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We've had two schools (one private, one public) that gave us packages 10k under the NPC estimate. Making the private go into our 'affordable' range. The public school difference was not unexpected though. (merit aid)

Thank you for your input....yes, the Univ of Utah in SLC. We visited and admissions really seemed to stress the option of getting instate tuition (our tour group was mostly out of state students). Everything about the campus was so much nicer than I expected and both boys really liked it. And the mountains are beautiful lol.

Both my dss were selected for verification and so far they've just had to sign an extra form (provided by the colleges) that they did not need to file taxes. I didn't know a statement from the IRS may be required. Ugh.

OK, thank you for explaining this, it's definitely helpful! We need to add the likely possibility of paying for an extra year then, wherever they attend.

I was aware of that low 4 yr grad rate....the college kind of gave me the impression it was partly because Mormon students would be more likely to take time off to do a mission. I asked someone I know who lives there what their thoughts were on the low grad. rate and was told it's probably because Utah parents don't value education and are less likely to help pay for college, so students are probably taking longer because of having to work to pay more of the cost themselves. Just one persons opinion though. Both ds have other offers already (just trying to evaluate the ones we have so far) and we're waiting on acceptance/ rejection etc from half of their apps still.

Thank you everyone and I am thinking about all of these posts more.... What are reasons that students don't finish in 4 years (especially thinking about engineering)?? I have looked at a few colleges required/suggested course of studying for mechanical engineering and it seems if the student follows the schedule they'll finish in 4. Reasons I can think of--student changes major (even within engineering) and needs to take more courses, student decides to take slightly reduced course load for whatever reason, student is unable to get into required courses, student doesn't get a good enough grade and needs to retake a course Any other possibilities? I myself took 5 years to get a BS because I transferred to a different college and the second college didn't give me credit for a semester internship.

She's so cute!!

Yeah--I really really don't want to put my son under that stress. Why do colleges even give out awards with those requirements??? I saw on the U's website that previous recipients of this award have to have a 3.7 GPA!

This at Univ of Utah--we visited the campus and admissions said that if the student lives for xx number days in Utah throughout the year (I can't remember the exact #), registers to vote/gets a drivers license in Utah that they can get residency status. I'll definitely look into this more, and even if it is accurate, it seems like it would take a year of planning ahead. I wonder if I can find out how many students actually do this.

Wow, thank you for bringing up all of these issues. I hadn't even thought about that first one (not completing in 8 semesters)! We'll have to consider that with the other colleges they're considering too then.

college is out of state public school, instate tuition about 9000, OOS about 28,000 ds1 received this award--full tuition for 8 semesters, must keep a 3.6 GPA ds2 received this award-2 semesters tuition, can pay instate tuition for the remaining years if establishes residency during first year I don't know why they received such different awards (their stats are very similar), but the 3.6 GPA requirement seems high. (And ds will be an engineering major) If he calls the college will they be able to tell him what % lose this scholarship? And what the average GPA for his major is? I can't decide if these are good awards or just so-so. There is no way this college is worth the 28k/yr tuition for ME as the parent, considering the other options.

Sending good thoughts :grouphug:

My boys used Collegeboard's search tools to browse colleges when they were just getting started. Have you looked at Florida State? They have a collegiate circus. I'm not sure about size but I think it's a large school.

Good luck, I hope you get it!!

Aw, I'm sorry about his injury!

ds1 accepted at Colorado School of Mines ds2 accepted at Eckerd (I already reported ds2 previously accepted at School of Mines) I guess we're waiting until next year to hear about the remaining colleges.....the time seems like forever to them but it'll be here so quickly!

I'm so very sorry for your family's loss.

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I agree that it really depends on the individual program. Is he going to attend the IB school in 9th grade? He would probably have a much better idea what it's like compared to taking AP courses after being at the school for a while. My boys are in their senior year in an IB program. They have had, for the most part, a lot of extra time for outside interests. Their school does have 2 years of pre-IB before the last 2 years though, and many of their courses are designed to be IB/AP courses, so they end up having 8 or 9 AP classes when they graduate. Does the school have any official pre-IB? Or some typical course of sequence to qualify for IB? The pros for them have been that this program is selective, the school encourages cooperation, so my boys have made some wonderful friends that also want to do well academically. The CAS project is a good opportunity to design and carry out a project that they're interested in (which of course any student can do, not just IB) so a good addition to college apps. And at our school, the IB teachers are thought to be the best teachers. There have been a few cons, mostly related to this specific program so not really relevant to you. I'd also say that our school is good about accommodating math accelerated kids, but the IB math courses have been kind of underwhelming and our school doesn't offer Math HL.

I have twins, both applying for college now. DS1 was accepted into his safety school, did verification, and received his financial aid offer. DS2 was accepted, did verification, but has received an email that I (parent) need to redo the sheet that states where his sibling is attending college. How can I fill that in accurately when I don't know WHERE his brother will be attending? I had entered 'TBD' for each twin's brother when I filled it out for each of them. Apparently that was ok for DS1 but not DS2. I could call and ask but DS2 was already given wrong information from the financial aid office about another form. What do you put in that field when you don't know yet where another sibling will be attending college?

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I'm sorry about the results. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I think you'd really need to look at each program individually. I was in a fully funded PhD program and I was expected to be on campus a minimum of 8 hrs/day 7 days/week with almost no breaks.

I wouldn't sign their names on the cards, but I would sign it something like 'from the Lastname family'