<p>Hi all. I am a rising senior in high school and recently voicing concerns to my parents about college. They are very concerned about paying since my dad makes about $65k a year and can only pay about $7200/year for college. I am looking for places that are known to meet a lot of the need in grants and scholarships because my dad is very against loans. I live in New York and I wont be allowed to go furthern south than VA or very far west. Mainly im interested in a LA education at a midsized institution. My interests are mainly in the social sciences.</p>
<p>my stats are as follows:</p>
<p>about a ~92 unweighted GPA
1920 SATs (670 verbal, 600 math, 650 writing) I plan on taking them again in october and boosting my scores to a 2000+ hoping for a 2100
Taking as many APs as my school allows
SAT2s:
Biology:740
U.S History:680</p>
<p>E.Cs
model congress 2 years as a delegate, 1 year as an advisor and next year as a supervisor
2 years of debate team
Arabic Club (introduction to written and reading arabic)
1 year of volunteer work</p>
<p>Would you be interested in the NY State SUNY system? You would be an excellent candidate for them. There's all sorts of sizes in campuses and both urban and rural settings.Financially they would fit the bill.</p>
<p>tiss, look at the "help for a friend thread" for some suggestions, mostly Midwest. Also look at Lycoming, York, Drew, Rider,The College of NJ, and Elizabethtown which are all closer to New York and merit is possible at your present stat level. If your scores improve you could look for merit aid at Villanova or Providence,too. See if you like the looks of any of those, and that will help us zero in on what you want in a school.There are wonderful schools out there. You'll have trouble limiting yourself to a reasonable number.</p>
<p>Echo the recommendation to look at Villanova for the presidential scholarship. Might also check into Fairfield. A safety school which could come through with lots of merit aid would be Seton Hall.</p>
<p>I would be interested in SUNY Geneseo, but I dont believe I can foot the $15k bill. Also, some of those may be great schools such as Villanova, but I would not be able to go to a place where there are no jews on campus. There has to be a number of jews for my school to allow me to go someplaces
Also, I am generally looking for a midsized school... some of these schools are a bittt too small for my tastes. a good number for me is about 3000-8000 students</p>
<p>Tiss - with a $65K annual family income, your FAFSA- EFC will probably be under $15K -- so you might qualify for some need based aid at the SUNY's. Use the calculators at finaid.org to get an idea of where you will come out. </p>
<p>You can search any college and get enrollment figures plus links to the local Hillel. No info on Villanova (unfortunately - and that's not a good sign -- Fordham and Boston College both have Hillel chapters even though the number of Jewish students on campus is relatively small).</p>
<p>Friends D just finished her freshman year at Genesceo.She got some merit $$ so you'd have to look into that.Was attracted by that "honors college of the SUNY system" campaign.Plenty of jewish students on campus.She enjoyed her first year, complaints were the size of the student body (little too small for her tastes) and relative isolation of the campus/town...nothing to do so alot of drinking..She's transferring to SUNY Binghamton.an honor's program of some sort.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania and Ohio are full of excellent small liberal arts schools with good aid based on financial need. The numbers you quote regarding family income and available cash are compatible with many aid packages I have seen for schools like these, though you should plan on some small loans, try for some local scholarships, and plan on working as much as makes sense (a lot in the summer; a little during the school year). These schools can be very affordable. Bump your SAT scores up a bit and you'll be in good shape. Schools to look at. . .College of Wooster, Allegheny, Ohio Wesleyan, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Denison. . .</p>
<p>Thanks reidm. Ill look into the ones you mentioned. If anyone else has more suggestions I am very open to them, as I am trying to make up a list of schools to apply to before the summer</p>
<p>EDIT: Also many of these schools suggested seem very small <2000 students Id rather be a tad bigger and many of the reviews Ivve been reading (studentsreview,campusdirt) make them out to be frat dominated and lacking of social lives</p>
<p>Hi Tiss. NY Mom and Suny-Oswego graduate here. I am also looking at U's in Mid-Atlantic for my d that has reasonable tuition and where she would not be the only Jewish kid on campus. If financial consideration is of extreme importance, it's really hard to find anything that beats SUNY prices for NY kids. The major exception would be CUNY. Even if you get $10,000 merit award from a private U, it will probably still cost more than a SUNY. and tuition at U Conn- U Delaware-Maryland is between 15,000-20,000 with R&B approx. $8000 . I believe a lot of the schools mentioned above will still cost you considerably more than SUNY and personally I think you will get as good an education (if not better) at SUNY Binghamton or Geneseo. Get a copy of the " SUNY Viewbook" as it gives info on each campus or check out the SUNY.edu website. Though your family income may get you a great financial aid package, you will not get the specific info until late in the admission process. So I think you should concentrate on finding the right SUNY/CUNY college for you, and then add a few other schools to the list. Our HS on LI sends a lot of kids to SUNY Albany as many kids want to be in a more urban area than Bing. or Geneseo. Good luck.</p>
<p>Tiss, almost all schools are going to include loans in their offer, as they will work study. However, you are free to reject any or all of the loans and work study and only accept the scholarship and grant aid. You should be aware that the family contribution IS NOT based on what a family can afford to pay directly to college expenses out of their yearly income. Instead the family contribution IS based on what reasonable loans parents are expected to take out to pay for their child's college expenses. If your dad is only willing to pay $7000 or so a year period, there is no way a private college is going to make up the difference in strictly scholarship and grant aid unless you find a school where you are in the top few percent of all applicants - and even then, you shouldn't count on it. You might need to think about how much money you can earn over summers and during the school year and how much you personally are willing to take out in loans.</p>
<p>I understand that loans are inevitable, but I hear the SUNY schools are notorious for only giving aid with loans and near nothing in grants and scholarship. Taking out 8000+ in loans is not an option.</p>
<p>Hi again- if loans are not an option and $ is a big factor, you should also consider a community college for the first 2 years. If you can go to a local comm. college and live at home for the first 2 years, you can save a considerable amount of money. Many community colleges in NYS have "articulation" agreements with 4 year institutions including Geneseo-Cornell-U of Rochester and most other SUNY's. You may have more options if you are able to keep the costs down for the first 2 years. Good luck.</p>
<p>See if you can visit some of those smaller schools while they are in session. A larger LAC in Ohio is Wittenberg. Best to apply to a mix of schools you like to see how the financial picture looks - a SUNY or two, some small privates, maybe a larger private in an an adjacent state.</p>