What about loans?

Anonymous wrote:University of South Carolina? They tend to be generous with OOS tuition.

Yes. This. We pay 24,000 a year, including room and board. It's about 14,000 in tuition, the rest for dorm and meal plan. Freshman son had a 3.2 unweighted, 3.9 weighted, 9 AP, 1950 SAT.

He has to maintain a 3.0 to keep his scholarship. Full pay 00S tuition is 29,000

My son couldn't he happier to be a gamecock. I am thrilled, and we are able to swing it without any loans. Worth checking out. It's about 5000 a year more than UMCP with those stats.

There is not a lot of need based aid for oos students. Single parent, income 70,000 only qualified for loans, about 7,000 a year, so keep that in mind. It's like you get good merit but no financial aid. Thank god the grandparents help in our case. I like it tho, because it forces the kid to produce the grades. Mine knows that if he dips below a 3.0, he comes home.

Merit aid was better for the kids that applied priority (by October 15th) as opposed to the regular deadline (dec) for my sons year. I think that is true of most schools.

Best of luck to you and your son!

Boston University -- communications college. The universitu is large, the college is small.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would he go south? I had a wonderful time at Tulane and they give lots of merit aid. He seems to have the stats for it.

Yep. He's open to pretty much anywhere. I was under the impression that Tulane's pretty selective though..

Looks like it's VERY Greek though. That could be an issue for him..

University of South Carolina? They tend to be generous with OOS tuition.

Anonymous wrote:Would he go south? I had a wonderful time at Tulane and they give lots of merit aid. He seems to have the stats for it.

Yep. He's open to pretty much anywhere. I was under the impression that Tulane's pretty selective though..

Would he go south? I had a wonderful time at Tulane and they give lots of merit aid. He seems to have the stats for it.

Anonymous wrote:I am mid 20s but when I applied to schools, we looked at all the aid offers. I didn't get some from some schools, and ruled them out. I chose to go to a private, from which I received aid, but took out about $18k in loans. I chose to do that instead of my public option. I don't regret it.

Why do so many people on the board see this as a negative? Students need to know the reality. These schools have costa and parents might not be able to front it. As long as he knows what the situation is, I think it's ridiculous not to apply somewhere because there might not be aid. Kids get rejected. He will have difficulties, be rejected from jobs, unable to afford things he want. Let him partake in the decision making and situation.

OP here, yes, that's the route were taking - apply where you want to apply and see what kind of money you get, but know full well you might not get to go due to finances. He seems OK with that.

That being said, I do think he needs to add more schools to list because he might not get enough aid at those schools, and I'm not sure he's 100% cool with UMCP.

PP here. I submitted too early. I think kids should be able to deal with disappointment. I do not think there should be am expectation parents would 100% pay any school applied to. But that is what I believe.

I am mid 20s but when I applied to schools, we looked at all the aid offers. I didn't get some from some schools, and ruled them out. I chose to go to a private, from which I received aid, but took out about $18k in loans. I chose to do that instead of my public option. I don't regret it.

Why do so many people on the board see this as a negative? Students need to know the reality. These schools have costa and parents might not be able to front it. As long as he knows what the situation is, I think it's ridiculous not to apply somewhere because there might not be aid. Kids get rejected. He will have difficulties, be rejected from jobs, unable to afford things he want. Let him partake in the decision making and situation.

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to weigh in with a no. The sentence that stands out to me is: we can not afford anything beyond UMCP. I will take that at face value. I do not think you should encourage other schools and then disappoint him when you can not afford it. Maybe you could also add St Mary's to the list.

Merit aid is risky. No way to count on it. It will be all over the board, but unlikely to bridge the gap. And costs of attendance always seems to increase and push one's limits. Also you don't want your son to be in the position if he doesn't meet the gpa after a semester or two, he can no longer afford to attend. In most cases merit aid needs to be gravy - an added bonus, making a school more attractive that is already affordable.

Thanks for the post. Do you have any suggestions as to how we proceed?

We could probably go up to about 30K, but not much beyond that.

DD received merit aid at 4 of 10 schools which ranged from 4-15,000/yr for 4 yrs. Still, she only applied to schools which we believed we could afford to be full pay. The merit aid reordered school preference knocking some full pay off the table. But again, the list started from the standpoint of being able to afford all.

I'm going to weigh in with a no. The sentence that stands out to me is: we can not afford anything beyond UMCP. I will take that at face value. I do not think you should encourage other schools and then disappoint him when you can not afford it. Maybe you could also add St Mary's to the list.

Merit aid is risky. No way to count on it. It will be all over the board, but unlikely to bridge the gap. And costs of attendance always seems to increase and push one's limits. Also you don't want your son to be in the position if he doesn't meet the gpa after a semester or two, he can no longer afford to attend. In most cases merit aid needs to be gravy - an added bonus, making a school more attractive that is already affordable.

What about Mary Washington in Fredericksburg?

Obviously it's not D.C., but there's more going on there than there used to be. The campus is beautiful, and expanding (my sister lives there). The price is pretty reasonable, and your son would get the kind of attention that you are describing.

DS is a junior and we're getting into the thick of college searching. He's a good student, but not a superstar (3.8 GPA, 1860 GPA, will have 7 AP classes by graduation, typical extracurriculars - school clubs, a varsity sport, leadership position in one club, volunteers at a hospital) and is from a MoCo HS that is one of the stronger ones outside the Ws. He wants urban. So far, we've seen Fordham, UMCP, American, and on a whim, toured Loyola in Chicago while we were visiting his grandparents.

He's liked them all, with Fordham and Loyola being his favorites. We are "Christmas and Easter" Catholics but the Jesuit model of education (focus on service and human justice, educate the whole person, etc.) seemed to really appeal to him. Problem, we cannot afford anything beyond UMCP, so he'd have to get merit aid at those places and realistically I don't think he'll get enough to bring the costs down to UMCP - he's firmly in the average of admitted students. UMCP is an option, but I think he'd do better in a smaller environment where it's more difficult to get lost in the crowd and you're not regularly sitting in classes with 50+ kids. He's not particularly shy, but he does have a tendency to get lost in the shuffle sometimes/blend in.

So does anyone have suggestions for colleges that are small but not too small (probably between 3000 and 18000), that are urban, and offer good merit aid to students with his GPA/SAT? I've looked at non-selective urban schools, but it seems the problem with those is that they have sooo many commuter students and the campus is be dead on the weekends. A non-commuter school is important.

He's looking to major in journalism or something business related.

Thanks.