Woodbridge, Va.
One-hundred and eighty-seven colleges sent acceptances to students at Woodbridge Senior High School this spring. Some seniors here deposited right away. Others waited.
For weeks, the undecided visited campuses, compared financial-aid packages, and huddled with their parents around dinner tables. By mid-May, students could finally tell the story of how they had reached a decision, and each story was different.
Woodbridge Senior High School, known as "the Bridge," serves a diverse community: 44 percent of the students here are white, 23 percent are black, and 22 percent are Hispanic. Located in Prince William County, in Virginia, the high school lies about 20 miles south of Washington.
Teenagers here are less likely than those in Virginia's affluent northern suburbs to aspire to top-25 colleges. Nonetheless, a higher education is a given for most of the 2,500 students at Woodbridge. Last year, nine out of 10 seniors went on to college; nearly half enrolled at four-year institutions. Most stayed in the state.
This year the recession heightened many families' concerns about paying for college. An array of other factors also influenced their choices. Some students counted the miles between colleges and home. Others weighed institutions' prestige. Some sought a specific academic program or a chance to play a sport. And sometimes intangibles —the feel of a campus, rapport with just one person —counted a lot.
Something swayed Jeremy Nottingham when he first visited Wake Forest University last year. On a whim, his parents had driven him there following a family trip to Charlotte. After taking the tour, Jeremy was wide-eyed. He liked the intimate campus, with its big trees and small classes. "Like a second home," says Jeremy, who hopes to become a pediatrician. "I wasn't just another number down there."
The university also impressed Jeremy's father, Junius Nottingham, but after seeing the annual cost of attendance —about $52,000 —he knew the family could not afford it. Mr. Nottingham, a federal law-enforcement agent, and his wife, Sharon, a part-time reading specialist, had started saving for college when Jeremy was in fifth grade. Yet the economic downturn had depleted those savings, which were in money-market accounts and Virginia's 529 plan. And soon they would also have to send Jeremy's sister, Briana, a sophomore at Woodbridge, to college.
After Wake Forest admitted Jeremy but didn't give him a full-ride merit scholarship, he figured he would end up at James Madison University or one of the other Virginia colleges that accepted him. Wake Forest's financial-aid package, about $24,000, was not enough to make the university affordable. His parents appealed the offer, to no avail.
Nonetheless, in late April the family drove to Wake Forest to attend a reception for admitted students. They did so at the insistence of Hattie Mukombe, assistant director of admissions diversity, whom they had met on their first visit.
For months, Ms. Mukombe had communicated with the family regularly, encouraging them not to write off Wake Forest, Mr. Nottingham says. The university is eager to enroll more high-achieving black students, out-of-state students, and those interested in leadership. Jeremy fit all those descriptions.
When the Nottinghams returned to the campus last month, they learned that Ms. Mukombe had helped persuade the university to raise Jeremy's aid package to $32,000. That reduced the family's out-of-pocket expenses to $20,000 a year, about what they would have paid at James Madison. Mr. Nottingham wrote a deposit check on the spot, then took Jeremy to the campus bookstore to buy a Wake Forest T-shirt. "If it had not been for the relationship we cultivated with Hattie over a year," Mr. Nottingham says, "we never would have gone back down there."
About Fit
Jeremy's classmate, David J. Estoclet, wanted to play college lacrosse. He applied to the University of Mary Washington and Shenandoah University, two Virginia colleges with Division III teams. He also applied to James Madison, which does not offer the sport for men.
Being an athlete, he says, made the admissions process challenging. "I couldn't just choose a school, because maybe I couldn't make the team, or they wouldn't want me," he says. "It had to be about where I fit, where I wanted to play."
David was accepted by Mary Washington and Shenandoah, and he would have the opportunity to play lacrosse at each. Shenandoah had the stronger program, but he thought Mary Washington offered more-challenging academics.
Cost was also a factor. Tuition at Mary Washington is about $7,000 for in-state students; Shenandoah's is about $23,000. Although Division III colleges do not give athletics scholarships, Shenandoah offered David about $14,000 in merit aid and $8,000 in other student aid.
That made a difference, especially because the family's college savings, which were in mutual funds, had suffered losses. "We've absolutely talked to David about that and how much the family could contribute to his college," says his mother, Joanne.
