Help me find a safety?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I don't have any real safeties yet and my list is too reach heavy right now. I live in Illniois, but I don't like U of I Urbana... Schools I do like are Colby, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Tufts and Georgetown. I really want to leave Illinois, if possible. I love green campuses.</p>

<p>Money situation: I NEED money. I am paying for everything. Whatever I don't get in scholarships I'll need in loans.</p>

<p>Academics: High intensity course load, good ECs, 35 ACT and 3.6 GPA. All classes are honors at a difficult high school. I want to major in biology, taking as many animal-related courses as possible.</p>

<p>Help me find a safety that I'd actually want to go to! :)</p>

2

<p>Look at this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Howard University would most likely give you a full ride</p>

<p>UAB would give you a lot of scholarship money and you might be competitive for their auto med school admission (if you want to go that route)</p>

4

<p>When you say you need money–what is your EFC? Meaning, are you someone with a low EFC (who might then get a lot of need-based aid), or are you someone with a higher EFC whose parents won’t be contributing (meaning you need merit aid)? Are you a NMSF? </p>

<p>Besides the auto scholarship link, look at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/881237-ivy-caliber-safeties-matches-condensed-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/881237-ivy-caliber-safeties-matches-condensed-advice.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>My EFC is about 10,000. I am not a NMSF. It’s not that my parents don’t want to contribute, it’s that they can’t.</p>

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<p>Look at schools that will meet 100% of need.
[Colleges</a> That Claim to Meet Full Financial Need - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2012/02/16/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2012/02/16/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need)</p>

<p>I know there are good threads on CC, probably in the FA forum?</p>

7

<p>I think that 35 ACT gets you full tuition to U of Alabama (Tuscaloosa). Gorgeous campus.</p>

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<p>With an EFC of $10,000, but $0 actual family contribution, the OP will be $10,000 short per year. $40,000 in debt at graduation is not an attractive prospect with a degree with relatively low paid job prospects such as biology.</p>

<p>This essentially means that a safety needs to be a full or near-full ride on merit scholarships, since need-based financial aid (even at “meets full need” schools; a few super-generous schools may work financially, though they are all “reach for everyone” schools) will be insufficient. The link in #2 is the place to start looking for safeties; reach and match schools should be added to the list based on the possibility of getting a reach or match level full ride merit scholarship (e.g. Park at NCSU, President’s at Georgia Tech).</p>

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<p>Lafayette College - Marquis Scholarship</p>

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<p>*Money situation: I NEED money. I am paying for everything. Whatever I don’t get in scholarships I’ll need in loans.</p>

<p>Academics: High intensity course load, good ECs, 35 ACT and 3.6 GPA. All classes are honors at a difficult high school. I want to major in biology, taking as many animal-related courses as possible.*</p>

<p>With a $10k EFC you’re going to have trouble. At schools that give good FA, you’re going to have full loans (about $30k) to meet need …and THEN you’re going to have the shortage of $10k per year (another $40k). So, you’d have $70k in debt…very bad…and would need cosigners.</p>

<p>For instance…</p>

<p>Say you pick Tufts and the COA is about $60k</p>

<p>If Tufts says that your CSS Profile “parent contribution” is about $10k and your “student contribution” is about $1500, then your aid pkg will be something like…</p>

<p>$40,000 in grants
$6500 in stafford and perkins loans
$2000 in work study</p>

<p>Family contribution: $11,500…($10,000 from Parents & $1500 from Student)</p>

<p>Where are you going to get the $10k when you ALREADY will have about $7500 in student loans for freshman year??? </p>

<p>You can try a few of those schools just to see, but you need to get large enough merit so that your REMAINING costs can be covered with Stafford loans, work-study, and some summer earnings.</p>

<p>Are you pre-med?</p>

<p>Bama would give you free tuition…and possibly an additional $4k per year for your ACT 35. the add’l scholarship is often given to early science major applicants with ACT 35 & 36.</p>