Help Find A College With Reasonable Merit Aid

Paying for College
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Ways away to thinking about ED yet, so that’s a discussion/debate for another day.

Ran a couple more NPCs and it can be tricky to understand the results. Some schools ask for GPA/SAT and obviously provide a grant estimate based on merit, others ask for GPA/SAT, but don’t seem to provide results based on that and others don’t even ask for GPA/SAT, so, obviously, aren’t considering merit.

Dickinson didn’t ask for GPA/SAT and noted a $10K grant. Gettysburg asked for GPA/SAT and noted no grant whatsoever.

Based on all of the earlier discussions, am I correct is saying that odds are that my D would get greater merit aid from both of these schools?

I just want to make sure we avoid getting too deep into colleges that won’t give significant merit aid.

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If the size and quality of Jewish life on campus is important to you, then do check out the Hillel or other Jewish organizations on campus when you do visits. In addition to the Jewish “B” student thread mentioned earlier (and do not be put off by the fact that your child is an A student), the Reform Judaism magazine biannual survey of colleges is useful. See “Insiders Guide to College Life” at http://www.reformjudaismmag.org/ and a chart of the schools with largest number of Jewish students/largest percentage of Jewish students at http://www.reformjudaism.org/sites/default/files/Col_TopCharts_f14_F_spreads.pdf

I disagree. Merit aid is sometimes offered automatically, but it is also awarded at the behest of the admissions office as a way to entice applicants to actually enroll. When you apply ED, the school knows that they are the applicant’s first choice. Why bother offering any merit aid to students who are already sold on the school?

There are some schools that do (or at least used to–haven’t been in the applications game for a year) offer merit aid to ED applicants. You’d need to check carefully. If your student is strong enough to be a merit aid contender, she’s more likely to be admitted…and being admitted without any aid to her first choice school is going to be painful.

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There are tons of colleges that cost less than $40,000 a year. Plus if your kid takes the direct Loan in addition, that would be a $45,500 budget.

I’m not sure I’m clear on your criteria. Does your daughter want an urban school…or not? And the size? What is the line in the sand? Even at smaller schools, the required courses for first year students can have large class sizes. And at most places, once you get into the thick of your major, the classes are smaller.

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Here is a run down of merit aid at Dickinson:

http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20259/grants_and_scholarships/944/scholarships

Here is a run down of merit aid at Gettysburg:

https://www.gettysburg.edu/scholarships_aid/acad_scholarships.dot

The top merit at Dickinson is $20K/yr - At Gettsburg $25K/yr

Your D will not get anymore then the highest award and could get less depending on her stats.

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@emilybee Is that truly the case that the absolute max merit at at Dickinson is $20K and Gettysburg $25K. I know I’ve seen posts elsewhere about schools I’ve looked at that have similar pages and then people say they got merit aid not listed on the website. It would be helpful to know if there’s a max amount for certain schools.

@thumper1 Other that not wanting to pay full boat at a private school being an absolute line in the sand, D wants a small school, preferably <3000. Research and study abroad opportunities are important. Small class size important. Within 6-8 hour drive from Long Island is important, but probably not a must if we find something ideal outside that range. Probably prefers a suburban campus, but wouldn’t rule out rural, urban probably not ideal. Doesn’t want a huge party atmosphere or pressure/need to be greek. Lot of clubs and non-party things to do are important. Wants something that suits her academic level, where she will have strong graduate school options or provide a good path to start a work career. It’s hard to say what a line in the sand might be and that line may be different for my daughter, my wife and myself at this point. There will probably be some flexibility on the criteria, but a school with 10K students or located in California is probably a complete deal-breaker.

Right now, I’m just trying to get as many colleges as possible that offer significant merit aid, that meet the rough criteria (size, location, level of academics) and then I’ll let her do some further research.

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" Is that truly the case that the absolute max merit at at Dickinson is $20K and Gettysburg $25K. I know I’ve seen posts elsewhere about schools I’ve looked at that have similar pages and then people say they got merit aid not listed on the website. It would be helpful to know if there’s a max amount for certain schools."

In my experience it was the case - also it might be that what some people report is a combination of merit and need based aid, but I suppose it’s possible there are higher awards given then those posted.

