College list thoughts for "average excellent" S24 [$11k parent contribution, 4.0 GPA, 36 ACT]

College Search & Selection
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Oof. I guess you’re in the demographic for whom CSU’s are not cheaper than UC’s. Well, he’s a solid candidate for even the most competitive UC’s, if the cost would be manageable, but obviously a private U with generous aid would be ideal.

Have you run the NPC for Tulane? Their Altman Program seems to fit his interests, among others, and New Orleans could be an appealing city. Emory deserves a look as well. Both may be smaller schools than he ideally wants, but they both approach 15K total students, including the grad schools.

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Although this list touts “full-ride” scholarships, not all of these are: 80 Colleges With Full-Ride Scholarships Regardless, however, there are some possibilities that your son may want to consider. In thinking of your son, I’d particularly look at:

  • Wake Forest’s Stamps
  • Fordham’s Presidential
  • Barry’s Stamps
  • Rollins’ Alfond
  • U. of Delaware Eugene du Pont
  • U. of Miami Stamps or George W. Jenkins
  • U. of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s
  • Villanova Presidential
  • Drake’s National Alumni
  • Michigan State’s Alumni Distinguished
  • UIUC: Stamps
  • Furman’s James B. Duke
  • Mercer’s Stamps
  • North Carolina A&T’s National Alumni or Lewis and Elizabeth Dowdy
  • Southern Methodist’s President’s
  • U. of Georgia’s Foundation
  • U. of Houston’s Tier One
  • U. of Kentucky’s Singletary
  • U. of Louisville’s Brown
  • U. of North Carolina - Charlotte’s Levine
  • U. of Texas - Dallas’s Eugene McDermott
  • Wofford’s Richardson
  • Loyola Marymount’s Trustee
  • Clark’s Presidential
  • U. of Arizona’s Stamps

In looking at the list, these are some of the scholarship opportunities that seem as though they may be better fits for your son’s profile. (I also looked at a list from a website that I can’t link on CC.) Obviously, none of these are guarantees, but these are places where your son might want to shoot his shot. The competition is stiff for any of these (I recall following a thread on the Levine scholars at UNC-Charlotte, for instance), but I would suspect that chances at UNC-C, U. of Louisville, UT-Dallas, and U. of Houston would likely be greater than at Fordham, U. of Miami, Pitt, Villanova, etc. So you may also want to think about that when determining where your son decides to apply.

Bigger schools (7k+) in bigger cities (700k+)
Fordham, U. of Miami, Pitt, Villanova, UNC-Charlotte, U. of Louisville, UT-Dallas,Southern Methodist, U. of Houston, Loyola Marymount, U. of Arizona, and Loyola Marymount

Smaller schools in bigger cities (700k+)
Barry

Bigger schools (7k+) in not-so-huge cities
Michigan State, North Carolina A&T, U. of Georgia, U. of Kentucky, U. of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, U. of Delaware

Smaller schools in not-so-huge cities
Rollins, Drake, Mercer, Wofford, Clark, Furman

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83

You’re thinking of SBCC, which is not right next to UCSB. But it IS right on the ocean. UCSB is right next to Goleta whereas SBCC is near the big main beach in Santa Barbara. There’s a good city bus system between Isla Vista/UCSB and SBCC.

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84

And in addition to apartment living in Isla Vista, there’s at least one privately-run dormitory that accommodates both SBCC and UCSB students: https://www.tropicanadelnorte.com/ (Although their least expensive plan is almost 15K for the academic year, exceeding the aforementioned 11K budget even with SBCC being essentially free… although Pell/CalGrant might cover a portion.)

85

When your son says that he wants “city,” does that mean Top 25 city or Top 5 to 7? Arguably a difference for some. As listed, he may want to take a shot at Fordham, with the hope of attending the Lincoln Center UWS campus.

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86

Thanks for this great comprehensive list. We are going to look into some of these this weekend.

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87

His ideal is New York, LA, Boston, or Chicago. But this is where he knows he has to budge. He is getting more open to smaller cities where ideally the university is in/near the urban center.

We did not know that Fordham had a Lincoln Center campus! That looks great. Do students get to apply and live/learn on the campus of their choice?

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They do!

