Cost of Tuition

Although it is not a SMC, have you and your son ever considered the University of Alabama. I have two sons in the Crimson Tide Battalion. With a 32 ACT, your son receives a 100% full tuition scholarship. Further, scholarships are stackable, so if he receives an ROTC scholarship, it can be used to cover other expenses like room/board, books, etc.
 
Been too long since I've been on here but have been swamped with my DS's "migration" to Texas (and his early days as Fish at TAMU). +1 on Lawman and Payitforward (and Cluelessparent) as well as others. I spent about a year with my DS scouring all the SMC's as well as applying for both the NROTC / AROTC scholarships. What a journey and boy was it a roller-coaster ride. This board is and was instrumental in so many areas of meaningful advice and I truly do not believe I could have done it without y'all. My DS did not secure a ROTC scholarship but was made very generous offers from UNG, TAMU, and Norwich. We are OOS as well and the "in state" deals from UNG and TAMU are significant. Both offered additional smaller scholarships and Norwich (as another poster listed) was about 45% off with merit awards (my DS was also being recruited for wrestling). Citadel was a strong contender with my DS but at $48K, it just didn't make sense. We tried every angle and seems like their awards are for SC residents and/or the few with extraordinary academics. In the end, my DS is extremely happy at TAMU and is not looking-back whatsoever. He's re-applying for scholarships as well. Good luck!
 
txpotato said:
Although it is not a SMC, have you and your son ever considered the University of Alabama. I have two sons in the Crimson Tide Battalion. With a 32 ACT, your son receives a 100% full tuition scholarship. Further, scholarships are stackable, so if he receives an ROTC scholarship, it can be used to cover other expenses like room/board, books, etc.
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Engineering Majors can even get full out-of-state tuition at Alabama with a 30 ACT. Alabama has great merit aid!
 
marklaker said:
My DS is very steadfast in his desire to attend an SMC for the purpose of obtaining a commission in either the Army or Marines. A USAF retiree myself, with yet another son serving in the Army as a warrant officer, I'm very pleased and extremely supportive of his decision. That being said, the cost of OOS tuition (we live in Florida) is enough to keep me up at night as I calculate the megaton hit to my retirement account. Unfortunately, our household income all but eliminates any chance of federal or "need based" aid so I'm curious if anyone from the forum has successfully whittled down the cost of tuition via some form of institutional aid not tied to household income? My interest pertains to all SMC's, but particularly to the cost heavy Citadel, VMI, and Norwich.
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Marklaker: Perhaps I missed it, but didn't see when your son plans to attend college. A lot of good advice already given you. If he is still a Junior in HS, he should apply for all the services scholarships. I can say for The Citadel that need based financial scholarships are quite difficult to achieve and students need to apply as early as they can in the Fall. All applications are considered for academic grants in aid - but recipients are selected from a pool of applicants to attend a competitive interview and I believe an essay. The Citadel used to award about $3,500 to each 4 year ROTC recipient bringing a 4 year scholarship to the college to help offset room and board costs - which are not included in ROTC tuition grants. There was also a stipend for 3 year scholarships. However, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army and Marines were lowering the standards for these scholarships so The Citadel required a minimum of I believe 1250 math and verbal and a certain GPA to receive the award of a stipend.
 
marklaker said:
My DS is very steadfast in his desire to attend an SMC for the purpose of obtaining a commission in either the Army or Marines. A USAF retiree myself, with yet another son serving in the Army as a warrant officer, I'm very pleased and extremely supportive of his decision. That being said, the cost of OOS tuition (we live in Florida) is enough to keep me up at night as I calculate the megaton hit to my retirement account. Unfortunately, our household income all but eliminates any chance of federal or "need based" aid so I'm curious if anyone from the forum has successfully whittled down the cost of tuition via some form of institutional aid not tied to household income? My interest pertains to all SMC's, but particularly to the cost heavy Citadel, VMI, and Norwich.
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Visit the University of North Georgia for National Leadership Challenge Weekend. The next one is 13-15 NOV 2015. If your son can't make it to that, there will be another one in April, or, you can schedule an overnight on any of the following dates:
September: 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29
October: 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29
November: 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19
UNG is an all-Army school, though there are a small number of cadets on a Marine tract. Any questions, call MAJ Greg Killeen in the cadet admissions office: 706-864-1884. UNG offers in-state tuition for out-of-state cadets, and the tuition is fairly reasonable even without a scholarship. If you or your son has questions, I'd be happy to help. DS is a junior.
 
Late night at the office so I'm just now getting a chance to access the board. Lots of good information from a variety of different angles. Much to ponder. Great community here....thanks to everyone. Only have time to gulp down my coffee before I head back to the salt mine, but I did want to respond briefly for now and then later at greater length on some key points.

- Txpotato: I did check the Crimson Tide Battalion and Alabama in general, and folks are right, Alabama is very generous for OOS with good academics.....definitely something to look into. May call on you for more info.

- Sgt Lee: Followed a number of your past posts/threads. Would love to pick your brain a bit moving forward.

- Glen: DS is really high on The Citadel, but my research indicates great difficulty getting a reduced cost tuition, and that's a steep bill. He's still applying under the let no stone go unturned approach we're taking.

- Payitforward: UNG tuition is very attractive and school is close to home. How satisfied is son with the academics?

- Since last post we've spoken with ROTC recruiters (is that the proper term?) for University of Florida, Florida Institute of Technology, University of South Florida, and the University of Texas. Surprised that UT senior class was rather small and recruiter indicated the difficulty of acquiring an ROTC scholarship after freshman year. UF recruiter was very energetic. AD commissioning rate and percentage on scholarship were impressive.....in state school with great academics. USF was interesting in its own right. It's the largest battalion in a brigade covering Florida, Puerto Rico, parts of Georgia and the southeast. They have their own shooting range and a rappelling facility among other attractions....in state school as well, though the scholarship and AD commissioning rates seemed low in comparison.

