Those who are full pay and can afford to pay more can reach for the stars, those who need merit to get the cost down don’t really have this option (unless they have Ivy stats, and even then it’s probably not going to happen). My daughter who was 8th in her class ended up at university of Delaware honors, UDel had a 72% acceptance rate. She was also accepted to Villanova honors (25% acceptance rate). She didn’t know how little they give in merit (she was offered $0). Immediately off of the table. There are tons of bright hard working students at schools with higher acceptance rates who are there thanks to a bribe (merit).
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Once you do find a list of schools your S likes, talk with each financial aid office about your specific situation. At public schools, need based aid is going to be based off your ex sophomore year & beyond … but some private schools may (repeat, MAY) allow your institutional aid to continue to be based on your information. It’s worth a discussion, anyway.
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I’m struggling on the net price calculators… Should I use my high income from 2022? That is not at all my reality at present in 2023.
And if I send documentation about extraordinary medical expenses, and the change in my job/income as part of my appeal for financial aid, that could change things. If I use my 2022 numbers, it looks like I will get nothing.
Unfortunately that is what you are going to have to do on FAFSA (when it opens in December, maybe in January), and then ask each school’s FA office for professional judgment.
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I looked at schools that use the CSS Profile but do not use the noncustodial parents’ information (according to the link that @ucbalumnus provided). I did this because, if you remain the custodial parent throughout his college time, perhaps only your financial information would be considered rather than his father’s as well, even after the freshman year. These were some schools that popped up as possibilities:
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Elon (NC): About 6300 undergrads
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Illinois Wesleyan: About 1500 undergrads, and I think your son could get some merit aid here, too.
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Providence (RI): About 4k undergrads, Jesuit school
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Santa Clara (CA): About 6100 undergrads, Jesuit school
Amongst your in-state publics, I’d take a particularly good look at Westfield State (about 3900 undergrads).
Someone upthread mentioned the SUNY schools, which I’m seconding. The majority of the SUNY campuses have a tuition match with Massachusetts (source), meaning that students can attend the specified SUNY campuses and won’t pay more in tuition than at UMass-Amherst. Some of the campuses will also offer additional funds to reduce dorm costs as well. None have varsity basketball, but I strongly suspect they’d have intramural basketball and people who are fans of watching televised basketball. Perhaps other posters might know if they’d recommend some of these campuses more than others.
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SUNY College at Geneseo: About 4100 undergrads
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SUNY College at Plattsburgh: About 4k undergrads
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SUNY Brockport: About 5100 undergrads
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SUNY Fredonia: About 3200 undergrads
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SUNY New Paltz: About 6100 undergrads
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SUNY Oswego: About 6k undergrads
I will continue to think on additional options that might make budget and fit his wishes even more.
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I believe there is an appeal process whereby you can appeal to ask them to consider using your lower current income based on an involuntary change of circumstances (ie, loss of job).
But…since you are divorced, I don’t know if that would then mean that they would switch to considering your ex’s higher income instead of yours (as he would then be considered the custodial parent under the new rules).
That would be for FAFSA-only schools. Many of the private schools use the CSS Profile in addition to using the FAFSA, which takes a much deeper dive into finances and which also allows for more nuanced situations.
Everything is in flux for this coming year due to the changes in FAFSA which are pending. It’s tough.
For now, I would try running the NPCs with both variants of your income, and then contacting the financial aid offices of the various schools of interest to see how they might address this.
But i do think that for initial filing purposes, you have to use your original, higher income and then you can appeal to have your lower income considered. But often the appeal has to wait until after acceptance and receipt of the original financial aid package, so it is really a good idea to have a) a sure-thing affordable school based on worst-case scenario and b) schools where your son is very likely to be accepted and receive significant merit.
