Help finding targets and safeties [4.0/34ACT, Studio Art, Creative Writing, etc, needs high financial aid / scholarships]

College Search & Selection
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The Indiana Post

On the affordability front, I am assuming that your daughter was not in the 21st Century program, correct? Assuming not, it sounds as though your daughter would be eligible for the Frank-O’Bannon Grant which would cover $5950 at a public Indiana college or $11,900 at a private Indiana college. The public-school portion, when combined with a Pell grant, would cover tuition at an Indiana public. Do you live within commuting distance of a Indiana public?

Additionally, though you mention IU and Purdue, has your daughter looked into Ball State? Its art department offers a visual arts/animation major as well as a creative writing concentration within its English department. I would imagine your daughter would receive additional merit aid, too. This could be a potential safety, if your daughter would be happy to attend.

The O’Bannon grant would also help bring the Indiana privates into a greater likelihood of being affordable, though, as they would not have to use as much in institutional funds to be able to get your daughter’s cost to $0 or close to it.

Some schools you may want to consider include:

  • DePauw: This school has about 1700 undergrads. Within its art department it offers major in both Studio Art as well as Design Studies. Its program in Film and Media Arts may also have some animation components. And the English department offers a major in writing. There are a variety of scholarship and grant opportunities available, too. For instance, every Indiana county will have a Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipient who gets full tuition. Depending on which county you live in, your daughter could be extremely competitive.

  • Earlham: This is a small school with about 700 undergrads. Its art department offers a major in studio art, and there’s a creative writing major, as well as a Digital Arts applied minor that might appeal. Its INspire Earlham program gives Indiana residents who earn less than $60k/year free tuition (though it will use the fed & state grant moneys as part of the tuition coverage). Merit aid is also available, including art scholarships (including a $5k/year one for Indiana residents).

  • U. of Evansville: About 1800 undergrads here and it offers several majors through its art program that might be of interest. Its major in Creative Technologies might also be of interest to your daughter as it also melds studio arts with creative writing. Its creative writing program also has some breadth with respect to the types of creative writing that instruction is provided. Additionally, if your family’s income falls within the limits, the Hoosier Aces Scholarship would cover all fees, including room & board. If so, this could be a good possibility for a safety. There are also other scholarship and grant options that could make this school a strong contender if you’re not eligible for Hoosier Aces.

  • Valparaiso: This school of about 2500 undergrads is another one your daughter may want to consider. It offers majors in both regular art as well as Digital Media Arts which includes animation. It also offers a degree in creative writing. Your daughter would likely receive significant merit aid, and I’d run the NPC to see what the numbers look like here.

Also, although it’s not the size your daughter was looking for, U. of Notre Dame (about 9k undergrads) is a great school and she would not be restricted about changing her major there among the fields she’s considering. This would, however, be a reach school.

ETA: Just saw your post about the 529 and such, but I would still recommending looking at these Indiana schools regardless.

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Thanks - she would prefer to get out of Indiana, but we have looked a little bit. We aren’t part of the 21st Century program - we made more money before Covid and that caused us to be ineligible.

She hasn’t looked at Ball State, it might be larger than she wants, but I’ll mention it. I’ll also look at Earlham and Evansville, though we’re not fans of the politics in those areas.

We are looking at DePauw.

We looked at Valpo for one of her brothers and weren’t impressed. Plus, it’s likely to close in the next five years. (And it’s literally one town over, she def doesn’t want to be that close.) She goes to a private high school with a bunch of ND legacy kids and wants NOTHING to do with it, which is fine with me.

Also, thanks for mentioning the Lilly Endowment. Yes, she is looking into that. We’ve had a couple of students here receive it. Unfortunately, we live a county over that is more competitive.

I REALLY appreciate all of your help and research into this.

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You’re welcome.

For clarity, when you’re talking about the politics around Earlham, are you talking about AT Earlham or the surrounding county by Earlham? From what I understand, the student body at Earlham is quite liberal. Is that something that would appeal to your family or repel you from it? That may end up influencing other potential school recommendations.

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It may help others help you to specify a price limit, so that others are not guessing about whether potential safety candidates are likely to be affordable to you.

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Without a budget we’re basically throwing darts. Is Questbridge an option?

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Oh, referring to the county, not the school itself.

Though that isn’t a TOTAL dealbreaker, it will be strongly considered.

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@chmcnm - No, we just miss the income cutoff for Questbridge.

