I never said that money were not an issue. It was a big issue, but we did not want to waste the 4 years of D’s life, They do not achieve their goals if they feel misearble at the place. Too many examples of this to ignore. It just did not happen to many kids because they chased the wrong goal, As far as my kid goes, she was on the full tuition Merit award, but as I have mentioned numerous times, the schools that awarded her a lot do not match the OP’s criteria. And matching all these criteria may not be possible at all. Might as well start with the ones that will make a future student feel at home to some degree and go from there. As a fact, that was a must in my D’s selection criteria and it was a starting point, and yes, including cafeteria and a pretty campus, all of it, none was overlooked, we simply did not want to waste her time, our money and other resources on a failed attempt at something, we all had a clear goal and did whatever was required to accomplish that.</p>
<p>I’d just like to know how someone can work 25 hours per week <em>and</em> play a sport! My D is working 26 hours a week and manages a team (which means she only has to go to games - not most of the practices!) and even that schedule leaves her practically no time to get her schoolwork done without staying up until all hours! There would be no way for her to work all those hours and also have to go to practice every day after school, that is, if she wanted a decent GPA. I really marvel at a kid who can do it all and would love to know what their secret is! And he has nearly an A plus average (at least, that’s what it would be in our district), and he does marching band too? Whoa.</p>
<p>To get back to the question - if primary concern is low debt load, what’s wrong with his in-state flagship? If it’s not, there are some great recommendations here - I’d second Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>One of my nieces with slightly stronger stats (34 ACT, 3.98 UW, rank #2/450, 13 APs with all 4s and 5s, lots of awards and work experience) got just about a full ride at UGA (Zell Miller plus $3k). Both parents (divorced) were unemployed when she graduated so she was after merit $$ since they couldn’t help her with anything.</p>
<p>I would think this young man would get into the honors program at a flagship and have the life experiences to be able to balance his interests in music/band and academics. I’d throw an app at Alabama and go take a drive down there to check out the place.</p>
<p>A second cousin had similar stats to the OP (he’s from KY) and got into Michigan and UVA, but got big merit awards from South Carolina and UMiami. He is now a happy premed at Miami and doing very well. Big band, big city, merit. Worth a look-see.</p>
<p>" if primary concern is low debt load, what’s wrong with his in-state flagship?" - Some in-state flagships just do not offer that much, they may offer such a small Merit award, that it is practically nothing. I am talking about my D’s experience, I do not have any other experiences. So Merit of $3k is NOT the same as Merit of $27k (per year). it goes back to the resources at different UGs, not so much the kid’s stats. It appeared to us, that some places (including in-state publics) have more of financially able alumni as all of the D’s awards that covered her full tuition were privately donated (about 10 of them, they were put together by college, it was no need to apply to them at all).</p>
<p>^^if you’re referring to the $3k I mentioned above, Zell Miller is a scholarship awarded to vals and sals. Zell gets a student full tuition (unlike HOPE), plus my niece got an additional $3k merit from UGA for leadership. For her, that $11k covers tuition and fees, and she works to pay rent and other living expenses (which she has been able to keep well under what UGA calculates). She also got some Pell while her mom was out of work. She has to maintain a 3.3 to keep the Zell Miller. It is tough these days to put oneself through a flagship, and she has done very well at it (better than I did at the same school over 30 years ago).</p>
<p>CountingDown,
I am not sure whatever that was, but OSU gave my D. about $3k / year and it was nothing at all.
While financial side was not our top criteria, D. still ended up on a full tuition Merit at different in-state public. I do not know criteria to maintain the Merit there, she garduated with the college GPA 3.98. She just could not afford Bs, so her goal was to have an A in every class. Her HS did not have sals and vals and did not rank either. But the class profile was provided and it was not that hard to see who is at the top among 33 kids.</p>
<p>Working 26 hours a week? Wow. Somehow I thoght there was a limit for HS students on the number of hours per week they could be employed, and I thought it was lower than 26.</p>
<p>A reasonable number of work hours for a college student is 10-15 in my opinion, per week. Remember that in college, the student is not going to be in classes five days a week all day. They do need to allot homework time, but even with that, there is still time for a job.</p>
<p>But back to the thread…</p>
<p>This student needs to look for colleges that have most of the desired things from his list. My kiddo made a similar list, and she did find schools that fit that list well. </p>
<p>Yeah Thumper - we think it’s a lot too and it’s been the source of some arguments. But the law in our state actually allows 16 and 17 year olds to work 32 hours per week during school weeks. </p>
<p>Temple University has everything you want. It’s in a big city with lots of college kids and tons to do. Great business school, and fantastic marching band that has just appeared in some movies and TV shows. (look them up on YouTube!) Very good music school. Brand new deluxe dorms. Football games are in the Eagles’ stadium and the team is improving. My best friend’s son had almost identical academics and got a $10k scholarship and honors program at TU. It was not his first choice, but he is a senior now (architecture) and has absolutely loved it there. My D also is looking there for art, and has strong enough academics to get into UMich and other schools but she looooves Temple. She is also musical.</p>
<p>If you are not totally hung up on marching, look at Drexel too. It is also in Philadelphia. Much costlier on paper than Temple but gives a lot more aid. It’s in a nicer part of the city too. It doesn’t have a music major but does have a music minor and many ensembles, and gives additional money for musicians. Top-10 rated business school with a coop program that gives you real work experience. My D is also considering it and we were blown away on our visit. </p>