College - Paying for it - ??

[klrskiah]

OK - I'm being somewhat harsh on UMF. Familiarity breeds contempt, I guess. My point is that there probably ought to be more serious thought going into the decision on which college to go to rather than its proximity to your favorite ski hill. It's a big decision which will have a great impact on your career, earning capability, etc., and UMF is simply not very highly regarded for academics.

Back to my original questions - who went to what colleges and what did you like or not like? I'm especially interested in small/medium-sized schools in the Northeast.

US News / World Report ranked UMF 19th in the northern US for comprehensive colleges... but in small print it said this place is a "hick shithole" that is severely academically challenged;-)

hope you're daughter finds a school thats a good fit for her. what does she think she wants to major in?

i have friends that will be going to
skidmore
endicott
St. Mikes
UVM
Northeastern
UNH
Middlebury

all those seem to fit the new england small / medium college list. Best thing to do is actually visit the schools in person, talk to some people, and keep an open mind.

 

[YardSaleDad]

It's a big decision which will have a great impact on your career, earning capability, etc., and UMF is simply not very highly regarded for academics.

IMHO, other than entry level positions, what school a person went to has very little to do with whether someone will hire them or not, or how their careers will unfold. It's the content of their character that will rule their fate.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

IMHO, other than entry level positions, what school a person went to has very little to do with whether someone will hire them or not, or how their careers will unfold. It's the content of their character that will rule their fate.

Someone a whole lot smater than me once said...."it's not the school, it's the student". I have found that to be to very true.

[

 

[Terry]

My daughter is a freshman at University of New England studying nursing and with the financial aid package, scholarsips, and grants it turned out to be almost as cheap as USM. The USM program would not garantee that she would get in for nursing. At UNE she was garanteed a spot in the program, plus they start clinicals imediately where USM and all the other schools that we looked at didn't start clinicals till junior year. If you entered one of those programs and decided once you started clinicals and you didn't like it, you have wasted 2 years allready. UNE is a small campus in Portland and she absolutely loves it. She is already a licensed nurses aid, and EMT, and by the end of next year she will be an RN. It really scared me when we first heard the tuition prices but don't go by that. Wait till you get the financial aid packages to decide. Apply for every schollarship that is available. Your highschooll guidance office should be able to help with this. A lot of the schollarships can be applied for while in college also. Good luck with the decision making. It is a difficult process but don't go on original advertised tuition costs only.

 

[Warp Daddy]

"Goodness of fit" is a most important consideration when choosing higher education . Go where the ENVIRONMENT both academically and socially from a socio-economic point of view is consistent with your needs .

The fact that a school has a 'rep" MAY NOT t be the panacea for success . Make no mistake about it , ONCE your career is on game your past and where you went is of secondary importance -- its what are you doing for me now baby ??

While I Q is important and is perhaps what gets you in the door in your career , Ultimately Emotional Intelligence determines to a greater degree who moves up the professional food chain .


Skiing while important should NOT be the driving force in choosing a school .

 

[smitty77]

While it won't fit with "artsy", I went to WPI and loved it. Small classes (at least for Civil Engineering), lots of other programs, a small campus, and a busy city within a 5 minute walk. I paid for 85% of the costs through scholarships direct from the school for finishing first in my class (Toot Toot ). I also applied to RPI, Norwich, and RIT but they didn't give me as much. On the other hand, my brother also graduated #1, applied to WPI, and got a really shitty package. I mean just terrible. They're explanation (which I believe) is he applied for a very popular major (Comp Sci) where there's an ass for every seat. The school is less likely to hand out money when they can fill seats with people that can afford the sticker price. Something to keep in mind when she's searching for schools.

As for savings, be VERY careful about what you have and where it is "saved". Every dollar you painstakingly saved gets counted, and will decrease how much you get in grants or scholarships. My parents couldn't afford to put much away, so we had to kick ass academically to afford college. I got through 4 years at a $30k/yr school for just under $20k. My brother went to UMass on a full scholarship for scoring in the top X% on the MCAS. (I want to say top 10% in the state?) My nephew is a sophomore at UMass under the same scholarship, which applies to any state school in the Commonwealth.

