Cost paying OOS college, what are options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good college counselor will say as the first question: What is your budget? Even our public over-streched counselor did that. You are supposed to assess this first, then tell your kid what you cannot afford and they look only at affordable options. Always. Don't ever look at a school you cannot afford

And don’t let the school decide what you can afford! You decide that first.

I love it when the school sends you the financial letter, and the difference due is suggested to be paid by parent loans and student private loans. Pass.

[Anonymous]

My older kids each got enough merit to drop the cost down to $40-45k per year. You can take out a loan or set up a payment plan with the school - look at the bursar’s website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

But it's not W&M. W&M is a great school with an xlnt reputation at a great price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

But CU is ranked 126 in REGIONAL universities NORTH. That's not good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good college counselor will say as the first question: What is your budget? Even our public over-streched counselor did that. You are supposed to assess this first, then tell your kid what you cannot afford and they look only at affordable options. Always. Don't ever look at a school you cannot afford

And don’t let the school decide what you can afford! You decide that first.

I love it when the school sends you the financial letter, and the difference due is suggested to be paid by parent loans and student private loans. Pass.

But that assessment usually comes from FAFSA. FAFSA has a notoriously high expectation of what families can pay. The schools just follow what FAFSA tells them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

But CU is ranked 126 in REGIONAL universities NORTH. That's not good

+1. You are much better off having your chikd do a guaranteed transfer program at a community college then transfer to a great in-state school, an option I don't think has been mentioned in this thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you don't have the money, then your options are in-state.

we told our kids we would pay this much - the price of in state university in our state. that was the limit. if they could meet that price going somewhere else with merit money, so be it.

no loans.

one got full tuition at out of state school and one went to in state school.

both are well employed and happy and have no debt.

+ 1. My son is at an in state public college. It’s a great college, but I wonder if he’d be enjoying an OOS college like some of his friends. He has no complaints and he’s not in a major thst needs a target school (it’s more me that is feeling FOMO on his behalf although I never mention it, if that makes sense.) He’s in his second year and it has gone so fast so far. College is 9 months of the year, with breaks also. To go into massive debt for what is really a short time period is not a great idea. Like the PP’s employees, we didn’t want to be working well past our retirement ages to pay off loans.

You DS still still has plenty of time this year to
apply for a transfer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

But CU is ranked 126 in REGIONAL universities NORTH. That's not good

Can we not attack PP or their kid’s choice? Not everyone wants or needs the same college experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC wants OOS college at +2x the price of our state college (had many discussions.... yikes).

College website states ~70k per year, fafsa calculator states 7.5k per year eligible for DC.

If I understand correctly (ex. https://www.reddit.com/r/UCI/comments/1dn3yf6/as_an_oos_student_do_i_still_receive_federal_aid/), parents (HHI over 150k) take out a yearly loan for remaining balance (Direct PLUS Loans @ 9%), pay monthly/interest on the loan, and hope DC becomes successfully employed in a high paying field upon graduation to take over the parents loan (even though the loan is in parents name)?

Can student take additional loans? If so, can payments be deferred until graduation? Can non-working/min-wage part-time students qualify for a significant loan amount?

10 year monthly payment at 9% for 240k is ~3k monthly.

This is absurd

There is no college worth that loan ever

Teac h your kid financial responsibility

Who does this?

Your kid will never make 5ha money back what if 5hey don’t get a job in the major or change majors ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

But CU is ranked 126 in REGIONAL universities NORTH. That's not good

Can we not attack PP or their kid’s choice? Not everyone wants or needs the same college experience.

DP - It's not an attack. it's a fact. look it up. In such cases community college with guaranteed transfer program is less expensive and provides a degree from an outstanding institution. Remember we are responding to OP's problem. This could be the answer for them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

Don't take out loans. Not even for higher ranked schools. They are such a burden for both parents and students.

Be clear about the budget. It is what it is. Tell them if they can get into Princeton, cool. They are giving FA to families with upwards of 300,000 in income. Or tell them about merit. Alabama is making things work for smart kids. But under no circumstances take on debt for Commonwealth University. There is zero career outcome advantage from any school outside of the top 50 or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

But CU is ranked 126 in REGIONAL universities NORTH. That's not good

Can we not attack PP or their kid’s choice? Not everyone wants or needs the same college experience.

DP - It's not an attack. it's a fact. look it up. In such cases community college with guaranteed transfer program is less expensive and provides a degree from an outstanding institution. Remember we are responding to OP's problem. This could be the answer for them

That's a lot of criticism for not knowing a lot about the situation. She wants a very niche major. Only 13 schools in the country have it and CU is one of them. That guaranteed transfer would not get her her desired area of study and that's a fact

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

Don't take out loans. Not even for higher ranked schools. They are such a burden for both parents and students.

Be clear about the budget. It is what it is. Tell them if they can get into Princeton, cool. They are giving FA to families with upwards of 300,000 in income. [b]Or tell them about merit. Alabama is making things work for smart kids. But under no circumstances take on debt for Commonwealth University. There is zero career outcome advantage from any school outside of the top 50 or so.

Not really. At $250k and above only families with two kids in college receive grants. Only 43% receive aid and it's only $28,000 off of total COA of 86,410 - so still $58+ a year. and that doesn't include fees for frats or dining clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell my kids that they can go to an in-state public. They are welcome to apply to any private and out-of-state schools, but they cannot go there unless merit and aid are able to bring the price down to that of our in-state Publics. There are absolutely out of state schools and privates who will do this. But obviously, not all of them and it depends on the stats of your kids

I am in VA. My daughter is applying to an out of state school that is cheaper than our most expensive state school (W&M) BEFORE merit.

Can you share school?

Commonwealth University

Most of the smaller PA schools (ie, not Penn St or Pitt) are similarly priced

Don't take out loans. Not even for higher ranked schools. They are such a burden for both parents and students.

Be clear about the budget. It is what it is. Tell them if they can get into Princeton, cool. They are giving FA to families with upwards of 300,000 in income. [b]Or tell them about merit. Alabama is making things work for smart kids. But under no circumstances take on debt for Commonwealth University. There is zero career outcome advantage from any school outside of the top 50 or so.

Not really. At $250k and above only families with two kids in college receive grants. Only 43% receive aid and it's only $28,000 off of total COA of 86,410 - so still $58+ a year. and that doesn't include fees for frats or dining clubs.

No. 62 percent of students at Princeton are on financial aid. The $83,000 price tag is ridiculous. But the average grant for class of '28 is $72,000. Pretty manageable for most families.

If you have a smart kid, the high endowment private schools are going to be fairly affordable. And they are a bargain for middle class families.