lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Jan 21, 2011 18:39:39 GMT -5
Your child was a National Merit finalist (or at least semi-finalist) and got no scholarships? Did he go to Harvard or Princeton or one of those schools that are simply financial need based? These are qualifying scores so actually I'm thinking you don't really know what the scores were and are merely guessing because you know they are "high." My son made 1400 (700 on both) and was a National Merit finalist. I know that some states are more competitive, but 1550/1600 has to qualify you. And, yes, I know it's based on PSAT scores and not SAT scores. So there is the slight possibility your child didn't take the PSAT. But I would wonder why. Yes he did take the PSAT, yes he was a merit semifinalist. Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure the verbal was "just" 700, for a total of 1500. I'm quite sure of the 800 math He had one B in high school. That made him a salutatorian (not valedictorian). But he applied out of state to a very large University engineering school and was not awarded one of their handful of out of state scholarships. In state he would have had a full ride tuition. But the engineering school here does not have his major.
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happytraveler
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Post by happytraveler on Jan 21, 2011 19:32:56 GMT -5
I was just looking at some numbers that I put together last year. My son applied to a number of colleges-in the end he got into 8 of them. After figuring out how much tuition/room/board would be after deducting any merit based scholarships (he did not get a scholarship at every school), the estimated 4 year cost of attending ranged from $31,928 to $200,408. He ended up at a school where our estimated 4 year cost is about $105,600. to me, $25K er year for a college education is a pretty reasonable price. $50K+ per year is not.
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motherto2
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Post by motherto2 on Jan 21, 2011 21:03:10 GMT -5
It's absolutely disgusting how much college expenses have gone up in the last few years. Along with everything else, how are our youngsters going to make it?
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cronewitch
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Post by cronewitch on Jan 22, 2011 4:02:07 GMT -5
I paid for private college for myself no loans or grants or anything. Most students worked for Boeing or the phone company and got tuition paid by employers.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jan 22, 2011 8:42:06 GMT -5
It isn't so much the tuition as it is all the other fees. Room and board, health insurance, parking permit, textbooks. Add AT LEAST another 50-75% of the tuition just to cover those. Used to be student health insurance was cheap, now it's the same price as not being a student.
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happytraveler
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Post by happytraveler on Jan 22, 2011 9:48:02 GMT -5
It isn't so much the tuition as it is all the other fees. Room and board, health insurance, parking permit, textbooks. Add AT LEAST another 50-75% of the tuition just to cover those. Used to be student health insurance was cheap, now it's the same price as not being a student. I think it depends on the type of school. If you go to a state school and pay in-state tuition, you are likely correct. For our flagship state college, tuition is $5406/year, and room/board is $7868/year. For the private school my son goes to, the "retail" prices are $34317 for tuition, and $7893 for room/board. I think if you look at other schols, you will find similar patterns. So at a private school, room/board is typically only about 25% of tuiton.
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Regis
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Post by Regis on Jan 22, 2011 10:25:52 GMT -5
In state costs for DS last year was $17,246 including $8,180 for room and board and $7,228 for tuition. He spent $588 on books for both semesters and the rest was itemized as residence hall technology fee, university technology fee, course based fee, student health fees and student recreation fees. The total also included money he spent on laundry, a tuxedo for the choir he was in, a specific financial calculator and an iClicker he was required to have for a class.
This year his total is currently at $18,674. Room and board increase to $8,682 (he's in a nice, brand new dorm) and tuition is $7,508.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jan 22, 2011 10:31:37 GMT -5
You can probably keep it down to 20-25k per year if you go in state to a state school. Some states offer free tuition if you have good grades in high school which both my kids took advantage of. Yea!!!
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jan 22, 2011 11:44:11 GMT -5
Room and board increase to $8,682 (he's in a nice, brand new dorm) and tuition is $7,508. "Room and board" at most schools are also way overpriced. They build nice new dorms and then charge outrageous prices for them, plus you have to be on the meal plan. Many college towns have off campus apartments that are much more reasonable - may not be the case in larger cities. The meal plans can be over $100 per week. When DD had to get an off campus apartment, the cost was slightly more than the dorm, but she had access year round, plus she spends less than $100 per week for food.
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cubefarmer
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Post by cubefarmer on Jan 22, 2011 13:55:58 GMT -5
I could get 4 classes a semester (12 hours) at my big public university in the 1980s for $500. All I had to do was pick up a few extra shifts as a waitress to pay for it. Books were $200/semester back then though. There's no reason in the world textbooks still need to be expensive bound paper. Textbooks should be on e-readers.
K-12 private school tuitions have also skyrocketed at the same time.
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Poppet
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Post by Poppet on Jan 22, 2011 15:08:01 GMT -5
It's absolutely disgusting how much college expenses have gone up in the last few years. Along with everything else, how are our youngsters going to make it?
By considering alternative ways to learn a skill set than the traditional route of going to university.
Do something different. Think out side that box.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2011 13:00:01 GMT -5
Our son is at University of Mass. We pay roughly 23,000.00. It is expensive but worth it for us. He is doing soooo well. He is a junior and just made the Chancellor's List. We do have any plans to spend additional money this year. I'm still hoping to win the lottery. We will have to add second son's tuition into our retirement plans.
