Help us Find a Safety

Hey everyone! Long time lurker first time poster here.

We recently began our college search with S18. Although we have had success finding some schools that S is interested in, we are struggling to find a good safety school. Although there are plenty of options out there that would be considered a safety academically, we are more concerned about the financial aspect. S has stated from the start that he does not want to go to school instate, which is limiting our options when trying to determine a financial safety.

His Stats:
GPA: 3.65UW (School doesn’t weight, but majority of his classes are APs)
ACT: 35C (35E 35M 35R 35S)
Average ECs, however, no leadership
White upper-middle class from NJ (not expected to qualify for any need based aid)

S has also been relatively picky when it comes to this process. In particular we are looking for a school that is not big, (Northeastern is one of his high target/low reach schools and that’s about as big as he wants to go) but in or near (within 90 minutes distance) a major city. Greek Life isn’t a deal breaker, but he doesn’t want it to be the main social aspect at school. He also wants there to be a real campus, so no schools that are just buildings. Additionally, he wants to stay in the northeast, but is willing to go as south as Virginia and as west as Wisconsin. Finally, we want him to be challenged where he goes. I worry that if he chooses a safety that is not challenging enough for him, he won’t apply himself and will try to coast through college without putting out his best work.
For reference, some of the schools he is considering for target/reaches: (Looking at PoliSci major)
American
Northeastern
Holy Cross
Villanova

Now, as for the finances, we have already told S that we are willing to contribute 40k per year and are willing to stretch to 45k if absolutely necessary. For potential safety schools we are looking for schools that mainly fit his criteria and either have a full COA of roughly 40k/year OR a school he would easily be able to earn scholarships or merit aid from that would allow us to get the cost down to around 40.

All responses and any advice is much appreciated!

How about Dickinson? Probably a low match, and he might get good merit there.

Would a small admissions-safety school have a higher risk than a big admissions-safety school of having this problem? Big schools that are not that selective may still offer honors or otherwise more challenging courses because there are enough top-end students there who can take them. The number of such top end students may not be enough to fill a classroom at a small school.

@intparent we had looked at Dickinson, but we were concerned if he did get merit it wouldn’t be enough to bring the ~65k COA down to within our range. Do you know how much/what the maximum amount they typically offer is?

If he would consider eastern Canada, then ping me. There are several very good universities up there that would fit your description, be an academically very good safety, and would be well under the 40k for international students (well under half this for Canadians). I will admit that I don’t know whether political science would be different however between countries.

The 40k per year would seem to be the holdup for anything that I could suggest that is out-of-state and in the US.

I think $20K is their top award at the moment. So you could get to $45K. Your problem is finding a school that meets your budget where a student with a 35 ACT will be challenged. My 35 ACT kid got into Lawrence – that could easily come in at $40K or less. But I don’t know that she would have been happy there.

Are you taking his summer & part time earnings into account? Any consideration of him taking out some of his federal loans?

St Lawrence? 90 minutes from Montreal, merit up to $24k.

Denison, 25-30 min from Columbus (no jokes, is a vibrant city), $24k merit plus full tuition merit for super starts. Lugar program in both US and International Poli Sci offers internships etc. Also has PPE major, for those interested.

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we are more concerned about the financial aspect. S has stated from the start that he does not want to go to school instate, which is limiting our options when trying to determine a financial safety.


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The NE can be bad with large merit, but certainly with his stats he could find some privates that would work.

Don’t know if UDayton fits the geo restrictions, but they do have a scholarship grid and I believe he’d be awarded their top award.

Holy Cross has tremendous academics, as good as anywhere. Good luck with his application there.

Denison offers great financial aid and has a beautiful campus. Here’s the merit grid for Miami of Ohio, which also has a beautiful campus. It shows he would be eligible for a half to full tuition scholarship.

http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/

And, referencing your user name, don’t be worried. Your son is very bright. He’s done very well. You can afford to pay a healthy amount. There are many, many terrific schools. He’ll go to one. Just think of it as a process of finding an affordable place that’s a great fit. Really an adventure where you get to explore lots of cool communities and see lots of places. Your confidence in the process, and sense of adventure, will help him feel less stress and enjoy the process.

Hobart and William Smith has merit and is a very nice school(s) – one women’s college and one men’s college sharing a single very nice campus–no city nearby but a very nice school

Wells – small school, cross reg with Cornell, daily buses to Ithaca; hands-on work programs integrated with academics – https://www.wells.edu/

Muhlenberg – in a city, nice academics, merit offered, happy students

Earlham–in a small city that has an historic district that seems arty; very nice academics and 800 acre campus http://www.earlham.edu/

Wagner–http://wagner.edu/

Manhattanville–https://www.mville.edu/

Manhattan–https://manhattan.edu/

Connecticut College–https://www.conncoll.edu/

Wheaton College, MA – http://wheatoncollege.edu/ is in Norton, MA, town of 20K, but closish to Boston and Providence. Between the two.

Technically may not be true safeties, but Case and U of Rochester both offer merit and have intellectual students.

Try Goucher, which has a vibrant student community in suburban Baltimore - http://www.goucher.edu/
Their merit awards can bring the finances down enough to be very cost effective.

@Dustyfeathers Conn College does not grant merit based aid.

@WorriedFor2018 We found Ohio and PA to have multiple attractive options for merit aid. For Ohio, some of the better picks are Denison and College of Wooster (D got 30K merit, bringing cost of attendance down to 30K) You might also check out Ohio Wesleyan (slightly less competitive) and Case Western (more reachy but they like high test scores as well as demonstrated interest). Kenyon and Oberlin also offer merit scholarships but are more competitive for both admissions and funding.

For PA, Dickinson is well-regarded and offers a semster “abroad” program in DC. Maximum merit is 20K, bringing total cost to about 45. Ursinus, Susequehanna, Allegheny, and Muhlenberg also offer merit and might also come in at your budget. Of those, my D only considered Muhlenberg seriously, so I don’t know much about the others. There is a 2017 3.0 - 3.4 GPA thread with compiled statistics about admission and scholarships that you might find informative and reassuring.