David decided to attend Shenandoah. He liked the lacrosse team, as well as the college's small class sizes, its facilities, and that it was just a short drive from home. And in the end, Shenandoah's aid convinced his parents. "Had we not gotten financial help," Ms. Estoclet says, "we wouldn't have sent him there."
Growing up, Stephanie Galarza knew her family did not have money set aside for college. The message was clear: She would have to work hard and get a good scholarship.
"She's a very smart child," says Stephanie's mother, Patricia Albanes. "As the year got closer, she knew she was going to college, we just didn't know where. We're a very low-income family. I don't have money set aside."
Stephanie lives with her mother, stepfather, and two sisters. Her stepfather, who works in maintenance, also has two children. Ms. Albanes, a preschool teacher, capped the number of colleges to which Stephanie could apply, because of the application fees. She chose five: George Mason University, Roanoke College, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Virginia, and Yale University.
Although Stephanie is the valedictorian of her high-school class, she thought Yale was a stretch. "A lot of people apply," she says, "and they could all be valedictorians."
Stephanie got into all five colleges. Johns Hopkins, which has a strong pre-med program, was a serious contender. Stephanie interned last summer at the National Institutes of Health and wants to study biomedical engineering. Her parents, who she says want her to become a doctor, pushed her to consider the university.
When Stephanie's student-aid offers came in, UVa was the least expensive option, but only $2,000 less than Yale. The opportunity to go to New Haven seemed too good to pass up. She will probably take out a loan, contribute savings from her summer internships, and work during college to help cover what her family will owe Yale, about $10,000 in her first year. She has also applied for outside scholarships.
Stephanie has asked her mother why she did not save for college, Ms. Albanes says. Her response: "If I saved the money and you had the $50,000 you need, would you have studied harder?"
'I Made the Decision'
For Arsiema Fessehazion, the application process was especially complicated. For one, she had to navigate the student-aid process alone. Her parents live in their home country, Eritrea, and she lives with an older sister who acts as her guardian. Although she is the youngest child in the family, Arsiema is the first to apply to four-year colleges.
Pennsylvania State University had long been Arsiema's dream school. She applied there, as well as to Virginia Tech, James Madison, and Virginia Commonwealth University. She got in everywhere but Virginia Tech, though Penn State admitted her to its Hazleton campus, rather than to its main one in University Park.
James Madison and Virginia Commonwealth met Arsiema's need without loans, but going to Penn State would require her to take out between $10,000 and $12,000. "I have one teacher who's always saying, 'Don't worry about the money, just go to Penn State,'" she says. But Arsiema does not want to take on loan debt or worry about money after college, especially since she plans to go to medical school.
She also concluded that the Hazleton campus was too remote, even though she could transfer to University Park after two years. So she chose Virginia Commonwealth, where sophomores who have a 3.5 grade-point average and meet other criteria are guaranteed admission to its medical school, a big incentive. "I'm actually very happy right now, because I made the decision and everything is coming together," she says. "And I consider myself really lucky, because I know other people who are going to VCU and didn't get a lot of financial support."
Stephanie Atienza and her twin sister, Tiffany, had to convince their parents that going to any four-year college was a good idea. After all, there were two of them, but only one family income. Their father is a computer-network analyst, and their mother stays at home with the twins' three younger siblings.
For months both parents encouraged Stephanie and Tiffany to consider attending Northern Virginia Community College, a cheaper option that would allow them to live at home. "They would have saved a lot more money," says their mother, Catherine Flores. "Another part of it was just me being a mom and not wanting them to leave yet."
The twins, however, wanted to experience life on a residential campus. Eventually their parents relented.
This fall the sisters plan to enroll at James Madison. Both plan to take out loans and find work-study jobs to help their parents pay for college. They have become more conscious of costs. This spring, after three years of rowing, they decided to forgo crew at Woodbridge, which saved their parents close to $1,000 in dues.
"With senior pictures and application fees, it wouldn't have been fair to do that right now," says Stephanie.
She and her sister had liked James Madison from the start, and a recent visit affirmed their opinion. Current students lined up and cheered as groups of admitted applicants arrived. The twins received purple-and-yellow pompoms. They met an anthropology professor who seemed passionate about teaching. And the food, they agree, was outstanding.
