Here is my dilemma

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My daughter's stats:
3.8756 UW, 4.41 W
SAT: CR 740, M 680, W, 640 (She will not be retaking; she has test anxiety and we were satisfied with the results)</p>

<p>ECs not particularly impressive:
4 years varsity letter in one sport (state qualifier), team captain this coming year
Spanish club, but not an officer
Link Crew (helps with orientation for incoming students)
Year Round Club Sport
1 Year Orchestra (dropped for scheduling reasons), continuing with private lessons
Smattering of volunteer work with a local environmental group</p>

<p>Misc:
Nominated for Girls State, but refused to miss school to attend
Nominated for National Hispanic Recognition Program (keeping our fingers crossed)</p>

<p>I'm sorry, this is going to be kind of rambling. </p>

<p>The dilemma is that all her academic reaches and most of her matches are unaffordable. (Note: We will not take out loans to finance her education nor will we allow her to do so. I'm making a educated guess, based on all the online calculators that I have come across, that most FA offers will expect a larger family contribution than we are comfortable with.)</p>

<p>We near the Seattle area (just too far away to commute, darn!) and I'm assuming the UW will be a match for her, based on the kids we know who were admitted this year. Does that seem reasonable? I am sure hoping so, because there are exactly ZERO other state schools she wants to attend. I'm not expecting any merit money, though. UW seems pretty stingy with it, as far as I can tell from their website. </p>

<p>So I've been searching out schools that offer great merit aid that she would actually have a shot at. I'm assuming that the schools where she would have the best chance at merit money would be schools that would otherwise be considered her safeties? Does that make sense? And a reach, from a financial perspective, would be a school that would academically be a match? </p>

<p>Has anyone else out there tried to figure this out? If anyone has any suggestions as to schools that might work out, we're open. She would prefer the west but you can't always get what you want. The scholarships need to be substantial in order to reduce the cost of attendance to roughly equal to that of the UW, so between $15K and $17K per year. Or less would be even better!</p>

2

<p>With her profile, I think she would competitive for merit money from many schools in the area. Off the top of my head, some schools where she has a shot a scholarships:</p>

<p>Seattle U
Seattle Pacific U
Lewis & Clark C
U of Puget Sound
Linfield C
Marquette U
Gonzaga </p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks, would you happen to know of any similar schools in CA? What would you think about Santa Clara U?</p>

4

<p>Santa Clara is private and has some nice scholarships but it may be hard to get those (and cost to attend is $45K). I don't know how competitive they are. California publics will be as expensive as privates for OOS students.</p>

5

<p>Not even looking at the CA publics; as far as I can tell, they don't offer that much in the way of merit awards to OOS and what I do see, she wouldn't qualify for. Santa Clara offers an unspecified number of full tuition scholarships each year. Her chances are slim, but she thinks she will love it. I guess all it would cost is an application fee. ;o)</p>

6

<p>For CA privates with scholarship money, I would look into:</p>

<p>Chapman U
Occidental C
U of San Diego
Loyala Marymount U (LA)
U of Redlands
U of Pacific
Mills C (women's college)
Whittier C</p>

7

<p>Thank you for the suggestions. I will check them out.</p>

8

<p>I am not a parent, But let your daughter take out loans.
An good education pay for itself quickly.</p>

9

<p>No loans is usually unrealistic. Schools often expect the student to take a loan if getting aid. With need-based aid, a loan is pretty much mandatory. They need to spread the aid around as much as possible to fill seats. Your daughter can handle a loan, as long as the total is 20K or less for the four years. Less is better, of course. I know that good Hispanic students are in high demand, but most merit awards are not huge- say 10 to 15K. However, I agree that you, the parents, should not take out a loan.</p>

10

<p>I think you should avoid taking out loans whenever possible (which is common sense) but for the reason that private loan companies do not have to abide by the same laws as federal loans. </p>

<p>Read some of the comments on this link. These are some absolute horror stories.</p>

<p>Facing</a> Up to Debt :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs</p>

11

<p>No loans...we've been harping on it for so long now, I don't think she would even if we changed our tune. For starters, she wants to major in history. Not a lot of high paying jobs straight out of college with that degree. AND she wants to be a writer. So unless she happens to be the next best thing since J.K. Rowling and manages to complete the Great American Novel while still in school, there could definitely be some lean years. </p>

<p>Anyone have any suggestions for some slightly larger schools, like 4,000 or above? She has nixed all the really small ones. She doesn't want it to seem like high school.</p>