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One thing I learned regarding finance is that you probably should have moved your money or spent it before this. When you fill out any FAFSA or Profile forms, this fall and early next year, they will be using THIS years finances. There is an excellent forum on College Confidential regarding Financial aid: Financial Aid & Scholarships - College Confidential
Glad to hear that things are progressing in your house!
You should play around with some college net price calculators to get a general idea of what you will be expected to pay at a public as well as private university, base upon your income, assets, family size, gpa, sat and act. If the cost based on the net price calculator exceeds your abilities, you will want to look into schools which give merit based scholarships.
Also your son should put together a college athletic resume including his times (example How to Write an Athletic Resume for Colleges | eHow.com) along with a cover sheet expressing his interest in the school and his desire to swim there and should snail mail and e-mail the resume to college swim coaches at the various colleges he is interested in. He should get that info out NOW. My son is also a rising senior and a swimmer, wants to swim D3 (but can swim D2), and sent out his letters in late June, heard back from all the coaches who are interested, plus has received a few phone calls from the head coaches.
Others have suggested College Confidential. I agree...there is an enormous amount of information there that will be helpful.
One thing I learned regarding finance is that you probably should have moved your money or spent it before this. When you fill out any FAFSA or Profile forms, this fall and early next year, they will be using THIS years finances. There is an excellent forum on College Confidential regarding Financial aid: Financial Aid & Scholarships - College Confidential
Glad to hear that things are progressing in your house!
I'm not going to spend it ~ it's specfically for his college. My mother would roll over in her grave if I didn't use that for his college! She would probably haunt me too!
I'm going to check out some of the college calculators now and get some ideas on how much that will cover.
And I'm finally leaving work; have to stay employed for a few more years until this boy graduates from A college!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by Ringo1
Thanks guys; I have taken some positive (I hope) steps. ...But I AM a little obsessive about it right now ~
... I've come this far with my son and I'm not about to drop the ball now; ... That's the only way I can sleep at night.
Thanks so much; I'm still learning.
Accompany him (SOON) to a few placement / informational interviews at local colleges. THAT will bring him to REALITY real quick.
One regret I have, is NOT doing that or encouraging mine to stive to a higher level Private College (since their first 2 yrs were free as HS students). I told them "do a cheap public U and do Masters at Private. THAT was not good advice... Privates are OFTEN as economical (after free aid) as Publics, but the connections / education can be superior.
I'm not going to spend it ~ it's specfically for his college. My mother would roll over in her grave if I didn't use that for his college! She would probably haunt me too!
I'm going to check out some of the college calculators now and get some ideas on how much that will cover.
And I'm finally leaving work; have to stay employed for a few more years until this boy graduates from A college!
I said MOVE it or spend it. Just saying that it's past the time for a financial adviser to be able to help at this point. Filling out the FAFSA is not a job for a professional, it's just gathering paperwork and filling out a form. But you are right, since it's a free service, might as well get some good advice and find out where you stand.
Don't think that just because you do not live in WV you won't be able to obtain in-state tuition. Lots of schools offer out of state kids in-state tuition. All the schools my sons looked at offered in-state tuition if the student receive any type of scholarship from the university. Also, some offer in-state tuition to students from neighboring states. You just never know what he might be offered. One of my sons was offered a scholarship and in-state tuition to Ohio State. He applied because they sent him a brochure and offered to waive the application fee if he would just apply. So he applied, and was surprised when he received his scholarship offer. He was a good student, but not tops in his class. He did have a good ACT score though. This happened for both my kids at several different schools. He didn't choose OSU, but he did end up at another state school, in another state and he is paying in-state tuition.
