I’m somewhat familiar with the smaller Catholic colleges like this in our region but I’m curious about other colleges that are out there that I’ve never heard of.
I’d like to make a list but it’s tricky since I’ve seen changes.
In the greater Philly region, for example, a few years ago Immaculata and Marywood offered generous aid to my oldest but looking at them now, it’s just meh. Cabrini even offered my niece merit for lowish stats to entice her from OOS.
Going farther west, St. Vincent’s near Pittsburg seems to be generous with stackable awards.
Any others that might be worth looking into in other areas of the country?
I’d be particularly interested in schools where MAC could bring the COA under $25K at the very most.
University of St. Thomas in St. Paul gave us a nice result on their NPC.
One source of information on big merit scholarships that is frequently-cited on CC is this one: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Most of the listed schools seem to be public universities.
My daughter has so far received very generous awards from Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Seton Hall in New Jersey, and Carroll College in Montana. I’ve also heard Gonzaga and Holy Cross offer generous merit. Still waiting on decisions from University of San Francisco, University of San Diego, Fordham, and Seattle University… I think that rounds out our Catholic schools…
Holy Cross meets 100 percent of demonstrated need. If there is any merit at all, it goes to a tiny percentage.
Western New York’s Little Three of Canisius, Niagara and St. Bonaventure all offer large merit for kids with reasonable stats. Bona, I believe, has a resident scholarship. And almost everyone lives on campus.
Sticker price under $50K to start, they all have D-1 sports and loyal alumni factions in the area. Canisius (Jesuit) and Bona (Franciscan) would lean toward business; Bona has an excellent journalism school and Niagara (Vincentian) has a fine nursing program.
Seconding U Scranton, St Michaels, St Bonaventure , Carroll Montana
Adding Lasalle (which you must know), John Carroll, still Benedict / St John’s in Minnesota, st Catherine 's (women only), St Mary’s (women only, sister school to Notre Dame)
Loyola New Orleans has merit up to $22,000. That wouldn’t quite get you under $25k.
But they also have full tuition+ Ignatian scholarships. For those, students are invited to interview and they look heavily at community involvement and such during that process.
Very tough to get under $25,000. Duquesne might just hit that as they award up to $20,000/yr merit and this year are also offering some $4,000 awards for R&B (only valid for years living on campus). If your kid got the highest merit available at Providence College, you’d also be right around $25,000.
Some Catholic colleges that offer a limited number of full tuition merit awards: Scranton, St. Joe’s, Xavier, La Salle.
Can’t see Dayton coming in less than the low 30’s based on their merit maximum awards, but they freeze costs for 4 years at your 1st year price, so that might be helpful as inflation will affect the numbers above.
^^ Yes, Fordham has great NMSF awards. They also have 20 Presidential (full tuition scholarships). Without one of those major awards, though, you’re looking at $40,000+ (after merit).
I had a thought about schools that might still be expensive after merit, like Fordham, as @LuckyCharms913 mentioned. If it’s a school that also gives need based aid, the net price could come down a lot depending on the generosity of the particular school and the criteria they use in determining need.
I’ve had NPC’s give us EFC’s ranging from $36K (some though not all CCS Finacial Aid Profile schools) to $30 (Princeton). Most register between $18K and $24K which is better but obviously not great for our family of 6 with an income of $60K. So if a school has a generous way of determining and providing aid, it might still be possible to bring it under $25K.
Since another kid will be starting college in two years and will probably have very average stats, I guess I might best narrowing school choices now for this one by the methodology they use, especially whether or not they include our home as an asset. In additon, I should make sure need-based aid will kick in after a nice merit award for an optimal situation.
Just be sure to understand each school’s policies with regard to merit and need based aid. It doesn’t always add (or stack as it’s usually called) - sometimes the merit aid replaces all or part of the need based aid.
Holy Cross does not offer merit (except for maybe a tiny specific endowed scholarship- maybe) but they do offer millions in Division I athletic scholarships for those students that are ‘meritorious’ in sports.
They also offer financial based on their calculation of need via the CSS and FASFA profiles.