<p>I think a <em>lot</em> of publics have automatic scholarships for OOS applicants with certain GPA/SATs. It’d be worth searching the individual schools’ web sites.</p>
<p>Excellent advice, everyone. This process is somewhat overwhelming at times. We have somewhat of a plan but not sure if it’s enough:</p>
<p>We broke up the country into regions. D is selecting schools from each area and paring down her choices based on major, cost, distance, weather. She has narrowed down her California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia choices and our first round of visits begins spring break. We were already planning a trip east this summer so we will hit the Boston, NY and possibly some southern colleges. </p>
<p>That’s all we’ve got so far.</p>
<p>Can you clarify what you mean by 100% of need?</p>
<p>
[Which</a> Colleges Claim to Meet Students’ Full Financial Need? - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2011/02/16/which-colleges-claim-to-meet-students-full-financial-need]Which”>'No-loan' Financial Aid Colleges: What to Know)
If you can’t afford your EFC, but your student qualifies for admittance to a school that meets need, they may also be eligible for merit aid at another school which is not as competitive for admission.</p>
<p>A driven high-stats female interested in physics is going to be able to find merit aid possibilities. That’s what you want to start with–setting a budget, and looking first off for schools which will give her money. None of the schools you mentioned offer merit money, unfortunately, and they’re mostly difficult admits. </p>
<p>I’d encourage her to study a bit for next year’s PSAT, because that will determine if she’s eligible for National Merit status. A number of schools offer generous NM scholarships that will bring their total cost down–still above instate for you, but maybe possible. For physics, I’m thinking here USC, University of Rochester, Alabama, University of Arizona (top-notch astronomy research opportunities here), and I’m sure there are others. All offer research opportunities for undergrads, all have professors who can be supportive of undergrads who want to push ahead. </p>
<p>Look at Pitt as another option. For longshot merit money, look at University of Chicago and Duke. For better odds, look at women’s colleges that offer merit $$ (pretty much all but Wellesley). Look at Reed, even though it might be too expensive, because it’s a small Liberal Arts College (LAC) with an excellent physics department and it’s a nearby tour.</p>
<p>And take as a great mantra for starting out one of the best pieces of advice here on CC: Love Thy Safety. It’s easy to find reaches to love. Finding safeties where your D would be happy…that’s the tough job. Start with that part. Have her go and talk to students and professors in the UO and OSU physics departments and find stuff to love there. If she truly hates it, then you’ll have to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>A bigger question is does the family HAVE financial need. This is largely determined by the family income. Some more competitive and generous schools do have aid for higher income earners…but not all do. And the school computes the family need based on the FAFSA and Profile information (with the exception of Princeton which uses it’s own form…all other full needs schools require the FAFSA and Profile).</p>
<p>So…yes…student would need to get accepted at one of these highly competitive schools…where about 10% of those who apply get accepted…AND the family would need to have demonstrated financial need. Most of these schools do NOT give Merit aid.</p>
<p>Thanks Emerald: I get it now. </p>
<p>Slithey Tove: Are safety schools basically what they sound like - a school the student is sure to be admitted? If so, our in-state’s are definitely safeties. D and I have been to Reed, my cousin used to work there. It’s an amazing college, but not her cup of tea, too close and $50K. </p>
<p>thumper1: At what point do H & I fill out at a FAFSA? Her senior year?</p>
<p>Purdue has a large physics program and they give a lot of merit aid to oos high GPA/test students. IU also has a good physics dept and they give lots of merit aid also.</p>
<p>momofmy… IU is a great school…but the top merit for oos is about 9K and a possible 4K more for honors…still leaves close to 30K per year. (unless its changed in the past 2 years)</p>
<p>“great merit” is always relative… 10K might be great at a 20K school, but may not cut it at a 50K school. so agent 99, you will have to know 2 things, what can you afford after merit, and how selective is the merit aid offered…you might hear about full rides at some schools, but they only offer 3 of those!..</p>
<p>Also Mizzou and Georgia. </p>
<p>Agentninetynine, hang on a moment, let me lower the cone of silence…
Yep, safeties are things that are pretty close to sure bets. And since your D visited Reed and didn’t like it, she can articulate what she didn’t like (besides being too close) and use that to find other options that have what she DOES want.</p>
<p>Yes, they apply for financial aid with their college apps, senior year.
As some schools have relatively early deadlines, you may be filling out CSS PROFILE, before December of senior year, even if they aren’t applying early decision.</p>
<p>New this year are Net Price calculators which * may* give a good idea of what to expect from the schools.
