San Antonio
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I promise, I’m neither a snob nor a grasping immigrant dying to live through my kid by making her go to school with all these multi-generation rich kids. 
Did you see where I admit that I don’t know much about the programs at the other two safeties and already like the one at Trinity, here: " Now we’ll see if we can find that, at least to some degree, in her departments at TCU and UHawaii Manoa. I already know it exists at Trinity."
I’m not underselling Trinity at all - it actually has a very similar atmosphere to Tufts. And if it weren’t located in Texas (or if it by some miracle drew mostly out of state students regardless of their socioeconomic status) it would be close to a top choice. There is nothing to fault in that school, academically or in terms of its faculty/student involvement. The only hesitation for us there is staying within the same comfort zone for college (and yes, I know she applied knowing it’s in Texas. She applied because it’s otherwise a great school, and that’s what a “safety” means to us - a school that meets most, but maybe not all, of wish list criteria). Trinity will have a lot of bright students. Just like her current high school has a lot of bright students. Who are all very similar to her.
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I wonder how this compares to other “meets full need” schools? Because not all schools meet full financial need for students they admit. So, if it’s 34.7% of the students, but 100% of them are given full tuition need-based scholarships, is that still bad? Whereas, at a non-full-need school, they might give need-based aid to 80% of the students, but max out that aid at 40% of tuition, for example? Is that really better, if it means a lot of admitted kids still can’t afford the school?
Not saying that’s true - I don’t have the data. Just wondering if people on this board think one is better than the other. Because in the first case, a brilliant first-generation college student from the Rio Grande Valley who cannot pay anything for college and has to work part-time to even afford to pay for lodging, food, etc. for 4 years still has a chance to attend Tufts, because their tuition would be zero. In the second case, this student can’t attend because their need-based award would be capped at a certain percentage, their parents have bad credit and bad jobs and can’t take out loans, and the kid’s own ability to take out loans is now limited far below the $40K annual discounted tuition in this hypo (wasn’t the case when I went to school, and that’s how many of those kids attended back then).
I guess each private school gets to choose for themselves? Do they want to admit a bunch of self-pay rich kids who subsidize the brilliant kids whose parents have zero ability to pay? Or do they admit mostly upper-middle-class children who can pay/take out loans for somewhat discounted tuition?
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My D attends a T20 LAC in the northeast that is not on your list. They meet 100% of demonstrated need with no loans and what we have seen over the past couple of years is the number of students getting aid is going down but the average amount is going up. Additionally, they implemented a “sliding scale” for attendance where if your income is below $X, you pay nothing, if it is between $X and $Y, you pay 5% of your income and if you make between $Y and $150K, you pay 10%. The school is consistently on the list of schools that has the highest percentage of students from the 1%. While we chuckle that we are considered “poor”, we are thankful that we are in a situation that is affordable for our family.
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Vassar?
Colgate
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To your point, we don’t know the $ amount each is getting - well you can see the #s.
But if you look at other schools you applied to that meet 100% of need -
Bowdoin was 263 of 463 in the last CDS - 57%. And Midd was 314/602 or 52%.
On the extreme, Harvard was 947/1649 or 57%.
Could not find the CDS for Trinity - but they have merit aid so it changes the equation anyway.
Again, the point I’m trying to make - isn’t who gives or who doesn’t - although it’s clear Tufts doesn’t for whatever reason - discipline, endowment, etc.
It’s just to say - your daughter has wonderful opportunities even at the lower ranked (but not low ranked) schools.
You are correct - Trinity is 80% Texas - so I get the hesitation for sure.
You’ll know soon - the funny thing is - with all the stress - it’s a question of - do i take this strong choice or this strong choice or this strong choice - so little to worry about in that sense.
It’ll all be over soon 
Edit - Colgate = 217 / 765 - so only 28% get. That’s where you go if you hope to one day marry into a great inheritance Kidding…great school. Well sort of kidding.
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D’s roommate last year had a few $400 pillows on her bed… Lots of kids there have a great inheritance already. 
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Tufts gives a lot of need-based aid, to be clear, but proportionately quite a bit less than the schools that it would hope to be considered as an academic peer. Those are all at or around 50% trying to get to 60%; Tufts is at 35 going in the wrong direction.
In case it isn’t obvious: my criticism is aimed at the school and I wouldn’t let it change my opinion if my child wanted to attend.
