Help me find schools/programs where I'm likely to earn huge amounts of merit? +Creative ways to pay?

Paying for College
1

Hey everybody,

Painfully middle class rising senior here, looking to avoid two years at a community college. I’ve had my heart set on Tufts/University of Richmond/similar schools for a few years now, but it’s time for a reality check. At schools like Tufts where it’s all need-based, unfortunately, it appears on paper as if I can afford to spend $65k a year on my education, and at schools like UR I am a little too average to receive much merit, if any. I’ve stumbled across schools like High Point that offer up to $20k a year in merit, which would put it below $30k total, and UNC Charlotte with its Levine Scholars program that is full tuition, so what I am hoping, is that you all could help me compile a list of schools and scholars programs that would offer me significant amounts of merit/tuition.

*As a note, I am really hoping for something where the total tuition is less than $30k a year. I have looked at schools like Dickinson and Gettysburg where I could potentially receive $20k a year in merit, but that would still put tuition in the $40k range which is not feasible for me.

*As a note part 2 (haha), If you have any creative ways to pay for college please feel free to share those as well, because Tufts will forever be my dream school.

My educational background looks like this:
-Weighted GPA: 4.51
-Unweighted GPA: 4.0
-AP Scores: AP World (4) AP US (5) AP Micro (4) AP Macro (4) AP Lang (5)
-SAT: 1360 (Waiting for my newest score to come out July 21)
-ACT: 31 (Taking it again & hoping for drastic improvements as I did not study the first time around)
-I will graduate having taken 11 AP classes and one dual enrollment college class

My extracurriculars look like this:
-I play travel and recreational field hockey year round. I founded my high school’s field hockey club and have spent the better part of my high school career campaigning to have it added as a varsity sport in my county (which was recently approved by the school board, but left unfunded, so now my teammates and I are in the midst of trying to raise $15k). I will be the varsity captain for my high school field hockey team’s inaugural season.
-I am president of the Altruist club, an organization at my high school that strives to perform service with no intention of personal gain.
-I am president of the Science National Honor Society.
-I am a member of both the Math National Honor Society (Mu Alpha Theta) and the traditional National Honor Society as well.
-I am a student council representative.
-I have an internship at a local veterinary hospital that will continue throughout the school year (which is awesome because I get to observe surgical procedures and help out by making things like flush and sterilizing tools,etc).
-I work as a hostess at a restaurant.
-I participated in cross country my first three years of high school.
-I am involved in several anti-bullying/total student body inclusion initiatives which include safety school ambassadors, brightlife (a club that promotes connecting with disabled kids/any other kids separated from the general student body), and PEER (a non-credit class which strives to make the high school experience positive for every student through efforts like UNITY week and lunch buddies, as well as mentoring middle schoolers).

If you read this far, thank you so much, I appreciate your time, and let me know if there is any more information you need from me!

2

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

3

@“Erin’s Dad” Thank you! I have seen that one, I guess I’m hoping for options outside of the colleges listed there that may be lesser known, or may not feature full tuition, but still a significant amount.

4

If Tufts is saying your institutional EFC is close to or above COA, your parents likely have high income(s) and/or a large amount of non-exempt assets. Has there been any college savings for you? How much can your parents contribute out of current income or other savings?

5

@BelknapPoint My parents do have high incomes in general, just not for the area we live in. They have told me I have a college fund with approximately $30k in it, but that’s it. I do not know how much of their salary they can contribute, but they make it seem as if what’s in my college fund is it, and the rest has to be taken out in loans. If they can contribute some annually, I know it can’t be much because we support my dad’s family overseas and my sister will begin college the year after me.

6

Let’s start with yoir instate public universities. You say you want to spend $30,000 or less on college costs. I just looked at UVA, William and Mary, James Madison, and Virginia Tech. The only one that was over $30,000 was WM at $33,000. And that is total cost of attendance…not just tuition!

What is the matter with your instate public universities…which are terrific…and within your price point.

You say you want total “tuition” to be $30,000 or less? Well what about room, board, fees…which can easily add at least an additional $10,000 or more per year to your costs? Who is paying those costs?

7

http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

That one too if you want to take a shot at competitive ones. (The yolasite pages haven’t been updated recently, so definitely doublecheck the school’s site to see what is still offered.)

You usually wont find much merit places where you are “a little too average” unfortunately.

8

Oh wait! You want four years of college…total to cost $30,000 or less? Really?

If your family contribution to college is calculating at $65,000 a year, your parent income is in the $250,000 a year range…or you have very significant family assets. How much can yoir parents pay annually?

Have they told you to look at VA public universities?

