Just a quick update on my health—apparently I’m not a total whiner; I was actually sick. I broke down and went to urgent care on Saturday. I got a prescription for 500mg of Zithromax daily for 5 days and a lecture to get to the doctor sooner next time—before I have an acute sinus infection, double ear infections, a throat he didn’t like the look of and lungs that are flirting with pneumonia.
Coffee Yogurt wrote a post (links included) about college tuition sticker shock. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts—gleaned through experience and research.
First of all, don’t just think your local state college is the best financial bet. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Too many people just don’t cast a wide enough net.
If your student is an academic rock star, the odds are they really want to go to top tier college. The problem is that all the other rock stars want to go there too, so you have to be a mega-rock star to get money at these places. Try this logic—the reward for all that hard work in high school can be finishing school with your undergrad degree debt-free (that goes for parents and/or students!). Look for a school where your student’s GPA and SAT scores put them above average—that school will be eager to have them (translating to money) and probably has an Honor’s program they can do to be challenged. Then spend all the money you saved on a graduate degree from a name school.
If a brand name school is important, look at the Ivies. Most of them have engineered their financial aid so families that make under 250K get discounted tuition.
The same goes for good athletes—especially if they don’t have a chance at a professional career. Danger Boy had some interest from Division I schools, but they wouldn’t have offered money—the reward for him would have been getting into a school he wouldn’t have gotten into on grades alone. By going Division II he got substantial money—and since there are no multi-million dollar contracts waiting for post-collegiate water polo players, DII is just fine.
Check for tuition credit or exchange programs that are based on geographic areas. MVP is in school in Colorado on the Western Undergraduate Exchange program; we pay 1+1/2 times in-state tuition instead of out-of-state tuition.
Plan ahead for your student’s FAFSA base year; this is the most important year for colleges calculating financial aid. The base year is January 1 of your child’s junior year in high school to December 31 of their senior year. During this time you want your income to be as low as possible, so don’t sell a house, cash in stock, etc. If you can get an employer to delay paying a bonus until after December 31, do it. If you’ve got money in savings and you might need a new car, spend the money on the car.
I have heard stories of kids who got great packages at private schools because their FAFSA year was low due to a year of unemployment and the package continued even after dad got a new job which paid $200K a year.
One last plug for private schools—your student can easily graduate in four years from a private institution. In many public institutions overcrowding and budget cuts these days mean a student can easily take five years to graduate. Even if you’re paying full boat, the difference may not be great if you are multiplying one number by four and the other by five.
I’m pretty sure that’s everything I know, but if you have a question I didn’t think of, ask it—I may no more than I think I do!
