Yep, tuition/fees/room/board for us has been closer to $90k for four years ($22ish/year), and then add in extras like sororities, study abroad, and that takes it closer to $95-$100. But still, $61k a year for a public university is insane.
Financial Aid Advice
- Thread starter Joe4Cy
- Start date
I graduated in 4 years flat with a EE that started at a CC. The biggest impediment was ISU's system for getting into a class, and the sequence of prerequisites for the upper classes.
Honestly, I think my foundation was superior to my ISU peers when I got there. Taking calc with 200 peers and a TA that has been speaking English for 6 months is not optimal for learning.
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It may make a difference which community college you go to. I know DMAAC uses tons of adjuncts and for years were trying to get my brothers who are high school math teachers to go teach there as adjuncts.They just have a bachelor’s degree. They probably would be fine at it but the desperation to find anyone to teach stuff always seemed sketch to me.
I think I'd personally rather have an experienced high school teach me Calc 2 than the 24 year old grad student ta who taught me it at isu.
Compare Parent Plus loans to bank loans before making a final decision
Parent plus is right around 8.50% I think also has a 4% fee which adds up when talking about thousands of dollars. Iowa student Loan has been competitive with that and usually better in past. Also can keep it in students name to help build credit. A lot of banks seem to be getting out of it like Wells Fargo for example. I tend to think Private if you find a good lender is better than Parent Plus
A lot of the CC in Iowa have agreements with the public 4 year universities that allow students to spend the first two years at the CC and then all their grades are counting like they were taken at one of the three state universities. Not sure if they do it by major or what, but something to look into if you plan to go to school here in Iowa. IHCC works with ISU and UNI, not sure if they have a set up with EIU or not.
I did that at ISU - well, not CC classes but took some low hanging generic credits to get them out of the way my first summer while I also worked/lived on campus. Freed up my schedule a bit going forward and I don't think they were as $$ as during the other terms.
UW-Madison is a fantastic school, congrats to him! To the detriment of the out of state attendees - there's been some........shenanigans by the state legislature to limit tuition increases for in-state students. That leads to both increased acceptance and charging of out of state students. Depending upon his area of study, would agree with others that if there is the possibility (and work with an advisor on this) to take courses either over the first couple summers (including this one) or through MATC/Edgewood that may allow him to graduate even a semester early to cut down on costs or create a more open schedule that make space for work/whatever else.
My goal in life is to die broke.
Paying for my kids to go to college should help me with that goal.
I don't envy anyone with these decisions - on one hand you want your kids to pursue their own goals and dreams, and on the other is the insane prices and financial reality for all of us.
Paying for my kids to go to college should help me with that goal.
I don't envy anyone with these decisions - on one hand you want your kids to pursue their own goals and dreams, and on the other is the insane prices and financial reality for all of us.
One of the great things about 4 year schools is being a freshman/sophomore, and being away from home. Get yourself into a little trouble here and there. Nothing to bad hopefully. Learn how to study and pull an all nighter. Heading to the pub that serves minors on a Friday after class. Tailgating in the fall. House parties. Dorm pranks. Developing life long friendships. RBI tournaments. Ahh, College.
Yup, that's part of growing up. We want our kids to grow and learn and sometimes being away, being alone, away by themselves help their development.
This is worth its own thread but the stuffs you mentioned are so valuable. Added with other things, like getting along with roommates (esp if the school assigns your roommate(s) ) finding new friends, getting to know people, experiencing rejection(s), etc. Hopefully that would make them well-rounded people
For starters I've not read any other response so take that into account. Second, I used to work in financial aid, still have connections in financial aid, and also am enrolling my first into college this fall. I would be happy to share what I know if you want to DM me.
This is probably walking the Cave line and I'm sure someone can poke holes but re-reading OP, if I'm OP, I really really try to avoid taking out loans in my own name/spouse's name. Unless you feel absolutely rock solid about your retirement - your son has a long time to pay these off and it's very possible the whole ecosystem around student loans will be a different world 10-30 years from now. He can borrow against his education; you can't borrow against retirement.
I wouldn't trade my time at ISU for anything. So much fun was had in the dorms.
FYI, you will get a 2500 tax credit unless you make 500k a year or something like that. Don’t be a rear and eat that, at minimum you should pay that much of your kids cost.
Oh, yes something else to consider! Sigh...!
Things are going to work out - it'll just be stressful for ...well, forever!
I just did some quick math, 30,000 students with 15,000 (half instate and half out)tuition is a heck of an amount. Never really totaled it up before.
