One more thought — Colorado College has the right academic mix, but Colorado Springs might not offer the diversity she seeks? I know nothing about how much merit aid is typical.
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They have a number of scholarships. My daughter received some. As did some of her friends that applied. Maybe it’s harder than I assumed to get these? All I suggested is to look into the school.
That’s disappointing to hear. My D22 is very interested in Oxy and it’s the first school I thought of when reading this student’s description. Our NPC price was very much within our budget. Merit may also be an option. I would keep it on the list and fight for more aid.
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Only 10% get merit and it’s small at CC.
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Always possible to try but I did not have my older daughter apply for this reason. We also didn’t qualify for financial aid anywhere and went for merit so our situation was similar.
She is at Western WA Univ (in state for us) and really enjoys it.
Another hidden gem is Ohio Wesleyan. Surprisingly diverse, your student would get great merit (my daughter’s cost would have been less than Western), small nurturing environment. It is in a small town in Ohio about 30-45 minutes from Columbus. My daughter briefly considered and we visited/she was in a scholarship contest but she just thought it was “in the middle of nowhere”. She might have decided to go had the school been located in Columbus.
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Colo School of Mines has a lot of FA for female applicants.
If she likes rocks, a lot of the WUE schools have great departments. Montana, Montana State, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado Mesa, Colorado State. She may not like these any more than a UC or CSU, but they are an option.
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Another idea in California for getting small classes with access to professors that might be more affordable — University of Redlands
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My S19’s top choice was Colorado Mines and he was admitted. They told us that although they didn’t participate in WUE, their cost would work out to just about the same. That was not at all accurate. My son was really discouraged and we had to decline his admission offer because the Mines cost was too high OOS.
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Colorado College has a really unusual schedule that doesn’t work for some. It’s a block plan where a student takes only one course for 3.5 weeks, followed by a 4 day break, then another 3.5 week class, etc…
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The New College of Florida is worth a look if she’s open to colleges on the east coast. Admitted OOS students are guaranteed scholarships that knock the total cost down to about $30K a year.
Eckerd is another good option in Florida, though I’m not sure how generous it is with merit aid. It has one of the strongest marine science programs of any college in the US, which may be relevant given her interest in geology.
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That is encouraging to hear. What colleges were on your daughter’s list? I will have a look at what majors Mines offers. Thank you!
Yup.
I am afraid that you may be right. It is very possible Occidental will turn out to be the most unaffordable option. It is staying on the list though just so that we won’t have to wonder what if. My daughter absolutely loved it when we visited.I know she would thrive there.
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It is staying on the list. It will be very sad if it turns out to be out of our budget, bu I think it’s something my daughter will need to see for herself.
Two great options except for location.
You may want to prep her about this. If she gets in and it is $75k a year it could be a tough conversation if you don’t talk about it beforehand. Just speaking from experience here.
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She knows. This is something we talk about before searching for colleges. We had that scenario with her older sister. Got into several East Coast schools that ended up out of our budget. She did not get to attend, but at least she got bragging rights out of it.
Geographical diversity is a must when seeking merit as ~full-pay. Being URM will help but not much at schools that are stingy with merit.
Why not look at Idaho, Wyoming and perhaps a school like Ole Miss?
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Good lord, that’s such a radical departure from what this kid wants!!
I will say I do think it’s great if a kid attends college in a different geographical area from where they grew up. It is part of broadening their horizons.
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I had a SoCal D18 with similar stats and the 3 schools she applied to from your list came in with merit to meet your requirements, but a range. Whittier was by far the cheapest, then Willamette, and priciest was Puget Sound which was pushing the upper limits. Of course your Ds offers may differ, but I think you can expect to get merit from those schools, and Whittier should definitely come in under budget. I know from experience it’s slim pickings when you want an lac and merit on the west coast, I wish you and your family all the best!
I know you said AZ was off the table but did she look at Northern Arizona? Very different environment than what you expect when you think “Arizona”. Cool mountain college town, and the school has an honors college with a new dorm.
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