Reply to Stay in state flagship or go to pretty well ranked OOS SLAC?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Has she been to either Macalester or Bates in the winter? Has she ever been anywhere cold in the winter? I grew up middle class (not poor) in the Houston area, and I did not see snow until I came to DC for school. I would be very worried about culture shock and the fact she may really HATE the winter. Just throw those out and stick with Davidson vs. UT.

You are going to need to factor in travel costs for these far away SLACS. She is not going to get to come home much, so, before you encourage her to attend a far away school make sure she is prepared to be so far from family. [/quote]

I think these are all important considerations for someone who probably hasn’t traveled much. Austin being culturally familiar will not be an insignificant factor. How close she is to her family will come into play.

Generally, I’d say go for the cheapest, but it doesn’t matter if she is feels miserable and out of place. As someone who didn’t have money and went to a private college and UT, [b]I found UT to be a [u]much[/u] better place to be poor. It can be isolating at a smaller school when everyone has more money than you do for outside activities, clothes, etc. At UT, pretty much everyone I knew was as broke as I was.[/b] There are going to be more kids like her at UT (both due to just sheer numbers and the overall makeup of the student body). FWIW, I graduated with about $60,000 in loans, and I didn’t find that to be that much of a burden when I was starting out (and that would be more than that now, adjusted for inflation).

It does depend in her personality. Some kids can leave home and go to a strange place and never look back, and others feel completely lost.

Good luck to her![/quote]

This. I attended a T5 SLAC and even with my modest MC background, I was shocked by the number of students who had unlimited budgets when it came to travel, gadgets, entertainment, etc, (some kids never did laundry - just purchased new clothes regularly). I definitely felt more at ease at a big research institution for grad school. UT will have the resources to support students who are coming to campus with fewer resources than the majority of students (guidance about how to afford campus and school-related expenses, mentoring, and a a supportive community of students who have BTDT).
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PP here. It is a tough call for the student, because it’s likely that a kid raised in those circumstances can’t really imagine how different the lifestyle of wealthy kids can be (although maybe Instagram has changed that). On the one hand, it’s great to be exposed to that and know it’s out there as a goal. On the other hand, it can be super alienating if you’re not a part of it.

Agree there are things to look for. We were touring Vanderbilt and the tour guide mentioned that the dining plan allowed students to use a certain amount of money at local restaurants. That really hit home with me, as a former student who couldn’t afford to eat out with friends.  As about things like that, including assistance with travel expenses, both at home and for travel abroad programs, to see if the school really cares about supporting lower income students. None of that was available when I was in cool, and it’s so nice to see that at least some schools are putting some thought into it. [/quote]

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