He again everyone. You were all so helpful when I first came with helping me understand how this whole process works. The learning curve is steep! But my S is ploughing ahead.
Here is the issue right now:
My S (will be senior in fall) is fixed on ED Duke. Duke tuition is about &50k, which I can and will pay if it comes to it. We have no chance of FA.
Enter DAD! Dad is married to a nice lady and lives a mile away. He's a good guy. He is agreed to pay half, and he will redirect support to college for R and B. So presume RB a non issue. Dad is worried about S doing ED Duke bc it is binding and "cut off all other options". Understood. In reality, I think he may be a tiny bit overwhelmed bc, while he can afford it, he has a lot of financial craziness right now. Not short on $, just craziness. He is where I was when I came here (sticker shock, with a lot of misinformation). He also is somewhat convinced our son should do Cornell Dyson, I think bc it is so much cheaper. (NYS Residents). Tuition and logistics (airfare and the like) as it is just a few hours away. But Dyson may limit the Econ bent of his studies?
Now I spoke to DAD and told him to back off bc, like a girlfriend, any criticism makes S love Duke more. He understands. I also told him the kid had ZERO options to discuss or to cut off bc he has zero acceptances, and once he has some, we can discuss. We'll discuss ED in August.
My S is fixated though. Kind of bewitched. I'm not sure if it is his perception of Duke, or if he really fell in love. He's a very practical kid, so I'm thinking it may be a trophy girlfriend and not love.
Soooooo...after all that...
I have asked S to pick one school a week and scour its website to see what they offer, and we can go to those schools and find out more.
I asked DAD to consider ONLY whether he can afford and do $25k a year and ignore the rest for now.
Am I doing the right thing with Dad, and how do I get my kid to look past that bewitching blue devil? He knows even with ED it is a long shot. He has a 3.93 if 92% is a 4.0. 4.0 if 90% is 4. ACT is 34. White kid, suburban NYC public HS. No extraordinary ECs, but a few deep committments. He wants to study Econ and Spanish, go to South America on internships to study how 3rd world economies can thrive within their own confines and cultural standards (ie, not imposing a 1st world model in them), and maybe end up at. a Santander or Banamex for a while. (He is fluent espanol, but native English speaker).
What do you think folks? All thoughts welcome. I'm trying to stay back for now to give him room to be the decider, but I want to give a steer where I can, (and keep dad from trying to make the decision for him!
List besides Duke:
Michigan
Penn
Cornell
Dartmouth
UVA
William & Mary
Villanova
Bucknell
Lehigh
UNC
NEU
Tulane
Elon
Miami OH
Binghamton
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