<p>My youngest is entering 11th grade and we are in the midst of searching. My question is, do any of the "best" colleges (academic rigor and reputation) offer grants or other ways to reduce their sticker price - other than financial need? I've been told that our income of typically around $400k rules us out for any financial need. (Of course $400k means we keep a little more than half of that...) The best schools like the Ivy's, Swarthmore, Williams, Vanderbilt tend to all say the same thing - we are need blind. The trouble is, they get to determine need. We could send our daughter to U of MD and likely get a scholarship and probably pay $40k for her degree. I can't see the logic in her attending one of the above and paying $250k, and mommy and daddy now get to work for another 5 years before they can retire. Call me selfish.</p>
<p>What I'd like to find is a college that is better than U of MD (it's not bad at all) but would still allow us to pay for less than sticker price for merit, or grant or whatever they want to call it. I'd pay $30k/year but $60k/year is just nuts. She hasn't taken SATs yet but based on PSATs they should come in in low 700s for each category. She's #6 in her class of 400 and 4.0 unweighted with the most APs she's allowed to take.</p>
<p>We are trying to use this time to visit colleges but I don't want to schlep all over the US visiting colleges that even if she were able to get in to, we wouldn't be able to afford. Even if the above listed highest-end colleges simply won't consider offering us less than sticker price (of course big assumption that she could even get in) what are some other very good colleges that might recognize her ability and lower the sticker?</p>
<p>We live in MD. I'd say colleges East of the Mississippi could be in play. We've visited Swarthmore, Haverford, U of MD, Washington & Lee, and William & Mary.</p>
<p>I saw that thread. I looked through about the first 6-7 pages and I didn’t see any of the best colleges listed, hence I posted this thread. I’ll go back and look through the rest and see if there are any great schools listed as well. Thanks.</p>
<p>When you say “better” than UMD-CP are you speaking in terms of USNWR rankings only? You already know that no college or university is going to consider any family whose income is in the $400k/year range to have any need by anyone’s definition (nor should they) so you will have to focus on schools who will offer your daughter merit money. You really should have an idea of what she’d like to major in as well, since the private LA type schools who may offer her merit money may not offer a wide range of majors.</p>
<p>If you really don’t want to spend more than $30k per year, you may have to give up your desire for a “status” school.</p>
<p>The financial aid forum has a sticky thread about competitive full tuition and full ride scholarships. Some high profile schools are there, like Duke, UNC-CH, UCLA, Chicago, etc… But their big merit scholarships are typically rare and extremely competitive.</p>
<p>UMDCP is a very respectable school for many subjects, so it should not be seen as a let-down.</p>
<p>Understood. I’m just trying to figure all of that out. Like I said we should have the U of MD as a great safe school - and one our daughter is perfectly fine with. One additional note is that she’s definitely into the Humanities. She loves English, writing, Latin, History, Political Science. I think left to her own she’d say she wants to be a writer. It’s my influence on her that she considers other than that. I told her, “Ok that’s fine and we’ll support you. What is your day job going to be until you sell your first book, which might take 10 years?” Her other strong interest is law. I’ve learned the English undergrad degree works nicely with a Law degree. Where it gets a bit more interesting is that some people absolutely insist that if you want to get into a great law school you have to have more of an elite undergrad school. Others say poppycock. Go to U of MD and then kill the LSATs and you can still get into Harvard Law if you want to. You don’t have to go to Swarthmore. Just get the LSATs. Just trying to boil all of this down… thx!</p>
<p>ucbalumnus - Agreed! U of MD CP is where my oldest is now! She finished her first year there with All A’s and one B+. (Brains from her mamma!) She love it there and little sister would be happy to go there. We are just trying to do due diligence. The difference between #2 daughter and my oldest is that my oldest didn’t know what she wanted to pursue so UMD was a great choice since they have everything. Since #2 knows her area of interest we are just looking deeply to see if there are any other schools that we should consider with great reputations AND we can afford. thx!</p>
<p>A humanities major considering law school may want to do something that will give mental practice with logical thinking for the LSAT and law school. Perhaps a second major in math or philosophy may help (LSAT takers from these undergraduate majors tend to do better than those from the typical political science and English majors).</p>
<p>But note that the law job market is not particularly good these days.</p>
