<p>I found women’s colleges to have better merit aid. There are many other positives at women’s colleges also.</p>
<p>Good Morning, Everyone! Thanks again, 2College, I’ll check out the threads and other things you have suggested. AXW, I appreciate that good information about NJ. Checkbook, that is good to know about all girl colleges, but our daughter definitely wants a Co-ed school. With all the SUNY suggestions, we’ll have to check out Stonybrook and Albany. I know that SUNY Binghamton and Buffalo are also good schools, but are in the cold weather belt and longer distances away. My husband is pushing for Rutger’s at this point. I have a concern about it being too large a school, but we have a visit arranged there in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see what our daughter thinks. Thanks again, everyone and have a great day! DoveMom</p>
<p>It is good to have financial safeties in the mix. Something we considered about distance: a short, cheap flight is better than a five-hour one-way drive. If you are close to Newark or Philly, check out which airlines fly where. If your daughter is interested in a city school, Pitt is one that gives nice merit money and is a quick flight.</p>
<p>Worth considering:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>I was also going to suggest University of Pittsburgh. Known for giving good merit aid. My niece went there on a nice merit scholarship.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Some top schools don’t give merit scholarships or only award a few scholarships to highly desirable students. Even if your younger child’s stats are high, there’s no guarantee she’d get one if the scholarships are highly competitive and other issues are involved…such as URM status, regional desirability, or some other desired issue along with high stats. </p></li>
<li><p>If your younger child will need merit scholarships in order for your family to afford college, then she needs to apply to a few schools that she is ASSURED that she will get big merit awards for her stats. Those schools could be her financial safety schools. She can still apply to some reach schools and hope for some great aid, but as a backup, she’ll need to apply to a few financial safety schools - just in case.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>CC Important links to Auto Scholarships…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>BTW…you mention that you can afford about half of tuition. Do you really mean tuition? Or do you mean half of COA? If a school’s tuition is $35k (or more when she actually enrolls), but the room, board, fees, books, etc, is another $18k, then just being able to afford half of $35k will still leave about $35k per year uncovered. Certainly, borrowing that much each year is not wise.</p>
<p>MD, good point about traveling another way than by car! Thanks to you and BH for the recommendation of Pitt. Dig & Mom2, I’ll check it out that scholarship link! Mom2, we do have safety schools she will apply to, but from the information on this thread, the top schools seem to be partially a case of “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” If she wants to try for a more prestigious school, she’ll need to find some merit money. Yes, I should have said we can pay half of the expenses (tuition, room & board, etc.) for a more competitive school. Thanks again for all of the good tips!</p>
<p>After being on this site for just a few days, I’ve learned a lot and know I have much more to learn. I’m very glad I discovered CC at this point in my HSD’s Junior year. One thing I’ve been wondering about is why are college expenses so high? If all of these colleges are giving merit scholarships, financial aid, etc., doesn’t it show that something is wrong with this picture? I’m sure there is a reason (way beyond me) that this system developed over the years, but it seems a bit crazy to me!</p>