Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[Mickeyluver37]

I'm the mom of a 2015, but for what it's worth....DS's 1st choice was the large, flagship state school, in a neighboring state. They play at the D1 level for athletics, and DS is not at that level. He's a soccer player, not a football player, but the analogy carries over. He was kind of lost at the big school, he was missing playing soccer desperately, and had lecture hall classes with more students than his HS graduating class! He stayed for the 1st year, and has since transferred to a (much) smaller in-state school here, and was able to join the soccer team. He is SO much happier at his new home, he's got his own 'tribe' (soccer team), likes the smaller classes much better, and all in all it's been a much better fit.

I know you're trying not to influence, but if he asks for advice, this is my .02c. Everything changes so drastically for these kids when they leave the nest, and go to college, and having a major constant can be helpful to them succeeding. I look at it this way, DS played highly competitive soccer from the age of 12-18. To have that not be part of his life all of a sudden, was a big gap, and he missed it MUCH more than he thought he would.

Thank you so much for posting this! These are all things I've talked to him about considering.

 

[aprilgail]

SO my daughter got accepted at 8 colleges so far - 7 are ones that gave her a fee waiver so she figured "what the heck" and applied- all the ones that she really is interested in don't let you know until about April 1st- she got accepted at University of Tampa yesterday- she got their "best" merit award which was only 15,000- they list "how" she can pay for college- she takes out 5500 in loans a year- they give her 1,500 in financial aid and her parents take out 20,000 loans every year LOL- gee so nice of them to lay that right out there. I wish she would actually go to that one because I would sell in a heartbeat and move to Florida and then the following year she would be eligible for in state tuition!

 

[AustinMommyofThree]

SO my daughter got accepted at 8 colleges so far - 7 are ones that gave her a fee waiver so she figured "what the heck" and applied- all the ones that she really is interested in don't let you know until about April 1st- she got accepted at University of Tampa yesterday- she got their "best" merit award which was only 15,000- they list "how" she can pay for college- she takes out 5500 in loans a year- they give her 1,500 in financial aid and her parents take out 20,000 loans every year LOL- gee so nice of them to lay that right out there. I wish she would actually go to that one because I would sell in a heartbeat and move to Florida and then the following year she would be eligible for in state tuition!

University of Tampa is a private university, so there is no in-state tuition discount.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

DD is going to Accepted Students Day (for Early Action Acceptance) at James Madison University next Saturday. It is an all day event from 8:00 Am to 5:00 PM. She has arranged to stay the night on campus with a good sophomore friend from travel softball. She is super excited as JMU is one of her top choices. She should hear from her last school, Virginia Tech, on either Feb 20 or March 17th. They send out acceptances in 2 waves. We are so close to done!!!

On a financial note, I just put my first of many deposits in my savings account for DD's and DS's book money. Books usually cost about $500 per semester per kid.

 

[aprilgail]

University of Tampa is a private university, so there is no in-state tuition discount.

LOL well that stinks- but I would still like her to go there so I can move to Florida! My friends daughter is going to FSU I believe but they bought a house that they rent out in the villages and transferred everything there like license, voting etc- and the kid was able to get in state tuition. The amount they save being in state plus the rent they get from renting it more than covered the price of the home.

 

[v.t.]

We attending the college open house on Saturday. All the different colleges had graduate students' projects displayed, tours of the labs, etc. I think DS2 finally figured out what direction he wanted to take!!!!! But, I also learned we won't receive much more in the way of scholarship. Especially when they told us we had already done so well, and they like to spread it around. I wanted to say twins don't get a discount, but instead I said we would appreciate anything we could get.

 

[robinb]

My friends daughter is going to FSU I believe but they bought a house that they rent out in the villages and transferred everything there like license, voting etc- and the kid was able to get in state tuition. The amount they save being in state plus the rent they get from renting it more than covered the price of the home.

I think to be eligible for in-state tuition at FSU you actually have to reside at the house. It can't just be a vacation home or rental even though they tried to cover their butt with changing their driver's licence and the like. I would be super nervous that FSU would catch on and then I would suddenly need to pay out of state tuition. A Virginia man was sued in Georgia for falsifying his DD's residency so she could go to UGA: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com...or-faking-residency-for-in-state-tuition.html .

 

[bjscheel]

We attending the college open house on Saturday. All the different colleges had graduate students' projects displayed, tours of the labs, etc. I think DS2 finally figured out what direction he wanted to take!!!!! But, I also learned we won't receive much more in the way of scholarship. Especially when they told us we had already done so well, and they like to spread it around. I wanted to say twins don't get a discount, but instead I said we would appreciate anything we could get.

