<p>If you need financial assistance, you need to find out if you QUALIFY for such. Many schools give FA, but they won’t give ONE CENT if they don’t think you have determined need.</p>
<p>You mention that your D has college savings. That will get “hit hard” with expectation, plus an expectation from your own income. Schools may determine that you have NO need. </p>
<p>Go to a couple of Net Price Calculators on some schools’ websites…like USan Francisco, USD, Chapman, etc…and see what aid you might get once you include the college savings, income, your savings, etc.</p>
<p>My son is at the University of Redlands which is small and residential, most students live on campus all 4 years. With her grades and scores she’d be eligible for $16K in merit aid and the art award, which is $3500. COA is around $53K/year.</p>
<p>With a 27 and a lot of luck, 'SC would be a Spring Admit at best. The only Claremonts which might look at a 27 might be Pitzer and Scripps, but all of the Claremonts have gotten focuses on test scores in the past few years. </p>
<p>A higher score would help tremendously.</p>
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<p>With the exceptions of Cal Poly SLO and SD State, both of which have a large on campus community, the Cal States are primarily commuter colleges.</p>
<p>California looks good in the movies and sounds good from the distance but su*ks for many people that live/had lived there. </p>
<p>SF - if you are not in high-tech, good luck finding a decent job that pays enough to live there comfortably.
LA - ugly giant sprawl with no sense of community but huge sense of superficiality.
SD- actually nice but not enough jobs.</p>
<p>This is a great list. I’ve been looking at them and financially, they’re comparable to private schools here in Ohio, alot of them anyway, so financial aid is always a must. She does prefer the small, residential school, so we’re going to look these over. Can’t hurt to explore them, apply, see what happens. A family member in Sacramento did suggest that Stockton, where the University of Pacific is, is not a good area, which is disappointing since U of P looked pretty interesting? Any thoughts?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids – The young woman I referenced received both merit and need-based aid. I am guessing her family’s EFC was in the 20-25K range. She could could well have been gapped but considering that she was also admitted to NYU and BU the gaps she received there might have made USF seem like a bargain in comparison. Anyway, she is very happy there and her parents aren’t complaining about the level of FA they received.</p>
<p>she wants a residential college…what else does she want? Does she like a school with sports to watch? If so, SDSU might work. St. Mary’s of California has popular basketball and gives nice scholarships.</p>
<p>Have you tried any of the NPCs on the schools’ websites?</p>