Parent of a recent HS graduate who will be starting college in the fall. Here’s what I’ve seen:Most private colleges and OOS colleges are just not affordable. I looked up engineering programs in some good universities including UCs, UNCs, UPenn, UMich etc and the cost including housing and board is 80-90k
None offer merit scholarships for students. Or even in state tuition after one year of residence in the state. My oldest has mid 1500s SAT and 4.0 gpa. And so now even will seemingly good creds the only affordable option is our state college.
Is this the fact every parent and student has to come to terms with, or am I missing something?
1. The schools you mention are all top 25 schools with global pull and very low admit rates for even top OOS students. There are more than enough parents / grandparents who can and will pay full OOS rates for these top schools if you can’t / won’t.
2. If you can’t afford it you’ll get aid but much will be loans, unless you’re either very poor or you kid is lucky enough to get into one of the very top schools with huge endowments. But these typically have single digit admission rates.
3. If you don’t want to pay that much you have a few choices which others have highlighted already:
a) Get into one of the very good but more affordable public schools like Georgia Tech or Purdue. I have heard from Illinois and California parents that those schools are cheaper as OOS than their state flagships in state rate.
b) Get into a well regarded private school that gives merit to top students like yours such as Rose Hulman or RPI.
c) Go to a lower ranked public school that typically accepts people with much lower stats and is known for giving high stats OOS kids lots of $ to attract them - Alabama is the poster child for this but there are others.
d) Go to your state flagship.
e) Find another way to pay for it like ROTC or attending one of the service academies. These come with the added benefit of a guaranteed job but might not be a good fit for everyone.
Statistics: Posted by vinhodoporto — Wed Jun 19, 2024 6:38 am — Replies 74 — Views 3468