Can you help suggest colleges we may not have thought of yet?
My son is a junior. We live in Buffalo, NY. He attends a private college prep high school, but his average is 78-81, and that’s with him leaving it all on the court. He gets extensive tutoring after school. He has adhd and tests, organization are not his strong suits.
His first PSAT sophomore year was 900 something. I think after he takes SAT prep classes and retakes multiple times we can get him over 1000 for sure, maybe closer to 1100.
He plays varsity soccer and basketball, but not well enough for a D1 or D2 scholarship. He’s had summer jobs as a camp counselor. He will have more than 40 hours of community service by the time he graduates, we’re trying to focus that at the local Ronald McDonald House.
He wants to be a physical education teacher. I have no college savings, but will be able to pay about 6K a year without loans for him.
So far our reach schools look like Suny Brockport and Suny Cortland. Our safety schools are community colleges, maybe one with a dorm option in NY.
I’m afraid if he stays in Buffalo for community college, he will lose motivation and fall into a crowd of friends that aren’t going anywhere. Plus going away to college was one of the best experiences of my life, and I’d like him to have that.
Looking outside of NY is so overwhelming. I’m looking for college recommendations that would fit his profile. If he goes far from home, it needs to be a small college with strong academic supports.
I have a similar student. I know I’ve read here in the past that Marist College in NY has a program that supports ADHD students. I have a neighbor here in VA who goes there and have heard that person got an athletic scholarship but I have no idea for certain. https://www.marist.edu/
Do you have a guidance counselor at school who can offer some suggestions? Maybe some of the CC’s offer some support for the ADHD. I’d also bet a “C” student at a college prep can do fairly well in college. Good luck.
Your son is so close with Cortland. If he can just nudge his grades into b minus territory, and get close to 1100 on the SAT, I think he has a good chance. Please wish him luck for his junior year.
There are so many community college options in NY. He definitely wouldn’t have to stay in Buffalo if you can afford dorms at one. The Rochester area has Monroe Community College and Finger Lakes Community College. The Ithaca area has Tompkins Cortland Community College. Broome Community College is in the Binghamton area.
With no college money, they seem like any of them could be your best safety bet. I would look at some of the smaller privates and run the NPCs to see if you get enough aid to afford them. I went to St. Bonaventure and it’s a nice travel distance from Buffalo. Education is a popular major there. There are many small schools like that and some may be more generous than others.
Is he medicated? If not, it might be beneficial to medicate for SAT prep and especially for the exam. If he scores high enough, you will have more options.
If you make under a certain amount you can get free tuition at the SUNY’s now. Maybe see if he can get into Oswego or Oneonta. I know a boy who graduated from Oneonta with learning disabilities.
One idea is to have him attend a community college that is still local, but one that is further away from the one that is the closest where his friends are attending. This would save the most money and you’d be able to spend another year or two guiding him towards organizing himself. He’d still have 2 years to himself after that.
Another idea is a school called “Fort Lewis College” in Durango, Co. They are a small outdoorsy school that sounds like a type of school where kids don’t get “lost in the shuffle”. They have scholarships for OOS to make it more reasonably priced/
If you qualify for Excelsior, it’d make the most sense to stay in NYS, perhaps starting at a cc with dorms - he’d probably get into the TC3 honors program, for smaller classes and a group of motivated peers. Admission is based on motivation (he’d have to write to the head of the program, explain what classes he’s taken, why he’d like to participate in the program…)
You could “bank” the money you’re not spending off your $6,000 budget to add it to a small college fund he could use for the junior-senior year part, which would be more expensive, and this way he’d have more choices.
Cortland is almost within reach… Do you qualify for eop?
Can I also put in a plug for some of the community colleges in NY that have dorms? Take a look at Tompkins-Cortland, Herkimer, Adirondack, Sullivan. I imagine there are more, but we’ve concentrated on ones within a few hours of our Long Island home. My daughter has applied to 2 as her safeties. So she knows she’ll be able to go away, and she knows she’ll have a choice of schools.
And, as a plus, they tend to be even a bit less expensive than SUNY 4 year colleges. Herkimer and Adirondack will run about $15K including room and board, Tompkins closer to 17.5K. (As a point of comparison, SUNY Delhi is about 20.5, Morisville is about 21.5)
If he applies to them using their individual websites (It takes 5 minutes, since they have open admissions), the application is sometimes free. It was the case with Herkimer and TCC, I’m not sure of the others.
@JoyG My son’s GPA was very close to your son’s, although he didn’t put in his best work. He was more social and athletic; did enough to get by so he could keep playing his sports! We felt the same about community college- it would be an extension of high school and not push him to grow up. He’s at a state university, about an hour and a half away, and so far has been doing great. He’s also an education major. Since it’s not a high paying field, I’d definitely recommend a SUNY to save money, but it gets him away from home and allows him independence, but close enough to come home when he feels he needs it. Good luck!
If his private school is more rigorous than a regular public school, would there be something in the school profile making that clear? Can you ask the GC?
A profile that makes it clear this isn’t a typical “C/B” student but a student who’s taken challenging classes at a prep school that send …% students to college would certainly help put his grades in perspective.
A 1000-1100 for these grades would be excellent (800-900 would be more typical for a C student).
If he can manage to get 80 rather than 78-79 this semester, he should have choices. See if there are universities he could apply to after the first semester grades are posted.
You can also look at schools like Mansfield (in PA, below Corning), or Slippery Rock (near Pittsburgh). However I’m not sure SUNY Cortland or the Community College with dorms-> 4-year SUNY route would not be as good for a lower price.
I know the topic was touched on above, but I had an ADHD kid, and medication was the key to getting him to focus on his homework and tests, and do better in HS so he could attend a better college. It helped him a great deal.
Everyone is different, and this is not the place for medical advice, just saying it helped my kid and made a HUGE different in his grades and test scores.
Financially speaking, not enough info, but it’s hard to beat staying in NYS for public college, cost wise.
As far as CC, not everybody is ready for the dorm and away from home experience.
Hard to say if being away will help or hurt the study habits, Might make sense to send him to a summer
program somewhere to experience dorm like and studying in a real college environment this coming summer,
before senior year and decision time.