There’s one more option. There are some Canadian schools that are a lot less expensive than their US counterparts. And there might be some that are within driving range of your home – although of course not as close as MA or RI. Canadian colleges tend to be very stats-based – they often don’t need essays or letters of recommendation. If your son can boost his already quite-good SAT score, that might help with the Canadian schools. And many colleges “superscore” the SAT – ie, taking the best subscores from each time they take the test to arrive at the highest composite score across all sittings. So students aren’t disadvantaged by a potentially lower score on a subtest (or entire test) in a second or subsequent attempt.
Plattsburgh is a lovely suggestion but OP- look at a map on New York before you go off on a tangent. Some of these are going to be really inconvenient to get back and forth…
Stonehill punches above its weight professionally… you can google various lists of successful alums from a variety of colleges, and some of the smaller schools may surprise your son. There are the kids who thrive in a huge dog-eat-dog kind of place, and kids who come into their own in a smaller more supportive environment. Places like Stonehill are highly regarded for finance and accounting, even if the general public couldn’t find it on a map.
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You absolutely must use your actual income when filing financial aid paperwork. You can then request a professional judgment adjustment. If you plug in the adjusted income to try to get an idea of what aid could be if a professional adjustment is approved, you won’t be able to do anything that will allow you to determine the effect of considering medical expenses. The formula for that is not simple.
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That is accurate…for the Direct Loan in his name only. But only part of those loans will be subsidized…not the whole amount. @kelsmom probably has the exact numbers.
Freshman $5500
Sophomore $6500
Junior -$7500
Senior $7500
Anything above that the parents would either need to co-sign or take out themselves.
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These are some additional schools that you may want to consider and run the Net Price Calculator(s) on, and most of which I think have the possibility of giving your son some merit aid, to boost. As you indicated that your son was interested in California and D.C., it seems as though there is a willingness to consider schools outside of New England.
These schools are first sorted by distance from Massachusetts and/or that can be reached with a nonstop flight from Boston, and then there are a few that would require a layover to reach from the Boston airport. What size would start to get overwhelming for him, I do not know. But since UConn made the list because of its basketball fandom, that’s the primary way that these schools made the list…they are big fans of their schools’ basketball teams and recognized as amongst the biggest basketball college fandoms in the country. (Siena is not as known nationally, but its arena is consistently amongst the most filled by percentage.) Additionally, all of these schools are affiliated with the Roman Catholic church and they all seem to have solid (and some very-well respected) business programs.
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Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads (no nonstop flight)
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Seton Hall (NJ): About 6k undergrads
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Villanova (PA ): About 7k undergrads, and this would definitely be a reach school for admissions
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Xavier (OH): About 4900 undergrads
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Marquette (WI): About 7500 undergrads
Would need a layover to fly there
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U. of Dayton (OH): About 8400 undergrads. A layover is needed for the Dayton airport, but nonstop flights to Cincinnati are available which is just over an hour away from Dayton.
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Creighton (NE): About 4300 undergrads
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Gonzaga (WA): About 5100 undergrads
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@AustenNut You are amazing!!
Subsidized amount depends on whether or not there is remaining need (as determined by COA-SAI/EFC-other aid) when loans are packaged. Up to $3,500 freshman year, $4,500 sophomore year, $5,500 junior/senior years “can” be subsidized. All, part or none may be subsidized depending on the individual situation … the amount that isn’t subsidized will be offered as unsubsidized.
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I believe that you can take out parent PLUS loans IF you have a good credit rating. Your income is not taken into account, just your credit rating, I think. But they’re a bad deal - very high points (maybe 4.5?), high interest rate (maybe 7.5%?). You’ll never be able to pay them back.
If his father will actually pay that 1/3 of the cost of UMass, and there is enough in a 529 that you control that will pay 1/3 of all four years of UMass for him, then UMass Amherst Isenberg is within the family’s financial reach. He takes the direct student loan, as much as he can get, and he works during the summers full time (maybe even more than full time), plus he works during the school year maybe 10 hours/week, to cover the rest of it. He can start working now, part time, in senior year of high school, to save for his portion of UMass.
This is his best option, financially, at a good 4 yr college from the get go. Alternatives are the other UMass schools. From what you’ve described, he’s not going to get a lower cost of attendance in terms of fin or merit aid for all 4 yrs in total from any other school because of his father’s income.