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spartan7886
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Post by spartan7886 on Jan 24, 2011 11:18:29 GMT -5
Your child was a National Merit finalist (or at least semi-finalist) and got no scholarships? Did he go to Harvard or Princeton or one of those schools that are simply financial need based? I was a National Merit Finalist. I got a whopping $750 a year from my university. At a good enough school, it doesn't really distinguish you that much - somewhere around 10% of my incoming class was National Merit Scholars. At the time (2004) my university was ranked as the best value private university in the nation at around $28k a year. It's up close to $40k these days because the president is ex-Ivy and decided we should raise the sticker price so we look more exclusive . I had enough scholarships to make the final price comparable to sticker price at a state school (merit only for me, but I know that now you can get no loans up to $60k annual family income).
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Urban Chicago
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Post by Urban Chicago on Jan 24, 2011 13:47:17 GMT -5
Depends on the school. At the really big name schools, you probably get 50% for kids. At most others, 100% for undergrad classes, 50% for grad school. If you're luck enough to work for a big Jesuit University (2 in my city), it's usually 100% for undergrads at ANY Jesuit school.
Private schools often do offer much better financial aid than public/state. The percentage of students that pay full price depends largely on the "name" of the University. I worked at a big name private that had about 40% of the students/parents paying full price.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Jan 24, 2011 13:53:40 GMT -5
I went to a private school, and the cost has more than doubled from when I was a freshman (around $15500 per year for tuition, food, room & board) to around $34k (I think that's the last figure I saw in the alumni magazine) - yikes! I did get a scholarship (price locked in, though, so I had to take out more loans over each successive year) and grants, plus student loans, but I still would have paid less at a state school. I wouldn't change my decision as it opened a ton of doors that my state school wouldn't have, but I also won't push any children I may have to go there unless they get a huge scholarship offer.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jan 24, 2011 13:54:25 GMT -5
Here is a question I don't know the answer to... Has the profitability of colleges gone up? Are they now spending more than they did before, and on what things? Are there more services, or I was under the impression that with state schools the state has just cut the crap out of funding for the colleges, and now students are basically shouldering the entire financial burden themselves, whereas before the tax payers were heavily subsidizing the universities. If that is true, and so many states are teetering on bankruptcy (California, I'm looking in your general direction!) what is the solution? Can the universities offer the same quality for less money? Should taxes be raised, or other programs cut? Should we repeal Title 9?
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Frugal Nurse
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Post by Frugal Nurse on Jan 24, 2011 13:55:41 GMT -5
The state university that I work for charges around $10K per year for undergrad. The local community college is About $2500/year, and they have an articulation agreement with all the state schools. It seems like such a waste not to do the first 2 years at the CC.
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Post by kristi28 on Jan 24, 2011 14:53:49 GMT -5
Colleges are being expected to do more, and at the same time state allocations are falling. For instance, most lecture halls now include fancy projection systems to show power point slides. They include camera boards, so that the instructor can write something which is displayed upon the screen for all to see. Many also include sound systems and recording equipment so that lectures can be recorded and stored for later viewing. These features provide benefits for the students, but you better believe that they cost more than a box of chalk or transparencies and overhead pens.
Most schools provide wireless internet all over campus. They give students email and web storage space, and a staff of IT people to manage it and protect it from threats. Additionally, outside of the classroom, non-commuter schools generally now have an army of councilors and psychologists on hand to help the students deal with their issues. There is a student organization for practically every interest that you can think of; many are supported through student fees. Disability Services now deals with emotional and psychological disabilities, as well as physical ones. Again, all of these provide benefits to the students, but they, too, cost $$.
To be fair, I also think that the state schools have gotten really good at spending every dime that the state provides. This is partially political, so that the school has something to cut when times are tough, but it is also ridiculous.
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telephus44
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Post by telephus44 on Jan 24, 2011 14:57:37 GMT -5
Someone asked how many people pay "sticker price" for college - I remember when I went to college, first week freshman year at the "financial aid meeting" - where you sign all the papers and watch a video about how important it is to pay your student loans back - they said that 52% of the incoming freshman class was on some sort of financial aid. I went to a private college, class of 2000. Tuition, room and board was about $30K and I ended up paying about $10K out of pocket. Now it's close to $45K.
I remember reading an article many years ago (at least 10) about people complaining that we need to spend more money on education, after all, it's our children and our future - yet when college costs skyrocket all they do is complain. I think of that often when people comment on rising tuition.
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jkapp
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Post by jkapp on Jan 24, 2011 15:22:43 GMT -5
The local technical college I attended I got a discount because my dad taught there...but the private college I attended afterwards I had to pay full price. Personally, I would have preferred the reverse in the above situation. Getting discounted on a $200 class is less preferable than getting discounted on a $950 class
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Jan 24, 2011 15:34:05 GMT -5
My cousin goes to a private college in MN. Her annual tuition (including fees) is $43,000. With all of her scholarships it was cheaper to send her there than to the university 5 blocks from their house.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2011 19:49:06 GMT -5
Students need to figure out whether price is worth it.
My son (the National Merit finalist) got tuition, room&board, plus another $2000 a year scholarship. It was all tied to being a National Merit semi-finalist.
He made $$$ going to college. He also did five years in four so he had the hours for the CPA exam. He passed it the first time.
Maybe he didn't start at a top firm, but he loves his job. He is in corporate accounting after spending several years in tax. He likes corporate better than tax a zillion times.
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