I hate to be the voice of gloom and doom… there are many ways to finance a college education. There is only ONE way to finance your retirement (after social security) and that’s with a pension if you have plus your IRA/401K, etc.
Do not use Mytuition or any of these other programs. Go right to the source. And any college which comes in above your top number- take it off now before anyone has fallen in love. Nobody should fall in love at all- but that’s hard to tell a HS kid. And do not fall for the old “surely we can tighten our belts for another 10K per year”. If it were possible, you’d have done it already.
Your D sounds great, and I’m going to posit that there at least 100 institutions where she could find her people, get a great and rigorous education, become the adult she was meant to be, see her family when need be (and don’t overestimate this one- college kids just don’t go home for every cousin’s baby shower or nursery school graduation. They just don’t, even when going home is quick, cheap and easy).
I’d say your budget is doing you a favor here- it’s going to clean up your list lickety split.
I wonder why people keep saying this? MyinTuition offers estimates in cooperation with the colleges on its site. Conversely, the partner colleges often recommend MyinTuition as an especially convenient alternative to NPCs. Moreover, many posters have stated that NPCs have not turned out to be accurate for their situations. MyinTuition may not always be accurate either, but nonetheless it seems to offer simply a complementary version of NPCs. And for screening dozens of colleges based on finances, MyinTuition may be better.
MyIntuition gives a large range for COA, which is often not helpful. Further, it does not ask all of the questions that feed the inputs in a given school’s EFC formula. So, if those inputs impact that family, the calculated NPC of MyIntuition can be highly inaccurate. I would never counsel my students and parents to use MyIntuition, and don’t.
Parents/students should take the extra couple of minutes required to complete the NPCs. I can’t explain why colleges think MyIntuition is useful for families.
People keep saying this because colleges change their financial aid formulae frequently; are under no requirement to send out a mass email saying “remember how we told you that we cap home equity? Well, we stopped as of this academic year”; AND “in cooperation with” is nowhere near as accurate in many cases as going directly to the source.
If you are looking for simplicity, financial aid is the wrong place to be looking. And human nature LOVES a range. (my weight fluctuates between X and Y-- ha ha ha, I haven’t been at X since my wedding day!) Which is lovely that we are such an optimistic species, but not helpful when trying to budget.
Thanks everyone. I’ve worked the NPCs, and if I’m doing it right, the no-loan schools really are coming in toward the middle-to-high-end of what we can afford. A lot of need-based money, if she can get in. The range between schools is about 8K (a lot of real money, x4) and some ask for student loans in the NPC, and some don’t.
As for Wesleyan, I’ve lobbied for a visit there, and perhaps these details push us over the top. It’s mysterious what makes kids tick. I think we squeeze in that visit. I like what I’ve seen. Thanks for the tip.
I would take a deeper look at your Tuition Exchange options, particularly those that offer full tuition. They may not currently be the ones she’s most excited about (though St. John’s is), but if she takes the opportunity to dig deeper into them, there might be some that she would be very happy to attend. Below are some of the TE schools that offer full tuition awards, and the percentage range of TE applicants who received them. I suspect that your D would be very competitive for a TE award at these schools:
After doing 13 NPCs, I’m generally more hopeful. The really rich schools came down inside our range … so that’ll be about whether or not the NPCs are accurate and (much bigger if) whether or not she gets in. Thanks everyone.
That seems right to me. You should be able to get need-based aid that makes the most highly selective schools affordable. Then find some Honors Colleges at affordable public schools that she likes so she has some schools that are more “sure things” on her list. Best wishes.
That’s the subject of today’s discussion! Yesterday’s visit was Middlebury. The ups and downs of the NPCs are kind of a funhouse mirror. (St. Lawrence was the worst, Wesleyan was the best.)
My 2 cents is to look at EA schools so you can weigh the FA package without being committed and or disappointed. (getting into dream school and can’t afford it) I would also look at some full ride scholarships (Robertson UNC/Duke, Jefferson/UVA) If she likes Poli Sci apply for USSYP amazing program and $10,000 scholarship also Coke, GE Regan, Elks MVS, American Legion Oratory
Also if Bowdoin is high on list emphasize leadership on the application. My son got in LY and when we went to accepted student days I was talking to Admissions about the schools he was deciding between and they said that makes sense we both put emphases on leadership, problem solving and character because that makes great classmates (also do the optional video)
Thank you for both of these suggestions … hadn’t considered any of the scholarships, and had only even heard of the ELKS MVS. That’s a good angle for her on Bowdoin. (We live in the middle of nowhere, so if it exists and isn’t a sport, it’s because of student leadership.)
Also look at doing EA at UNC they give out a Presidential scholarship which is a full ride and the honors college makes the school seem smaller.
another suggestion is for her to take practice ACT and see if she can get 34 if she can get there this opens up more merit and schools.
Ruh Roh. On a recent visit to Wesleyan it occurred to me I only posted all the good stats here (All fives on AP except for one four (either Stats or Chem, I can’t remember) … SATs and so on. BUT: She only has two years of Spanish. Our tiny school promised to (and failed to) hire a Spanish teacher the last two years. We are in nowheresville. Also, accordingly, the ECs are a bit meh. How sunk, in your opinion, will she be at some of these LACs?
It’s still very much worth a shot. She can’t take Spanish classes that don’t exist. This is why the school counselor writes a letter - to contextualize the transcript (so she would want to ask her counselor to make a point of explaining the deficit of language courses). That said, regardless of circumstances, make sure you’ve got colleges with a range of acceptance rates on the list.
I do understand this. It comes though without an extra application so it is worth pursuing. She is looking for $$ opportunities she may not of thought or heard of.