I must have missed the explanation. If this student really only has $110,000 income and low assets, and not much home equity, the family contribution shouldn’t be $60,000. I’m thinking there might be a mistake either on the FAFSA or the NPCs.
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You can try using the net price calculators at www.myintuition.org for a very fast assessment of what some colleges think your financial aid package would be. It only takes a couple of minutes and might give you an idea if the 60k is correct or not.
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even with all your good stuff, imo JHU isn’t happening. They are famously GPA oriented (70% of accepted students have a 4.0; less than 6% of admitted students have a GPA in your range or lower).
You said that your family felt comfortable paying $30k as your EFC (which most schools are sending back as $60k). Is the budget $30k, or any higher? Also, make sure you have a parent run the NPCs with you to make sure all information is accurate.
If your budget is $30k, then I agree with @tsbna44 about the need to revisit your list so that all the schools on it either meet your budget (if they do not give merit aid) or can meet it (via merit aid). You are very fortunate to have Rutgers as an in-state option; it is a very well-respected institution. Would you be happy to attend if that is your only financially feasible option?
Have you thought about any Canadian universities? Make sure that when you look at the costs, make sure you convert from Canadian to US dollars, as the exchange rate is advantageous to Americans. And when I took a quick look, there are merit aid scholarships available and scholarships for racially diverse students. I don’t know if they will be able to meet the $30k price, but I’d at least investigate. U. of Toronto, U. of Waterloo, and Queen’s University are all possibilities to consider. @DadTwoGirls is our resident expert on Canadian schools and might be able to provide suggestions.
A couple of options that are strong in your interests and that will probably be far more affordable than Rutgers are U. of Central Florida and U. of Houston. UT-Dallas would also be a possibility. I believe that if you get even a modest merit scholarship that you then get a waiver for out-of-state tuition. In-state costs at all of those schools would be less than at Rutgers, and there’s lots of CS going to Texas and Florida has NASA and a lot of entertainment industry possibilities (for instance, if you were interested in entertainment CS stuff).
I’d also run the Net Price Calculator at Rensselaer Polytechnic (NY) and investigate their merit aid offerings. That one might meet end up meeting your budget and with your interests in graphic design and media along with CS, it seems like it could be a really good fit. ETA: Ditto with DePaul (IL). Also, seconding that you take a look at NJIT.
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That FAFSA doesn’t equal institutional need.
It could be the student does not have the right figures. But I used what was provided and at BU it’s well over her budget but less than stated.
At $110k you are assumed to have cash flow. As we all know, wanting to spend an amount and a college deeming your desire to be that amount is typically not the same.
The student should find a school that can meet her price via merit and take away any doubt- in my opinion. And given the major it’s unlikely to be a significant difference.
These companies, as I’m learning with my son, don’t care if you go to Alabama or Vanderbilt. They are paying by location or company scale.
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BU just built a $290mm CS building that I saw in June. It’s amazing, to say the least. BU is currently in the top 10% for CS and with this new building and university emphasis on CS, I expect it will start climbing.
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Rerun the numbers with your parent.
The hard truth - When your family falls in this middle class income level, it helps to be able to a compare your financial aid packages in March and April. EDing may be what everyone in your 3 AP classes is obsessed with, but it really should not be an option for many. Honestly, there are not many people making $100,000 in NJ who can easily swing $30,000 of that going to tuition after taxes, housing costs, basic living, it is tight.
Rutgers gives you a great option to have in your back pocket - do not ignore any additional scholarship opportunities with them.
Not all of your colleges meet 100% of need and some use loans to get to the EFC. And most families need loans to pay the EFC, so you can end up with loans that are much more that the EFC.
RIT may get you close to $30,000 with merit and need and has CS along with excellent media and graphic arts. Add them to your list to just have a safe option.
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BU is a great school, but we can agree to disagree about the strength of its CS program relative to Rutgers. I don’t wish to have a sidebar debate about that here but you can PM me if you like.
