My BIL went to St Mary's and in his estimation the school has gone downhill a lot since he went there. He wouldn't let his own kids apply there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find private schools that are not 70+ per year and with merit aid bring the price down even more. Tough to get it down to the in-state level but can get close.

With good marks, you can go to a good top 100 LAC private for 30K-ish per year, i.e. just as much as a UVA and UMD. Just depends on what environment your children desire. I personally think private is worth it. I don't want our kids in 600 seat lecture halls "studying" marketing or communications and minoring in binge drinking while admins bootlick student-athletes.

Your post is borderline stupid. Yes, if your kid still needs hand-holding, a state U might be challenging. As for binge drinking, if you think only state U kids, drink, LOL, good luck. what a dumba$$.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can find private schools that are not 70+ per year and with merit aid bring the price down even more. Tough to get it down to the in-state level but can get close.

With good marks, you can go to a good top 100 LAC private for 30K-ish per year, i.e. just as much as a UVA and UMD. Just depends on what environment your children desire. I personally think private is worth it. I don't want our kids in 600 seat lecture halls "studying" marketing or communications and minoring in binge drinking while admins bootlick student-athletes.

Somebody was not invited to prom!

Anonymous wrote:Your question is THE college question and obviously not easy to answer. I’ll offer my perspective, with the standard caveat that it’s just one (or three) experience(s) and not remotely scientific. I have one at one of those mentioned (not UMCP), one at a solid Big Ten Honors College and another at a top 25 SLAC. The work that the second two are expected to do is far more demanding and they are surrounded by very different kids. Will it be worth it? That could take decades to answer or may ultimately be unanswerable. But two of my kids are getting great educations and one is getting the degree box checked, if inexpensively.

Isn’t UMD CP a big ten with a honors college?

Anonymous wrote:You can find private schools that are not 70+ per year and with merit aid bring the price down even more. Tough to get it down to the in-state level but can get close.

With good marks, you can go to a good top 100 LAC private for 30K-ish per year, i.e. just as much as a UVA and UMD. Just depends on what environment your children desire. I personally think private is worth it. I don't want our kids in 600 seat lecture halls "studying" marketing or communications and minoring in binge drinking while admins bootlick student-athletes.

Anonymous wrote:Your question is THE college question and obviously not easy to answer. I’ll offer my perspective, with the standard caveat that it’s just one (or three) experience(s) and not remotely scientific. I have one at one of those mentioned (not UMCP), one at a solid Big Ten Honors College and another at a top 25 SLAC. The work that the second two are expected to do is far more demanding and they are surrounded by very different kids. Will it be worth it? That could take decades to answer or may ultimately be unanswerable. But two of my kids are getting great educations and one is getting the degree box checked, if inexpensively.

NP. Thank you for this perspective. I wish your first kid was at UMCP, because that's the comparison I'm wondering about, but this was helpful nonetheless.

OP -- I think a lot of us are in your situation. Thanks for posing the question.

My kid is at an OOS flagship. Price came in (after merit aid) cheaper than UVA.

Just a reminder to be open-minded about alternatives besides your own flagship.

There are several threads on this forum about SLAC's that give generous aid (normally 2nd tier, unless your kid is a superstar), as well as St. Mary's College of MD. I suggest you search this forum for more details, including individual experiences.

Anonymous wrote:OP again. To 10:17 with the 3 kids... ooh, that's interesting... Thanks!

Actually I have two more after that. #exhausted and broke

Thanks also for the comparisons of different in-state schools!

OP again. To 10:17 with the 3 kids... ooh, that's interesting... Thanks!

OP here. Thanks so much, all!

UMDCP just seemed so big that your child will get very little individual attention. That may be true of all large state schools, and I think MD is a strong one. But there are many smaller schools out there that give generous merit aid and help kids make the transition from living home to adulthood. They have lots of caring adults around who notice if someone is falling through the cracks.

If my kid wants to go to UMDCP, I'd be ok with it and grateful for the lower costs. We've known some terrific students who are having good experiences there... although this issue the PP mentioned ^^ is a concern. My kid is bright but isn't as self-motivated as some kids, so a smaller school with a lower student/faculty ratio would be ideal. Plus, as some posters mentioned, College Park has gotten hard to get into so there's no guarantee of that, anyway.
I'm very interested in hearing about any specific smaller schools that give merit aid that we should check out.
And I am interested in hearing more specifics about St. Mary's and UMBC, if anyone's kid has experiences there. I especially think St. Mary's with its smaller SLAC vibe could be worth finding out more about. Thank you all so much for the great insights so far!

I went to Salisbury, Towson and UMBC. I transferred after my freshman year at Salisbury. It was easier than my HS. I took a few summer courses at Towson and they were fine. Not very challenging though but maybe a step up from Salisbury. I was pleasantly surprised by UMBC. I grew up nearby and always thought it was like a community college. My experience there taking graduate courses was wonderful. I wouldn't hesitate to send my son there. They have been doing a ton of building there and there are many students who live there now compared for 20-30 years ago.

Your question is THE college question and obviously not easy to answer. I’ll offer my perspective, with the standard caveat that it’s just one (or three) experience(s) and not remotely scientific. I have one at one of those mentioned (not UMCP), one at a solid Big Ten Honors College and another at a top 25 SLAC. The work that the second two are expected to do is far more demanding and they are surrounded by very different kids. Will it be worth it? That could take decades to answer or may ultimately be unanswerable. But two of my kids are getting great educations and one is getting the degree box checked, if inexpensively.

Anonymous wrote:My chlid wanted a SLAC and gave St Mary's serious consideration. We were not sure where its trajectory would take it though, given enrollment and budget concerns.

Anecdotally, UMDCP just seemed so big that your child will get very little individual attention. That may be true of all large state schools, and I think MD is a strong one. But there are many smaller schools out there that give generous merit aid and help kids make the transition from living home to adulthood. They have lots of caring adults around who notice if someone is falling through the cracks.

You can make big small; you can't make small big. I worked with a Nobel prize winner at UMD as an ECON undergrad.