You can use each college’s net price calculator with both the 1-in-college and 2-in-college scenarios to see if there will be any difference when the younger kid goes to college. Also, be sure to do this for the younger kid when he applies to college to check whether his net price will go up after the older kid graduates college.
25k is the maximum parent contribution with a margin of $5k more than my son could borrow.
My initial list to visit looks like this:
Rowan (super saftie)
NJIT
Rutgers New Brunswick
Princeton
(NJIT is the only one we haven’t visited of this group, thank you for suggesting)
Temple
Pitt
LaFayette
Drexel??
Villanova?
Northeastern (if NH merit which we are banking on it, but still not sure if it will be enough$)
Looking into:
John’s Hopkins
Vanderbilt (only one he would consider in the South at this point)
UMCP
Washington and Lee
Richmond
MIT
Brown
Delaware
Probably won’t visit any of this last list until we have SAT scores. But anything PA NJ we can visit easily. Just don’t want him to fall in love with a place that would never work. IVY leagues he is ok dreaming with them.
Not sure to include SUNY schools. I feel Rutgers or NJIT would be superior academically at probably the same price?
And I think I will make him at least apply to one that would offer good amount of money far away to have as a safetie.
The Federal Government is a big consumer of math majors btw… this is a census year, you’re going to read a lot about how important data gathering and analysis is in terms of population trends and other demographic information. But virtually every agency- disaster relief, all the criminal justice functions (ATF, FBI, NSA, CIA). all the regulatory functions (SEC, IRS) need more and more sophisticated math skills. Never been a better time to love numbers…Every time you read about a sophisticated hack (credit card numbers, health insurance records, power plant shut down, a mass pedophile ring operating on the web using bitcoin to buy and sell images) you know another huge number of jobs have just been created for math majors.
He should definitely apply for the Washington and Lee Johnson scholarship. They offer about 40 each year and it includes full tuition and room and board. It is highly competitive and hard to predict who will be selected. But it is definitely worth applying. The Johnson names semi finalists and pays for them to visit for a weekend in March.
Stony Brook University is well known for both its math and applied math departments. I think it would be at least worth looking into. They offered my son a “scholarship” which essentially made the costs comparable to NJ in-state costs.
I believe the reach schools on your list (Princeton, MIT, Brown) would want to see some sort of math involvement outside the SAT and high school courses, such as participation in the AMC 10/12, AIME or something along those lines.
https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/finaid/undergraduate/basics/Cost.php?accordion=panel-d13e111 indicates that Stony Brook’s out-of-state cost is about $45k ($42k billed). So it would need about $10k scholarship to match Rutgers’ in-state list price (obviously more needed if Rutgers offers a scholarship).
Please consider looking at Jesuit universities. They are sprinkled around the country, typically have rigorous academics, and the ones I know of offer significant merit to attract top students (some even full rides or full tuition.) They value diversity and if your son is Catholic that could be a bonus too. Worth checking them out to see if one resonates with him.
I think you won’t really know your options until you get SAT scores. It also depends on your financial situation. Even some schools that only offer need aid (like Colby College in Maine) have put a cap on what middle-income parents pay. I think 15K is max if you make 150K or less. So some really solid Liberal Arts Colleges might be in order.
Again. Run the net price calculators.
There are schools that are known for merit in the NE. They are not always in the super “elite” category. The reason being, is that high stats students stand out, and they reward them for that. Again, the more elite the school the more likely they are need based, and the more elite, even if they offer merit scholarships, tend to offer very few and tend to have high SAT cutoffs…
The selective, but not super-elite schools, tend to offer merit right off the bat. I’ll highlight the ones who are very generous.
St. Lawrence
Muhlenberg **
Gettysburg **
Ithaca College **
Clark
Clarkson
Ursinus **
Dickinson
Allegheny **
These might be safeties, but they also might be financial safeties, too.
Best of luck.
@Theoden thank you for this list. I think you are right in suggesting another tier of colleges to be included. I will have to see which ones are math strong.
Your best bet is private schools.
Pace, Syracuse, Lehigh, Amherst, etc.
Some lower public schools as well.
Also, some states schools such as UF are already cheaper and give out scholarships as well.
@gummybear202 Amherst meets full demonstrated financial need, but does not offer merit scholarships.