Thanks again to all! Encourage anyone else with info to reach out.
 
DS is very happy with academics at UNG. The strategic languages and international affairs programs are especially good (DS's major). He rates his experience there so far 10 out of 10. UNG is a great value school for certain majors. Everything is centered on the Corps and the prep towards earning a commission in the Army is no-nonsense. Happy to elaborate in a PM if you like.
 
How is it that some cadets at UNG are on a"Marine tract"?
When we visited we were told it was Army only.
 
UNG is an all-Army school with a small group of cadets enrolled in the Marine PLC program. If accepted into the program a cadet attends 6-week camps over sophomore and junior summers. If they pass each and are rated high enough, they may be eligible to earn a commission in the Marine Corps. This info, however, is based on a conversation from about 6 months ago. If interested in the Marine program at UNG, call cadet admissions to get the latest.
 
It is the "middle class" dilemma. Work hard your entire life to build a nest egg, then find out you'really expected to use it for college costs at the expense of your retirement.

The wealthy can afford it, and the impoverished qualify for scads of help. Oh well, the middle class has carried this nation for over 200 years. I guess we can do it a little longer.

Good luck to you.
 
Agree maplerock.

I remember when my DS1 went off to college it was 28K. 4 years later it was 41K. My DD started IS college at VT in 10, it was 16K, and over 22K within 4 years. DS2's tuition this year went up 10% AGAIN.

If you take into consideration that our economy has not kept up to that pace, every year the middle class takes another hit. You are in that sweet spot. Too much to qualify for grants or financial scholarships, but not enough to pay without digging yourself or kid into more debt.

I have had at least 2 kids in college at any given time for 4 years. This year Bullet and I are doing the yippee skippee dance because we are down to 1, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We started this back in 08 and 16 is when we get to dance.

Bullet and I had our kids young. My youngest was born before I was 29. We have that ability now to start redumping big money into our retirement because of how much we had to take out for our kids. My sister and sister in law both have 18 year olds and are 55+. I have friends that had their first at 40.
~ They enjoyed life before having kids...lots of amazing vacays to places like Hawaii, Turks, London, etc. Now they are going OH CRAP I will be 60 when they are done with college, some will be 62, hard to recoup any nest egg you depleted before you hit 65.

The funny thing is I was the youngest of siblings and friends to have kids. I joked with 1 friend(groomsmen at my wedding) that has a 5 year old son. My DS just got married last May. I said to him: if they (my DS and his wife) have a daughter in the next 18 months, it could be possible your son could marry my granddaughter. What put him into a tailspin was not that, but that he had a DD that was going to turn 7, and he now realized that the big bills were going to be starting when he was looking at being 60. Braces aren't cheap. Cars and insurance are even more expensive than braces. College is more expensive than the used car. Wedding, even if you are just helping out can run into the thousands for a small wedding.
~ The light bulb went off and he laughed. He said well I guess I won't be retiring until I am 72.

Sorry for going off track.
 
Pima said:
Agree maplerock.

I remember when my DS1 went off to college it was 28K. 4 years later it was 41K. My DD started IS college at VT in 10, it was 16K, and over 22K within 4 years. DS2's tuition this year went up 10% AGAIN.

If you take into consideration that our economy has not kept up to that pace, every year the middle class takes another hit. You are in that sweet spot. Too much to qualify for grants or financial scholarships, but not enough to pay without digging yourself or kid into more debt.

I have had at least 2 kids in college at any given time for 4 years. This year Bullet and I are doing the yippee skippee dance because we are down to 1, and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We started this back in 08 and 16 is when we get to dance.

Bullet and I had our kids young. My youngest was born before I was 29. We have that ability now to start redumping big money into our retirement because of how much we had to take out for our kids. My sister and sister in law both have 18 year olds and are 55+. I have friends that had their first at 40.
~ They enjoyed life before having kids...lots of amazing vacays to places like Hawaii, Turks, London, etc. Now they are going OH CRAP I will be 60 when they are done with college, some will be 62, hard to recoup any nest egg you depleted before you hit 65.

The funny thing is I was the youngest of siblings and friends to have kids. I joked with 1 friend(groomsmen at my wedding) that has a 5 year old son. My DS just got married last May. I said to him: if they (my DS and his wife) have a daughter in the next 18 months, it could be possible your son could marry my granddaughter. What put him into a tailspin was not that, but that he had a DD that was going to turn 7, and he now realized that the big bills were going to be starting when he was looking at being 60. Braces aren't cheap. Cars and insurance are even more expensive than braces. College is more expensive than the used car. Wedding, even if you are just helping out can run into the thousands for a small wedding.
~ The light bulb went off and he laughed. He said well I guess I won't be retiring until I am 72.

Sorry for going off track.
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I have absolutely no intention of paying for my son to have a car. No intention of paying for his wedding. No intention of paying for his car insurance, and every intention that he will pay at least half of his college costs. Who said parents had to pay for all that stuff? My parents didn't buy me a car, and never paid any of my bills other than half my college costs. The rest I paid for myself, or went without. My wedding literally cost $150 in 1988. You don't have to have expensive weddings if you can't afford it. I would never sacrifice my meager retirement fund to pay for colleges my sons can't afford. Never. There's always a better alternative than going into insane debt for stuff you can't afford.
 
That is absolutely your choice. I respect it.

It is your choice not to raid your retirement. Again, I respect your choice. Don't want to pay? Fine, that is your family's decision.
~ As my Mom always says...I don't pay their bills

However, that does not address how colleges are increasing the cost to attend is at a higher rate than the % our economy is growing.
 
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