College Scholarship Money

[MikePA]

I believe it is all matter of how much effort you put into your classes.

It's also a function of when classes you need to complete your degree are offered, not to mention this change to 5 years was assuming a full class schedule. No offense, but attributing it to people not working hard enough is condemning people without proof.

 

[deereguy]

It won't be a ton of aide but its $, check out Wal-mart.com (the big box store).

 

[rox]

I never have quite understood this. I was told the same thing when I went to college in 95'. But, if you take an average of say 13 to 15 hrs per semester, it should be farily easy to to graduate in 4, which I did with an engineering degree. For that matter, my wife received her BA and masters degree in only 4 and a half. I believe it is all matter of how much effort you put into your classes.

Gary, i do think that kids grauate in 5 years instead of 4 because they dibble and dablle around and change their majors. Students who start out as freshmen in an engineering program are less likely to change thier major I think. Thus if you start with your major from day 1 and stick with it you get out in 4 years.
Did your wife change majors at all during her education and get a masters degreen in 4 and a half? I don'tthink there is anything wrong with taking longer in college. The majority of kids entering are not sure what degree they really want, it takes them a while taking differnt courses to ge their groove. I would rather they did this and took a bit longer than just stick with a course of studies because they had so much invested in it even though they found out they were lukewarm with the actual field of study. Our daughter wasted a bit more than one semester studying social work before bailing and saying it wasn't for her. I give credit to the kids who bale and pursue what they are really interested in. Problem is it sometimes takes a while. It is the final outcome i am most interested in. They got the degree, and they love their field, more than the number of years it took to get there. Now kids who change majors every semester, there is something worng there...

 

[rox]

... I also believe these aides are flawed. Any aide should be based off of the student's income or ability to pay the debt. But no, it solely based off of the parents income/net worth.

Well then every kid in America would be going to school for free (as they do in France higher education is free you only pay for your books and lodging) because realistically how any 18 year olds have enough income to pay for college? I think what the schools and government are saying is that it is the parents responsibity to pay for college. There are ways for your son to pay, he can first go in the military, you/he choose not to go that route. He could go to a lower cost state college and take out loans on his own. What you are looking for is a for him to go for 'free." or significantly lower than the current published cost. Boy we all wanted that when it came time to send our kids to college. The US system is not set up that way. Only a few very high achieving students go for FREE. I have always wondered if foreign students get scholarships from our state universities.... I bet they do.

It is your choice, your son can make it through at a less costly school and take out loans, plenty of kids do that. Now if he would like to beome a French citizen and give up his US itizenship he can go to top universities for free. Of course when he graduates and has a hard time finding a job because the employer contributions to payroll taxes to fund those free universities is 52% of the salary, he may thnk the American model does not look that bad, especially when he finds his slaary will be at least half of what he would earn in America. There really is no free lunch.

 

[dmccarty]

Getting done in four years depends on how many credits is required to get the degree. If one works their way through school then they are not likely going to be able to handle a full course load. And if one is in a very demanding degree program its even more difficult to finish in four years.

I took far more than four years to get a degree because I too extra classes not required to graduate, the job market was dead, I was in a tough program AND I worked through school. No debt when done either.

Remember, roughly HALF of the students who go to school do NOT get a degree. It ain't easy.

If money is an issue then go to a two year school to get prereq courses that transfer to the four year school of choice. Its cheaper, you get professional TEACHERS as opposed to graduate students, and get the named degree. Most of the great teachers I had where at a two year school.

Is the private school going to provide an education that is worth the cost? I heard a lady on the radio discussing her child's list of schools. She had full scholarships to schools in FL, and I think partial scholarships to some other schools. But the kid wanted to go to a private school in NYC for the "experience". It was going to cost mom and the daughter something like 30K a year for the kid's experience.

If she wants the experience then go to NYC and work. Don't go into debt to 120K!

The kid wanted an English degree.... 120K in debt and a four year English degree. As my old man would say, "That is a ticket to starvation."

Later,
Dan

 

[MikePA]

I switched majors in my junior year, but it was from Math to CompSci, so all my Math credits applied, although I had to use some of my math courses as electives in the CompSci program. However, had I picked a different major, that might not have been the case. A blanket statement that students who take 5 years have not put forth the effort is wrong.

 

[randy41]

I have 3 kids. 2 of them have graduated college and the third is still attending.
The 2 that have graduated attended state universities which here in VA are excellent schools. One went to UVA and the other to JMU. Since the UVA one is from my first marriage that money situation was weird. She was my ex's dependent. My son who graduated from JMU has no college debt. We did the FAFSA every year and since we don't earn a lot he got quite a bit of fin aid and I was able to pay as he went the rest.
The one who is still in school is going to UPenn which as you know is an ivy league school. The bill is almost 50K a year to go there. I agreed to contribute 40K to his education (what i think it would cost had he attended UVA with no fin aid). he is getting a need based scholarship of 32K a year. the rest is made up by student loans. however the school instituted a policy starting in the fall '08 semester that any loans that would be required will be grants for students of families earning under 100K a year.
My point is that if you are at the bottom or near the bottom of the average earnings level of student's families who attend a particular school you will receive more fin aid. My point also was that I'm proud of what my kids have accomplished.
FAFSA is the basis for most fin aid. Fill it out by or before the preferred deadline of the school your child will attend. I also suggest your kid go to the highest ranked school they can get into.
My son who went to JMU was an art major and now he designs power lines for some good money. My daughter who went to UVA was a sociology major who is now an editor at a prominent co. Both schools are well known in this area of the country.

 

[MossRoad]

realistically how any 18 year olds have enough income to pay for college?

Indiana University has a campus in most larger cities in Indiana. Here in South Bend, for example, the average cost per year is only $4,000.00 per year. If you live at home with your folks and get a part time job, you can pay as you go and get out debt free with a degree from a great University in 4 years. Many folks here go on for two more years and get their master's.

If they don't want to live at home with their folks, they can get a roomie or two and share a house and expenses pretty reasonably priced.

There are some great options for education payment. At this price, who needs a scholarship? They help, but really, $4000.00 is less than a hundred bucks a week.

 

['Bota Fan]

When our first child was in this process, the key for us was the high school counseling office. They get all kinds of scholarship information, and if you don't continually ask them for it, you won't get it. We kept doing internet searches and came up with several good ideas, some of which paid off well.

One was the Robert Byrd scholarship which is one of the few merit-based, federally funded scholarships. Check with the counseling office to see if they have any information.

Coke, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, etc. All these kinds of companies have scholarship programs. Someone else mentioned Wal-Mart. Our son received it his freshman year. They give away millions each year.

Our advice: stay on the internet and when you get a lead, follow it through. Make sure the schools do their job. Get the teacher recommendations. It's an extremely tedious process. Best of luck to you and your child!

 

[dfeck]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking' for a free handout. Well, maybe I am. I know there's MANY companies/institutions out there looking for tax write-offs/etc. They offer scholarships and I'm just looking for ways to tap into them. We as parents already said we'd pay 50K for college. That would pretty much pay for a state university. From that point on it's up to him to pay for the rest. In saying that I want him to be able to go anywhere he wants (within reason) because this is a very important decision in his life and will pave the way for his career. I've gotten good suggestions and will follow-up with some of them.

As for graduating in 5 years. We were told there are many reasons. The top reason is that the school could NOT accommodate the students schedule due to demand and size of class. In order to graduate with the required hours you need that 5th year to finish. I see this as wrong! If that's the problem then maybe the school should reduce the amount of admissions. I know there are other reasons but this was one that was told to us at college visits. The student giving us the tour usually told this to us. Needless to say, this is another factor in our decision.