The cheapest option is the associates gotten in one year while living at home, at a community college with a transfer agreement to Isenberg, especially if he can get his father to commit to paying 1/3 of the cost of UMass Amherst during that year, so that he can put the amount saved towards closing the financial gap for the two (or three) UMass years. It is also an option if he doesn’t get into Isenberg this year.
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The criteria for Parent Plus loans are based on not having an adverse credit history (rather than on credit score). It’s pretty easy to qualify, but based on OP’s situation, should be used sparingly & only if really needed. All other avenues should be explored first.
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If I understand correctly you and your son’s dad each can/will pay up to 1/3 of the tuition, fees, room and board based on the cost of UMASS Amherst (which is currently just over $33,000 per year for an in state student).
If that is accurate the two of you combined have $22,000 covered. Your son can take out $5500 for the first year in a federal loan. So, before any grant aid, merit, or contribution from working from your son you have $27,500 covered. For safety schools you could start by looking for schools that are less than about $32,000 per year for tuition, fees, room and board without any grant aid or merit (unless the merit is automatic for his stats). Your son could cover the difference with earnings from a job starting now part time, through the summer full time+, part time when college is in session, and full time during breaks. There will be additional non-direct billed expenses (like books, travel, personal items, clothes, etc…) as well to be covered.
The schools that come in around the $30,000 mark may not be the schools your son is currently thinking of, but having a few affordable safeties that he prefers over UMASS could ease some of the stress while looking for schools that may offer grant aid or merit.
This article is from 2018 (updated in 2022), but could be a useful place to start: Cheapest Out-of-State Colleges in 34 States - Do It Yourself College Rankings
Others from the past few years: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/09/these-colleges-have-the-cheapest-out-of-state-tuition.html
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Thank you! I was originally thinking that Umass Amherst would be a good fit. Perhaps we need to go back and visit the campus again it was very intimidating to both of us. And I was under the impression from talking to people that “ he will qualify for aid that will bring a small private college down to the same price as UMass Amherst.”
I am starting to question whether that is likely to happen at all, even at a small private given his father’s high income… based on what I’m hearing here . And I understand it would not be good even if he got need based aid year one that it could be in Jeopardy for the remaining years when the fafsa flips back to his father filling it out.
I checked with a Catholic college this week (my first experience calling a financial aid office! ) after I read all of these amazing comments above, and while they certainly do have aid, it doesn’t sound like there is much of it, so that was a bit of a reality check.
Plus, the big downside is that because I’m using income from two years ago when I had a job they told me I would need to submit my financials using that old income which is not going to qualify for need based aid. And then I would need to submit an appeal in the formal appeal process after that…and by that time the money may have run out they said.
Thank you so much for the amazing list you have created! I am so grateful. I’m very excited to check these out with my son over the next week and get his take on them. We both sound feel a little scared by state university of New York I know nothing about it but I imagine it’s something like UMass Amhurst, but we are uninformed and I need to investigate.
Are the stats in the title correct ? I thought I saw a change but haven’t looked back. If they are not correct can you update your title. Thx
There are a lot of SUNY campuses…not just one. They are all over the state of NY and some do give decent merit aid to OOS students…so definitely worth checking.
And again I suggest York College in Pennsylvania. It’s not too costly to begin with and they offer merit aid as well.
@fendergirl will hopefully see this. She is a graduate and is having quite a successful post college life!
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For the SUNYs, my SIL graduated from Geneseo, I have friends who graduated from Fredonia, and my son recently visited Oswego. I would not describe any of them as anything like UMass Amherst. And I doubt you would find them intimidating. They are all in relatively rural-ish areas, and pretty small schools compared to UMass. I am not familiar with the others on that list, but I know those three are not so intimidating.
Definitely check them out. I don’t know exactly the academic requirements for the merit they give to bring the cost down for OOS students, but it looked like SUNY Oswego would be about $26,000 a year for my son.
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