See our Advertiser Disclosure here.
I can’t even believe I’m writing about this, but it’s true. My family is entering a new phase of family travel: college visits.
I remember when I was in high school, my mom and I flew from Denver to Missouri to check out a college. I was very interested in that school, and I was sure that’s where I would end up going.
My mom talked me into visiting a college that was two hours away from that one since “we were in the neighborhood.” I reluctantly agreed. I fell in love with that second school, and my search was over.
By the time I was ready to look at colleges, I had already been on several college visits with my older brother and sister. I already had an idea of what I liked and what I didn’t like. Unfortunately, my kids have not been on any college campuses except for the outskirts of my husband’s alma mater, which is just an hour away. So, it’s time to start.
First Visit: Texas A&M
My son is heading to College Station, Texas for a tennis event this summer. He will be a sophomore in high school. We figured that while we’re in town, we should do a formal tour of Texas A&M University.
Despite being just over three hours away, neither my husband nor I have ever visited College Station. It’s not really on the way to anywhere.
We plan to drop our son off at his event and return later in the week at the end of the event. That afternoon, we will do a formal college tour and spend the night in the town before heading back home the next day. I already booked our hotel because I discovered that freshman orientation is going on the same week, and rooms were already disappearing.
Texas A&M is a huge campus with almost 70,000 students. It has excellent freshman retention as well as graduation stats, but it is also very competitive to get accepted. If my son likes it there, maybe it will keep him motivated to keep his grades up. If he doesn’t like it, then we can cross it off the list.
The Plan for Future College Visits
Our plan is to tour colleges or at least informally check out campuses whenever we’re in the area from now on. During my son’s junior year, we will go to future student weekends and formal tours of the ones where he will most likely apply.
If he plans to apply to any out-of-state colleges, we will likely wait to tour those until after he is accepted and receives enough merit scholarships to attend. Unless he makes up his mind very early in senior year, we will refrain from making spring break plans that year so that we can revisit his final choices that week.
Of course, we will use miles and points to help reduce our travel costs wherever it makes sense.
I would love to hear from families who have already been in this travel phase. Did you incorporate college visits into your other vacations? How many college visits did you have?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VARIOUS CREDIT CARDS AND AVAILABLE SIGN-UP BONUSES
Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Beck says
Michelle is correct re those price calculators. It’s shocking, really, what they say about how much one should be able to afford. Our son thankfully got a full academic scholarship to a top 20private institution. Of the 12 private schools he applied to, he had 3 acceptances, all with $30-60k in scholarship, 5 waitlists, and 4 rejections. He was rejected from some schools much further down in rankings than his scholarship schools. Goes to show you that the college admissions process truly is subjective.
Nancy says
Thanks Beck and Michelle for the tips! I’ll probably need to wait a few years to do those price calculators until we know my son’s gpa and scores from junior year. There are a few private colleges near us that I know he won’t be able to attend unless he gets a major scholarship.
Michelle says
My son only wanted to go to school in the South and he wanted to be as debt free as possible. As he’s becoming a professional pilot, we had to look at quite a few colleges to find the best value. We visited two private colleges in Florida while vacationing and decided we’d make a special trip for a third college if the merit money was high enough. We then did a separate trip just to see two additional colleges that gave him the most money. He also visited one college in New England. He gave up his dream school because the cost was just too high. He ended up at a state school in GA and will graduate almost debt free with all his FAA ratings, hours, and a bachelors in business and aviation. I’m now using all my points flying him home for holidays and visiting but it is so worth it.
My best advice is keep that GPA high, do a ton of community service, take the SAT or ACT a few times if you don’t get a high score, and take as many college credit classes while in high school. My son was able to start as a sophomore saving us more money because of dual enrollment while in high school. Also, apply for every local scholarship you can find … credit unions, banks, companies, service organizations etc.. My son won 14 scholarships out of the 22 he applied for.
Good luck.
Nancy says
Wow, Michelle! That’s very impressive. Thank you for the advice. I have a lot to learn, and the cost and process has changed a lot since I went. My son is planning to take some AP or dual enrollment classes in junior and senior year. It will be nice for him to start with some credits. I have no idea where he will end up.
Michelle says
Also, check out the estimated price of attendance calculator that almost all schools have listed under financial aid. Sadly, it is surprisingly accurate. We were able to negotiate more merit but some schools were still out of reach without debt and my son didn’t want debt.
debit says
My advice to your kids is to not run Away from taking as much debt as they can in college. College is the only and the best time to throw caution to the wind and do things that you will regret and pay for for the rest of your lives. Let them enjoy it.
The country and the 1% need heavily indebted people to work as wage slaves too. So be a patriot.
Nancy says
@Debit Uh, no thanks. We won’t be going into debt up to our eyeballs to fund college. That said, it is much harder to fund college today than it was when I went. https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickwwatson/2019/12/09/ok-boomers-about-that-working-through-college-thing/#665aee12e86a
Beck says
We’ve been through this once and starting kid #2 now. Basically we do a tour at almost every destination of our regular domestic travel just to get a broad range of experience. We also take kid with us sometimes on short business trips if there’s a potential college pick there. The irony in the case of my first kid that he ended up at a college he never visited before getting accepted. And it’s within driving distance.
Nancy says
@Beck That’s a great idea to combo these visits with business trips! My husband travels a lot, and there may be some opportunities for my son to go with him over the summer.