You should call the FA office at the schools and ask.

edited to add: on the Dickinson page there are a few extra scholarship students may be eligible for (see Special Opportunities.) I didn’t scroll down far enough to see them.

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@emilybee yes, I’ve definitely started contacting FA offices. For Denison (and I’m sure others), merit aid is handled through the admissions office, so I’ve wound up speaking with someone there rather than FA office.

As far as Brandeis. Not sure why they isn’t on the list. Their website is rather vague on Merit opportunities. CDS shows a decent amount of merit aid. Does anyone know any more about merit opportunities there for a student such as my D? I should start to look at some school specific forums as well, I suppose.

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I know you said no women’s colleges, but has she checked out Bryn Mawr? The reason I ask is that there is significant overlap with Haverford in terms of classes, dining experiences, etc. The school does emphasize its women’s college traditions, etc.but it meets all of your other criteria quite well and I encourage a trip there. My D originally said no to women’s colleges, but after visiting Wellesley wound up applying to Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr and Wellesley. She got nice merit aid from MHC and BMC. Wellesley does not offer merit aid. Our kids have similar stats and goals except that we’re on the other coast and mine wanted to get off! She only applied to LACs in the midwest and on the east coast. She fell in love with Grinnell which surprised me since at first she only wanted schools in or near a city. As I noted before, Macalester sounds like a good fit too – it’s easy to get to via plane if you got that route. I wasn’t blown away by its campus, but I was extremely impressed with its mission and academics. And my DH is an alum.

One more thing, and this might be controversial, but if you really do not think you’ll qualify for need based aid, it may be worth noting that some schools are “need aware” when it comes to the last 10-15% of the kids on the list. If they know you are not applying for financial aid, you get a boost. It’s unsavory in some ways, but a definite consideration. Not applying for financial aid will NOT keep you from getting merit aid.

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Is daughter an only child? At any point in her college career will there be multiple kids in college? If you’re “middle class” on long island you might get some need $$$ based on that. Also be sure to ask what the criteria for getting same grant in subsequent years. It’s most likely a GPA but good to know going in. Many of the schools on your list have top merit grants in the $20-$25k range. Most you do not apply for. They are just awarded and in my experience its very much SAT CR+M scores.

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I don’t think a women’s only college is going to be something she’d ultimately consider. Grinnell and Macalester may just be too far in the end.

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@4Gulls we have a 13 year old D2. They will overlap in undergraduate school for 1 year. Yes, very important to understand how any grant works across all 4 years. I’m confident we’ll be able to target some schools that she likes where we’ll receive $20-$25K. That puts us in a range we can live with. If somehow a school she likes gives us even more, great.

Wide net is the key at the moment. We’ve definitely added some new names over the past few days. At some point, we really need to decide how important distance really is.

We have no real “reach” schools on the list as all of her reach schools she was looking at offer no merit aid. Wonder how much she’d really consider Emory or Rice and even if she had a shot a merit aid for a school like that. Would love to look at Wash U (I’m an alum), but chance of significant merit aid would be very slim there. None of those schools really fit the profile of what she’s looking at anyhow.

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When we went through this for class 2018 WashU did have merit $$ that reqired separate application. My S got numerous solicitations to apply but had no interest in St. Louis. My D applied to some of the schools on your list and got merit $$. However she announced around february of senior year that she wasn’t sure she wanted a small LAC. So I would caution you to throw one or two slightly larger schools in the mix. Maybe a reach or two, too. You never know and their whims can change…after all of the deadlines have passed!!

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I think Wash U sent her something about applying for maybe a $5K merit award, perhaps. I think University of Rochester may be another one of those slightly larger reach schools. Think there are some merit opportunities there and for a bit larger school, they seem to have as high a percentage of classes under 20 as do the small LACs. Seems like all the metrics other than size (and being really cold there) fit well, she hasn’t warmed at all to U of Rochester yet though.

Although she’s fully accepting of the financial part of the process, I’m sure she’s not thrilled that the majority of schools she initially liked are not going to be possible. No doubt that we’ll have a good list and find something she’s very happy with in the end.

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Go see Rochester. Its beautiful.

