Resource that will explain to grandparents how college admissions has changed in 30 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a moment of reflection: ours have no living grandparents to (not) care about such things.

That said.....this is a good start.

Anonymous wrote:Give them "Who Gets In and Why."

My current battle with DH is over how to pay for it. (And, yes, I've tried to get him to read "The Price You Pay"). DH thinks our good student/child will get "in" and get lots of "scholarship" money because "back when he [did it]" (in the 90s), kids with our kid's current stats....did. Those days are gone.

He also has no clue what even in-state, all-in costs are. It's going to be a long Fall.

It seems like this piece, at least, is easy to show him? Public Us at least are pretty transparent with the cost.

I'm the PP with no living parents and the slow-to-the-game DH. And I apologize in advance for derailing an otherwise thoughtful thread.

While most State Us do give pricing info, we haven't had a lot of success at finding many straight-up, merit-based monies for Virginia institutions a la University of Alabama, University of Kentucky, or even WVU. We'll just have to wait to see what comes back (if even accepted) in their Financial Aid Award Letter. Can't find the exact quote in Lieber's book but it was something like -- what other high-dollar purchase/expenditure do "we" make where we don't know going in what the final cost will be? At least some other (non-VA) State Us make some effort to be transparent.

It's still a huge racket. It shouldn't be this hard.

Perhaps the Virginia schools simply do not have the same type of merit programs live Alabama, Kentucky, etc. Not every public has big merit awards or a least in large numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve tried with my mom and she gets it…and then starts fussing again. She has off the charts anxiety. She thinks she’s being reassuring and will say “well, I know UMD-CP will be just fine.” And I’ll say again, “Mom, he can’t get into CP. But maybe UMBC, or Salisbury if he wants a state school.” And she looks all devastated and says “Really? You told me he was doing okay in school.” I want to pull my hair out.

She also always tells me when one of her friends…or her friends of friends…went to my dad’s prep school or college alma mater. Sometimes I push back on the snobbishness, and sometimes I just change the subject.

Look, that just sucks. Good luck with your DC.

[Anonymous]

This is a relevant thread in the weeks and months of college decisions.