Transcripts

TIM POST: High school students from Kansas City, Missouri are gathered around a table outside the student center at St. Paul's Macalester College. The talk here isn't about finances. It's about what they're looking for in a school. They say feeling comfortable in a small liberal arts college is what's important to them. But financial considerations are important too, according to Kathy Levy who's here with her daughter, Emily Crenner.

KATHY LEVY: It's definitely a consideration. And actually, Emily is looking at a few schools that gave her handsome scholarship opportunities. And that's not the case here, but we've told her that she should pick the school that she feels that she can grow the most and feel the most comfortable.

EMILY CRENNER: I think, yeah, it's going to be a factor, I think, in my final decision. But again, like my mom said, they really want to support me in whatever my decision is going to be. But it's definitely incentive for some other schools.

TIM POST: This is final negotiation time for parents and their college-bound students. You can bet dining room tables across the country are weighed down with piles of college literature and equal amounts of heavy conversation. This year, financial reality may take priority over the lofty aspirations of a student who has their mind set on a particular college.

Matt Beirne is admissions director at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University in Central Minnesota. Beirne says the tough economy means colleges are reaching out to students and their families, especially with information on financial aid.

MATT BEIRNE: They're all kind of in that same situation where they really want to work with families and try to accommodate them as they're looking to make a tough college decision in fairly uncertain economic times.

TIM POST: Beirne says getting students to campus is the key to winning them over. This year, St. John's and St. Ben's is spending $50,000 to fly in prospective students for campus visits. That's double what they normally spend. Another tactic to reach out to undecided students is being taken on by alumni of St. John's. Sitting in a coffee shop in St. Paul, Matt Reubendale the 2006 graduate of SJU, just penned a letter to a student who's been accepted to his alma mater.

MATT REUBENDALE: I've just told him congratulations on his acceptance to St. John's University. Told him that I was sure he had many options, but I hoped that he would join us on campus next fall.

TIM POST: The letter writing campaign is an effort to connect with prospective students and convince them that attending St. John's will pay off in the future, even if it's a financial stretch now. For Paul Landskroener of Minneapolis, the bad economy collided with his son's college search at the worst possible time.

PAUL LANDSKROENER: Well, in October, I was notified that my position as a lawyer at Allina Hospitals and Clinics was going to be eliminated as of December 1. And that was my last day of work.

TIM POST: Landskroener's job loss came after his son, Karl, had already eyed some expensive colleges with price tags of $50,000 a year. They're in Washington DC, North Carolina, and Indiana. But when Landskroener shared the news of his joblessness with the colleges, two of the schools offered about $10,000 more in financial aid. No final decisions have been made, but Landskroener thinks his family will need to kick in about $15,000 of their own money so their son can attend college.

PAUL LANDSKROENER: And even though we don't know what our income is going to be going forward, we're confident enough, between our savings and what we might be able to cobble together, that we can at least make a commitment for the first year.

TIM POST: Landskroener made $114,000 a year as a lawyer. Now he makes $16 an hour in a temporary job with the US Census. He hopes his family's economic situation, along with the country's, turns around before it's time for his daughter to head to college in less than four years. Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio News.