it doesn't matter.

Yes, we know how fortunate we are, and yes they know how fortunate they are

If you don't mind sharing, what school is this?

U if Wisconsin - go Badgers!

[Anonymous]

We also ordered by COA and using cost calculator for merit, then we drew a line and wouldn’t let child apply to any outside that line. The line was about $10k more then we can afford so in case there was a pleasant surprise with merit. But child knows the bottom line. It’s on a spreadsheet in bold!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are full pay so I didn’t really check COA for every school. I just assumed the most expensive would be around $80k/year.

+1 We can send our kids anywhere so no, we haven’t looked.

+2 We have 4 kids and can afford to send them anywhere. Cost is not a factor when deciding where to apply or attend.

[Anonymous]

I'm OP. I didn't ask the schools' prices. The parents of the kids applying commented about costs if the kid gets in. They said things like "I hope Boston College gives merit because I heard it's really expensive."

[Anonymous]

My older kid goes to an expensive LAC, so we could not exactly nickel and dime the younger one. I assume it will be anywhere up to around $85K. Many of the younger ones chosen schools are cheaper than the older ones. We have not run the EFC calculatations. We know we are full freight unless the kid takes a merit offer. We already pay north of $50K for private school so it's not that much more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been at a lot of holiday events lately that were still canceled last year. I'm really amazed at how many fellow parents have no clue what the schools their kids applied to cost and whether those schools give merit awards. (99% of the people in our circles wouldn't qualify for financial aid at any but the most generous Ivy schools.)

Did you just have your student apply to schools blind, with no info on whether you'd be able to afford to send them there? Did you make sure that at least one school would be affordable given your savings and ability to cash flow? Are you willing to bite the bullet and borrow hundreds of thousands if not?

Had no idea how much schools cost that my kids applied to. Didn’t care. They knew we’d pay for them to go to where they want just like my parents did for me and my grandparents did for my parents. College choice shouldn’t be limited by finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been at a lot of holiday events lately that were still canceled last year. I'm really amazed at how many fellow parents have no clue what the schools their kids applied to cost and whether those schools give merit awards. (99% of the people in our circles wouldn't qualify for financial aid at any but the most generous Ivy schools.)

Did you just have your student apply to schools blind, with no info on whether you'd be able to afford to send them there? Did you make sure that at least one school would be affordable given your savings and ability to cash flow? Are you willing to bite the bullet and borrow hundreds of thousands if not?

Had no idea how much schools cost that my kids applied to. Didn’t care. They knew we’d pay for them to go to where they want just like my parents did for me and my grandparents did for my parents. College choice shouldn’t be limited by finances.

You must be very wealthy. Your last sentence suggests you live in a bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm OP. I didn't ask the schools' prices. The parents of the kids applying commented about costs if the kid gets in. They said things like "I hope Boston College gives merit because I heard it's really expensive."

And next year it will be, “one at BC, so expensive, ha ha” this how people brag at parties, or “DC is at BC with merit” without mentioning it’s 4K or something piddling.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they applied without knowing costs bc we didn't know what the merit award would be. DC got a full-ride scholarship for tuition only, not room/board. We weighed everything after decisions came in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm OP. I didn't ask the schools' prices. The parents of the kids applying commented about costs if the kid gets in. They said things like "I hope Boston College gives merit because I heard it's really expensive."

And next year it will be, “one at BC, so expensive, ha ha” this how people brag at parties, or “DC is at BC with merit” without mentioning it’s 4K or something piddling.

This. These are the exact same people who brag on DCUM about saving/having family money so they don’t have to care, just in party mode instead of anonymous message board mode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are full pay so I didn’t really check COA for every school. I just assumed the most expensive would be around $80k/year.

Same here. I have just assumed 80k for everywhere. No never looked at cost. We are full pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been at a lot of holiday events lately that were still canceled last year. I'm really amazed at how many fellow parents have no clue what the schools their kids applied to cost and whether those schools give merit awards. (99% of the people in our circles wouldn't qualify for financial aid at any but the most generous Ivy schools.)

Did you just have your student apply to schools blind, with no info on whether you'd be able to afford to send them there? Did you make sure that at least one school would be affordable given your savings and ability to cash flow? Are you willing to bite the bullet and borrow hundreds of thousands if not?

Had no idea how much schools cost that my kids applied to. Didn’t care. They knew we’d pay for them to go to where they want just like my parents did for me and my grandparents did for my parents. College choice shouldn’t be limited by finances.

You must be very wealthy. Your last sentence suggests you live in a bubble.

Not PP but no not a bubble just a choice. They go where they want. My job is to figure out how to pay.

[Anonymous]

How did this come up? If someone asked me how much my kid's list of schools cost I would almost definitely say something awkward or feign ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm OP. I didn't ask the schools' prices. The parents of the kids applying commented about costs if the kid gets in. They said things like "I hope Boston College gives merit because I heard it's really expensive."

This doesn't mean they don't know what it costs. It is the sign of someone trying to be socially appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been at a lot of holiday events lately that were still canceled last year. I'm really amazed at how many fellow parents have no clue what the schools their kids applied to cost and whether those schools give merit awards. (99% of the people in our circles wouldn't qualify for financial aid at any but the most generous Ivy schools.)

Did you just have your student apply to schools blind, with no info on whether you'd be able to afford to send them there? Did you make sure that at least one school would be affordable given your savings and ability to cash flow? Are you willing to bite the bullet and borrow hundreds of thousands if not?

Had no idea how much schools cost that my kids applied to. Didn’t care. They knew we’d pay for them to go to where they want just like my parents did for me and my grandparents did for my parents. College choice shouldn’t be limited by finances.

You must be very wealthy. Your last sentence suggests you live in a bubble.

Not PP but no not a bubble just a choice. They go where they want. My job is to figure out how to pay.

Coming up with 100k a year isn't a choice for most people