My DS is a rising senior. We do not want to/ cannot pay $65,000 per year, and we are looking for merit scholarships. I have looked at the pinned threads which have been very helpful. Stories I’ve heard of strong students being rejected by most schools on their lists have made me nervous, and I think my son has a decent chance of admittance at every university on his list except for Columbia which is his super reach school. But I could be wrong.
Unweighted GPA: 3.8-3.9 (very good grades junior year)
ACT: 35
State: TX
High School: Large public (very competetive)
APs: about 15 total
SAT II: Math II: 790; Physics:800; World History 800.
Likely NMF (PSAT 220)
Likely NHRP (He is Hispanic)
ECs: XC, track, drama, Modell UN, Scouts (solid ECs but nothing spectacular - lead roles in drama and leadership in scouts)
Major: Economics, International Affairs
Preferences: Urban, medium sized university, intellectual atmosphere (at least available but does not have to be overriding culture of the school), politically progressive
Income: $180,000 (only past 12 months at this income…quite a bit lower before that…EFC seems to be full pay at many schools except for somewhere like Columbia)
Preferred COA: $30-$40,000 (this amount is feasible but will require stretching every dollar-closer to $30,000 is preferred)
Siblings: one sibling exactly 4 years younger (not helpful for college expenses)
Current List
(We visited GWU, American, Columbia and Fordham and liked them all. I think he is the sort of student who would like a variety of schools. His graduating class has 600+ so very small schools do not appeal to him.)
Columbia
George Washington
American
University of Maryland CP (will apply to honors program)
Fordham
Boston University
Northeastern University
University of Texas (NOT auto-admit. Not in top 8%)
He does not want to attend TX A&M or Baylor. But he may need to reconsider A&M. The Rice University NPC gave us $2500 in work study, and I don’t think my DS would be competetive for a merit scholarship from Rice. Does anyone have an opinion on this? We have lots of alumni connections to Rice and are big fans of the school, but it has become very expensive for our income bracket. I feel the same way about Duke and Vandy. They are very expensive with limited merit scholarships. I don’t think my DS is competetive for scholarships at these sorts of schools and his chances of even getting in are slim. But again I am no expert.
He won’t get federal work study, but maybe Rice has a campus program? At that income level, the only federal aid will be the Stafford loans, most likely all unsubsidized. You are right that he needs merit aid, not need based aid.
I think he’d get whatever automatic merit those schools give, and I don’t think there is much, not like at Temple or Bama.
How about Tulane? If he is truly interested and expresses that in a well-done application, he’d probably get $32,000/yr merit with the opportunity to compete for full tuition with additional essays.
Vanderbilt seems to love those really high standardized test scores, so that may be worth an application if he likes it.
His super reach is Columbia…what did he think about Penn (Wharton either their Huntsman program or Jerome Fisher program) and princeton’s Woody Woo. Econ is strong at both and especially international politics at both. Or georgetown’s school of foreign service. And both have higher threshold’s for financial aid. Both also use their own financial aid forms/applications than the CSS Profile. Both use FAFSA but having their own application leaves lots of room for explanations and provides elasticity that is not available on the Profile.
Kat
ps son was an econ major, was admitted to several schools so was privy to many of the financial aid packages and processes at the respective schools
He should apply to USC [ U of Southern Calif - # 25 in UNSWR] before their Dec 1 merit scholarship deadline.
He may have a small chance for a full tuition scholarship there [ winning one is as hard as getting into Stanford] , BUT as a NMF, we WILL receive a 1/2 Tuition scholarship IF he is accepted, AND list USC as his first choice school before the May 1, 2017 deadline.
BUT He NEEDS to do more than throw an application at them to have a good chance at acceptance. He needs to show the love. USC loves NMF but also wants kids who truly want to go to USC.
There are a lot of students from Texas who go to USC. Ask around.
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Income: $180,000 (only past 12 months at this income…quite a bit lower before that…EFC seems to be full pay at many schools except for somewhere like Columbia)
Preferred COA: $30-$40,000 (this amount is feasible but will require stretching every dollar-closer to $30,000 is preferred)
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What did the NPC indicate for Columbia?
Is any of that income from a business or are there any “business deductions”?
I would NOT recommend “stretching every dollar” because there is virtually NO WAY that any family can go more than a few months without some “unexpected major expense” (dental work, home repair, auto repair, major appliance replacement, etc). So, during a child’s 4 years at college, you should expect about 12-16 unexpected major expenses.
Families that try to “stretch every dollar” usually end up having to have their child leave the school or end up having to take on big loans when the budget gets overwhelmed.
You say not top 8%, but what about top 10%? That is required for the Fordham NMSF scholarship.
