I was hoping to crowdsource some suggestions for a class of 2023 student who I just started working with through an organization in my city that assists under-resourced students with the college admission process. My student is first-gen, ESL, and a resident of NC. I don’t have the info on ACT or GPA yet, but I’m told that she struggles a bit with the tests because English is not her first language, so I’m guessing they are on the lower side. For now, let’s assume the Act is 25 or less and GPA is 3.0. I hope to have the specifics from her soon.
She is interested in teaching and is looking for small, Christian-based colleges in the south (NC, SC & possibly GA & VA) and will need generous aid. She’ll need safeties, matches & at least one reach, so any intel on any of the smaller state U’s that have solid teaching programs would be welcome as well.
I’m nervous because she’ll need to get in on the EA round for this upcoming application season and doesn’t have a list yet! Any help is appreciated!
How religious does she want? A loose Christian affiliation, or somewhere with required religion courses, conservative values, no co-ed dorms, and/or where her peers will go to Bible study and religious services regularly?
In NC, look at Queens U in Charlotte, Brevard, Campbell, Gardner-Webb. None of those are all that great with FA.
Make sure any school she is looking at is a Title IV school, which means they accept Federal funding…so if she qualifies for a Pell grant she will get that, and she will also be able to take out the $27K in undergrad Federal student loans.
The student you’ll be working with is very fortunate to be living in North Carolina, as it has some of the best in-state tuition costs in the country. Obviously, there’s no Christian affiliation, but there are many Christian organizations on the campuses or communities.
These are some schools I would look into for her:
PUBLICS
UNC-Asheville: Tuition, room & board would be under $15k/year, sticker ($4k for tuition). North Carolina’s public liberal arts college with just over 3k undergrads, but does offer education majors.
UNC-Pembroke: Tuition is $1k. Classified as a commuter campus but 69% of first year students live on-campus. 6300 undergrads.
NC Central: Tuition is $3700. Classified as a commuter campus but 86% of first year students live on-campus. 5300 undergrads. HBCU.
Elizabeth City State: Tuition is $1k. Classified as a residential campus. About 1800 undergrads. HBCU
Fayetteville State: Tuition is $3k. 55% of first year students live on campus. About 5000 undergrads. HBCU
PRIVATES (all meet at least 80% of how they’ve defined financial need)
Roanoke (VA): 84% need met
Berry (GA): 86% need met
Presbyterian (SC): 89% need met
Randolph-Macon (VA): 83% need met
Hollins (VA): 87% need met; all-women’s college which recently got a big donation from MacKenzie Scott
Meredith (NC): 78% need met; all-women’s college
Covenant College (GA): 81% need met
Milligan (TN): 82% need met
Christian Brothers (TN): 99% need met
Catawba (NC): 84% need met
Wingate (NC): 86% need met
These two would be reachier:
Wofford (SC): 88% need met
Furman (SC): 84% need met
ETA: Elizabeth City State & Fayetteville State are also HBCUs.
Thank you for the suggestions - I did search Google and have a list from there but was wondering if anyone one here had any additional suggestions/inside info.
Campbell. https://www.campbell.edu I’m not sure of how much aid they give but Christian and pretty well regarded academically. Not Liberty kinda Christian, but definitely Christian (Baptist).
You could also look at Belmont Abbey near Charlotte (Catholic).
Might check out Guilford (Quaker), but they are pretty laid back about religion there.
If it’s a situation where maybe her parents want her to go to a Christian school that opens it up a lot to schools like Agnes Scott and Hollins and Guilford, maybe even Warren Wilson. All these schools have a chapel on campus but most of the students are not really religious. If she really wants Bible Study and all Campbell Is the one that comes to mind for me.
The Community College to 4 year college route is also great. I forget if you are in NC MomofMab, but Community College is now free for recent grads in NC. If money is an object this is definitely a route worth checking out. She can follow pathways to get into any UNC system school too. (She will need to keep her grades up for UNC and NCSU, esp).
Campbell meets 70% of need, the data for Belmont Abbey is not on College Board’s site, and Guilford meets 55%. Of course, some could be more generous in defining need, and thus, the percentage of need met may not equate to the same numbers of out-of-pocket costs for the family, but this is a starting point.
