@PNWedwonk oops, read your post too quickly–I thought they raised up the merit. I figured if I worked full time they would reduce the FA–likely it would be nonexistent–and my salary would need to cover the whole shebang. When I said gravy I meant it’s all we would be eligible for, not that it wouldn’t be completely appreciated! We would still try to keep the cost as low as possible but merit would be the only thing we’d be getting. I don’t know what will happen in two years when son is ready to go. Not sure yet how he might do merit wise as he’s just a freshman, but hopefully we will be eligible for some FA at that point.
@citymama9 First I’d say make sure you’re looking at apples to apples – you could be looking at accepted vs enrolled on the common data set. If everyone in your high school applies to the local state school, and lots get in, but only the people for whom it was a reach actually go, the average GPA of the freshman class will be much lower than the average GPA of accepted students. You never know for sure, but there’s a ton of data to help you get a big picture. I also like to look at the yield on the common data set – how many accepted students actually attend. It can help you figure out whether people are just using it as a safety. Be careful to look at the finances, though. That’s a reason a bunch of kids don’t go to some schools – they were hoping for for more financial aid, especially with out-of-state public schools.
It’s really a big picture thing. I made a spreadsheet and compared stats on everything from Naviance numbers to Common Data Set top 25% of GPA and scores (so we could look into merit) to % of need met (many of the schools they applied to met 100%) to location & size. It really helped eliminate some so my kids didn’t waste time applying to places where we’d be pretty much full-pay, which just wasn’t necessary, as there are tons of options out there if you keep looking! If you do this, DEFINITELY have a column for NPC results! It is absolutely not the same as your FAFSA EFC, and don’t assume anything. Schools that seem similar can have wildly different final costs to you.
In our case, the Naviance numbers showed my kids had a much better chance of getting in than the published numbers said, and anecdotally, Naviance was very, very accurate with its projections. The belief is that the difference was weighted vs unweighted and our large public HS (over 2000 kids) has about a zillion AP classes, with high participation, and the kids do well in them.
ok, I’ll reword
*** “At most schools, the college-provide financial aid / merit aid do NOT stack” ***
If you find exceptions great… but per reading many posts here over the years don’t expect it
If you’re a CT resident and your daughter disliked UConn, I would seriously consider visiting UMaine, which, as an earlier poster mentioned, is matching UConn’s cost for CT residents. I visited it with my son a few years ago and was favorably pressed. Beautiful campus, nice facilities, nice size (on the smaller side for a state flagship) and they are very interested in attracting out of state students to help offset the diminishing numbers of 18 year olds locally.
Well, getting merit aid usually causes the need to go down, so there is less to stack. My kids both go to ‘stacking’ schools, so I don’t think it is rare.
Even IF a school allows stacking of aid…many won’t stack so that the parent contribution is not needed. They will only stack to meet unmet need (because remember…most colleges don’t meet full need…so there is a gap that can be filled by the stacked awards).