College visits

[imissdow]

Took my middle DD to visit a college this weekend. It was generally pretty good. Smaller private school with a beautiful campus , demanding classes and a huge endowment allowing them to have one of the lowest tuitions in the state.  DD has a great gpa(3.5-3.75) depending on if you weight classes, a high sat score , and enough outside actives to fill a page and a part-time job. She gets a stack of flyers from colleges every week. She's a great student and a pretty good person.  This school is her top pick and really her only choice. She has said it all else fails she will go to the state school or the community college. She really is ready to move out would be gone already if that was doable.

So enter financial aid people. Packages aren't given out till march. This school doesn't take federal aid, so no loans, pull grants or TEACH scholarships. It seems that whatever school I pick online has the same bottom line number. About $5000 more the I can figure out how to come up with. The online calculator I used last night had parents contribution as $55. But the bottom line is way way higher. Looking into scholarships but they don't commit till June usally. So once again she needs to commit before figuring out how to pay for it.

We have identified about $23000 that she is qualified for and really we have just started, however that doesn't mean she will get any of them. 

I hate that I'm in a position that I really can't help her out at all. I really hate that I can't figure all of it out .

[trying2breathe]

There is nothing easy about the college process.  I'm going through this now with DD, and went through it with DS two years ago. 

 

 

For me, it was deciding what was doable financially and choosing school options from there.  It is so frustrating to not know what the financial circumstances will be or what scholarships and financial aid will offer. 

 

 

I was on my own with my son to go through this, but my daughter's school offers financial counseling along with a college counselor.  Is there something like this where you are? 

 

 

Good luck!