"But my daughter doesn't WANT to go the Saddleback!"
Such a familiar quote this time of year.
Here is a typical scenario that we see every year at this time: High-achieving student gets into some great schools, but because the family didn't plan, they find that none of these schools are affordable. So this is the plan...the dangling carrot per se...
It doesn't matter where a student STARTS college—heck, 30% don't return to the same campus as a sophomore. And by the time the average college student gets their degree, they have been to three colleges. What matters is where they graduate.
So if Pepperdine or USC isn't affordable this year, even though the financial aid is not as strong for transfer students, your child can go to IVC or another community college for 1-2 years, build up confidence, general ed course units, and transfer into their dream school and STILL graduate before their peers going to public college.
Also, private colleges have much stronger career advising than the publics, simply as a matter of financial resources available.
To start at Pepperdine now, run out of money, and then have to live home to pay off debt is a lot less desirable than starting at a community college now, working to save up $$, and when you transfer to the school of your dreams, your child will be more mature, focused, and have less debt.
Scott
Smaller, private colleges often have more financial aid money to award. By the way, I had no idea the average student attends three institutions. But it does make sense.
Macalester and Carlton are amazing schools that consistently rank high among colleges and universities. And they'd be worth the trip. I grew up in the Twin Cities, and my advisor at Macalester, Alvin Greenberg, gave me the best advice when I was apply to graduate programs in English. He said to go where they'd give me money and somewhere that was geographically different from Minnesota. When UCI gave me a full-ride plus teaching, I jumped at the chance. It was also nice that the department was the Number 2 in the country for MFA Fiction Programs. But it was really the amount of financial support and the geographical location that sealed the deal. I pass that along to students. The "frozen" parts of the country are much more conducive to learning. In the Autumn you begin to turn inward. Studying becomes very natural...well...until that first nice day of Spring and then... I think it's the climate that explains why the education and reading levels are much higher in the frozen parts of the country. California only has two zip codes that rank in the top 50 for level of educated people living there. Palo Alto, and the community right next door to it. :)