I just found an example, though, of a private that could work. Augustana, in the quad cities area, is a nice liberal arts college that has engineering. Sticker price is $48k, but she’d be eligible for a $22k Presidential Scholarship that, combined with the $5.5k loan, gets you to $20k.
After following this entire thread, I’m inclined to suspect that the OP’s daughter was not fully invested in the college search and application process. Some students aren’t, and they need pushing and prodding that this girl evidently failed to receive. I cannot imagine that anyone, including her own peers, told her that she had a significant chance for admission to either Chicago or Columbia without a “hook.” Not a single person on this thread would have given her encouragement for either of those two. She was probably advised that Denver would be a match or safety for her, with no regard for financial considerations, and she casually added UI on the assumption that admission would be automatic, even in an “impacted” STEM program. Some kids get excited and obsessed to a fault, and drive parents and counselors mad with new suggestions. I am sorry this happened to your household, OP, and I’m sure it can work out, but it sounds as if your daughter wasn’t enthusiastic enough about college to put a fraction of those “four years of hard work” into ensuring that she would be going to college this fall.
I don’t think that attitude is going to help anybody. The system isn’t to blame here. I’m not sure why there even has to be blame. The situation just IS at this point; try to understand what went wrong (short list with not enough safeties), what your options are (take a gap year and reapply to a new list of schools next year without taking any credit courses this year, check NACAC for schools still accepting apps & giving financial aid for this year, or attend community college), and move on with a new plan.
As parents, it’s up to us to understand what’s going on and help guide the process. I homeschool, so I handled the entire school part of the application process (except the reference letters from outside teachers) including the school profile, book lists, course descriptions, 4 years of report cards, yearly test scores, guidance counselor letter, proof of high school equivalency, standardized test reports, immunization records, and yearly plan of instruction), plus all the financials required of the parents and whatever special things individual colleges wanted…for 13 schools. My son got accepted to every school he applied to, received merit aid at several, and ultimately decided to attend a local public so he can graduate without debt. But I was involved in the process. I think that once you get more involved in your daughter’s, things will turn out fine. Just make sure to run the Net Price Calculator on each college website.
Good luck.
They’ve raised their boundaries for merit awards. D was accepted OOS with a 32 ACT and didn’t even get offered for the Honors College. She was full pay and transferred after her first year for other reasons.
It’s pretty obvious the list for application was weak, but it’s water under the bridge. It’s possible to do this with 4 colleges but the lack of financial safety was definitely an issue. Hopefully the OP can rally and start anew to help his D for another application cycle in a couple months. I’m not seeing where engineering was what was desired since University of Chicago doesn’t have engineering? So why Chicago but not Northwestern? But maybe I’m misreading. If it is engineering then there’s a nice list going with Montana State, Alabama, Arizona, Wyoming and I would add Michigan Tech which is an very excellent program and much easier to get into than UofM or Illinois and not too bad of a stretch distance-wise for Illinois folks. Purdue, University of minnesota or Case Western might have been a possibility, also., but might be financial stretches. They could also run some net price calculations on some of the fairly near smaller ABET engineering programs (if it’s engineering) and explore the possibilities like Lafayette, Bucknell, Lehigh, Hope, and Augustana.
Is this thread a joke?
@ lostparent “She may need some help, I realize. But first, I don’t want to do any more harm. I’ve done enough already.”
Well, I really think that some things should be set in motion right away. If you are afraid that you will do more harm by trying to do them yourself, then I would hire a knowledgeable college consultant to guide and support you through the process, and I would do it while you have most of the summer to use.
If you mail me, I will give you the name of the college consultant we are using to support our second daughter. She is very knowledgeable, not very expensive by college consultant standards, and lives in Illinois, which is even better for you.
I’ll throw in a +1 for Pitt and add Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology: https://www.mst.edu/
OP, perhaps the D didn’t want to go to UIUC and didn’t complete the application? Was it a place she really wanted to attend?
I will say that the college app process for my two kids was a significant effort. They did the work on the apps, but I was involved with the logistics of organizing and tracking everything. This is light years from my experience in HS, when my parents didn’t even KNOW where I applied, much less offered guidance or logistical help.
If you haven’t run an EFC calculation yet, you need to do so NOW. (As a long-time poster, Curmudgeon, once put it, EFC means “Every Freakin’ Cent.”) If you are unable to pay full freight, then your D has to know what your budget is so that you can sit down together as adults and develop a list that will get her good chances at FA or merit scholarships.
I’d encourage your D to sit down and look at her essays. Sometimes, after the glow of writing them has passed, they can be wince-inducing. Essays are intended to demonstrate how the young person thinks – what motivates them, what they are really excited about. They do NOT have to be about academics.
