Rising Sophomore and I am really worried about one thing with admissions...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- he goes to an unknown private school. Max amount of honors courses permitted. Not big 3. We enrolled him because of the pandemic and now he wants to stay. It’s cheap enough that even if we withdrew him and sent him to neighborhood public, saving that amount each year would not make the difference between public in state and private.

This doesn't make sense. Private school tuition is probably half or more of private college tuition. Pull him from private and save it for college. That's your first step. Second, merit aid! You're not going to get it from a NESCAC, but the mid-tier LACs hand it out readily, decreasing tution by over half.

[Anonymous]

What state are you in OP?

[Anonymous]

I'm in Maryland. The private he is in is 10k/year. So if I pulled him, I'd save 30k. Not going to make up the difference between public and private.

Also, yes, I have to say this- I would be proud to send him to an in state public college. I am not upset that privates are out of reach for us financially. I'm just sick of being told by random family members that I have some sort of social obligation to send my DS to private college because I went, even if I can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

You need to ignore relatives - see the other thread about unrealistic expectations.

Figure out what you can afford and tell your kid. He can go in state or go OOS or private if he gets merit aid.

I went to a small private with scholarship money, my kid goes to a larger school where he also got merit aid.

He got into other schools that were much more expensive, he turned those down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:congratulations, you're the donut hole family that people on this board claim doesn't exist. We're in the same position, would could stretch to afford to send DDs to the SLAC we attended, but it would mean liquidating a lifetime of savings in addition to 529s. They will have to go instate or to a school that offers merit.

It's not that people don't recognize that there are people who would be full pay at private school, for whom full pay is hard. It's that people who whine about the donut hole don't recognize that for people who get need based aid, paying the EFC is equally hard. It's just that paying public school tuition is also hard for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:congratulations, you're the donut hole family that people on this board claim doesn't exist. We're in the same position, would could stretch to afford to send DDs to the SLAC we attended, but it would mean liquidating a lifetime of savings in addition to 529s. They will have to go instate or to a school that offers merit.

It's not that people don't recognize that there are people who would be full pay at private school, for whom full pay is hard. It's that people who whine about the donut hole don't recognize that for people who get need based aid, paying the EFC is equally hard. It's just that paying public school tuition is also hard for us.

I'm not whining about the donut hole and neither is PP. It's just a fact that I cannot afford full pay private and my DC will not qualify for need based aid. Life's not fair and I accept that.

[Anonymous]

How is it unfair that kids with greater financial need are getting more financial aid, and kids with the highest academic credentials are being offered the most merit aid.

The middle families do not stand out, and therefore are not singled out, for either type of aid. Sounds about right.

[Anonymous]

The kind of college you attended has no bearing on the kind of college your kids will get into -- thank goodness because I went to a women's college and have boys!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is it unfair that kids with greater financial need are getting more financial aid, and kids with the highest academic credentials are being offered the most merit aid.

The middle families do not stand out, and therefore are not singled out, for either type of aid. Sounds about right.

So where do these students attend college? Or are they off to community college until they can auto-enroll in the state college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:congratulations, you're the donut hole family that people on this board claim doesn't exist. We're in the same position, would could stretch to afford to send DDs to the SLAC we attended, but it would mean liquidating a lifetime of savings in addition to 529s. They will have to go instate or to a school that offers merit.

It's not that people don't recognize that there are people who would be full pay at private school, for whom full pay is hard. It's that people who whine about the donut hole don't recognize that for people who get need based aid, paying the EFC is equally hard. It's just that paying public school tuition is also hard for us.

I'm not whining about the donut hole and neither is PP. It's just a fact that I cannot afford full pay private and my DC will not qualify for need based aid. Life's not fair and I accept that.

Right, it's not fair that you can afford instate and most Americans can't. You are in a better position than the vast majority of American families, and yet are using a term that was made up by people who are trying to convince people that UMC families are in some uniquely terrible situation.

The donut hole does not exist, not because the top 2% don't have it better than you, but because the other 97% or whatever don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it unfair that kids with greater financial need are getting more financial aid, and kids with the highest academic credentials are being offered the most merit aid.

The middle families do not stand out, and therefore are not singled out, for either type of aid. Sounds about right.

So where do these students attend college? Or are they off to community college until they can auto-enroll in the state college?

OP isn't a middle family. But the actual middle families do use community college, or they take on enormous debt for state college, or they choose careers that don't require college.