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I can’t remember if the OP mentioned their EFC, but Tufts give no merit aid, only need-based aid.
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Full pay I believe so like many who score great merit…that’s always the tough choice.
Dream school (not yet admitted) or fine school at a much cheaper price).
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Right, full pay. Aware there would be no aid if she’s admitted to any of her non-safety schools.
Let’s look at the endowment divided by number of undergrad students for these colleges.
Bowdoin $1.5m
Middlebury $0.6m
Harvard $7,000m
Colgate $0.43m
Tufts $0.33m
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Thanks so much for the update! I’m glad that she likes Trinity and has the opportunities/atmosphere that she is hoping for. Wishing the two of you the best for the visits to TCU and Hawaii (and congratulations on the big scholarship to Hawaii…that should definitely be a fun visit!). It’s fabulous that she has three great schools with three great scholarship offers in hand. What a wonderful feeling!
I agree with the others that your daughter will find the opportunities and academic peers that she wants at any of these three universities. Your daughter has done very well and has great choices.
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Thank you so much! Our stress levels have definitely been steadily decreasing, which is good because end of March will be a high-stress time.
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That’s a big difference, especially given what she wants to do for a career. I realize you want to give her the best leg up possible. What do you hope the extra money will buy her?
Here’s another way to look at it. Let’s say she chooses a school that saves you a bunch of money. You can gift her $16,000/year tax free. If she invests and gets the historic market return, it’ll be nearly $3,000,000. Will Tufts be that much better than HI, Mizzou, or any of the others?
I’m armchair quarterbacking, but if you have other children, I’d recommend two things next go 'round. Set a budget up front. Then you won’t be faced with this situation. Don’t put any safeties on the list that your student won’t attend. A safety is worthless if they don’t have any interest in the school.
A little plug for TCU here. I am originally from Texas but have lived out of state for 20+ years after college. My S23 has visited & plans on applying. It has changed quite a bit in the last 25 years in prestige, academics, and their beautiful campus, dorms, & good food is hard to beat.
Only 40% of students are from Texas now. I know your daughter wants to escape Texas, but Fort Worth has such a different feel than the rest of Texas. We were so impressed by our info session & tour last summer. I know TCU is offering a “TCU Monday” in March & April. They are full day events, on Monday, for the student & parent with extra academic sessions, as well as expanded tour/info sessions. Maybe that is your visit?
There are also FB live sessions on different topics once a month. You can watch the old ones on Youtube. Also, they announced plans in February for expansion of a new medical center with the TCU School of Medicine. Lastly, their business school has made a jump in the rankings and Poets & Quants just named them as Top 10 business schools to watch. Your daughter may not be interested in these things, but they will only add to the overall reputation and energy at the school.
Please let us know how the visit goes. IMO, visits are the best way to figure it out.
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Another fun thing about Hawaii Manoa is that it belongs to NSE, National Student Exchange. NSE includes 200+ schools across N. America, most in the U.S. but a few in Canada too. You can spend up to a year at a participating school, and your credits transfer automatically, and best of all you pay only in-state tuition and most of your scholarships transfer too. Some really fun schools are included.
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Yes, exactly that! And thank you for that amazing explanation - it really does sound great. The child development program is one of the best in the country, and we’re very much looking forward to the visit. I had no idea about the 40% statistic - that’s excellent and encouraging news.
That’s exactly the way I’m looking at it, actually. $16,000 gifted over 20 years, at a historic average market rate of 10% will net about $1 million in returns. Why am I using 20 years? Because, at my current age, I see parents of “kids” my age “help out” their mid-40s kids who didn’t become successful (yet or ever). By pre-paying that “extra $16K/yr” for a school that builds a marquee network of peers and prizes achievement above all, I’m hoping that the lessons I’ve been instilling in my kid so far don’t fall by the wayside in college. That she keeps working hard and keeps achieving.
Because I’ll be honest – I came to my state school on my full ride, from a low-income but high-performing area overseas, and I was shocked at how easy it was to get a good grade without studying, because other students just weren’t prepared for the rigor of college. And for a short time, I coasted. Before I realized what I was missing, before I got into smaller classes, into the Honor’s College, and got sucked in. But it’s not hard to get a perfect GPA at a low-ranking school and learn nothing. I don’t want that for my kid.
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