Crazy Question: Need help finding school that is not a top school!

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi Everyone
Here is my problem. DD is a junior in HS, strong 4.3 gpa, good extra's, 28 ACT.
She wants to major in Athletic Training. I have alist of over 300 schools that have that major...so we are fine there.</p>

<p>My older daughter attends Iowa State as a freshman, and she loves loves it! They were very generous with their non need based aid (trust me we needed it, but FAFSA said we did not) They gave her $15,000 a year for 4 years. All academic based. Younger daughters stats are even better than olders, so we are hopeful.</p>

<p>My younger one does not want to go to the same college as her older sister. BUT she wants everything that Iowa State has...Lots of involvement in athletics, strong greek life, big school, beautiful campus, not a party school, strong academics in sciences. AND THE BIGGEST REQUIREMENT is mine: STRONG and I mean STRONG non need merit!</p>

<p>Sooooo we are heading out to Univ. Nebraska...BUT I just don't know where else to point her. If I suggest major schools like UNC, Univ of Florida, Florida State, Penn State, etc...she is not THAT strong to get 1/2 tuition or close to it. (Did I mention that I will have 3 kids in college when she enters?) What were we thinking?? lol</p>

<p>So does anyone have any suggestions of schools with very strong athletic programs, but are not Big 10, or TOP schools, where her stats will be strong enough to garner some good money.. I don't want to say second tier, but I think you all know what I mean. I think that most private schoolss will be out, as they are so much more expensive that even $10,000 leaves us with $30,000 to pay.</p>

<p>I am looking for a good solid school with a strong program that we can afford so she is not saddled in debt for the rest of her life.</p>

<p>any suggestions my fellow CCer's??</p>

2

<p>I was thinking the UMich might be good, depending on her UW GPA and if she is willing to try to bring the ACT up a bit. My son got an OOS scholarship to UMich which amounted to about $20K and I know there were other OOS scholarships available. PM me if you would like some additional information.</p>

3

<p>Alabama has automatic merit scholarships. She could get a very generous one if she pulls her ACT up a bit.</p>

4

<p>I was also going to suggest Alabama (or Auburn; they have similar scholarships.) Since she’s only a junior, it’s certainly possible to pull that ACT up a little. I’d also suggest having her take the SATs once. Some kids naturally score better on one vs. the other.</p>

5

<p>Auburn scholarships are indeed crazy generous. I know someone with high GPA and around 2050 SAT who got full ride plus monthly stipend.</p>

6

<p>I don’t know whether her ACT is high enough, but Pitt offers great merit scholarships and there is no place like Pittsburgh for college and professional sports.</p>

<p>Also, Iowa State is a BIG place. I know I attended with my best friend and only saw her when we set it up. I don’t suppose I ran into her on campus more than a dozen times in four years.</p>

7

<p>You should post this in the financial aid and scholarship section. It’s a favorite subject over there.</p>

8

<p>Fairly up-to-date information:
<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&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Older information, but timeless research advice:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Do-it-yourself exam prep advice for improving the ACT score:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Go Cyclones!</p>

9

<p>Look at the college info on Kiplinger’s…they show Average need based aid AND Average Non-need based aid so that would give you an idea of which ones have merit scholarships.</p>

10

<p>University of South Carolina is fairly generous as well.</p>

11

<p>Tulane is not bad on aid…</p>

12

<p>buzymom…sent you a pm re uab. another alabama school with automatic merit</p>

13

<p>Ohio U? Just a thought. Also, don’t forget that once you have 3 in school your chances for need-based aid will be greater.</p>

14

<p>Penn State and OSU had fairly low list costs for Out Of State ( to start with); as I recall OSU was more generous with merit to OOS that Penn State</p>

<p>In re: getting the data: I second Bopper’s point in #9: getting data will help you</p>

<p>For example</p>

<p>UMich’s list price for OOS is 47k; they offered an average of 6k merit aid to 29% of frosh </p>

<p>U Wisconsin’s Madison’s list for OOS is $35k; they offered an average of 2k merit aid to 17% of frosh</p>

15

<p>IU hasn’t announced there changes to the auotomatic merit yet, but it is still a school to consider, especially if she can get her ACT up to a 30. They were offering 9,000 for auto merit.</p>

<p>Just saw the comment about non-party school, so that may take Indiana out of the running. There are lots of kids that don’t party 24/7 but it is hard to believe that if you walk through a non-honors freshman dorm on Saturday morning.</p>

16

<p>mizzbee, son loved IU and got the 9k plus honors merit but still left a lot!,</p>

17

<p>Are you in Iowa? Look at the schools in states touching yours. </p>

<p>U of Arkansas, for example, gives in-state tuition if you have at least a 24 ACT, but only for students in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. There may be schools in neighboring states that give similar deals to students in your state.</p>

18

<p>^^^I didn’t know that about Arkansas! Thank you. It’s on D2’s initial list so good to note :)</p>

19

<p>My son also qualified for the the 9k scholarship at IU. Note of caution: they raised the GPA cutoff from 3.6 to 3.8 from last year to this year. So verify the cutoffs, etc. each year. </p>

<p>Other notes about our experience. Emory gave us exactly what our EFC indicated. </p>

<p>Virginia Tech gave an unexpected 5k academic scholarship, 1st year only. Even with OOS tuition and without the 5k, VT is less expensive than Emory. My son has decided to study engineering. Go Hokies.</p>

20

<p>Since it seems like some knowledgeable FA folks are commenting on here-- do you think the will use best combined SAT scores, or just best from one test? D’s CR can’t go much higher, but the math is quite low (LD related) so I’m not sure if it’s worth having her test again.</p>