I should clarify that when I say we’re poor, we aren’t destitute. I’d say target budget would be ~20-25k per year tops. Lower is obviously better, of course.

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Have you run the Net Price Calculators for all of these? The range of projected out-of-pocket costs at these schools will help let you know where you stand, and will help give commenters an idea of your actual financial aid eligibility.

If she’s already applying to Carleton, St. Olaf seems like an obvious choice; there’s even cross-registration between the two, and St. Olaf also meets need.

Reed has a bit of a pressure-cooker reputation; I’d be cautious about it for a student with mental health challenges.

Is she considering women’s colleges? In the MA 5-college consortium, both Mount Holyoke https://www.mtholyoke.edu/news/news-stories/media-lab-expands-mount-holyokes-digital-offerings and Smith https://www.smith.edu/academics/art/studio-art/digital-media have potential. (I would recommend Scripps in CA as well, but the weather aspect probably wouldn’t appeal.) Simmons in Boston may be too urban, but she’d get good merit, and it’s good for creative writing and studio art, and it’s in a close consortium with MassArt which has a great animation program. The Back Bay area in Boston might not be too overwhelming, city-wise.

Most OOS publics are either too large or too expensive or both. But Truman State could be worth a look; it is Missouri’s public honors LAC. Its rural location deters a lot of applicants, but it sounds like that would work for you. It has around 4000 undergrads - bigger than most private LAC’s, but that allows greater breadth of programming, including a BFA in 3D Modeling, Motion and Animation, and both a BFA and a minor in Creative Writing. With auto-merit for your daughters stats, the “sticker price” would be around 26K/year - too much, I realize - but it sounds to me as if she could qualify for the top competitive merit awards https://www.truman.edu/admission-cost/cost-aid/scholarships/competitive-scholarships/ which would bring it down to either $15K/year or virtually free. (And none of that aid would go away when her brother finishes college.)

A point in favor of Kalamazoo (which is a little bit urban, but no more so than CMU I would think) is proximity to and cross-registration with Western Michigan, which has a robust animation program B.S. in Kinetic Imaging with an Emphasis in Animation | Gwen Frostic School of Art | Western Michigan University - it would be worth looking into the extent to which she could access those classes as a K-College student.

Clarkson is less liberal-artsy than the LAC’s you’re looking at - leans more toward STEM and health professions - but it’s the right size, and they have this Bachelor's in Digital Arts & Sciences | Clarkson and a literature major, and she’d get good merit and honors, and she wouldn’t have to worry about hot weather… but not strong on the creative writing aspect.

Others to look at: Kenyon, Connecticut College, Skidmore, Bard (doesn’t guarantee to meet full need but could), and as another reach, Middlebury About | Animation Studio

Edited to add: I’ve now seen your post about having a 20-25K budget, and that’s making me feel even more bullish on Truman State for your situation. It really seems to hit the sweet spot in terms of having the specialty programs you want, without being too large. It has a high-quality, engaged student body, many of whom could have gone to more elite schools but chose Truman for the amazing financial deal. What are downsides for many (out-of-the-way location, chilly weather) aren’t downsides for you. Even the worst case scenario is close to your budget, and I think the odds of competitive merit to get down at least to the 15K/year price level are excellent.
OTOH, new info about Simmons is that they’re likely cutting programs and may not be a good choice after all; and the urban setting was dubious for you anyway.

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Not sure what you are saying - we don’t know OPs price limit. She simply noted an EFC (FAFSA) of $41K.

She seems to be all in - via loans - but obviously a mistake. And seems to be out on in-state publics.

But can she afford $20K? Or $50K. We don’t know. Maybe there’s grandparent money or something else.

But yes, OP does need to set a budget.

Obviously, some schools will be safety nets and may cover all costs based on their income. But on the flipside, getting into those schools are unlikely.

Then you have lots of schools that are Need Aware and meet need - a Franklin & Marshall, Lafayette, but if you need full $$, they’re not going to offer, etc.

We really need to know the budget - and I hate to be so blunt to OP - but I think they’re going about it all the wrong way.

Especially in this case, budget first.

Then you find who can make that budget and make sure 1-2 will work.

Then you have your reaches that meet need and you can guestimate now if they will or not - but those are reaches and you don’t truly know the final # til you know the final number.

That’s why you need to find one who will 100% make budget.