If she’s open to going further west, there is Birmingham Southern College (AL) and Millsaps College (MS), both are “Colleges that Change Lives” schools, and Union University (TN).
Campbell would be great for an “average” student. Queens is a nice small school with a nice campus in a beautiful part of Charlotte.
Meredith (Raleigh) seems like a great fit for her from the little you’ve posted. It would be a helpful place to ease into.
William Peace college (Raleigh) is very small (730 enrollment) but might be a niche she fits into. It’s also a very nice campus in a hip corner near downtown Raleigh.
None will guarantee enough FinAid, but I think they’re all worth an application given her preferences.
Thought of one more — Emory&Henry in VA might work for her. It’s small and “spiritual” rather than Christian, but rooted in Methodist tradition. Spiritual Life • Emory & Henry
Maybe check out Lynchburg College too in VA. A few kids from my kids’ high school have gone to Greensboro College, too.
In Georgia, possibly LaGrange College (80% of need met)
In Virginia, possibly Bridgewater College (87% of need met), Mary Baldwin University (81% of need met)
@EconPop I live near Queens, so that’s definitely on the list (although I get the impression from her that she wants out of town). I’ve got Meredith, but forgot about William Peace!
@Sweetgum Montreat & Mars Hill are also great options - adding to the list!
@52AG82 I think Texas is too far because of travel costs.
@KatMT adding Mary Baldwin to the list - my aunt is a proud alumnus!
She might like Agnes Scott. It does have a lovely chapel on the grounds. Is she Latina? There is a large Latina population there. Agnes Scott is like 40% white now and 60% people of color. It might be a reach for her, but they have a pretty high acceptance rate. We really liked it and Decatur felt fun and safe and it’s a short Marta ride to greater Atlanta. Downside is that drive down 85 from NC. Agnes Scott has a large endowment and guarantees every student will get $$. They show a need met percentage of 87% for in-state (Georgia) students so not sure how that would translate for a student from NC since the state of GA has the Zell Miller scholarship and the HOPE scholarships. Might be worth checking out and maybe talking to an admissions person to see if it could be a financial possibility for her. The Value of Agnes Scott: An In-Depth Guide | Agnes Scott College
I will add that I think Agnes Scott is an amazingly supportive school and if she can afford it they will do all they can to make good things happen in her life. They have an incredible alumnae network and their focus is really on helping people move up in life and find the lives that they want to lead.
I would recommend looking at Samford University in Birmingham, not sure what kind of scholarships she would get but definitely worth a look. As far as smaller state schools I would take a look at University of North Alabama in Florence. It has a lower COA and has a lower GPA/ACT threshold for scholarships than some state schools, they also waive out of state tuition for students receiving an excellence scholarship. The school was originally known as Florence State Teacher’s College, so it has a long history of educating teachers.
Just popping back in to update some of the stats. Her GPA (not sure if it’s weighted or unweighted) is 3.2
She said her ACT (first sitting) was 16. As I mentioned, she struggles with standardized tests because of the language issue. She plans to take again but I’m guessing we’ll lean towards not submitting, wherever we can.
She is signed up to take AP English Literature & AP Psych (which she says counts for a science requirement), and she is in the 4th level of Math for the state of NC (I don’t know what that is - my kids went to parochial school and their math track was different than what they do in public school). Her public school is under-resourced, and they have limited AP offerings.
I sent her a long list of colleges based on the awesome suggestions here, and others that I found via various searches. She was very adamant about not liking certain colleges, and only wants to consider those that are in NC & SC. I have to go back and check the GPA requirements for these but here’s her current list (#1 and #2 are her favorites - the others she “ok” with, but we’re going to explore them further):
Bob Jones University (loves this one - it’s the one she picked on her own)
Anderson University
UNC - Charlotte
UNC - Asheville
Wingate University
Montreat
I’ve asked her to check into Newberry, Belmont Abbey & Appalachian State. She doesn’t like Queens, UNC-G, Mars Hill or Presbyterian (SC).