Dd19 is in honors at her school. Beautiful dorm (which was cheaper for her since she was in a forced triple), she registers for classes ahead of others with the same number of credits, some smaller classes, but what appealed to her most was finding likeminded friends, which she did right off the bat (students who liked to have fun but cared a lot about their education, I think they’ve all been on the deans list every semester). Dd18 has been offered honors at most schools she has been accepted at and they’re all different.
Okay, I see the appeal of early registration -- that is a very big perk, and it's one I used to get because I was an RA.
As for "likeminded friends", that may or may not happen. I know I just had a bad experience, but when I was a college freshman I lived on an "Honors Floor" -- we didn't have Honors College then, but this floor was for people who you'd think were very serious about their grades. We had to "qualify" to get a room in that area -- and we had to sign something saying that we understood we'd be kicked out if our GPAs weren't up-to-snuff.
My high school friend /college roommate and I thought we were making a good choice. The reality was quite different: That floor was full of juniors and seniors who'd been together for a while, and they had no interest in two babies fresh out of high school. They weren't really mean to us, but they very blatantly excluded us; I mean, they wouldn't even talk to us on the elevators. The group WAS very serious about grades, but the climate wasn't what we had expected: Sunday night - Wednesday night you could have heard a pin drop -- except for the sound of typewriters. At any time of day, someone was in the study rooms reading, and in the evenings groups worked together on this or that.
Exactly what we expected. But Thursday through Saturday night it was like living in the movie Animal House -- and we weren't invited to the party. The climate of that floor was study-hard-party-hard.
We moved to a "general dorm" at Christmas break and were much, much happier; we literally camped out to get one of the few rooms available mid-year.
Admittedly, we fell into a weird little group of oddballs -- but they WERE all strong students who were grade-motivated. In all fairness, they LOVED the climate of that floor, which is why so many of the group had stayed in the dorms through senior year.
My undergrad work was done across two of the largest public universities in the country - honors students were less likely to get "lost" in the red tape of 600 person classes and "how many credits do you need to graduate."
My husband and I both attended a large university, and our girls attended a large university -- I never felt "lost" because I made a point of being proactive /making myself known.
These days it seems that so many majors aren't "in the school of ___" until junior year. Both of my girls (different majors) were
officially nothing in their first two years, then had to "apply for their majors" as second semester sophomores. Once they were "in the school of ____", they were both in cohorts of about 40-50, and the advisors took them very seriously.
I must have been the only person who was googling the tuition for target colleges
I did it too! My girls were always going to attend a state college, but they didn't choose the one I expected! (Not a problem -- they both chose well -- just a surprise for me.) Still, I watched costs for years, so the tuition bill wasn't a surprise to me.
one of the more creative ways i know of someone saving a bundle on their kid's college education was by keeping an eye on job openings at the university system both her kids wanted to attend. a couple of years prior to her oldest graduating high school she applied at the nearest location to her home and was hired on in a position that while she was overqualified for and it paid considerably less than her then current job-came with free tuition for self/spouse/dependents.
Severeal thoughts on that idea:
- The best-paying job isn't always the most profitable job. I'm thinking of a church friend whom I know only in passing. She was an elementary school principal with one child ... then she adopted three kids (siblings) all at once. She gave up her principal job and "dropped down" to become a PE teacher. The salary difference was significant, BUT her hours were also greatly reduced, and she was able to walk out the door at the end of the day, meaning she didn't have to pay child care in the afternoons. It was the right choice for her family.
- It's not only parents who can work at colleges. The single best thing I ever did (financially) to get myself through college was to become an RA in the dorms. It was real work the first two /last two weeks of the semester as we checked people in /out of the dorms ... and I'm not saying I was idle in between, but it was (mostly) fun. I did deal with some serious issues occasionally -- a suicide on my floor, a serious injury on my floor -- but mostly it was setting up socials and workshops, checking the fire extinguishers daily, and occasionally asking people to keep it quiet in the wee hours of the night. I didn't get paid any cash money, but I got a (private) dorm room for free, a paid-for phone on my wall, half my in-state tuition paid, half my meal plan paid. For a poor kid with no family support, it was a Godsend.
- I know two men who work at a major university, and they both say nothing will make them leave those jobs -- for just the reason you say. They both have two children, whom they expect to one day attend that university if not for free, at least for reduced cost. One is a professor, the other is head of maintenance. Universities employ a ton of people in a wide variety of jobs, and every last one of us is qualified to work in the cafeteria.
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