Spin off Donut family post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in this situation, though with less in 529. My junior DS wants to do engineering. He won’t get into MIT, Harvey Mudd, etc. Maybe Purdue but no guarantee that he’ll get type of engineering he wants. On the advice of DCUM, we visited a safety first - Pitt. Turns out he loves it. Is there any point in looking at higher ranked schools- say Rochester? Esp when in state is Md? I just don’t see it. We’ll visit case bc it gives good aid but otherwise I’m struggling to understand why I’d spend $90k when DS job prospects will not be measurably different at a school top 10-15 vs top 20 vs top 40.

Huge believer in starting visits with likelies!!!!

Rochester is an amazing school. However, no school is worth 80k+ if you don’t have it saved/easily cash flowed.

Anecdata: in my circle of friends who's kids are starting to finish up, the kid who landed on top in tech is the family that overspent a little to make Rochester happen instead of UMD. They were hesitant but wanted a more nurturing setting, they are not regretting it in hindsight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in this situation, though with less in 529. My junior DS wants to do engineering. He won’t get into MIT, Harvey Mudd, etc. Maybe Purdue but no guarantee that he’ll get type of engineering he wants. On the advice of DCUM, we visited a safety first - Pitt. Turns out he loves it. Is there any point in looking at higher ranked schools- say Rochester? Esp when in state is Md? I just don’t see it. We’ll visit case bc it gives good aid but otherwise I’m struggling to understand why I’d spend $90k when DS job prospects will not be measurably different at a school top 10-15 vs top 20 vs top 40.

Huge believer in starting visits with likelies!!!!

Rochester is an amazing school. However, no school is worth 80k+ if you don’t have it saved/easily cash flowed.

Anecdata: in my circle of friends who's kids are starting to finish up, the kid who landed on top in tech is the family that overspent a little to make Rochester happen instead of UMD. They were hesitant but wanted a more nurturing setting, they are not regretting it in hindsight.

Good to know!

My kid is Eng major at Rochester and loving it! They would hate being at a school with 20k+ students and having to fight to get into a major they want. My kid can major in whatever they want and add minors and double major without any issues—just take the courses

So yes it’s worth it if you hav ethe money, but I wouldn’t go into major debt for even a t20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

Preach. The two-fed family with kids in DCPS = peak donut hole. And with no in-state fall back option.

The number of people this applies to could probably fill a medium sized room.

Several hundred families entry year at least

It's not like your are FORCED to live in DC. Like a lot of other people, make a decision on where you live based on what's best for your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

Preach. The two-fed family with kids in DCPS = peak donut hole. And with no in-state fall back option.

The number of people this applies to could probably fill a medium sized room.

Several hundred families entry year at least

It's not like your are FORCED to live in DC. Like a lot of other people, make a decision on where you live based on what's best for your family.

It's easier to get into UVA from out-of-state than from Fairfax County. And once accepted, my 18-year-old freshman can establish his own residency. The incremental cost of one year of OOS tuition is cheaper to our family than the cost of moving across the river.

[Anonymous]

To Rochester parents - are intro engineering classes weed out? Collaborative? What my DS loved most at visit to Pitt was the obvious spirit of collaboration.
Thx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To Rochester parents - are intro engineering classes weed out? Collaborative? What my DS loved most at visit to Pitt was the obvious spirit of collaboration.
Thx

My kid took AP credit for Calc 1&2---but told me those are fairly easy, especially if you retook with AP credit (my kid wishes they had taken the easy A's...but is happy they can now add a CS minor and graduate in 4 years simply because they took the AP credits).
Kid also says Chem 101/102 are fairly easy, especially if you had AP chem in HS. Lots of EC offered to help kids do well. Once again, my kid took AP credit and took "freshman Orgo only for freshman with AP/IB credit." that course was hard---made even harder because many in course also had Orgo in HS but needed to get credit for it. Avg on first midterm was 86% (avg on the regular Orgo (sophomore class) first MT was 54% and curved accordingly).

My kid finds it collaborative and the classes are not really "weed out" like at many universities. After 3 semesters (and my kid basically started as a sophomore their freshman year) my kid has a 3.5+ and it will only go up as the "bad grades" were Calc 4 (linear algebra/diff eq) and Orgo1&2. The open core curriculum is a huge plus for my kid. Let's them take what they love to study and if they wanted they could have a 2nd minor with only a bit more work (in the arts, so not really beneficial and my kid is too busy to put in the extra hours to do the minor that would be worthless to them---they'd rather focus on the STEM courses).

basically, my kid loves UR and is thriving. The professors are great, and very involved with helping students. My kid will be starting research in their major spring of sophomore year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

Preach. The two-fed family with kids in DCPS = peak donut hole. And with no in-state fall back option.

The number of people this applies to could probably fill a medium sized room.

Several hundred families entry year at least

It's not like your are FORCED to live in DC. Like a lot of other people, make a decision on where you live based on what's best for your family.

It's easier to get into UVA from out-of-state than from Fairfax County. And once accepted, my 18-year-old freshman can establish his own residency. The incremental cost of one year of OOS tuition is cheaper to our family than the cost of moving across the river.

It's cute that you think that

"Please be aware that institutions are required by law to presume that dependent applicants and students have the domicile of their supporting parent; therefore, the in-state tuition review for such individuals always begins with the parent’s domicile. However, state law does make allowance for certain students to qualify for in-state tuition even if their parents are not domiciled in Virginia. Examples of such students who may qualify for in-state tuition are students who are homeless, students with incarcerated parents, students whose parents do not have an immigration status that permits domicile, and, in some cases, students raised in Virginia by a relative. In these cases, SCHEV encourages individuals to contact directly the domicile officer of their attending institution to discuss available options."

https://www.schev.edu/financial-aid/in-state-residency

Do you plan on going to prison?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

It’s why we moved 2 miles from NW into NoVA when our oldest was starting Kindergarten. They now attend a private HS in DC, but are VA residents with all the great in-state colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why it is hard for families making around $300k who live in the district. There is no in-state option and schools like UVa out of state are as much as private colleges. The TAG discount only puts a dent in the cost.

The most desirable state flagships have gotten even harder to get into and harder to afford.

It’s why we moved 2 miles from NW into NoVA when our oldest was starting Kindergarten. They now attend a private HS in DC, but are VA residents with all the great in-state colleges.

Seems like the smart thing to do. VA has so many great public universities, probably the best state after California (with the UCs and Cal States). If finances are an issue, your top student can get into many state schools with great merit as well. But it's choice you have to make. Personally, I'd be moving to MD or VA by HS rather than DC just to establish residency for college purposes, unless finances are not an issue