Should I be an ant or a grasshopper?

[Clodfobble]

Here's the reality (or at least the reality I experienced.)

Whether you spend the nest egg, or whether you don't... you won't be getting need-based financial aid in any useful amount. Need-based aid goes to people who are poor, and solidly middle class families just don't get any. My parents had no nest egg, and we thought my FAFSA looked pretty needy, yet one college said I qualified for nothing, while the other offered me a grand total of $500 a year (their tuition at the time was $30,000 per year.)

Merit-based aid is where it's at. Do you think your daughter has the academic skills to be a National Merit Scholar? (This is determined by PSAT scores her junior year.) If so, she can get a full ride from several state schools. If not that, will she be in the top 10% of her class by GPA? (Getting straight A's doesn't necessarily guarantee this.) Top 10% is an important academic cutoff for a lot of schools to offer merit-based aid as well.

And finally, I'll throw in my standard rant about college costs: state schools, state schools, state schools. Success is not increased simply by attending a stupidly expensive school. It's about picking a meaningful major first, and choosing a solid program second. In Austin, for example, it is a widely known fact that medical offices prefer nurses who graduated from Austin Community College (maybe $1500 a year,) rather than the University of Texas ($25,000 per year,) because the program is simply better. The nurses coming out of ACC have hands-on experience, while the UT students are only book-educated.

In fact, speaking of community colleges... if she still feels pretty directionless, but is a good student, you might try looking into having her take one or two classes at the local community college while she's in high school. Sometimes you can get equivalent high school credit for them, sometimes you just get a small head start on some college credits, but the important thing is she gets to try out the college experience, and figure out if there are some specific classes that interest her. Sometimes the smart kids are directionless because they're bored, and if you find that one thing that inspires her, she'll be off and running.