9

@thumper1 I meant $30k a year is the max, ideally I would like to pay less. I do like W&M and will apply for sure as well as VT as a safety school. I am hesitant about UVA (not a fan when I visited) and really do not like JMU. I know that I will incur debt, and I’m prepared for that because I know in the end it will be worth it, I just want to minimize how much I take on, while still enjoying the college I attend. I’ll have to double check on what they can pay annually, so I’ll update with that information tomorrow.

@flatKansas Unfortunately. That’s why I’m looking for places like HPU where I can still receive a great education, but I’ll be more likely to receive money.

10

**

Suggestion - then just leave this EC off of your applications.

11

Creative way to pay for college (at your own risk):

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article80680697.html

12

@nicoleica

YOU can incur $27,000 total for college debt. Period. That is the amount of the Direct Loan that you can take in your name only.

Let’s just start with freshman year…when the amount is $5500. Period.

Any loans over that $5500 amount will either need to be taken out by your parents, or cosigned by them. Will they do that??

I’m guessing your parents are saying they will pay for instate VA costs and no higher…which is why you have to bring your costs for going OOS or provate to that number.

It is possible that you will find schools that can meet your proce point. But really…matching the quality of your instate public universities at that price point will not be easy.

Many of the private schools mentioned offer some merit aid…but not $30,000 a year of it.

You might also want to check the SUNY schools. Bing and Geneseo might be good…and OOS costs, while higher the $30,000, are not THAT much higher.

13

Do you have an interest in playing field hockey in college? There are scholarships available and often they are pretty good. If so, you need to start promoting yourself. If you do not want to play in college, your play to date and even the work you have done for form the team is just another EC.

14

If you want to get huge amount of merit aid, you need to be around the top few percent of admitted students. You compare your stat with the admission data to see if you are at least significantly above the 75th percentile.

15

Check out both George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth U, very good publics in VA where there seems to be a lot of investment in recent years. Your stats are high for both and they have excellent opportunities for smart motivated students, with excellent honors college programs. You might get offered enough merit to meet your financial needs.

They are good schools which I think are often overlooked because they are are overshadowed by UVA, Vtech, and W&M. GMU is in Fairfax, VA, just outside of DC, so easy to get into the city, with a great location for internships.VCU is in Richmond, right in the heart of the city. Richmond is a fun city with lots to do and great restaurants, with an artsy vibe and good internship opportunities. It is also known for its excellent medical programs and has direct entry opportunities through its honors college.

What major(s) are you interested in?

16

What kind of school are you looking for? If Tufts and University of Richmond are two of your top choices, and you are looking at UNC Charlotte, it sounds like you would prefer a school in a more urban environment? But with William and Mary and VTech being the two state schools that you like it seems like they are quite different in location and educational environment. What do you like about those schools? What don’t you like as much about UVA and JMU?

I agree that looking at VCU and GMU might be good options. Possibly also Christopher Newport and Old Dominion. All are in more urban/ or suburban environments, and may offer you merit for your stats. If it is possible to visit the VA schools you have not yet been able to, that might help you find a wider range of instate schools that you might like to attend and that could be more affordable.

You may also want to look at University of Alabama. Your current stats would qualify you as a UA Scholar, and if you are able to raise your scores you would qualify as a Presidential Scholar – http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html

If you do raise your ACT score/ SAT significantly, you might qualify to be considered for competitive merit scholarships at Pitt – https://oafa.pitt.edu/financialaid/academic-scholarships/

Temple guaranteed scholarships may be up in the air because of over commitment this year, but in the past you would have qualified for an automatic scholarship with a slightly higher ACT score.

I know that you don;t like JMU, but with your community service, you might be a candidate for the Dingeldine Scholarship – https://www.jmu.edu/admissions/apply/scholarships-ding.shtml

17

Don’t be too quick to write off your state schools. With 11 APs, it could be possible to graduate in three years at a some state schools. This will save you significant cost and debt. Private schools tend to be stingy with AP credit so at best MAYBE you can graduate in seven semesters. Every school is different so you will need to check each schools policies.

18

Which of the VA CCs is local for you? Go have a chat with the transfer advisor there, and find out where the graduates end up after two years. It may work out best for you to do those first two years at CC, and then the last two at one of your targets. Not to mention of course, the guaranteed transfer programs between the VA CCs and the VA public Us. Those would give you a lot of good options.

19

You have incredible state schools! Both my now 23yo and 16yo loved VA schools. My 16 is visiting several of them this summer. Consider yourself lucky to live in VA.

20

I would definitely recommend Gettysburg. There is good merit scholarships, which I think you could get a really good scholarship especially if you get your ACT up a point or two. Also, it’s very similar to Richmond academically unless you wanted a business school. Richmond also gives some good scholarships from what I’ve heard.