Even if NMF, the only certain scholarship would be Northeastern $30,000, which doesn’t bring the COA all the way down to $30,000.
Texas has so many colleges with automatically awarded NMF scholarships, it would make sense to include at least one as a safety - Houston, UTD, Texas Tech, etc.
Urban in the northeast seems to be the theme here, so maybe add Temple as a safety also if Philadelphia fits the bill. He would qualify for the full tuition scholarship there.
My son was NHRP but not NMSF. Lots of schools will give the same money for NHRP. Being a Hispanic male with those stats is a real plus at the LACs. Bummer he’s not interested.
I like the suggestion of Tulane. They give lots of merit money, but you need to demonstrate interest.
Another mid-size school that is growing in popularity with local kids is Tulsa. Its tour was hands-down the best one we did. So much individual attention. Back in the day, ds got something like $25K in merit money from them. Maybe more. There’s a special program for kids interested in research and community service, like a Scout would be. http://utulsa.edu/research/turc/
This is kind of an odd suggestion, but recently I toured University of Pittsburgh. It’s about 30K students so not UT/A&M huge, urban but not NY kind of urban. I was told cost for OOS was in the $30K-$35K range, and your ds certainly could get some merit from them.
He will do well in admissions with a well-crafted list. Good luck! Oh, and has he toured A&M? Our liberal family liked it so much more than we thought we would. It’s become a go-to alternative for smart Texas kids who aren’t top 7% or 8%.
I second U of Richmond, they have an excellent business school as well as international studies. My 2 daughters both attend and love it. One got a full ride scholarship and one got full tuition scholarship, both with similar stats to your son. Campus is gorgeous, suburban, but not far from downtown Richmond. Our family has come to really love the Richmond (RVA) area, lots to do, great shopping, museums, hiking, water activities,etc. Studying abroad opportunities abound.
Thanks for the suggestions. My son wants to go to the East Coast, but that is a want and not a necessity.
Columbia came in at about $44,000 COA. Both Princeton and UPenn would be terrific, but the odds are just so low for him to be accepted. I know he is a strong student, but in most respects his accomplishments are not all that special (that probably sounds terrible coming from his mother). I haven’t read his essays but, knowing him, they could be quite good. He is a very broad and global thinker. The Core required at Columbia appeals to him as does Plan II at UT Austin. But I see those super low acceptances rates for Ivies and think “no way”. Maybe I am too much of a pessimist.
Georgetown was full pay if I remember correctly. NPCs are a little hard to complete because our 2014 taxes don’t fully reflect current income, so I had to guesstimate a bit.
Our income is very straight forward. No business. We are a paycheck family without any special deductions. We do have college savings, but I know about unplanned expenses. Those have been non-stop this year. I plan to start working part time (I’ve been a SAHM as my other child has needed a lot of support in school). My DS will be expected to work in the summers and during the school year (hopefully he can get a job on campus).
I’ll encourage him to add UT Dallas or TX A&M and Tulane. It sounds like he should research Temple, U KY, USC, Tulsa, Emory, U of Richmond and UA.
He says he is not interested in LACs but not considering them might be a mistake. Any suggestion for LACs that might give him merit money? Especially ones in urban areas? I think a LAC might be a good fit for him in some respects because of the small classes and more personal attention. He loves discussions and talking about lofty ideas. I’ve read that many LACs have very good Econ programs.
“He loves discussions and talking about lofty ideas. I’ve read that many LACs have very good Econ programs”
I’d like to suggest that he add U of Chicago, as it is KNOWN for its small class sizes AND for attracting students who like your son- value intellectual debates and ideas. Its Economics program is one of the best in the world , BUT does not offer to much merit $$.
UofSC has top rated honors college. He could get (highly likely if qualify for honors) OOS tuition waiver plus NMF is automatic 6k plus computer. Even before other scholarship $ it gets you to around 16k. Check out money matters link for more info. Really good essays might put in running for McNair scholarship.
Yes it does! Beware that some NMF applicants were denied but the rest of his profile seems strong so that would not be likely. With his stats he may be in the running for the Scholars program which is full tuition and has many other perks. But for Scholars they also look at EC’s and leadership shown in high school. It is also important to show interest.
You want to keep your costs under $30k. Does he know that as well? Right now he has a list of dreamy institutions. But he needs to be able to be cold-hearted about them if the money isn’t good enough.
When you run your cost analyses, don’t forget to factor in the income from the job that you are planning to get. If any part of his package is need-based, then if/when your income goes up, the aid package could change, and the previously affordable place could become unaffordable for the next years.
He’ll need to take the SAT at some point for NMF. Have you seen the list of NMF scholarships some CC members have compiled? And what does he want to major in?