<p>Nice OHMomof2. (love that name) I Case Western seems to be too Engineer heavy. Vandy is on her list of likes so I’ve already sent them an inquiry. I’ll have to look at Tulane and will scan for others. thx!</p>
<p>Argh! 82 pages… That’s a lot to plow through…</p>
<p>There are lots of writers who don’t write books. My own companies hires writers for about 15 different functions/departments- technical writers for IT and research, people with journalism experience for our Media Relations team; people with strong financial writing skills (an econ/English dual major) for Investor Relations; people with psychology degrees AND strong writing skills for internal communications, all around great writers for executive communications (writing the CEO’s speeches for example), etc. Tons of writers.</p>
<p>It is very narrow to think that someone who loves to write will end up as an unemployed novelist. Newspapers may be a dying industry but corporate America hires tons of strong writers and for the most part, pays them well.</p>
<p>Sorry Blossom. I haven’t put the whole history and back story in… She wants to write books! I own an IT company and know exactly what you mean about the variety of other writing possibilities. In fact in my “what do you want to do for a day job” question I included ideas like tech writer, business analyst, editor, journalist, etc. What I want to avoid is her having an idea that she’s going to write books, find out how hard that is after she graduates, and then feel like she “has” to become an English teacher. If she wants to do that then great! I just want her to have more than one single plan of attack for gainful employment.</p>
<p>OHMomof2 - good idea on posting. She’ll take SATs in the Fall and I’ll come back and post. I’m just trying to see what might be smart to visit, trying to take advantage of the summer when she’s not in school. This is a very helpful sight and I really do appreciate your comments and those of the others who have posted. I’ve already noted a few more schools to look into…</p>
<p>Need blind is an admissions policy, it means that the school does not consider financial need as when making a decision to accept or deny.</p>
<p>100% need is a FA policy, it means that the school will provide 100% of need (which yes, they determine) in some combination of grants, WS and for most schools, loans.</p>
<p>Just curious , do you have a certain amount put away for college in a 529 or other college account? I think at 400k a year there would be some small chance for a few pennies to be put aside if that was something that mattered to you.</p>
<p>No school will give a family with a 400K income any financial assistance in terms of financial aid. At this point you are going to have to hope for merit money which is different than FA. To do this, you have to find schools that offer merit money and where your daughter is at the very top of their accepted range. There are threads here with that info, so you will probably have to do a little digging to find out the info if you really want to know. </p>
<p>There is a good chance that a school where she can get merit money will not be the same as the “best” school she can get into. It is your call whether prestige or cash is more important and have her apply accordingly. The Ivy schools don’t give any merit money, so they are out even if she could get in. Many very top ranked schools don’t give merit money because really anyone who is strong enough to get in would deserve merit aid too. </p>
<p>It might be good to search for schools that meet her academic need, campus style need and then check their policy for merit money and see if it worth her applying. You are going to have to do some legwork, but it is possible to find a school that meets both her academic needs and your financial needs.</p>
<p>xrbbaker, we’re in a very similar position, except we’re a year ahead of you (D is a rising senior) and our income is less than yours, but still too much to get any need-based aid. D wants to major in English or History, and law school is a possibility (my wife is an attorney). D liked UMD, and will apply (in-state). She might qualify for honors college (IB diploma, 3.72 uwGPA, 4.4 wGPA, 2110 SAT). We’ve also visited Swarthmore, Haverford, Davidson, and Sewanee. Will visit Oberlin, Kenyon, and Denison this month. Will do a NY tour in the fall (NYU, Vassar, Hamilton, Colgate, etc.). I don’t know how accurate the net price calculators are, but we might qualify for aid at some of these schools (call it merit, call it discounting, etc.) based on the numbers I plugged in. I’m not expecting much, but we’ll see what happens next April. Good luck.</p>
<p>Since you say you’ve visited Haverford and Swarthmore, she might want to consider Bryn Mawr. They have great merit scholarship opportunities, as do most of the other women’s colleges (but not Wellesley).</p>
<p>Some other “name” schools with big merit aid are USC, Emory, Duke, Vanderbilt, UNC, UVa, Boston College, U of Chicago, Washington U - St. Louis, Rice, Fordham, Davidson, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, and Richmond.</p>
<p>I would definitely suggest Sewanee for their creative writing program. They offer merit awards and have also instituted a tuition freeze program so your tuition would remain the same for 4 years.</p>