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89

Do you have the budget or time to travel this summer/fall to visit smaller cities or non-reaches? That may help him develop some flexibility. If I were in your shoes, I’d apply to a mix of schools. Jeffrey Selingo has a book, Who Gets in and Why, a Year Inside College Admissions, that also includes a list of which universities are buyers and sellers. I would some time and attention on the buyer schools -they seem to be in the “smaller” cities or are a tier or two down from the T50’s, while also looking at the schools that meet 100% of need. The best offers for your budget might come from the schools that need to offer merit money to entice kids to come - we didn’t qualify for aid but my older kid could have attended a few schools for about $25k out of pocket (kid did not have super standardized scores or the best gpa either). Some of my kid’s classmates/friends (unhooked kids from competitive Bay Area public - a bunch are teacher’s kids come to think of it🤔) with high standardized test scores and 4.0 gpa’s are paying around or lower than your budget for schools that are not the top tier schools - [edited to add] but still great places to get an education. Good luck!

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90

I believe the budget is $11k.

91

One is paying $7K at UofA, another is paying around $12k at Gonzaga, another is at a small LAC paying $7k - for all kids, the UC’s were full price. Most of my kid’s friends were accepted to the UC’s (except for the CS applicants - ouch!). But for more than a few, the UC’s and CSU’s just weren’t financially feasible. I’m glad they wound up with solid financial safeties - they are bright kids with a lot to offer the world. Messed up that a six figure income is low-income around here, but it is.

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92

I’ve quickly scanned this thread and I haven’t seem this, so I want to add one more thought. It seems there can be a much higher cost to have a social life in a big city than in a smaller location.

My Ds both attended LACs. We discussed the idea of the costs of a social life in DC and Boston. Those cities would have added $$$ to our/their overall costs.

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93

It appeared like the parent contribution was $11k. If that is the case, would that make a moderate stretch budget $16k (adding either a federal direct loan (exclusive-)or a few thousand of student work earnings in the summer and part time in the school year), and a maximum stretch budget $19-21k (adding both the federal direct loan and student work earnings)? The latter would not leave much room for error or unexpected financial setbacks, however.

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94

Yes, we’re definitely in that tough spot income-wise where we got (with D22) just a little aid from the UCs. We had pretty much assumed she would end up at a UC since we knew they were cheaper and were surprised that the few privates she applied to ended up being quite a bit less money.

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Yes, this is definitely something to consider. He considers himself thrifty and does not spend much, but I could see being tempted to spend more in a big city.

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I’ve been looking through these scholarships and just FYI for future readers - it looks like the Stamps Scholarship at UIUC is just for Illinois residents.

“Only Illinois residents are reviewed for the Stamps Scholarship.”
https://stamps.illinois.edu/selection

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97

One thing to consider in your ED strategy is that being a high stats male is a hook for some of the schools with a skewed gender ratio like GWU and BU.

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98

Attending a school in a city will definitely end up costing more $$ than anticipated.

And, I see @adogwillbesad posted about GW… which makes me add that for sure living in DC and attending GW will cost way more than you would likely plan to spend.

(My S, currently at GW, thinks he’s mindful of money but he still uses Ubers (metro doesn’t run after like 11:00 pm I think?), eats out quite a bit, and of course comedy clubs, music events, etc occurs bc DC is always having smthg of interest. And don’t get me going about off campus rent next year bc while the dorms are fine, dorms with single bedrooms with suites are extremely rare. Hence living off campus next year.)

And when living in a city like DC, I want him to be able to do things that he’s interested in, and what his peers are doing. We can afford it but I will say that my DH is telling me to stop looking at the AMEX to see exactly how much he’s spending.

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My kids all went to urban U’s (and for grad school) and their entertainment costs were modest.

There is TONS of free stuff to do in cities (for kids who seek that out) as well as on campus. No, bottle service at a club and fancy sushi is not free. But between subsidized public transportation and the campus shuttle services, free student admission to dozens of museums (some of the famous ones and some small, cool ones), free symphony, ballet and “poetry slam at the botanical garden- free admission with a student ID” I don’t recall my kids ever feeling deprived that they weren’t shopping in fancy boutiques or eating in white tablecloth restaurants.

There is more high end stuff to spend money on in a big city; there is more free stuff in a big city. You know your own kids. Mine knew you can only spend a dollar once- and when it’s gone, it’s gone.

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100

Why does he want a big city? If it is to attend concerts, professional sporting events, clubs, etc, he may not have the money to do any of that (as noted above). There may be some free stuff, but there is a lot of stuff that costs money too.

My kids each went to schools where all student activities were included with their student fees, so sports (including D1), on campus concerts, Friday night entertainment (comedians, hypnotists, movies, ice skating) were included. One lived near Orlando and could easily get to Miami or the other cities, but she couldn’t really afford the entry fees once she got there. The other one had to come to Denver for the ‘big stuff’ but she found a lot of things to do on campus - theater productions, art shows, sports, trivia.

If he wants a big city to have internship opportunities, major tv stations, big art museums, etc., then make sure he can afford those things. Otherwise, he’ll be in a big city without the money to do much

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