Yay for figuring out a direction anyway! It's such a relief knowing what they want to do.

 

[mamacatnv]

They made $75 per game or $75 combined? In either case it seems like a ridiculously small amount for 6 hours of work on your part. Maybe you can be a better sales person. Or ... after one night insist that you go back inside.

Combined!

Oh heck no LOL- not sure where you live but I hate the cold so no way would I do that. SO 75.00 for 2 home games- 6 hours each game?? So you make 6.25 an hour- I would SO write them a check and stay home LOL. Just run a 50/50 there you can make that much in WAY less time- even at drama club shows at school the 50/50 brings in hundreds each show!

This is boys soccer - there were about 30 people in attendance per game (3 games)

I arrived at the stadium on Friday at 4 - This is the story. One of the Freshman soccer moms is also the mom of a Senior cheerleader, Mom is on the Project Grad committee. Boys soccer has never had officially sanctioned concessions so the Mom requested permission to put up a little concession stand. Permission was granted so Mom made up a sign, bought some candy and brought a mini card table and set up shop with a bunch of volunteers to sit there.

The offerings: Gatorade/water (not cold, she just had them in a box) 3 types of chocolate, cookies and her homemade sausage wraps that she was keeping warm in a mini insulated lunch box with a hand warmer thing to keep warm. (I've done concessions for years and years, I could not in good conscience promote those sausage wraps, they came from her kitchen and were not being kept at a proper temp) Thankfully no one was interested. Thankfully I had a camping chair and sweater in my car otherwise it would have been completely miserable. I then sat there for 5 hours while selling the occasional candy bar or bottle of warm water. We might have sold $30 worth of stuff over the course of those 5 hours.

I'm signed up for two more Fridays and I just sent her an email to let her know that I can't do one of them due to a date conflict and I'm thinking I will cancel the other night - that was too long, super boring with nothing really to do. I had to ask a random parent to keep an eye on the stand so I could take a potty break.

I applaud her efforts but I'm going to switch to the other fundraiser which is manning the concessions at the local event center - busy, proper food handling, decent rate of return and well structured.

@mamacatnv- did you hear that Berkeley sent out acceptance emails to "The 2000" yesterday? The top 2000 freshman were notified. I guess my DS is #2001. Oh well... the wait continues.

I had not heard this, I'll have to check with DD as there are several of her Nerd Herd that are waiting to hear.........

SO my daughter got accepted at 8 colleges so far - 7 are ones that gave her a fee waiver so she figured "what the heck" and applied- all the ones that she really is interested in don't let you know until about April 1st- she got accepted at University of Tampa yesterday- she got their "best" merit award which was only 15,000- they list "how" she can pay for college- she takes out 5500 in loans a year- they give her 1,500 in financial aid and her parents take out 20,000 loans every year LOL- gee so nice of them to lay that right out there. I wish she would actually go to that one because I would sell in a heartbeat and move to Florida and then the following year she would be eligible for in state tuition!

Don't you just love that part!?!

 

[bethbuchall]

Financials came from Clarkson today. $29,000 scholarships and $5,500 loan for him leave us with over $28,000 for tuition + room and board. I can't see how that is going to happen. Fortunately, he's not set on it anyway.

 

[mamacatnv]

Financials came from Clarkson today. $29,000 scholarships and $5,500 loan for him leave us with over $28,000 for tuition + room and board. I can't see how that is going to happen. Fortunately, he's not set on it anyway.

Ouch - Plus R&B, sheesh, per year I assume?

 

[bethbuchall]

Ouch - Plus R&B, sheesh, per year I assume?

That includes room and board, and, yes, that's per year. I don't know how people do it.

 

[Poohforyou]

Financials came from Clarkson today. $29,000 scholarships and $5,500 loan for him leave us with over $28,000 for tuition + room and board. I can't see how that is going to happen. Fortunately, he's not set on it anyway.

I'd love if we only ended up with a bill of $28k per year. We live in the NYC tri-state area which means incomes are high, but so is the COL. One school will cost us that but the others will likely be about $40k. Thank goodness dd is an only child, we live well below our means and we have a good amount of savings.

Dd could have likely gotten a full ride if she aimed for schools where her grades and scores put her well above the average and she was willing to go outside the east coast.

She knows we won't take loans so we'll just have to see how we end up with everything.