My point to OP is: if she gets admitted to Rutgers NB, I don’t think it makes financial and academic sense to go to BU or NYU instead.
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i have visited all schools except washu! i loved the vibes of nyu and bu since ive been going to the city since childhood. i also have an older cousin that goes to nyu so ive been around its campus alot.
i’m not really interested in applying to pitt because, like you said, its not an upgrade over rutgers. i’m totally satisfied going to rutgers and wouldn’t spend extra money even through travel to go to a place like pitt or penn state like people have recommended me.
yes, i have columbia, cornell, and upenn (dad’s choice) on my list as well as umass amherst and umd! i might add lehigh only because i have visited and i have another cousin that recently graduated from there and had a job at google lined up, but my dad Hates the campus so i dont know if i can convince him.
thank you!
yes, my parents own the house we live in and its current market value according to zillow is 490k. my dad also specifically planned that he would finish paying his mortgage by the time i graduate so there isn’t much left to pay. would that be the problem?
my parents are divorced but still live together, so at least the fafsa required me to put both of their incomes but my mom is the 10k since she only works part time.
i will rerun the npcs on sunday. thank you!
thank you for the suggestions! my only concern is that the schools you are listed aren’t as known as rutgers and dont really provide any extra benefits. again, i’m really only interested in rutgers or paying slightly more to go to a really well known school.
thank you!
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yeah jhu was my dad’s choice from like middle school when i was briefly interested in biomedical engineering. i probably will not apply to jhu ed2 and just do rd to give it a shot. thank you!
no i have not but i’m uninterested in women’s colleges, hbcus, etc; and just want a traditional college experience. thank you for the suggestion!
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yes, i’m 100% cool with going to rutgers!
my dad definetely doesn’t want me too far from home. have to stay in the upper east coast and he made the exception for washu because we have family in the area. there would have to be an exceptional reason for me to go further, like UT-Austin or UF or something like that. it’s not 100% my decision lol! thank you for the suggestions!
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yes i’m considering RIT!
i’m only interested in ed because i feel like i might not have a shot at any of these schools if i dont, esp if my equal or better than me peers are going to ed at the same schools. everybody at my school is super motivated w great grades and ec’s, the only thing that sets me super apart is my demographic + major combination 
again, i’m totally okay with going to rutgers but for my parents’ sake an acceptance from another school would be nice
a lot of the issue is location and also that those state schools are super competitive or not good enough to warrant extra cost over going to rutgers. i’m not sure if we’re thinking the same schools though so i would love for you to maybe elaborate !
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yeah i think the co-op is super cool!
the only tick against northeastern is something super anectodal my dad saw with a cousin that graduated from there which is very specific to their major and yada yada yada. but we’re both considering it.
thank you!
imo the name in of itself helps with getting that first job (or thats what ive been told). i also just like those schools more and would like to be somewhere new instead of rutgers. obviously if the price comes out to be crazy i have no issue turning it down but i hope you understand our motivations for applying to these schools. thank you!
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If UMD = University of Maryland it’s pretty certainly out of budget.
Are you applying to SEAS or the College at Columbia? If the College, have you checked out the Core requirements, to be sure that that will be happy for you? If SEAS, have you checked out the intensity of the course, to be sure that will be happy for you?
Aside from the name and the location, why Cornell? have you checked out the intensity of the course, to be sure that will be happy for you?
There’s getting in, but once you have the t-shirt and your parents have the bumper sticker, there’s the part about actually thriving for the four years that you will be there.
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It sounds like you’ve done your homework and put together a solid list of schools. Well done.
Please pin-down your EFC at each school.
To your original question I wouldn’t ED2 to any on your list. How would you feel if you had to turn down Columbia, Cornell or Penn because you got into Northeastern ED2?
Don’t underestimate going to Rutgers. I’m in IT and went to Pitt. I’ve worked next to CMU and other top school grads. Similar salaries. Only difference is the amount of student debt.
Good luck.
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