And in regards to loans - that’s a no no. …why straddle yourself or your kid…especially for a degree in art, sociology, or writing - which isn’t to say someone can’t find a well paying career - but the odds would be heavily stacked against, at least up front.

And then what if there were grad school?

But I’m not sure we can say what would be too expensive?

We need OP to give us an honest answer - not, we’ll fill in the rest with loans answer.

In fact, loans should be 100% taken out of the equation.

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OP said $20k - $25k tops, above.

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Looks like the OP said that (presumably FAFSA) EFC was $41, not $41k / $41,000:

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oooooohhhh - i missed that - will go back and re-read.

If EFC is $41, might QB be an option? Well if OP income is $65Kish or less.

Thanks

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It does and I believe they have a strong study abroad program in Japan. PNW is in Portland btw.

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OP also already stated that they don’t qualify for Questbridge.

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Listen - I get it. We all want to support our kids.

But there are certain majors that are underemployed or have high rates of unemployment.

It’s not meant to be emotional - but when discussing kids, we are emotional.

it was meant to be unemotional. And I’d say it again - i wouldn’t take out a parent plus loan for ANY major (that’s maybe just me) - but I certainly wouldn’t do so for Art, Sociology, Religion, etc. because the reality is, by the #s, those majors aren’t going to be worthy of spending extra where there are lower cost options available. That’s not meant to be insulting or anything else and everyone has a different set of what’s important to them - but I’m looking from a financial return lens.

The other issue will be food - some colleges are known for food and some aren’t. I don’t know if you find a “great” food school with all the other things you want.

While finances are your issue, the reason I brought them up initially is - for what I mentioned up front - you can go to a Rice, Dartmouth, Chicago - whomever - and they may have a - if you earn this much, you’ll only have to pay this.

But if we start sending out other names - but if even 30 or 40K isn’t affordable, there’s no point in sending them out. And you acknowledged that indeed finances are an issue.

Unfortunately, when one can’t afford or as in my case, doesn’t want to afford, then you get into the tradeoff situation - and for some, that even means a community college or in state school.
Not saying for you but certainly for some.

Anyway, yes, I mentioned some lower cost schools and I’d leave it at that.

Didn’t mean to offend - but also want to be realistic.

Good luck.

PS - W Carolina has a school of art and design. It’ll be too big and may not fit other boxes - but - tuition via the NC promise is very low OOS - and would be total within that 20-25K range I believe.

Sorry - hadn’t read the most recent part of thread.

OK - I caused enough damage - i’ll sign off.

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sorry - i missed a lot of recent messages…thx for clarifying

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Since the OP mentioned they are just over the QB limit, they do have a solid chance of very good financial aid from schools with generous policies (I agree with concentrating on those that meet need with no loans). For example, my kid’s school has the XXX Promise that guarantees at minimum full tuition for families with income of $125k or less. Schools with similar policies would easily put the OP within their budget of $20k.

With an EFC of $41.00 and a budget of $20k I think the OP should take advantage of the income dip and consider schools with generous need aid. OP, do the NPCs at the CSS schools indicate they are affordable? Of course, if income returns to previous levels or increases that will affect the aid offered so it is wise to keep that in mind.

While the location may not be ideal, Kenyon is an amazing school for creative writing. Kenyon is need aware but meets full need (may include loans)… also has a limited number of Newman Scholarships which eliminate the loan portion of financial aid packages.

Wesleyan is another school that may be worth a look for her interests. Wes meets need but may include loans.

The Boston consortium LACs that allow cross registration with MassArt are a great suggestion. Sadly, I would not recommend Simmons as I read earlier today they are cutting back their liberal arts departments.

ETA: I got sidetracked and took a bit of time to finish this post. I see I’ve cross-posted with a few others. oops.

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Others to consider:

Baldwin Wallace (has a music conservatory but overall lots of support in the arts)
College of Wooster
Lawrence
Gustavus Adolphus
Wheaton
Drake

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I do not agree. College is a time for broadening your education and thinking…and learning. If a student wants to major in any of the above, or any other areas that aren’t “vocational training majors” then they should do so…and they can be successful.

I believe the CEOs of Goldman, Bank of America and JP Morgan were history, political science and psychology majors. Clearly they are successful. Very successful. I’m sure there are others.

One’s college major doesn’t necessarily need to relate exactly to a future career.

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Actually learning to think, communicate, compare, contrast, debate, etc are skills that are valued in many professions

Prediction that this won’t be the last word😀

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