Turning down merit for full pay

[Anonymous]

My kid’s friend turned Harvard down for a free ride at a non-ivy top 20 school. I hope you can be as wise.

[Anonymous]

W&M

[Anonymous]

DS will turn down Michigan engineering for full ride at UMd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here and her top choices that offered talent scholarships are GWU, Connecticut College, and JMU (OOS). She wants to major in environmental science. W&M is a better fit for her academically and socially. Her scholarships are tied to her double majoring in dance. W&M offers a dance minor and performance opportunities without the pressure of a double major. But no merit. When I said that it would hurt to turn down the scholarships, it’s more the principal than the money. We can afford W&M if it’s the best choice.

Forgot to mention that her scholarships are not full ride. After merit, the price differential is $10k-$20k/year.

[Anonymous]

Obviously this choice depends on your budget. But in our family that differential would not be worth sacrificing the preferred choice. W&M is an excellent school and it sounds like your kid would be happy there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here and her top choices that offered talent scholarships are GWU, Connecticut College, and JMU (OOS). She wants to major in environmental science. W&M is a better fit for her academically and socially. Her scholarships are tied to her double majoring in dance. W&M offers a dance minor and performance opportunities without the pressure of a double major. But no merit. When I said that it would hurt to turn down the scholarships, it’s more the principal than the money. We can afford W&M if it’s the best choice.

Forgot to mention that her scholarships are not full ride. After merit, the price differential is $10k-$20k/year.

You can afford it, but "it will hurt". Hurt what? Not being able to take vacations? Retirement? If the former, yea that sucks, but nbd. If the latter, that's a deal breaker. No one will loan you money in retirement when you don't have a job, and you don't know what the stock market will do in the next couple of years.

If she will minor in dance, which IMO is still a time sucker, will she have time to work a PT job? Because it will be even harder for you to pay for the spring break trips, the personal expenses -- clothing, hair care products, etc.. girls are expensive.. I have a 16 yr old.

[Anonymous]

I have a dancer also, a junior who wants to double major so we’ve been having the same types of conversations, and I would just worry about what happens to the merit aid if she were to get injured and had to drop out of the dance program. Or if she couldn’t get the classes she needed to complete both majors in 4 years. Adding a 5th year with no merit would more than make up for the cost difference. I feel like double majoring with dance is hard enough as it is but would seem like such a bigger burden if her heart isn’t in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is fortunate to have good options to consider and feels very grateful but conflicted. She was accepted to six schools, five of which offered generous merit and/or talent scholarships. The sixth school offered nothing but acceptance, which was a reach. She’s feeling guilty about wanting the more prestigious school she loves when the other schools seem to love her more. We have the money to pay for the sixth school (OOS public), but it will hurt. Thoughts? Advice?

We did it though with smaller merit at expensive school vs full ride at public. It hurts and may not have much difference in ROI but good college experience and prestige is a minor social benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M

OOS William and Mary is 100% worth the cost compared to the schools that gave merit due to the fact that there is little chance the merit giving schools are anywhere close to the same level.
William and Mary functions like a private T30 school with its size, intellectual level of the students, and availability of opportunities/respect from MD/law/business programs as well as companies

You don't even know what the other schools are or what the kid wants to study? My kid turned down W&M for a smaller private college that gave a ton of merit and is better in the major.

[Anonymous]

I'm a millennial and we were pushed to go to the top school we could and a lot of us ended up saddled with a lot of debt. I was able to use PSLF and it turned out okay for me, but in hindsight it was a bit reckless to take that on. And with those programs likely less available it's a lot to take on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS will turn down Michigan engineering for full ride at UMd.

From an ROI standpoint, that was a smart choice.

https://eng.umd.edu/careers/employers/salaries

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/median-starting-salaries-mechanical-engineering/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a millennial and we were pushed to go to the top school we could and a lot of us ended up saddled with a lot of debt. I was able to use PSLF and it turned out okay for me, but in hindsight it was a bit reckless to take that on. And with those programs likely less available it's a lot to take on.

Yea, hopefully, parents of college students today have learned that lesson, too. So many people with large college loans.

When I was 24, I worked with a woman in her early 30s who constantly talked about her large college loans, and how she can figure out a way to make more to pay them down. She was a fed lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a dancer also, a junior who wants to double major so we’ve been having the same types of conversations, and I would just worry about what happens to the merit aid if she were to get injured and had to drop out of the dance program. Or if she couldn’t get the classes she needed to complete both majors in 4 years. Adding a 5th year with no merit would more than make up for the cost difference. I feel like double majoring with dance is hard enough as it is but would seem like such a bigger burden if her heart isn’t in it.

Have you made a decision yet, OP? The above seems like good advice. Have a conversation with your DC about how dance fits with her academic goals. And how she’d feel at GW if she couldn’t dance/double major/graduate in four years? The idea of the double major is always better in theory than in practice. What will she do with a major in dance that she can’t by just pursuing it on her own/in a less structured way?

OTOH, the poster who talked about how little environmental science jobs pay has a good point!

GW and Conn College are just so so different from WM. I would be inclined to go with her gut if you can swing it financially. Like, with no reduction of retirement savings and no effect on vacations etc. Good luck! Tell us what she chose- hard choice! Nice to have options though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here and her top choices that offered talent scholarships are GWU, Connecticut College, and JMU (OOS). She wants to major in environmental science. W&M is a better fit for her academically and socially. Her scholarships are tied to her double majoring in dance. W&M offers a dance minor and performance opportunities without the pressure of a double major. But no merit. When I said that it would hurt to turn down the scholarships, it’s more the principal than the money. We can afford W&M if it’s the best choice.

Forgot to mention that her scholarships are not full ride. After merit, the price differential is $10k-$20k/year.

I would not do GW or JMU. Conn College is strong for enviro science, but if W&M checks all the boxes (and it's also strong wrt enviro science), I think it is worth it to spend an extra 10-20K/year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here and her top choices that offered talent scholarships are GWU, Connecticut College, and JMU (OOS). She wants to major in environmental science. W&M is a better fit for her academically and socially. Her scholarships are tied to her double majoring in dance. W&M offers a dance minor and performance opportunities without the pressure of a double major. But no merit. When I said that it would hurt to turn down the scholarships, it’s more the principal than the money. We can afford W&M if it’s the best choice.

Forgot to mention that her scholarships are not full ride. After merit, the price differential is $10k-$20k/year.

I would not do GW or JMU. Conn College is strong for enviro science, but if W&M checks all the boxes (and it's also strong wrt enviro science), I think it is worth it to spend an extra 10-20K/year

OP here. I believe W&M checks some boxes that CC doesn't, most importantly, it's better known in the DC area where DD wants to end up. Her original career goal was to work for the EPA, Justice, or Fish & Wildlife, but since January she's pivoted to nonprofits like National Geographic, Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, etc. W&M has strong internships in DC and CC's market is closer to NYC and Boston. She also prefers a mid-sized school to a SLAC.