My older S had an English teacher look st one of his essays (she used to work in admissions at our flagship) and she thought his essay was totally off base. He took this to mean that he was actually using his writing skills for their intended purpose, not just for regurgitating a school assignment-type prompt. He was right and the teacher was wrong, as it turns out…
If your D wants to share essays privately, some of us could offer suggestions.
Re: community college – if your D wants to go for merit $$, I would not do community college. Some colleges would then treat her as a transfer student and scholarship/FA can often be less generous for transfers vs. incoming freshmen.
OP, you have come to the right place to vent and get some advice.
“Thanks. Getting it under 20K will get us as parents back into the discussion (U of Denver wanted more than 2x that amount!). Will keep all of this in mind when she’s ready to move on this.”
If you can only afford $20k per year, then UIUC engineering was unaffordable to the tune of about $15k per year, and you’d be in the exact same position even if she HAD gotten in.
As for the schools you should be looking at instead: Your daughter’s current numbers qualify her for an automatic full-tuition scholarship at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, which has a strong reputation in engineering. She’d only have to pay for room & board and expenses, which should be about $15k/year. As an Illinois resident, Missouri University of Science & Technology should cost her about $20k/year. Very strong engineering there. As for schools in cities, she has a real shot at engineering scholarships at UW-Milwaukee that would bring the cost below $20k/year.
Regarding Illinois, my daughter applied to their engineering program. She received several friendly letters and information packets, was admitted with an honors college and scholarship offer. They even offered to pay her travel expenses to visit. I can’t speak to email communication because I wasn’t looking at her college emails but I assume they were also in email contact with her. I don’t see the reason for so much hostility–considering they are a huge public University I thought they did pretty well and were more friendly and communicative than some of the privates she applied to.
The schools which did not admit her generally sent an email on the decision date or else you could log in to their site on that date for admission results. Not sure what else you would expect?
i don’t feeling hostile toward colleges is all that big of a deal. Through the years there are couple I’ve felt “hostile” toward 
On the UIUC application, unless it has changed in three years since my son applied, the application itself is quite time consuming and tedious, the student has to enter every class taken every semester from 9th grade on, with the grades received. I can imagine a situation in which the OP’s daughter did not complete the application and so was rejected for an incomplete app. Of course, as others have mentioned, admission to UIUC College of Engineering is very competitive and the OP’s daughter’s stats would likely make it a 50/50 chance of admission, or even less. Similarly, as everything at UIUC, and at most schools, is done through online portals, unless a student is checking for updates they may not know what might be missing.
Didn’t read the whole thread. I’m sorry for your angst.
I believe that your daughter would be an automatic admit at Truman State University a public liberal arts honors college in Missouri which is very inexpensive. This is a great option and likely within your budget. They are still accepting applications. It’s perfect for your situation.
Tuition for non-Missouri residents is $13,376.
She needs to apply NOW before school ends otherwise she has no legitimate way to get her transcript sent.
@ClassicRockerDad, is Truman good for STEM? I thought the OP said his daughter was planning to study a STEM subject.
It’s a liberal arts honors college. They have math and science. They don’t have engineering, but neither does Denver or UChicago.
Given the cost constraints and the quality of the student body, I think it’s a gem on paper. It’s also not too far from home, if that’s a consideration.
The whole list of college openings is here
http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/College-Openings/Pages/College-Openings-Results.aspx
I don’t see another one with the quality of student body along with an affordable pricetag.
29% of Freshman have ACT between 30-36
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/truman-state-university
select the “Applying” tab
Just because it’s not hard to get in doesn’t mean it’s not hard to get through.
University of Denver definitely has engineering, @classicrockerdad New building going up as we type.
http://www.du.edu/rsecs/
My general advice is that you can start in engineering and transfer out if you don’t like it, but trying to get on the engineering train after freshman year is pretty difficult at most colleges, and almost inevitably requires an unplanned extra year. If the OP’s daughter took some time to figure out if she really wanted engineering, it might clarify the options.
<<<
Would like to know why you think this list is odd. She developed it working with an academic guidance counselor.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Well…the proof is in the pudding. She had no school to attend except a school that cost twice what you can afford.
So…odd list.
amazing that your DD’s boarding school only charged $5k per year (guessing she got need-based aid), and UDenver expected you to pay more than $40k per year…unless UDenver doesn’t meet need…and doesn’t come close, either.
mom2collegekids - Prep schools use separate criteria for awarding financial aid. It seems counterintuitive, but my younger son did not receive a single scholarship offer as generous as the partial scholarship he received at boarding school (Willamette and Eckerd were very close), and most colleges had higher sticker prices.
P.S. (#218): Our FAFSA EFC was well above what we paid after scholarship at boarding school.