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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most people can't afford to save anything. I'm a single parent and a teacher and I took on 2 second jobs just to save anything at all. I might have around $20k saved by the time she starts college next year.[/quote]

If you pick the right school, with your income, she will get a ton of financial aid.  So pick a school that fully meets need, ideally one that uses grants after the basic ~$5k in student loans, so you don't need to do parent loans.  Find a school where she is at 75% and the acceptance rate is over 50%.  She will likely get grants/merit so that you only need to pay a minimal amount each year (ie. probably less than $10K).

You can also target more elite schools with an income level like that, unless the other parent has to be considered on Financial Aid (which may be the case).

Either way, pick a school that meets need/good merit aid and where you DD is at 90% (and acceptance rates over 50%) and your kid could get significant merit aid.  So affordable college is possible, it just may not be a "T20" school.

There are affordable options for everyone, you just have to search and not be obsessed with rankings.  Find the place that will pay for your DD to attend.  [/quote]

She isn't that good of a student for an elite school and the schools where she is above 75% of crappy schools with low graduation rates. I won't take out any parent loans. [/quote]

Then I guess she needs to look at CC for the first 2 years.  Work part time during the school year, live at home those 2 years and work full time during summer and all breaks.  Then transfer to a state school for the final 2 years.  Or other choice is "where she is above the 75% of crappy schools with low graduation rates".  I agree that you cannot afford to take out parent loans.  So in order for her to do this, she needs cheap, affordable college. So that means CC and transfer or continue to look for lesser known schools where the graduation rate is acceptable to you and find one that will give financial aide and/or merit.

Just curious, what is her GPA (W and UW) and SAT/ACT? And what might she want to study?  There is a huge range between "elite qualified" and "really crappy grad rate schools".    You'd be surprised that there are a ton of colleges out there, so with a bit of searching you might find the right one.  And with lower income, you may be able to get application fees waived, which would allow her to apply to a few more schools in the search for the right financial aid package.  Don't give up---there are affordable colleges out there.

As far as "crappy graduation rates", be sure to look into the "real graduation rates".  What is the 5/6 year graduation rate vs 4 year.  For a school that has a high rate of first generation or lower income students (not mutually exclusive), their rates are often somewhat lower, as those kids might take breaks to help family, because they need to work to have $$ for the next semester or for whatever reasons as navigating college when you don't have family to help you can be challenging.  Most schools provide the data somewhere and if you delve deep into it, you find that there can be a 5-10% difference in graduation rates for first gen students and everyone else at many good schools---no matter how much assistance the school provides, there are still issues outside of their control (finances often being a large part of it).  Since you are not first generation and your DD has you at home to help her navigate, her experience would be different, I suspect.  [/quote]

Her GPA is a 3.3 unweighted and maybe 3.5 weighted. She goes to a private school on a mostly full scholarship. I pay a few thousand per year. Her school only reports unweighted. She's interested in business. We will look at the in-state options (Towson, UMBC, SMCM). I don't want her to go to community college. [/quote]

I'm curious what you have against community college?  MD has some great CCs and it is an awesome way to get part of college completed at a much more affordable rate.  If you won't take parent loans, she just might not be able to attend college without other financial aid/merit aide.  An 18yo cannot take more than the ~$5K in federal loans.  It just isn't a possibility; and that's a good thing as no 18 yo should really be signing away more than $20K for college.

However, could she live at home and attend Towson or UMBC?  Or do you want her to have the "full college experience"---because that will cost a lot more.

[/quote]

CC tends to be drop-out factories. Why would I want my kid to go to school there? She can live at home and go to school nearby. I took out the max amount in student loans and so will my daughter. I had no issues paying them back either. I took out loans for grad school too. [/quote]

To all of the people crowing about how great community colleges are, I ask a serious question:  Have you ever actually set foot on a community college campus?  I have, and there were so many people pushing strollers I thought I was at the mall.  I tried to find a report I read a few years ago asking heads of colleges about transferring from community colleges, and they said that it’s better to go to a lesser university than to a CC because the overall culture of low achievement wound up keeping people from graduating or pursuing opportunities beyond CC.  I did find this article about the low transfer rate of CC students to 4-year schools in CA.

https://www.communitycollegereview.com/blog/why-60-of-community-college-students-never-transfer
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