Seriously, your daughter should try to work "under the table" as much as she can. If the child has reported earnings, FAFSA includes 35% of those earnings when calculating the EFC. Same for any savings held in the child's name. Move them now into someone else's name. I've heard of a few families getting absolutely screwed on the aid package when they found out the fund Gramps and Gram opened for Sally's college fund 18 years ago get's counted at 35% because it was also listed in Sally's name. Yikes!

Good luck with the process. Kudos to you for starting early.
Smitty

 

[pepsi]

Seriously, your daughter should try to work "under the table" as much as she can. If the child has reported earnings, FAFSA includes 35% of those earnings when calculating the EFC. Same for any savings held in the child's name. Move them now into someone else's name. I've heard of a few families getting absolutely screwed on the aid package when they found out the fund Gramps and Gram opened for Sally's college fund 18 years ago get's counted at 35% because it was also listed in Sally's name. Yikes!


Smitty

We went through this. Stacia worked part time jobs during the school year, vacations, and summer thinking that she would divide it by four and work within that each year for extra expenses, food, books, (probably partying),etc. Maybe not needing to work at all.

Then we found out what happens when a good kid tries to plan ahead.

 

[John84]

Right now I'm a Junior in high school, working one job over the summer, and one job year round. Combined I probably make 3-4 thousand dollars. Any idea if this will be counted toward my EFC?

 

[Goblin84]

John84- I know the department of ed just put out an EFC calculator, or at least it came across the NACAC listserv (National Assoc of College Admission Counselors). UNE is a great school with a quiality nursing program, my friend is a counselor with them so tell your daughter congrats (hopefully that was done a while ago anyway ).

As far as the original question- I went to St. Lawrence University. It is a small liberal arts school in Upstate (the north country...we are not talking albany here) NY. I loved this school. Anyone who wants a big city dont look here. There is a very close campus community because of the lack of a city. I was never board on campus, always something to do. Only downfall is I think the school cost upwards of 40k. I just graduated recently and was given an outstanding package (under 5k a semester). However this might be due to my 3 other siblings in college at the same time (god bless my parents). Needless to say I paid for college mostly on my own.

 

[smitty77]

Right now I'm a Junior in high school, working one job over the summer, and one job year round. Combined I probably make 3-4 thousand dollars. Any idea if this will be counted toward my EFC?

I don't know how far back they look when calculating the EFC when it comes to earnings. I want to say the previous year only, but it may be 2 years. Either way, whatever you earn that is reported on a W-2 for tax purposes is counted at 35%, whether or not you put any of it away. If you spent it all on keeping you car running so you could get to said job, they don't care. The college usually allows explanations or appeals on aid packages in cases such as this (ie. working to help pay family bills because dad got hurt and couldn't work, and didn't have Aflac). And whatever you did put away is also counted at 35%. All of this plain sucks for students like Pepsi's daughter. It doesn't pay to work your ass off to pay for college.

That being said.... When you apply for aid in your senior year, the form is (was) similar to a federal 1040 in that they use the information provided from the previous years earnings as reported by your (you & your parents) W-2 and Federal 1040.

I would assume you'll file your FAFSA in January or February of 2008. Typically, you would use your 2007 tax return that you'll file early in 2008 to enter the income data. Now say you like to wait until April 15th because you owe Uncle Sam and havent yet filed your 2007 tax return. You'll be using data from your 2006 return (Federal 1040 and W-2) on your FAFSA. I believe you can file an ammended FAFSA after your taxes were filed for the current year and have it recalculated. Check on this.

NOTE: Someone else here may have more accurate information than me. It's been 10 years since I filled out the stupid forms, so my memory may be fuzzy or the rules may have changed (both are likely). Be sure to do your homework thoroughly!!!!

Good luck. We're all counting on you. :wink: