Did you ever restrict your teen from applying to certain colleges? Did you have rules or boundaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We told ours how much we're willing and able to pay. They're free to go anywhere they can get in that falls within that limit. That is how all parents should do it.

Same. Kids in some cases didn't think it worth the time to apply something with a small chance to fit the budget but in other cases did think it worth the effort.

[Anonymous]

We’ve bee open with DC about what we can afford since college lists became a topic of conversation in 10th. DC knows that the private LACs on the list are contingent upon receive enough aid/merit, but we’ve done the due diligence to the best of our ability to know that they are schools that DC has a decent chance of getting enough aid.

Then we also talked about the political landscape and how that has affected higher education, STEM funding, academic freedoms, and healthcare, and made our concerns known about certain schools or areas. Fortunately DC’s values and concerns align with ours anyway, so that ended up not being an issue.

Other than that, we put no hard restrictions on applications.

[Anonymous]

Oldest is only in 11th grade, but we have always told him (and 9th grader) that we will find a way to pay whatever it costs if they get into and really want to go to a top 20 but not paying 90k a year for anything else unless it is the best school one of them gets into. Current plan for Junior is to ED at UVA (we are in state) and I think (so far) he has a very good shot of getting in ED, so it likely will not be an issue for him, but he was on board with the parameters. Younger one more interested in privates so we shall see.

[Anonymous]

for financial reasons: in-state or equivalent cost.
for other reasons: within a six hour drive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put my foot down at Notre Dame and Holy Cross.

Aren’t YOU special.

[Anonymous]

We're full pay, never gonna get aid at meets-need schools.

So I drew the line at schools I thought were not worth 90k colleges. For me, that was BC. On the BC tour, I told my kids I didn't want to pay more than 90k for this. sorry!

There were plenty of schools in that BC-range that gave merit so .. that felt fine to me. But I was not paying full boat for BC. Yale? Sure. Stanford? Sure. Northwestern? Sure. But once we got to BC ... No.

[Anonymous]

Yes.

We are west European, and prefer to stick to US northeast institutions, Quebec, and the UK.

Cost is not a factor, but the following are:
1. Caliber/reputation of major is important, more so than caliber of the college as a whole;
2. Proximity to a hospital, since both my kids have medical issues;
3. The locations mentioned above are more familiar to us.
4. None of us like warm climates.
5. We are leery of very conservative viewpoints in certain states (despite most colleges themselves leaning centrist or progressive).
6. And for one of our kids, a decent disability office and smaller classes, not large lecture halls, since he is neurodivergent.

[Anonymous]

Nothing further South than North Carolina allowed.

[Anonymous]

We shared some suggested cost guidelines based on what we could confidently cover (younger siblings are close behind) and walked through the reality of "trying to cover it herself" through scholarships (especially at schools where scholarships lower the college-sponsored grant) and student loan limits. That did not push any colleges off her list but did prevent her from applying early decision to because of its need-based-only aid policy that is not as generous as some. We also encouraged her to look closely at whether students in her major graduate on time and/or struggle to get the classes they need, graduation rates, and internship and career advising. What she found at a couple of schools prompted her to take a few off her list. She tends to be thoughtful and logical, so guidelines rather than strict limits worked. But each of our kids has their own approach, so we might end up dictating or restricting as we move through the process with her siblings. Who knows.

[Anonymous]

Of course- only state schools. We’re not made of money.

[Anonymous]

Cost and geography.

If they try wanted to apply to higher cost schools they could, but were informed that if we didn't get aid they would not be able to afford to go.

The need to fly back and forth from school also adds costs, so that would be factored into the price. It worked out and provided a more realistic framework when the time came to select a school.

[Anonymous]

We advised them only ED to their first choices, and don't let their insecurities take over the decision making.

[Anonymous]

We told them they could go anywhere as long as the total cost of attendance wasn't higher than W&M which would have been their 1st choice if they stayed in-state.

[Anonymous]

We are duel citizens who are not super rich. Around 10th grade, we explained there's the state flagship, which is very good. There's the top 20 or so schools that give excellent financial aid. There's merit at some lower ranked schools. And then there are all the very good schools in Canada.

Those are your options. Don't even think about applying to Miami or Trinity or NYU or Pepperdine or Colby or similar. Not happening when you have Toronto, McGill, UBC, Waterloo and so on for a quarter of the cost. And MIT and Stanford and Princeton will make it work if you can get in. And State U is pretty darn good.

They both go to top 20 private schools in the US today. The numbers worked. With two, there's no way we can afford $800,000 for college in the US. So it required some choices. It worked out in the end.

[Anonymous]

We did not restrict our kids for any place. Mainly because we have ingrained in them the morals and values that we have.

They were not going to any school because it was a party school or because of Greek life. Even though they are very social. They were concentrating on their major, what the school could provide for them (mainly access to internships and opportunities), and how close to home it was. They also looked at merit scholarship money and how much of their college fund they could save and convert to Roth.

My kid is like the gen-Z, suburban dad type, responsible person - that is the topic of a DCUM thread.