% of the first year expenses of student's 4-yr college was GIVEN-grant scholarshp etc

[Nan in Mass]

How much of your four-year college student's expenses for the first year was given to them by non-family members? In other words, how much was a grant, scholarship, etc.? Just count the major expenses - tuition, fees, and room and board. Don't count the personal ones, like transportation and books. I know books can be a major expense, but they vary from major to major so much that I think perhaps we should leave them out.

 

Multiple votes are allowed so vote once for each of your students.

 

It would be helpful if everyone who voted here also voted in the how much savings poll as well. Then we can put them together to get a picture of how it is most common to pay for college. At least, I hope we can. If this structure doesn't work, maybe we can try again. I've never done a poll before, so it might not work out the way I am hoping it will.

 

-Nan

[newbie]

This poll looks great, if the proof is not in the pudding.

[Nicole M]

Okay, are we talking tuition AND room and board? Or just tuition?

[Nan in Mass]

Didn't you read the directions GRIN (just teasing).

 

Tuition, fees, room + board.

 

: )

[Nan in Mass]

I think I broke the polling function. Either that or it won't let me make more than one poll per day and it isn't telling me so gracefully. I get "fatal error".

 

My intention is to make three more polls - one like this but for 2 year colleges, and two more for percentage of money saved by family or student (4-year and 2-year).

 

I'll try again later. Or someone else can copy this one, substituting "two year" for "four year" and try.

 

Sorry

Nan

[Nicole M]

Didn't you read the directions GRIN (just teasing).

 

Tuition, fees, room + board.

 

: )

 

Shoot. I have to make a difficult phone call today, and I'm totally distracted, so I guess I missed that. ;)

 

ETA: The way it breaks down for us is that 100% of tuition is covered, and we are paying the room & board.

Edited February 26, 2011 by Nicole M

[emubird]

My daughter got 100% of tuition, but only because we get an employee discount. Without that, she would have got 63% of tuition.

 

She got about the same offer from another school she didn't go to.

 

Room and board was never offered (but she's living at home) and nobody gave money for fees.

 

However, she really only applied to 2 places. She might have got more if she'd sent out 10 applications. She also might have got more if she hadn't had the employee discount (the colleges knew she had that and may have wanted to spend their money on kids who didn't have that break.)

[Janice H]

At this point in the timeline of awards, where many applicants only know of merit right now, will the poll largely pick up only merit? (or, is the definition of "grant, scholarship, etc." merit only?)

 

Then, there are kids who'll be living at home. Their "denominator" of total costs will be smaller than those receiving the same merit aid who have board as part of the total costs denominator.

 

Eee, this is difficult to capture all the variables in a poll.

 

I think I broke the polling function.

:lol:

[Nan in Mass]

I know. Sigh. There are multiple things wrong with this poll, greatest among them the fact that it is self-selecting. And the polling function is pretty limited. No matter what we do, this will be rough. It isn't exactly a well-run scientific study GRIN. It might be enough to help those who are assuming that non-loan money will be forthcoming to judge how realistic those expectations are or are not, though. I certainly hope everyone will do further research and not base their college saving plan on these results!

-Nan

[Tullia]

Thanks for doing this, Nan. I can barely navigate the boards--doing a poll is waay beyond my capabilities ;). I'll keep watch for a two-year option.

[Ohdanigirl]

I didn't vote, because my dc are still very young, but I really think it depends from case to case. When I was in school (class of 03) I had a friend who received a full ride at the private college I attended. He was the top student in his very small school. He was a science major. He was accepted to UCSD, and was able to use that to increase the amount he was given at USD

 

I did cc and had straight A's. I was able to transfer with almost a free ride. think some schools give a bit more freely to transfers. At least this was the idea that the admissions office gave.

 

Any how, I am all ears. I would love to see what I can learn from all you ladies that are dealing with thee things ahead of me.

 

Dsanielle

[Mommyfaithe]

My kids have done 2 years of CC for their associates degrees before going to their 4 year schools...I did not count the CC in their scholarship $, although they received scholarships for that as well.

 

The school both DD's attend (ed) costs 46,000 per year plus room and board.

 

Almost 80% of that was given to them in scholarship money. Both girls had very high GPA's (over 3.9...but not quite a 4.0...LOL) They were given these scholarships based solely on their exemplary grades and their outside activities...not their SAT scores or high school transcript.

 

DD #1 graduated Summa Cum Laude with approxiamately $15000 in loan money...most of which was for room, board and books.

 

DD #2 looks as though it will be approx. the same.

 

DS#1 is now finishing up at the CC...so we shall see where this shall go.

 

Faithe

[outtamyshell]

You forgot to include the option for $0.

[Nan in Mass]

$0 is "less than 25%"

 

The polling option has a max of ten options. I thought in terms of helping to figure out how to pay for college, the difference between $0 and 24% was less important than the difference between 75% and full ride, and I wanted the divisions to be as big as possible.

 

-Nan

[Hannah C.]

I voted 75%-99%, about myself. I had a roughly half-tuition scholarship, based partially on my National Merit Scholar status. The rest was various need-based grants, including a Texas Equalization Grant which goes to some of those who attend private instead of public schools. The school I attended cost somewhere along the lines of $16k a semester, give or take a couple thousand depending on the semester.

[Teachin'Mine]

Great poll Nan - thank you!!! :)

[justasque]

I think you need to weigh the quality of the institution as well. DS is a National Merit Scholar. There are some highly regarded schools that don't offer any money for that, in part because so many of their students qualify. There are some good solid schools that offer 50% scholarships automatically for NMS. There are schools in between where some money may be offered, if the student is a good applicant based on more than just a one-day test score. And we got some letters from obscure schools we'd never heard of, offering a full ride, which frankly we tossed.

 

If you're looking for merit money, you need to be in the top tier of the school's applicants, which is more likely for lower-ranked schools. It's a balance. "Free" is not always the best option to choose - sometimes it's better to pay more for higher quality.

 

Of course, the whole idea of ranking and quality and such is a whole 'nother discussion - I'm using it as shorthand here. A better thing to consider is finding a "good fit" for the student, in terms of what they'll study, quality of staff, quality of campus life, cost, logistical factors such as proximity to home, the general "feel" of the school, etc.

 

I would encourage folks to apply to at least one financial and academic "safety", but not to rule out schools based on sticker price, assuming your child may qualify for merit or need-based aid.

[Dmmetler]

I got 100% of mandatory tuition/fees, and a partial dorm grant, but had to pay the remaining board and room fees, and had to pay private lesson fees, which, for a music major, are a sizable amount.

[Susan C.]

Ds got state scholarship plus a school one for the first year. Room and board was at home.