The college decision process

On Friday Zach and I visited a small college seated about an hour away from St. Louis.  They have really pursued him for football, and we went to have a look, but I really did not expect Zach to like the school.  He has vetoed two other schools of comparable size based on size alone.  We were pleasantly surprised.  The team and coaches remind us of his high school experience.  The team is a true brotherhood, and the coaches strive for on the field success with a little bit of fun tucked into the program.  More important than on the field success, they seek to build men of character who will be good leaders, husbands, and fathers.  These coaches want players who play with heart, and if Zach goes there, I know they will get that from him.  

Zach loved the team and coaches.  His biggest concern is not having a buddy attending the same school.  The old smell of the buildings is not something Zach is used to as he attends school on a campus built in his young lifetime, so he was not enamored with that.   Zach was impressed enough to be anxious to share his experience with his friends in hopes that some of them will give this school a look.

Whether Zach will attend or not will really come down to the money.  Zach has been accepted at the in-state school that has a nationally recognized program in his desired field of study.  Tuition there is half of the Illinois school, so it seems like a no-brainer that  Zach would attend the in-state school.  However, the football program at the in-state school is apparently notorious for lacking follow through with potential players, so getting into it is tough.  In the end a career is one thing, but to do college while continuing to play a sport you love with mentors who want to develop a solid, godly man, is very important.  If the program of study is solid enough for a good career to follow, then this is worth consideration.

This mama has some concerns of her own about a school so far from home.  I want to see him play!  Clearly, we will see fewer games than if he stayed in-state, but I think they are all taped, so hopefully, I can still see the action even if I can't be there personally.

We are clearly still a long way away from completing this process though the financial piece is the biggest deciding factor.  If we had Zach's high school tuition to put toward this pursuit, that would be one thing, but every penny of that is being transferred to Wyatt's schooling at this point which means that whatever he cannot get in aide will come in the form of student loans.  Together those things will be required to fund 100% of his education.  That stinks, but we do plan to help him pay back student loans when he finishes.  With only two kids left in private school at that point, we should hopefully be in a position to pay college backwards.  

The college decision process that is in the final months for Zach begins now for Savannah.  Just this week we received her PLAN and PSAT scores.  These scores predict her success on the ACT and SAT respectively. Savannah scored well enough that if the scores accurately predict her future admission test scores, then she is eligible to have tuition fully covered at the college that she currently wants to pursue. I am waiting for her sixteenth birthday in April to register her for the ACT so that we can get a true baseline for her and begin the college search again for a different child.

The girls are really starting to grasp reality on this college search.  When Julia found out that we were visiting a college out of state, she said, "I need to know that Zach is in Kentucky."  I asked why.  "Because he is my brother," she said.

When Savannah asked how far away the school was, she realized that trips home would be few and far between for Zach.  She will really miss seeing him on the football field when she attends games next year, and it will be her first year of high school without her big brother there.  Savannah also realizes how quickly two years will go by and land her right where Zach is now, finalizing college plans.

I blinked.

Construction is underway around the arch, so we did not bother to try and see it up close.  Not to mention, it was super cold.

Union Station Hotel is really pretty on the outside.

The Union Station mall is pretty indoors but a real bust.  We were there at 10:30 a.m. and only two of the handful of stores in the mall were actually open.

There is a little railroad history museum in the mall.  I know this branding well as my dad retired from Southern Railroad where he worked as a train master and yard master.  We have very high train trestles in my home town.  They were a popular place for teens to go and climb when I was in high school.  Some fell to their deaths when caught up top with a train coming.  Because my dad had to investigate those deaths, I was assured death by falling, train, or my dad if I ever joined a group at the train trestles.  I never went there, and I would not have climbed them if I had. My deathly fear of heights would have stopped that.  If you followed our NYC trip back in July on the blog, you may have noticed that we did not have any experiences at the top of any buildings:)