<p>My son is a top lacrosse player and is being recruited by many Division 1 schools.</p>
<p>Athletic scholarships for lacross are not very large so we are looking into financial aid as an option to be able to afford to go to these schools.</p>
<p>Someone said that you can get more money in financial aid from a private university than you can from a public university.</p>
<p>I wanted to see if anyone has any experience in this and can explain it to me.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Just a quick response, as a parent of student at out of state public flagship.</p>
<p>Large publics, such as Wisconsin, UCLA etc, are partly funded with state dollars with the express mission of educating and improving lives in-state. Tuition is low for instate students and higher for out of state students but still not as high as at typical private schools (though, the exception is tuition at Michigan and Berkeley is close to tuition at privates). Financial aid resources are focused primarily on in state students. </p>
<p>In contrast, some privates are able to be much more generous in meeting demonstrated financial. </p>
<p>For example, out of state tuition for a large public might be $27,00 vs. $42,000 for a private school, plus whatever costs there are for room and board. Initially, it sounds like it must be cheaper to go to the large public. However, the large public might not offer anything more than loans to the family, so it could be cheaper to attend the private school IF that school meets demonstrated financial need (the school’s definition of need, not ours, unfortunately) and the family financial aid application shows eligibility for financial aid. </p>
<p>Schools are now required to have a “net cost calculator” on their website which you can complete to get a rough estimate of your actual cost of attendance at that school. I would suggest visiting the net cost calculators for a few schools, public and private, your son is looking at, to get a feel for how that varies.</p>
<p>Will your son likely be eligible for merit money to combine with his partial athletic scholarship… or are you looking primarily for need-based financial aid to close the gap between the COA and your EFC?</p>
<p>Go on to a few of the Div 1 schools’ websites and run the quick financials calculator…run your flagship university and an out of state public your son might be interested in and a couple privates…to give yourself ballparks…</p>
<p>You haven’t mentioned D3 schools, but if he’s strong enough academically, you could also investigate some of the deep-pocketed D3 schools (mostly East Coast)–the schools typically in the U.S. News top 20 liberal arts schools in the country. No scholarships, but generous need-based aid. Some will meet full need without any loans. Athletic talent can tip a kid into getting admitted to one of those schools when he normally wouldn’t be (especially as an FA student). The advantage, of course, is that if your son can’t play for some reason, the grant money doesn’t go away. Again, the best thing to do is to run the fa calculators.</p>
<p>Back in April you posted,
</p>
<p>If your son doesn’t have firm DI interest by the end of his sophomore year/club team season next summer…and you are concerned about academic fit at some of the more selective DI and DIII schools with deep pockets, I suggest you explore some DII colleges as financial and academic safeties. </p>
<p>Your son could likely qualify for partial athletic scholarship, merit awards and other institutional grants based on his intended major, religious affiliation, civic involvement, accomplishments in the arts, alumni ties, etc. His total FA package could very well be more attractive for your family, than the COA at your in-state flagship. </p>
<p>[US</a> Lacrosse : NCAA DII Men](<a href=“http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DII/teams/index]US”>http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DII/teams/index)</p>
<p>Have your son find schools that look interesting to him, and run your numbers through their net price calculators. Since you are a couple years away from those figures being credible… you can also go to each school’s Admissions page and then to the Financial Aid tab to get a feel for what types of grant money might be available to your family based on your son’s projected academic stats and extracurricular activities. The same premise holds true for lower ranked (academically and athletically) DI private institutions. </p>
<p>But don’t panic just yet… from what you have posted previously, he is a man among boys, physically… and that’s sure to garner lots of attention from coaches in a contact sport - especially as he matures/puts on more muscle mass. He could also have a bloom year academically in 10th grade, as well as a testing breakthrough wrt the PSAT, which would position him for more options down the road.</p>