College Suggestions in the West at $33K annual budget after merit

Congrats on Rohde Island! My wife and I enjoyed a quick visit to Newport last summer!

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Good luck with the next attempt. Did you share U. of Portland’s offer with them? I would assume they’d consider that a direct rival. And you could always share Willamette’s, too, to show that there’s multiple schools that are giving lower net prices for your daughter.

My initial call was met with “we do not negotiate, consider other merit offers and will not change the financial aid package”.

I successfully negotiated with another college and sell/negotiate for a living.

Waiting for my daughter to get a call scheduled with someone in admissions.

Seattle U was the second most expensive of her 10 acceptances. Some are not so comparable but 4-5 are at least somewhat.

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They may not negotiate, but maybe asking if there are any other scholarships she could apply for, any other grants? School saves face by not negotiating, and student still gets more money.

My twin 2023 nephews were here today and in talking to them they are still scrambling for money and have embraced the idea that even $500 helps, that even if it is only for 1 year it is better than nothing. One applied for an award sponsored by my credit union and I’d only learned of it days before the deadline. I told him that I will look into a scholarship from my father’s fraternity that the other grandkids got 9-20 years ago (these two are the last of the grandkids, and 20 years younger than their older siblings) and hope it is still available ($2k one time, but each of the other 8 grandkids got it). After the first year, some of the departments have small grants they can give out. The student just has to stay on it.

My kids didn’t get a ton of extra money after first year, but did get some, got jobs working on campus, figured out how to save a lot on books, etc. They always got enough to make up for any increases in tuition and fees even though their base grants and scholarships didn’t go up.

My friend is reading scholarship applications for two different organizations right now; I think they are for about $3k each. She’s shocked at how few students have applied for them. Students have to do the work to keep the money coming in.

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Where do you find scholarships like this listed? I think I need to get on my D23 to apply to some, especially if we are somehow attempting to have her attend the small LAC she’s smitten with. We hear it’s going to be hard to get additional aid from them even if we share other offers from schools that offered more $. In the end it may not happen and we might insist she choose one of her in-state public choices, but if we are at all to consider the LAC she might have to get scrappy to help out a little!

Before looking for outside scholarships look at the policy of the schools your D is considering
some schools decrease their financial aid equal to the amount of any external scholarships received (some schools require these scholarships be paid directly to the schools as well).

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Oh yes, for sure. We asked about that last week at the admitted student day, and this particular school applies the scholarship first to reduce the loans offered as part of the package (they have offered $10K per year in no-interest loans plus we would be taking the direct federal student aid). So hopefully it would go towards that and reduce what we’d need to repay.

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It might be kind of late at this point, but check with your school’s guidance counselor for local scholarships. Senior year I got the list from the GC, and googled scholarships for our county/state/their majors. My DDs applied to every one that they qualified for (that was reasonably narrowed down- not the nationwide ones they had no chance at).

Then also if their college has department/foundation scholarships, have them apply for those every year. A lot of kids don’t bother.

DD’19 got $7200 for freshman year in this way. For us that was huge. DD’17 also got a similar amount over time between senior year scholarships and continuing student ones (hers had foundation scholarships every semester). Both of them also worked.

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Yes, the high school had a list of local scholarships (and it is okay to check online at other high schools too). Many were restricted to those going to colleges in the same state, to children of military, etc., but there were a lot of really little ones either for essays or art projects from places like a local photography studio, the Elks club, American Legion. My kids didn’t get any of those but a friend of my daughter’s got 5 or so of them! She submitted the art, wrote the essays, followed up. They had a ‘scholarship night’ at the school and THAT’s where I learned about a lot of them - too late! I think the ones who benefit from that late knowledge are the younger siblings. There was one small award from the local bar association for a video of a safety message and they showed the clip at the awards event. It was soooo dumb, but I think it may have been the only entry. $500 bucks.

The colleges also have lists of them. I remember my daughter’s college was in the right area for her to get a scholarship from a women’s group in another county (did she apply? NO).

Many moons ago, I was accepted to Catholic U and when I went to the admissions office, they handed me a list of scholarships I should apply for. Some were from small groups, usually catholic like a knights of columbus chapter in W. Virginia or from a group in Kansas. All were small amounts but even back then Catholic knew every dollar counted.

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Well, admitted student day at Seattle U went pretty well. After further review my initial COA was correct saw something with a travel cost estimate and was bundled into COA which tricked me.

My D should be signing up for Seattle U tomorrow! No willingness on their part to give more merit unfortunately.

Did get an e mail from Univ of Portland for another $3k per year today. My D said “I don’t care”.

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Another good example though - for those interested - why you shouldn’t say no (except if total disinterest).

These schools seem to have an “incentive” budget - that they don’t use fully - and have the ability to go deeper should they need it to close the deal.

I hate to make it sound business like - but that’s what this is.

Congrats on Seattle and for being done!!

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Congratulations to your D on making her decision, and thanks for keeping us all updated! I’ve enjoyed following your family’s journey. Hope you stay active on the boards!

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Super last minute e mail from Portland St to say that my D qualified for WUE and an extra $3k scholarship.
Sorry Portland St, too little too late :smiley:.

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U Portland and Portland State. The Portlands making a late push.

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Yeah, Portland has unfortunately had some issues with homelessness and crime which probably hurts college yields. Univ of Portland is up on a hill “the bluff”, in a quiet residential neighborhood and a bit more sheltered from these issues. Portland St is kind of in the middle of it. Wonder if Lewis and Clark has done something similar given it is a Portland area SLAC? Reed is also in the area but normally only grants financial/non merit aid.

I think Univ of Portland was my D’s 3rd choice probably so she did like and consider.

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Rumor in the Portland Catholic high school gossip mill is that U of Portland is really hurting this year. No one from my daughter’s class is attending.

Interesting. Reasons? Are the classmates primarily going out of the area? I thought UP’s tour/presentation was pretty good.

I think there’s a general feeling that Portland is too unsafe right now. I’ve spent lots of time at UP over the years and it’s in a great area, but you don’t really want your kid downtown hanging out.

Washington State, Gonzaga, Seattle U, and even UW, remain popular but there’s huge increase in kids leaving the area. Creighton, Loyola NO, Baylor, Pepperdine, TCU, Arizona, Santa Clara, and Notre Dame, all big this year.

ETA and Carroll in MT! 3 kids going to Carroll this year.

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My husband usually does not have strong opinions but he refused to all allow our daughter to consider any schools in Portland due to what he considers the volatile policies and situation there.

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Same! We are not even considering any colleges in Portland for the same reason.

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