No money saved for college

[Anonymous]

VT for instate engineering. Done. Guaranteed admission if he does not get in at first and goes the community college route. Not the end of the world, and cost effective.

[Anonymous]

Definitely try to up GPA. Make it a priority bc it can result in scholarships

In addition to all the schools listed, the author Jeff Selingo maintains a spreadsheet of “buyer” schools (schools that need to attract more kids so offer tuition discounts) that you may want to take a look at.

I’ve also heard U New Mexico offers great merit (but I know nothing else) if your kid finds southwest more appealing than southeast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:State schools. Most of them are < $35K. Or T100 down private. They will give merit aid for B average students.

Is that schools like Wake, Case, Lehigh, Northeastern, Villanova, GW, Santa Clara, Syracuse?

Or more like Drexel, Marquette, WPI, Baylor, Fordham, LMU, RIT, SMU, Temple, TCU, BYU, Chapman, Elon, Clark, Farfield, Miami-OH?

Full pay private probably START out at $60k for COA. The ones you've heard of, $75k+ Top 100, $85k.

Full pay private is expensive, but many offer decent scholarships. My DD graduated from Baylor in 2024, and her COA was around 32K/year. Almost everyone she knew received a scholarship. LMU offered her 15K per year.
Marquette, OTOH, barely offered any merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VT for instate engineering. Done. Guaranteed admission if he does not get in at first and goes the community college route. Not the end of the world, and cost effective.

OP - This is literally the best advice you have received on here. Plus, if your kid goes to an OOS school you have to factor in airfare, storage of belongings during summer, etc. that also drives up the cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what state are you in?

OP here. We are in VA.

I would definitely look at ODU, which has a well-regarded, ABET-accredited civil engineering program, and reasonable in-state tuition.

I second this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he can get his test scores up, some other merit options might emerge.

Strong Merit Aid (Typically):
University of Alabama - Automatic full tuition for high test scores
Auburn University
University of South Carolina
Clemson University
University of Mississippi
University of Kentucky
Louisiana Tech
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
University of Arkansas
Florida Institute of Technology
Montana State University
Wayne State

GPA might be problematic here, but see what happens:
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Colorado School of Mines
Ohio State University
Penn State

Make sure to apply EARLY.

He’s not close to a scholarship at Alabama with those grades / test scores. They publish it. Very transparent.

[Anonymous]

He can still fence but maybe one class per week and close by tournaments only.

[Anonymous]

West Virginia U for engineering. They give money generously to OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He can still fence but maybe one class per week and close by tournaments only.

+1 I wouldn’t have him quit his main (only?) extracurricular this close to applying to college. Maybe he’ll write about fencing in his essay.

[Anonymous]

OP if the average American had $34k per year to pay for college we wouldn't have a student loans crisis.

With that amount of money you have a lot of options that your son can attend and end up debt free.

I went to Wayne State University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Mathematics. I am an actuary today. I didn't go to Stanford so what? I make a good salary and received a great education. In some of my advanced math courses there were 10 or so students maybe 4 of whom were PhD students.

[Anonymous]

OP - not sure if your son is interested in fencing in college, but if so have you looked at some of the lower ranked programs like NJIT? If you are going to Nationals he could go to the college fair and talk to some coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP if the average American had $34k per year to pay for college we wouldn't have a student loans crisis.

With that amount of money you have a lot of options that your son can attend and end up debt free.

I went to Wayne State University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Mathematics. I am an actuary today. I didn't go to Stanford so what? I make a good salary and received a great education. In some of my advanced math courses there were 10 or so students maybe 4 of whom were PhD students.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you and his mom put away 12k/year his junior and senior year in preparation for college? That would give you $47k/year to spend each of the four college years, including the planned cash flow.

Keep in mind you can also save while he’s in college. We would save, for example, $6000 during his sophomore year to help pay for his junior year. In real time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BYU is $30,000 all in (tuition, room and board, books, etc.) per year for non-LDS students. The Wall Street Journal ranks BYU at #20, Forbes has it at 36 overall, and #1 best value. BYU has a strong network for new graduates in IB. The only downside is that your kid has to abide by the honor code.

BYU is very competitive -- would be a very hard admit for OP's son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Im sorry, but is there a question?

Everyone else understood. I'm sorry but do you get it?