Proud Parent - My son just got accepted to the University of Maryland!

by GrreatTeacher 15 Replies latest social family

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  GrreatTeacher

  I'm so proud of my son. He has persevered through 2 years of community college. Three of those semesters were at home because Covid19 shut in person classes. This was a difficult transition, but I was home to help and he succeeded after much hard work! Community college is a great transition to university and living away from home.

  I'm extra proud that the University of Maryland has accepted him because it has become a selective university within the last decade. The average grade point average of a high school senior is a 4.1! He did well in high school, with a B average, but not well enough for the flagship state university.

  However, his community college work has earned him a 3.5 and has proven that he can excel in college level coursework and he got in through the back door! The transfer student door. Plus, community college was much less expensive, only about $5000 a year.

  UMD costs about $11,000 a year which isn't terrible, but room and board is more than tuition at $13,000! So about $24,000 for an in state school. It's no different at less selective state universities either because he was accepted to another and it was about the same.

  He was also accepted to Penn State, but out of state tuition is really unaffordable. We got an acceptance offer at $39,000.

  He has a few small scholarships that will roll over for four years and has applied and was interviewed for a big boy worth about $9,000, but it is competitive. He is applying for anything he can get his hands on.

  This is even more poignant for me because he was a firecracker as a kid and school was not easy. I regularly got calls from teachers in elementary school. He finally got diagnosed with ADHD (no surprise - his father and I both probably had it, we had similar school behavior, but there was no diagnosis back then). And also anxiety disorder, but with appropriate treatment and help from the schools, with a 504 plan, he has succeeded! He works extra hard for it, but he has done it!

  This means I have scaffolded things for him and have been handing over responsibility to him steadily. He now keeps up with school deadlines, plans out his assignments, works part time and volunteers on weekends. He gets himself up and fed every morning. He is responsible about going to sleep at a decent time. He has maintained personal hygiene without prompting, but has given up doing his laundry. He will have to figure that out when living on campus!

  So proud of him and so glad he is getting his degree directly after high school.
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  iXav

  Congratulations!

  Education is so expensive in America, it is so strange when I hear people having huge student loans.
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  minimus

  Congratulations!!!
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  JeffT

  Congratulations
  
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  oppostate

  Congratulations!

  Best wishes
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  GrreatTeacher

  Thanks, all!

  iXav, those are not student loan amounts. He so far has qualified for only $2,000 in student loans.

  We have to come up with the rest of the money ourselves!

  We will probably apply for PLUS loans ( Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students ) but my credit is not good because of my own student loans.

  Then, the next option is a home equity loan or home equity line of credit which is not optimal because it puts your house on the line.

  My husband is not working since he had shoulder surgery and is on temporary disability, so that will affect our ability to borrow most likely.

  I do not believe that laws allow us to use retirement accounts for education expenses. Also, in general, you never want to touch your retirement. That should take precedence above anything else.

  We do have a little money saved in a savings account, and my son will work this summer to try to save up some money.

  It will be a challenge, not the least because he will not be finished in 2 years. Maybe 3 years, but if things go very well, 2 and a half years.
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  Biahi

  Good for him! At least he’s not pioneering. My daughter went to Christian college in Indiana. Tuition, room and board was $36,000 per year, but her academic scholarship was 10,000 per year. We paid for that, and her wedding 2 months after college graduation. But we managed.
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  GrreatTeacher

  Thanks, Biahi. It means a lot.

  Actually, thanks for sharing the numbers. That is a biggie and makes people, eg exJWs think that college isn't affordable.

  The fact is that you just have to learn to navigate the system.

  My sister got kicked out when she was DFd and came to live with me. Financial Aid requires that parents submit their income to determine financial aid amounts and this applies at least to the age of 24, I think. My father refused to cooperate, so my sister went to the school's financial aid department and interviewed about being declared an independent student. She told her story and ultimately succeeded. She got student loans and maybe some grants that allowed her to finish all 4 years.

  If you're very poor, you will get grants that don't need to be repayed, but coming up with that last couple thousand dollars scares some people away. And if you're very poor, it might indeed be difficult to come up with an extra grand or so.

  Middle income families likely won't get grants, but should have most of it covered by student loans.

  Above maybe $60,000, and parents are suddenly expected to contribute a lot more out of pocket. Then, after a certain threshold, the student might get some small loans.

  Where you can really get ahead is with scholarships. This can be a large unknown for people. My advice is to go to the college financial aid office where you wish to enroll and ask about scholarships that might be available!

  My son entered a freshman program at community college for at risk (for dropping out) students. He qualified because of his ADHD diagnosis. It was a forced interaction with Guidance and Financial Aid. He learned about so many scholarships that I never had a clue about. He would often get calls about scholarships they thought he should apply to, and, though often only a few hundred dollars, it really helped.

  This information is available to anyone, but you have to ask! Go make yourself known at Financial Aid. They're there to help!
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  mickbobcat

  Now you will have to deprogram him from the BS the college will teach him. And pay to do it.
  
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  GrreatTeacher

  WTF, mick, do you try to piss me off?

  Because, yeah, the U of MD really graduates engineers whose bridges fall down, planes don't fly and rockets don't launch.

  Go whine about history and English graduates somewhere else.

  The Clark School of Engineering is very reputable and turns out graduates who are snapped up by Department of Defense, NASA and others.

  This kid could drive a steam tractor as an early teen, can drive a steam engine (and diesel engine) now and is FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) qualified as as a Fireman, after first earning Brakeman certification several years ago. He needs more experience to earn Engineer certification at the railroad where he volunteers. He should qualify in a couple more years.

  He has loved machines since he was little, and we have found that the winning combination is to let kids get involved in what interests them and it will naturally push them toward a career that they love.