Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To most, UVA is the perfect blend of high academics paired with plenty of social offerings. Work hard play hard mentality, giving a nice all around college experience at a top university.

I mean, one could make the same observation about UMCP, slightly higher acceptance rate notwithstanding.

UMCP is ugly and stuck in the land of strip malls. You can tell me ad nauseam that this isn't true, that it doesn't matter, that it certainly isn't worth extra money to avoid etc, etc but the fact is that it's a view held by many and that many are willing to pay extra money to make a different choice for college based upon it.

UMCP is also on the edge of the coolest city in America, has better co ops/ internships, and isn’t in the Deep South like backwards UVA.

What Deep South? Charlottesville isn’t there.

My kid had stats that would have been competitive at an Ivy but went ED to (in state) UVA - they didn’t think the extra cost was worth it. Would have been full pay. They are very excited to be going to UVA! No regrets af all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A bunch of top kids at my student’s nova high school went ED to UVA, preferring it over any Ivy etc.

I’m sure Ivy tuition prices came into play in their decisions to ED at UVA.

Of course it does. Of course that is a huge part and makes a difference to most of us. You say it like it is not an excellent reason.

My son chose UVA over an Ivy and the reason was 100% financial. Zero financial aid from Ivy. Kid is hoping to go to law school. It was a very good, very wise decision.

So why even apply to an Ivy? Anyone on this board should know that there are no guarantees of getting in anywhere even with straight As and a 99th percentile SAT. My kid applied to 20 schools, mostly reaches, about fifteen of them. We had zero clue where he'd get in. He got into 10 schools, 5 of them target/safeties, 5 reaches. He got huge merit scholarships from some of the targets and they were still a lot more expensive than W&M and UVA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To most, UVA is the perfect blend of high academics paired with plenty of social offerings. Work hard play hard mentality, giving a nice all around college experience at a top university.

I mean, one could make the same observation about UMCP, slightly higher acceptance rate notwithstanding.

UMCP is ugly and stuck in the land of strip malls. You can tell me ad nauseam that this isn't true, that it doesn't matter, that it certainly isn't worth extra money to avoid etc, etc but the fact is that it's a view held by many and that many are willing to pay extra money to make a different choice for college based upon it.

UMCP is also on the edge of the coolest city in America, has better co ops/ internships, and isn’t in the Deep South like backwards UVA.

Coolest city in America? To whom?

And Deep South? Charlottesville is not in the Deep South.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To most, UVA is the perfect blend of high academics paired with plenty of social offerings. Work hard play hard mentality, giving a nice all around college experience at a top university.

I mean, one could make the same observation about UMCP, slightly higher acceptance rate notwithstanding.

UMCP is ugly and stuck in the land of strip malls. You can tell me ad nauseam that this isn't true, that it doesn't matter, that it certainly isn't worth extra money to avoid etc, etc but the fact is that it's a view held by many and that many are willing to pay extra money to make a different choice for college based upon it.

UMCP is also on the edge of the coolest city in America, has better co ops/ internships, and isn’t in the Deep South like backwards UVA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Ivy League schools are quite generous with financial aid.

Not if you are a donut hole family with reasonable assets. You get nada.

I knew someone would try to play the donut hole card. The median HHI in Northern Virginia is well under the $200K threshold for tuition-free aid.
https://www.novaregiondashboard.com/median-household-income

Based on the net price calculators, even families making $250K are getting significant FA with, say, $500K in assets.

BS!

+1 we get nothing from UVA (engineering school)

Your definition is such a contradiction. Need and comfort are not the same thing. They may have some overlap, but the purpose of need-based FA is not to give somewhat well-off families a budgetary buffer.

Anonymous wrote:It's perfectly reasonable not to want to spend $400K if you have UVA as an option, but that doesn't make you donut hole. Some families don't even have that money for the luxury to choose. They have a way better case for being donut hole.

