<p>thanks tk, any other ideas for fin safeties?</p>
<p>Trinity University might be a match/low match for you. If you have family near San Antonio and could live off campus, the total cost of attendance (COA) would be in the mid $20Ks, before aid. Or UT-Dallas? I don’t know squat about Texas, but the idea is to look for less expensive in-state options, or else less selective out-of-state schools with good finaid (including merit scholarships). </p>
<p>St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) is another good public liberal arts college. Beautiful campus, solid academics, more traditional than Evergreen. It’s more selective and more expensive than Evergreen, but less selective and less expensive than CC (though I don’t have a good sense of where you’d stand for admission and especially aid as an out-of-state applicant.) You cannot count on it as a financial and academic safety but it might be a good “match” school.</p>
<p>Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland is another nice little private LAC. It is slightly less selective than SMCM, and seems to offer a fair amount of merit aid. In 2008-2009, 115 first-time full-time freshman were awarded institutional non-need-based aid. Average merit award: $11,541. Total COA before aid is in the low $40Ks (a little cheaper than CC or Macalester). The campus & setting is beautiful, it’s old (10th oldest in the USA), and is located about 75 miles from Washington DC or Baltimore (for internships, major league sports, shopping etc.)</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are usually given to applicants that meet or exceed the top 1-5% of applicants in that particular school. You may be pleasantly surprised at the exceptional level of Honors Colleges within universities that may be generally considered as “lower tier”. However, a full ride in an Honors College Program can be both academically challenging, provide valuable internships and alumni connections, as well as providing excellent merit aid, which can be half to full rides. Worth checking out with your fine stats.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, do you think I could get into Colorado Boulder honors college?</p>
<p>I would not expect it to be significantly easier for you as an OOS applicant than getting into UT (Austin) as in-state, and I wonder what the advantage would be for you (since it would be that much more expensive, probably). Though it’s a beautiful campus and Boulder is a fun town. So check it out. Vist the UC-Boulder thread here.</p>
<p>Sorry but there are hardly any threads on the CU forum, so are you saying that I would have the same chance to get into CU honors as I would to UT regular, and that I would not likely be granted merit aid at cu?</p>
<p>I was assuming since people said i could get large merit at UAlabama and LSU, maybe I could at Colorado. but i guess that is not the case</p>