To the original poster - please don’t assume your family won’t get significant financial aid IF you can get into the no merit/meet full need schools. Most families get aid, although there are a lot of full pay families on CC. But if your parents are retired you are likely to get aid. And colleges don’t expect you to “spend down your assets” as suggested above - at most they will be assessed at 5.6% per year which isn’t nothing but isn’t like your parents will have no assets left at the end. The only financial red flag I see is if the property they rent out has a lot of equity in it. That could hurt you at some schools. Run the NPCs to get an idea and then call schools to get the soecifics on how they will treat your family’s business as that may differ from school to school.
I’ve looked at Skidmore and was going to put it on my list— but then I got scared off by reviews saying that theres strong drug use, maybe that’s true of every college tho (Saratoga springs is supposed to be great too right?)
A family friend actually went to Union but had a bad experience and is transferring to Saint Johns— so that kinda left a bad impression
Saratoga Springs is a great town. I would leave it on for now- you can always remove it.
I would add Binghamton and Geneseo.
I don’t know much about SUNY’s so I would take other advice. @twogirls advice sounds good.
McGill sounds like a great app. I think it’s test optional and some majors are easier admits. My son has a friend at McGill. We love Montreal.
Max budget is 60k a year
What are you talking about? Colleges don’t tell families they need to spend down their assets before they will award need based aid. Parent assets are assessed at about 6% of their value. Not 100%.
The student needs to run the net price calculators at these colleges for an estimate of net costs. Then go from there. Getting a budget figure from their parents is important.
This is very helpful— thank you 
I don’t believe this is correct.
So when my daughter got into W&L and in my salary range, 88% got need aid at $38K on average and we got none and I asked why. They said you need to see the disclaimer - based upon normal assets which was 2x income. So if someone had $400K, they weren’t getting.
Cornell flat out told me if you had a million, you’d get not a nickel from anyone. That was 3.5 years ago.
Now - someone today can’t retire on a million - so if they’re retired and can afford $60K, they likely have at least several million dollars - which today isn’t much.
But I do believe those assets - if in current accounts (not sure about retirement) would be expected to be contributed.
So stocks, bonds, cash, etc. and for many home equity.
As noted earlier, OP needs to run NPCs - and I included two - and then they’ll find out.
They told you that you did not qualify for need based aid because your assets were too high.
That is VERY different than a college telling you that you need to spend down your assets.
It was also stated that they are self employed and run an Airbnb
What about Elon? Costs are less than other privates.
I’ve also looked at Elon!! It’s beautiful but I’ve only briefly considered it, will research it’s programs more and what they offer
I forgot to mention this but the quality and amount of study abroad programs / opportunities are definitely an important factor as well
The thing with abroad - most schools have enough offerings but if not you can go through other schools.
Find the right school at the right cost. The abroad, if you’re going for a semester, will take care of itself. If you decide to go in a summer or maymester, it can be figured out too- if not at your school, at an affiliate or another.
Not for everyone but FSU has study abroad programs AND if you go the first year you get in-state tuition the next 3 years. Very cheap. S21 attends FSU and loves it. Beautiful campus with happy kids. It’s not an easy admit anymore.
Other schools might have similar offerings.
Elon puts a high emphasis on study abroad, tops in the country per capita and they have a three week January term where you can do shorter programs.
Oh wow that’s so cool!!! Do you know of any other colleges with similar programs? I’ve been trying to avoid Florida a bit because it’s so far away— but this definitely makes me want to apply to at least FSU
As your budget is $60k, I would run the NPCs for Bates, Bowdoin, Vassar and Hamilton first. If they don’t come in as affordable, eliminate them, as they don’t offer merit-based aid.
I think SUNY Geneseo could be a great choice for you, and Binghamton, too, if the size isn’t too big.
Will think about some additional suggestions for you, but you might find this list interesting:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/most-study-abroad
Thank you— this is very helpful!!
I’m surprised William and Mary isn’t up there in the rankings, when I visited that was their whole thing
Since you are open to small and rural I’d take a look at Sewanee. Very strong English program and a beautiful campus. Greek life is there, but it is not “exclusive”. It’s an easier admit and lower price point.