I had trouble building a fire under both of my boys at first too. I had to push them along. It wasn't so much that they weren't interested, they just never seemed to have a sense of urgency about it. It may be because here, most kids just go to one of the 3 large state schools and there's no rush to apply. No letters of rec were required. Essays were not required. It's rolling admissions. A couple of the bigger schools here, you can actually wait up until the month school starts to apply. Neither of mine wanted to stay in state, because we had only lived here a couple of years and they had no ties to the state. However, since no one else seemed to be in any rush, they just didn't think they needed to be either. The school counselors didn't do much at all to help. It's pretty much assumed everyone will just go to a state school, so it's not a big deal. It took my oldest missing the application deadline to a school he was really interested in, to get him motivated.
Also, yes, it is very important to visit the schools, but I agree with the poster that mentioned that you need to do so during the school year when he can actually interact with students and see them "in action". This is why both my kids ended up where they are. My oldest attended the same university my husband did. He had been on that campus many, many times during his life but it was always on weekends, holidays, summers, etc. Never during the school year, on a weekday. He didn't think he really wanted to go there. He wasn't all that impressed with the campus itself and just assumed it wasn't where he wanted to go. He applied anyway, but really just to appease his dad, nothing more. However, when it came time to actually make the final decision I took him for one last campus visit. We were there during the week, while classes were in full swing. He fell in love with the people there and quickly realized that's where he wanted to be. I don't know how many times he's thanked me for making him go for that one last visit. This is also why my other son did not choose Ohio State. He really thought that was where he wanted to go. He loved the campus itself, but after visiting during the school year and interacting with students, he quickly figured out it was not a good fit for him.
This is so true in terms of boys. My son was primed all of his life that he was going to college and going away.
I was panicked about a year ago when he started to talk about taking a year off, or commuting.
He didn't need to go to a community college. His grades and scores are better than that.
Once he visited colleges and did so repeatedly, he became more comfortable with the idea.
Now he is so excited and talks of nothing else! He can't wait to leave!
Now I am panicked in a whole different - but entirely positive way. I'll miss my "little boy" but I know he's on the right track and I am so excited for him!
Also, instate tuition is negotiable almost everywhere.
Just a tip, for better chances for merit aid, apply early, like September early or earlier. You don't want to apply for a binding Early Decision program, must a regular admissions, but get your app in early. Many apps are online at various schools already and the common app goes live tomorrow. Many schools waive the application fee if you apply online or through the common app so check that out. Apply to at least one school with rolling admissions so they have a "yes" early on senior year. It makes the process SO much less stressful.
You don't have to give your final decision to any school until May 1st (well, last day in April). May 1st is when they open up waiting lists. However, getting housing, etc. is more difficult if you wait that long. Schools have to notify kids by April 1st (online usually).
Just a tip, for better chances for merit aid, apply early, like September early or earlier. You don't want to apply for a binding Early Decision program, must a regular admissions, but get your app in early. Many apps are online at various schools already and the common app goes live tomorrow. Many schools waive the application fee if you apply online or through the common app so check that out. Apply to at least one school with rolling admissions so they have a "yes" early on senior year. It makes the process SO much less stressful.
You don't have to give your final decision to any school until May 1st (well, last day in April). May 1st is when they open up waiting lists. However, getting housing, etc. is more difficult if you wait that long. Schools have to notify kids by April 1st (online usually).
I can't even begin to tell you how true that was for our son. The "yes" took so much stress off. It wasn't to his first choice school, but knowing he at least had a yes to a really, really good school helped.
In the end though the thankfully got the yes to his first choice.
I agree too. Nothing like an early acceptance to make one feel better. The one negative I've heard from a couple of people was if the first acceptance came from a school that would be somewhat unaffordable and the student doesn't want to fill in any more apps because they didn't feel pressured to do so.
State colleges do usually have rolling admissions and, at least in PA, the schools are harder to get into the later in the application year because they fill up. Pitt tells students as early as the first part of October. I think my son was accepted into Drexel either late September or early October. That was nice!
Yes, I also agree with this. Both of my boys first applied to schools that had rolling admissions. And like JKCoop mentioned, it wasn't their first choice either, but boy was it nice to know that they had that to fall back on. My oldest didn't choose that first school, but my younger one did, even though he got accepted on to several other schools.
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