Give it a rest.
There is no one definition of donut hole. The definition is: "the income range where families earn too much to qualify for significant need-based financial aid but not enough to comfortably afford the full cost of college."
Any reference to the term by news article or even by the universities themselves in their printed material states it in such terms and not attached to any specific income range. It is a fluid concept that varies by geographic area and individual family circumstances. Some families are very much in the donut hole at $400K because they started making that income last year or have job loss or whatever.

It's perfectly reasonable not to want to spend $400K if you have UVA as an option, but that doesn't make you donut hole. Some families don't even have that money for the luxury to choose. They have a way better case for being donut hole.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're a donut hole family with a kid who chose UVA instate over several top15 schools. We have HHI of $390k+, 3 kids, reasonably expensive primary residence thanks to property appreciation.

Schools like Penn and Northwestern gave us zero aid outside of the $5k of unsubsidized loans. We applied for aid and the cost for either was going to be roughly $95k.

There are many, many, many families like us in NOVA. We could spring for the $95k/year but our kids have thoughts of graduate or medical school. Why spend $400k for undergrad when we can save it for later costs (and subsequent kids?)

You are not a donut hole family. $390K puts you in the top 2 percent. And some of the Ivy League schools exclude home equity when determining FA eligibility.

I would say that $390K is donut hole in the DMV. HOWEVER--that is not point at all. The point being that many of don't qualify for any financial aid from the Ivies, etc and yet don't comfortably have $400K to spend per kid for undergraduate tuition and even if we have it, we personally don't see the value in spending it over the cost of UVA given our kids' career goals, graduate school goals etc.

If you have the $400k and want to spend it, more power to you and I totally get it. But many of us have kids who had "better" options--including Ivy league options-- and didn't take them because we don't have the money or didn't want to spend it in this manner.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has a level of autonomy that they received in exchange for less state funding.

https://www.fm.virginia.edu/docs/fpc/heco/UVaManagementAgreement.pdf

So increased taxes won’t necessarily go to the school.

Great, don’t complain when they admit OOS students over in state.

I don’t, am not the PP complaining. Was just providing some facts.

Anonymous wrote:We're a donut hole family with a kid who chose UVA instate over several top15 schools. We have HHI of $390k+, 3 kids, reasonably expensive primary residence thanks to property appreciation.

Schools like Penn and Northwestern gave us zero aid outside of the $5k of unsubsidized loans. We applied for aid and the cost for either was going to be roughly $95k.

There are many, many, many families like us in NOVA. We could spring for the $95k/year but our kids have thoughts of graduate or medical school. Why spend $400k for undergrad when we can save it for later costs (and subsequent kids?)

You are not a donut hole family. $390K puts you in the top 2 percent. And some of the Ivy League schools exclude home equity when determining FA eligibility.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Ivy League schools are quite generous with financial aid.

Not if you are a donut hole family with reasonable assets. You get nada.

I knew someone would try to play the donut hole card. The median HHI in Northern Virginia is well under the $200K threshold for tuition-free aid.
https://www.novaregiondashboard.com/median-household-income

Based on the net price calculators, even families making $250K are getting significant FA with, say, $500K in assets.

BS!

We're a donut hole family with a kid who chose UVA instate over several top15 schools. We have HHI of $390k+, 3 kids, reasonably expensive primary residence thanks to property appreciation.

Schools like Penn and Northwestern gave us zero aid outside of the $5k of unsubsidized loans. We applied for aid and the cost for either was going to be roughly $95k.

There are many, many, many families like us in NOVA. We could spring for the $95k/year but our kids have thoughts of graduate or medical school. Why spend $400k for undergrad when we can save it for later costs (and subsequent kids?)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Ivy League schools are quite generous with financial aid.

Not if you are a donut hole family with reasonable assets. You get nada.

I knew someone would try to play the donut hole card. The median HHI in Northern Virginia is well under the $200K threshold for tuition-free aid.
https://www.novaregiondashboard.com/median-household-income

Based on the net price calculators, even families making $250K are getting significant FA with, say, $500K in assets.