 

[bethbuchall]

I'd love if we only ended up with a bill of $28k per year. We live in the NYC tri-state area which means incomes are high, but so is the COL. One school will cost us that but the others will likely be about $40k. Thank goodness dd is an only child, we live well below are means and we have a good amount of savings.

Dd could have likely gotten a full ride if she aimed for schools where her grades and scores put her well above the average and she was willing to go outside the east coast.

She knows we won't take loans so we'll just have to see how we end up with everything.

Thank goodness, he's happy with a SUNY school. He is the last of three, and we won't take out loans either. We live in a low COL area, but that means salaries aren't high. We've lived below our means and have good savings, but we could never have given all three $120,000 for college. With the SUNY schools and scholarships (and summer jobs for them), we've managed to cover everything for the older two.

 

[Poohforyou]

Thank goodness, he's happy with a SUNY school. He is the last of three, and we won't take out loans either. We live in a low COL area, but that means salaries aren't high. We've lived below our means and have good savings, but we could never have given all three $120,000 for college. With the SUNY schools and scholarships (and summer jobs for them), we've managed to cover everything for the older two.

If we had the state college options here in NJ that you have in NY we'd be encouraging an instate school as well. SUNY are great schools and offer so many options - I have 8 cousins who attends different SUNY colleges.

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

As the President of our Project Celebration, thank you for volunteering. I know you hate to do it, but so few people are willing to help.




I agree. And good luck to your son. Do you mind me asking which scholarship it is?

He was offered a merit scholarship to SUNY Maritime but is favoring Mass Maritime. He has to interview for their Captain Emery Rice Scholarship. Being out of state they will both still cost over 20k per year but he wants to study Marine Engineering and there aren't many schools that offer the degree. He is waiting to hear from the Coast Guard Academy but that is a LONG shot.

 

[bethbuchall]

He was offered a merit scholarship to SUNY Maritime but is favoring Mass Maritime. He has to interview for their Captain Emery Rice Scholarship. Being out of state they will both still cost over 20k per year but he wants to study Marine Engineering and there aren't many schools that offer the degree. He is waiting to hear from the Coast Guard Academy but that is a LONG shot.

Good luck! It really limits the choices when the major isn't one offered many places.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Financials came from Clarkson today. $29,000 scholarships and $5,500 loan for him leave us with over $28,000 for tuition + room and board. I can't see how that is going to happen. Fortunately, he's not set on it anyway.

That includes room and board, and, yes, that's per year. I don't know how people do it.

Actually, that's not too bad for a private college. My DS is a sophomore at our flagship public university. His in state tuition, fees, room and board totals $26,500 this year. He's applied to the undergrad business school for junior and senior year. If he gets in, his tuition goes up $5000 a year. Luckily he is living in his fraternity house next year, which will reduce room and board by $2500. Just in case your kids are interested in the Greek system, his fraternity dues are $2200 a year! In addition to the extra $2500 in tuition for him, we will start paying DD's college expenses as well. Both kids have prepaid 529 tuition plans (which we've been paying into for years and years) but the other expenses add up. We've been scrambling to save as much as we can this year in preparation.

My niece lives out in California and will be going to Fresno State next year. The State schools are a bargain! The University of California public schools are way more expensive. I figured a state university was a state university but out there they have 2 different state college systems - an expensive one and an economical one.

 

[bethbuchall]

Actually, that's not too bad for a private college. My DS is a sophomore at our flagship public university. His in state tuition, fees, room and board is $26,500 this year. He's applied to the undergrad business school for junior and senior year. If he gets in, his tuition goes up $5000 a year. Luckily he is living in his fraternity house next year, which will reduce room and board by $2500. Just in case your kids are interested in the Greek system, his fraternity dues are $2200 a year! In addition to the extra $2500 in tuition for him, we will start paying DD's college expenses as well. Both kids have prepaid 529 tuition plans (which we've been paying into for years and years) but the other expenses add up. We've been scrambling to save as much as we can this year in preparation.

Without the scholarships, it's over $62,000/year! Maybe everyone gets that much in scholarships, and no one has to pay that full amount. With the scholarships, it's more than the full price of the state school, and he already has a scholarship offer there reducing that cost.

I guess the sticker shock comes in because my older son didn't even apply to any private colleges. I know that my daughter did, but I think she made her decision before most of those offers came in, so we didn't look at them closely.

 

[Poohforyou]

Ugh, we just got an email from one college saying there are discrepancies between our CSS and fafsa. I don't know how that's possible since I used the numbers from CSS to complete fafsa but I guess I have to go through them again. Fun fun.