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@lexluthor5: “Ohio 5 College Tour seems very interesting. Why is Kenyon not included in the list? I think Oberlin may be off the list for social type reasons (maybe a little too far left, drug issues?). If we could do Kenyon then too, might be worth the trip.”

Well, this made me curious, because a friend also mentioned that she was planning to do the Ohio college trip in August; so I called the contact person who is in the admissions office at College of Wooster. She explained that Kenyon College has a conflict with the August 2015 Ohio College Tour because it is hosting a writer’s conference; so any visits to Kenyon will be outside the Ohio College Tour parameters, and must be scheduled on an individual basis. The Kenyon College webpage for visits does indicate that there are available dates for individual visits on August 3-6, 2015: https://admissions.kenyon.edu/visit/

So now we know.

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Been looking at some of the newer options over the past couple of days. My D is pretty picky and seems to have criteria that is hard for us to decipher sometimes.

I don’t think she’s going to warm to any of the larger schools like University of Rochester, William & Mary, Rice or Emory. We don’t think the southern schools like Sewanee, Centre, etc. are going to be a good fit. Perhaps just too few Jewish students and probably not a great fit culturally. Washington and Lee is just too greek (though some people say it’s more like clubs). University of Richmond may be too much of a southern school as well, but may still deserve a 2nd look.

So, right now I think we have the following list of promising options: Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Clark, St. Lawrence and perhaps Ursinus. I have a feeling Gettysburg probably isn’t the best fit (too greek/party/preppy). Ursinus is probably lower on the list as well. SUNY Geneseo will be on the list, but she wouldn’t be thrilled with that option. Need to better determine any merit options at Skidmore (don’t really think any other than a science/math award, which her HS research might give her a shot at, but she’s not even taking honors math this year). Macalester may be too far and too little chance of merit aid. I’d still like to get Union on the list, but my D thinks it’s too much engineering focus. College of Wooster might be a worth a look too if we make it out to Ohio. Could take a flyer on Grinnell without visiting as my daughter seems to like the idea of it, but maybe just too far for us.

I spent a lot of time looking at Clark this morning and that really looks ideal (to me at least). Seemed to hit virtually every check mark and as best I can tell from the youtube videos and such, seems to her many people that would seem to be her type. Perhaps a concern over the surrounding area, but that’s definitely on the visit list. The ctcl http://www.ctcl.org site is very interesting. Too bad we missed the tour a couple of weeks ago. My D does remember talking to someone from Clark at a different college fair though. If any of you are more familiar with Clark, I think that probably gives you a good idea of what she’s looking for.

Now need to look at the metrics of St. Lawrence and see what type of student it attracts as well.

Is everything on the main list somewhere that she’d have a good shot at meaningful merit $s or do we still have anything where merit $s are tight? I don’t want to waste a visit at this point.

Any other suggestions at this point, whether it be additional schools or steps in the process?

Thanks again for helping create such an informative discussion for me (and hopefully for others who follow).

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I wouldn’t write off University of Richmond as “too southern.” I visited there last year, and the admissions officer leading our information session stated that only 18% of the undergraduates at U of R were from Virginia, and 7% were international; most of the undergraduates came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and either Connecticut or New York.

I empathize with the difficulty in deciphering your child’s criteria for colleges; it’s been like hitting a moving target in our household.

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Bucknell fits the profile of many others on your list and has merit. Not sure if you’ve overlooked or ruled it out already, but take a look.

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Merit aid at Skidmore is nearly non-existent:

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Will try to keep U of Richmond on the list, but she really isn’t open to it at the moment. Think Bucknell is a huge party school might not be a great fit. Yes, Skidmore has very little merit aid. They have a Porter Presidential Scholarship for $15K/year for science and math. She could be a longshot for that, but, yes, probably not worth visiting the school even unless we are right in the area somehow.

Part of the problem is that, going through this the first time, we didn’t understand everything involved. She had a huge list of schools that pretty much all got hacked off the list once we understand more about how merit aid works. I get she’s probably frustrated at this point. She understands though and will deal with it. There are really no reach schools even on the list and that’s also frustrating her some. She’ll come around though and find that there are a few here that will be a great fit for her academically and socially.