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What's even more interesting is the average total cost of attendance after scholarships, grants, and aid.
Public 2-year college: $4,350
Public 4-year college: $5,750
Private 4-year college: $15,680
I haven't seen any indication that there are enough these private colleges with these awesome financial aid packages for even half of the B students who want to go to college.
Wow. 4 year public here is over $10K without living on campus. It's $22K+ if you live on campus. I guess I picked the wrong state to live in. Too late...
Tuition for dd will be around $3K/year at the cc she'll be attending. At least we got a deal there. When she transfers, we'll be paying over $7K per semester with her living at home.
I had to edit the per semester cost UPWARDS when I checked the tuition rates. $405/credit plus technology fees and registration fees.... Unfortunately, we expect zero financial aid. When I run the calculator, I'm told our expected contribution is over 20% of our gross pay which is more than dd's tuition so we're on our own. Interesting that it's that high given we have little in the way of assets other than retirement accounts.
Remind me to thank dd for choosing to go to cc first....
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 08-04-2013 at 09:31 PM..
Wow. 4 year public here is over $10K without living on campus. It's $22K+ if you live on campus. I guess I picked the wrong state to live in. Too late...
Tuition for dd will be around $3K/year at the cc she'll be attending. At least we got a deal there. When she transfers, we'll be paying over $7K per semester with her living at home.
I had to edit the per semester cost UPWARDS when I checked the tuition rates. $405/credit plus technology fees and registration fees.... Unfortunately, we expect zero financial aid.
I live in Texas, and most of our public universities charge less than $9,000.
This is why I don't understand it. There are scholarships for "B" students at the right places. No one pays sticker price.
At the same time, I'd caution people against thinking that they are Ivy League or "almost Ivy" material because they had an "A" high school average and did some volunteer work at a museum.
My SIL expected every east coat college to role out the red carpet for her penniless daughter because she was an "A" student with, best we can figure - somewhat above average SATs (had they been amazingly good she would have sent them to my wife - no I'm not kidding.
However, with a zero EFC and very good grades, she could have gotten a nice little package for herself - but not from Amherst, Vassar or Harvard. A small liberal arts college that wanted an over achieving NYer.
But I digress. The thing is, between Cornell and the local CC, lies a vast number of private liberal arts colleges that will give the penny less but worthy "A" or even "B" student can attend.
Plenty of them guarantee that your student will graduate in four years.
Baldwin Wallace in my area guarantees it, for example.
What I am trying to say is that no one who wants a college experience needs to settle for cc - or to let money be a barrier.
i visited BW YEARS ago (late 90s). loved the campus. they were VERY generous with me financially. I had a 3.5 gpa in high school but only scored a 22 ACT and 1010 SAT but they were still willing to give me enough scholarship money to bring it down to state school prices. I think back then the tuition / room / board cost was low 20s maybe? the most expensive state school in Ohio was and always is Miami U and i think they were only like 11k or 12k back then at the max.
Bluffton College (now University) in Ohio use to use a formula of sorts to get their price down to state levels for kids. Ohio Northern in Ada, OH back in 90s was notorious for practically giving away money to kids.
I ended up at Toledo because the a.) the initial price tag was VERY low compared to OU and or Miami, hec even cheaper than BGSU and b.) UT was pretty generous as well for a state school when it came to financial aid.
I teach in South Carolina where the state offers whats called a LIFE scholarship to any kid who maintains over a 3.0 gpa in high school and graduates in the top 30% of their class OR scores i wanna say over a 24 on the ACT / 1100 on the SAT. kids get a $10k scholarship over the course of 4 years if they maintain a 3.0 in college. the thing about it is the CC's down here are CHEAP!!!! i've had some former students qualify for the life scholarship, go the CC route and never pay a dime during their 2 years there. NOW, the issue of the day is and this was a HUGE complain years ago but the credits from many of the local cc's would not transfer in to some colleges. I know Clemson University would only take your 2nd year credits from CC's so basically your first year at a CC was for nothing (BUT again if you weren't paying for it to begin with does it really matter?)
I teach in South Carolina where the state offers whats called a LIFE scholarship to any kid who maintains over a 3.0 gpa in high school and graduates in the top 30% of their class OR scores i wanna say over a 24 on the ACT / 1100 on the SAT. kids get a $10k scholarship over the course of 4 years if they maintain a 3.0 in college. the thing about it is the CC's down here are CHEAP!!!! i've had some former students qualify for the life scholarship, go the CC route and never pay a dime during their 2 years there. NOW, the issue of the day is and this was a HUGE complain years ago but the credits from many of the local cc's would not transfer in to some colleges. I know Clemson University would only take your 2nd year credits from CC's so basically your first year at a CC was for nothing (BUT again if you weren't paying for it to begin with does it really matter?)
I would say they work as confidence builders getting you use to college demands and knocking out lower level pre-reqs for major course work. I've gone to schools in New York and Arizona and I have seen them actually with the community colleges to get credits to transfer unless it's like some lower level 100 courses or remedial courses.
Let's be honest, the workload in a community college is not as stressful or as much as a four year university. I know folks who got good grades at the CC level, but dropped once they hit the four year and i wonder why is that?
is the course work at a 4 year so much more even if they are about the same length in time? i'm speaking relatively classes one could find within both places, like english/lit, history or math/psychology.
Actually, I've known a few people who've done the exact opposite.
They start out at a 4 year college, only to struggle with the workload and flunk out the first semester. They transfer over to a CC to start a a slower pace, work their way back into a 4 year degree, and graduate. Some high schools just don't do a good job at preparing their students for college.
Tell that to my friend who was denied merit aid due to her family's finances. Tell that to my aunt who spent 30 years working in the financial aid office of a state university. It's a combination of the two. You are more likely to get need based aid without grades though. Merit aid can get nixed if it's determined you don't need it.
If its nixed because of finances then its not MERIT It is financial aid with a merit component.
$16,000 for tuition at a state college is way out of the norm. The average tuition at a public college is under $9,000.
Public 2-year college: $4,350
Public 4-year college: $5,750
Private 4-year college: $15,680
Not in CA. Tuition and fees ONLY: Cal State Universities: around $6,400; University of CA: $14,000; privates mostly from the mid $30,000s up.
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when I checked the tuition rates. $405/credit plus technology fees and registration fees.... Unfortunately, we expect zero financial aid. When I run the calculator, I'm told our expected contribution is over 20% of our gross pay which is more than dd's tuition so we're on our own. Interesting that it's that high given we have little in the way of assets other than retirement accounts. 
Tell that to my aunt who spent 30 years working in the financial aid office of a state university. 
