What was your strategy for making college more affordable? Live in VA vs. MD?

[Anonymous]

Why don't you buy a smallish apt. in a good rentable are of VA? Rent it out for now. If your kid gets into UVA, just move to that apt, get a drivers lic, etc to establish residency. After 1 year you will get instate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I definitely am not assuming both kids will get into UVA or W&M. They are very young, so who knows. But so far, they appear to be bright by whatever measures exist (MAP scores, etc.) and do very well in school. I would have no problem with them going to a mid or lower tier state school if that seems like the most appropriate place for them based on their grades. I think I feel guilty about sending them to UMd due to costs if they are eligible to get into Hopkins or Cornell or something, even though I'm not sure it's actually worth the significantly higher cost. But I grew up in MD, and sometimes think I haven't fully appreciated that UMd is now viewed more strongly (and is more competitive to get into!).

PP, I'd love to hear more about why you loved UMd. Thanks!

You will lose your mind by middle shcool if you start worrying about Hopkins and Cornell during elementary school.

[Anonymous]

I like that U.Md is the strongest STEM school from the Pennsylvania line to the florida keys. I think it's cool that the STEM school dominates preppy lacrosse and has more impactful alumni than any school in Md or Va. The impactful alum are mostly because U.Md is the best in all the difficult subjects .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like that U.Md is the strongest STEM school from the Pennsylvania line to the florida keys. I think it's cool that the STEM school dominates preppy lacrosse and has more impactful alumni than any school in Md or Va. The impactful alum are mostly because U.Md is the best in all the difficult subjects .

I think Georgia Tech is probably a bit stronger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both kids went to U.Md.

Loved it.

It's the best STEM school from Pa to the Florida Keys.

Hilarious that you think that.


Va has lower taxes, no piggyback taxes, less liberal, less legal aliens, less crime, lower cost of liv8ng, better public education, and a lot more options for state schools.

[Anonymous]

Strategy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The options of UVA and William and Mary are superior to any state’s college options other than CA. I can’t think of any other states with two excellent state school options. I view it as an easy choice to live in MD over VA. My wife and I can’t understand why anyone here would choose MD.

because there is more to life than attending state colleges?

Of course, but I don’t see what MD has over VA in any area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both kids went to U.Md.

Loved it.

It's the best STEM school from Pa to the Florida Keys.

Hilarious that you think that.


Va has lower taxes, no piggyback taxes, less liberal, less legal aliens, less crime, lower cost of liv8ng, better public education, and a lot more options for state schools.

Did you include "Northern Virginia" in this mix before you made that statement?

Did the rest of Virginians enter the country illegally?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like that U.Md is the strongest STEM school from the Pennsylvania line to the florida keys. I think it's cool that the STEM school dominates preppy lacrosse and has more impactful alumni than any school in Md or Va. The impactful alum are mostly because U.Md is the best in all the difficult subjects .

It's also one of the few universities in this country with armed robberies on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you buy a smallish apt. in a good rentable are of VA? Rent it out for now. If your kid gets into UVA, just move to that apt, get a drivers lic, etc to establish residency. After 1 year you will get instate.

This is misleading. Its a 2 year requirement, prior to admission.

[Anonymous]

Moved to DC area from CA fifteen years ago when kids were in preschool ages. Jobs were in DC and we decided to live in VA for two reasons: the public universities and lower taxes. Here we are now with 2 at UVA and one who wanted to get as far away as possible from this crazy competitive environment of kids try to get into UVA and W&M. Fortunately that DC was awarded a great scholarship that cut the cost of his Midwest SLAC in half. We are definitely happy we chose VA but it the competition and stress feel to get into VA’s top school s is borderline insane from NOVA and will probably only get worse as the cost of college continues to increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The options of UVA and William and Mary are superior to any state’s college options other than CA. I can’t think of any other states with two excellent state school options. I view it as an easy choice to live in MD over VA. My wife and I can’t understand why anyone here would choose MD.

Yes, it's a known fact that UVA and W&M accept 100% of applicants from VA. 10% of the Class of 2017 at my DC's school enrolled at these two schools. About half of the class of 500 went OOS.

We moved from MD to VA when older DC was starting K - mainly for a shorter commute, but I remember thinking at the time that the kids would have great choices for college. Fast forward 12 years and older DC applied to zero in-state schools and moved out west. Younger DC has mostly As and high test scores but still isn't very competitive for UVA or W&M. Based on his interests, he wouldn't want to go to either school anyway. He just visited UMD-CP and is looking at other OOS publics (focusing on ones that offer merit), along with VA Tech and a couple of private schools..

Your first sentence is false. And I don’t understand the point of the rest of your post.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you can see from this thread that unfortunately there are not a lot of options, so only the stupid trolls are posting about things you specificially are not interested in (moving). But, frankly, state schools are great. You love your kids. You gave them the gift of siblings. And don't worry at all about the fact that this means they will have to go to state schools. They will not wish you had done otherwize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you can see from this thread that unfortunately there are not a lot of options, so only the stupid trolls are posting about things you specificially are not interested in (moving). But, frankly, state schools are great. You love your kids. You gave them the gift of siblings. And don't worry at all about the fact that this means they will have to go to state schools. They will not wish you had done otherwize.

The op specifically refers to moving. Do you struggle often with reading comprehension?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both kids went to U.Md.

Loved it.

It's the best STEM school from Pa to the Florida Keys.

GA Tech is far better.