How do you not know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:congratulations, you're the donut hole family that people on this board claim doesn't exist. We're in the same position, would could stretch to afford to send DDs to the SLAC we attended, but it would mean liquidating a lifetime of savings in addition to 529s. They will have to go instate or to a school that offers merit.

It's not that people don't recognize that there are people who would be full pay at private school, for whom full pay is hard. It's that people who whine about the donut hole don't recognize that for people who get need based aid, paying the EFC is equally hard. It's just that paying public school tuition is also hard for us.

I'm not whining about the donut hole and neither is PP. It's just a fact that I cannot afford full pay private and my DC will not qualify for need based aid. Life's not fair and I accept that.

Right, it's not fair that you can afford instate and most Americans can't. You are in a better position than the vast majority of American families, and yet are using a term that was made up by people who are trying to convince people that UMC families are in some uniquely terrible situation.

The donut hole does not exist, not because the top 2% don't have it better than you, but because the other 97% or whatever don't.

when it comes to college, if you are a good enough applicant and from a poor family, you pay little or nothing. The most elite schools are almost free for any family with less than a 150k HHI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- he goes to an unknown private school. Max amount of honors courses permitted. Not big 3. We enrolled him because of the pandemic and now he wants to stay. It’s cheap enough that even if we withdrew him and sent him to neighborhood public, saving that amount each year would not make the difference between public in state and private.

Basically, the stories you hear re high-stats kids not getting into state schools usually involve one of 3 scenarios

1. OOS kids whose stats may exceed those of in-state applicants but who either don’t advance the public school’s goals (financial, demographic or, programmatic) or whose stats aren’t as good as other OOS applicants from the same area
2. OOS kids from private schools whose applicants, historically, haven’t matriculated even when admitted.
3. In-state kids whose stats are quite high compared to other admitted students but who come from schools or regions where those stats aren’t enough to make them more attractive than their peers locally.

If your kid might fall into category 2, then make sure DC does what can be done to express his strong interest in the school. This isn’t his safety — it’s his target. And make sure the college counselor(s) at his HS know this as well.

Yes, there are various buckets. But parents when to SLACs ain’t one of them.

[Anonymous]

OP you worry too much. Where you go to school has no bearing on your kid's admission process unless he is applying to a school that has a legacy policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in Maryland. The private he is in is 10k/year. So if I pulled him, I'd save 30k. Not going to make up the difference between public and private.

Also, yes, I have to say this- I would be proud to send him to an in state public college. I am not upset that privates are out of reach for us financially. I'm just sick of being told by random family members that I have some sort of social obligation to send my DS to private college because I went, even if I can't afford it.

NP here with a junior and I get what you are saying.

- If he is interested in UMD-CP, realize certain programs are extremely competitive but all is not lost if he gets an offer for spring admissions (typically slightly lower stats) or gets accepted into Arts and Sciences rather than a LEP (limited enrollment program). If he gets a spring admission offer there is program called Freshman Connections (first come first serve to sign up) where he can still start classes in the fall but the fall classes are during the evenings. I know some kids that were spring admits that took advantage of this option. If he gets admitted in the fall but not into the program of his choice, there are sometimes achievable pathways to get into that major later on. College confidential has lots of posts on both those situations.
- You need a second MD school option, UMBC is poplar and has a science/tech bent and Towson is also popular. I work at a tech company and work with lots of folks that graduated from UMD-CP, Towson and UMBC
- Look for LAC/SLAC that offer merit aid for your son’s stats where there are good odds of getting in. This shouldn’t be a school that only gives a handful of merit awards and has a really low acceptance rate. Being open to other geographic areas probably helps. Some CTCL may fall into this category. There are also some Catholic colleges, maybe not SLACs per say, that may also have merit aid like Loyola University Baltimore, University of Dayton etc.
- Look at OOS schools that have good odds for admission and either give enough merit to be affordable for you and/or the OOS price is within what you can afford. I think cost is partly why OOS public schools are popular with kids from this area. Some of the popular choices are University of Alabama, Clemson, Pitt, University of Vermont, Penn State, University of Florida, UGA. I’m not including any public ivies because chances are if you are admitted to University of a Michigan, UNC, UVA as a MD resident, or UT Austin you were also admitted to UMD-CP.

Bottom line it won’t be able to tell your son “get into the best school you can and we can pay for it” and you can’t take the flagship as a given, but he can get in somewhere - you just have to do your research, be intentional about where he applies, and make sure he applies early action to UMD and any other school where that will give him a better chance. Oh and ignore your relatives that have their hands in someone else’s wallet. Unless they are willing to pay, they don’t have a voice in the decision.