[Net</a> Price Calculator : Stanford University](<a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University)</p>
<p>IU is Indiana University?</p>
<p>Reed is too small for her. At this point she has indicated that she wants a more rounded college experience (not necessarily Greek) than Reed provides. Plus, you’re either a Reedy or you’re not. She’s not.</p>
<p>IU=indiana university in my post.</p>
<p>SUNY"s are less than $30K/year. You can also opt out of health insurance if you have coverage. </p>
<p>From Stony Brooks site:
Cost of Attendance
2011-2012 Estimated Yearly Cost for Full-Time Undergraduates*
Direct Costs
Payable to the University NYS Residents Out-of-State International
Tuition $ 5,270 $14,720 $14,720
Room ** $ 6,748 $ 6,748 $ 6,748
Meal Plan ** $ 3,826 $ 3,826 $ 3,826
Fees $1,724 $ 1,724 $ 1,724
Health Insurance *** $ 1,315 $ 1,315 $ 1,113</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo also has great science programs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A safety school offers the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Definite admission.</li>
<li>Definite affordability.</li>
<li>Acceptable or better fit for the student (academically and otherwise).</li>
<li>Absence of anything that causes the student to dislike the idea of going there.</li>
</ul>
<p>Here is a study done at University of Oregon about the success of math and physics students there: <a href=“http://arxiv.org/pdf/1011.0663[/url]”>http://arxiv.org/pdf/1011.0663</a></p>
<p>You need to understand something about scholarships…</p>
<p>There are private scholarships and scholarships from the colleges themselves.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you’re only looking at private scholarships and that’s a big mistake if you need help paying for 4 years of college. Private scholarships are often for ONLY freshman year…and are usually for small amounts, and often have a “need” component. They RARELY help pay for a 4 year education.</p>
<p>If you need help with OOS tuition then you need to look at colleges that award big merit for STATs…GPA and ACT/SAT.</p>
<p>Since most kids change their majors, it would be a big mistake to focus on a particular unaffordable school (or schools) based solely on a major, because chances are your D will change her major and will have passed up great scholarships elsewhere. Your D is only a sophomore…she could get the “I want to be a MD bug” or something else in the next few years.</p>
<p>That said, I think you’re carrying this “top program” idea a bit too far for undergrad. If a school has a decent physics undergrad program, then that’s often good enough. It’s grad school that matters…not so much undergrad.</p>
<p>Yes…college costs (tuition, room, board, fees, books, etc) have risen at ridiculous rates. Going OOS can cost $40k-50k per year…and if it’s an OOS state school, do NOT expect much/any need based aid.</p>
<p>You need to figure out how much you can afford to pay for college each year. Since it sounds like this has taken you by surprise, a somewhat easy way is to figure out how much money you can CONSISTENTLY set aside each month for college (starting now). If you can set aside 1000 a month, then you know that you can pay $12k per year. If you can do more than great! If you can’t spend that much, you need to know that now.</p>
<p>There are schools that will give large merit awards for high stats, but test scores matter more than a high GPA alone. Too many kids have high GPAs these days, so a high test score separates “the men from the boys”. </p>
<p>So, it’s important that your D gets the best scores she can. </p>
<p>Next fall your D needs to take the PSAT…if she scores highly, she could become a NMF and that means scholarships if you choose.</p>
<p>S2 goes to UCLA, at one of their financial aid info sessions the financial aid guy told the out of state parents that UCLA only gives need-based “free money” up to the in-state tuition price. The rest of the financial aid package would be loans etc… They said it was the same for our California students when they went to most out of state public schools. I would imagine UCSB to be similar.</p>
<p>U of Minnesota has an Astro Physics program. Last year the average ACT of the Science & Engineering Honors kids was 33.4</p>
<p>[U</a> of MN - Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics](<a href=“Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics | College of Science and Engineering”>http://www.astro.umn.edu/)</p>
<p>They have a fabulous out of state tuition rate and scholarships available for top students.</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids: I haven’t looked at any scholarships per se, just starting the process based on what the parameters D has set. She weeded out colleges that did not have an emphasis on physics, mathematics and engineering. These three are her chief interests. My concern is that her undergrad work be from a respected college so she can get into grad school. That said, we are keeping our options open. How is tuition paid - monthly quarterly one lump sum?</p>
<p>tx5athome: UCSB is on our list solely because of their physics department. And, yes, Santa Barbara is beautiful. We’re painfully aware of the sad state of the UC system so don’t expect any scholarships whatsoever. I grew up in So. Cal and have heard numerous tales of woe from friends whose children are currently attending various UC’s.</p>
<p>At the schools I am familiar with, full payment is due shortly before the start of the semester. They all offer the option of paying monthly for a modest fee, $40 or a bit more.</p>