Have you listened looked at the details of your pre paid plan? I don’t know how Florida’s works but in WA those funds can be used at any college, anywhere in the US (overseas for all I know but I’ve not checked). The value of the funds are based off our flagships rate as a published value that you can then use to see how much you have available to apply to schools in state that may cost less than the flagship if you wish, or OOS or private.
I would check. It will come up at filing time anyway (FAFSA or CSS) so better to know now, you may have more assets than you realize.
Even better, if the prepaid plan is old enough, the student gets instate tuition at a Florida public school. New College is a tiny (1000 students) school. Some like it, others feel it is too small. There are the big three, UF, FSU, and humongous UCF, but there are several smaller public schools that are really nice. U of South Florida in Tampa has two campuses. FAU in Boca is nice. U of North Florida is smaller but a nice campus with easy beach access.
You are right you won’t get Bright Futures if you aren’t a FL high school grad, but getting instate tuition at Florida’s low rates is a big benefit. If you don’t use the Florida prepaid at a Florida public, you can find out the value by contacting the Prepaid office. There are lot of plans and the amount you can use every year at another school depends on the pLan and when your parents bought it.
You could look at Flagler College in St Augustine. Their tuition is only $17,500 a year (one of the most affordable LACs) and they accept Florida Pre-paid. However, I believe the highest FL Pre-paid plan would cover less than $5,000 a year in tuition, so even this affordable option would leave you short.
You will need the $10,000 from your parents plus whatever you can earn in work study just to live on. As @mom2collegekids said, you need to look for full tuition. Otherwise select a public school in FL.
Thank you, @eandesmom@CaucAsianDad@twoinanddone and @PurpleTitan I will take a look at the smaller schools you’ve mentioned. I think my pre-paid plan is supposed to cover about $7k a year out of state so I do have that available. Thank you for your help!
@sensation723 I am looking to major in either political science, sociology or journalism at this point. I got a 2110 on old SAT (probably will be retaking) and have 3.9 UW and about 4.7 W, I will have 90 community college credits when I graduate (no AP classes) and pretty standard EC’s. I’ve now been informed that we can afford about $10-20k a year but because my dad’s income is so unpredictable we’d like to try to keep it on the lower end of that. We usually make around $110k a year, so we qualify for financial aid at most private schools but still are expected to pay $25-35k.
I’m looking to go to a smallish liberal arts school. I absolutely love Reed and Bowdoin but they’re both kind of pricey so anything similar to those colleges I would be happy with. I qualify as instate in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. So far, I am looking at
New College
Hollins University
Sarah Lawrence
Clark University (in MA)
Mount Holyoke
Smith
UNC Asheville
UNC Chapel Hill
Kenyon
Tulane
Wake Forest
Washington & Lee
Bowdoin
Reed
Sorry this is a lot of information but if anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated!
Since you qualify as instate in Florida, you should consider FAU Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. The total student population is approximately ~330 and operates like a LAC. You will more than likely get free tuition and the only major cost would be room & board. Your prepaid plan would reduce your R&B cost to less than $6K and they would accept a “good” number of your dual enrollment credits!
Erin’s Dad, one of the original benefits of the Florida pre-paid program was that if you bought it, no matter where you lived, you qualified for instate rates. That is no longer a benefit for newly purchased plans, but the old ones are grandfathered in.
You can also get instate benefits in some states if one parent lives there, if they lived there and were in the military, if the parents are retired military, etc.
Don’t forget there are plenty of schools, mostly branch campuses in the Midwest, that don’t charge OOS tuition at all… Then you don’t have to be absolutely sure of anything. Some of them approach the quality of the better LACs. Most are sized like LACs, anyway: 1000, 2000, 3000 students.
Also the private LACs in the Midwest are often more generous with Merit Aid, Morningside give full tuition with a 31 ACT, for instance (whereas UM Morris requires NMF status to waive tuition).
Full disclosure: I teach at one of the “no premium for out-of-state” campuses in Minnesota (not Morris). My mom was on the faculty of Bowdoin for many years.
Perhaps look at Ohio University. My son was just at a journalism camp there and loved it. The campus is lovely at least what I saw of it when I dropped him off and picked him up. My niece will be attending there next year and she was given a full tuition academic scholarship. I believe her ACT score was 33. So they do offer some nice merit scholarships. Also I believe the journalism school is very good.
I noticed Kenyon was on your list. I have been on that campus again with my son for a camp. It is small and very quaint. I loved the campus, my son thought it was too small and it did not appeal to him. I looked up tuition when we got home and was very happy he didn’t care for it because it is very expensive. It is also very selective and difficult to get accepted there. I know at least two girls that applied and were not accepted both had very impressive ACT scores and resumes. One of these girls ended up at Oberlin. Perhaps you should check Oberlin out. I think Oberlin meets financial aid though I am not an expert.
@mrskite When you say you can afford 10 - 20k a year do you mean in addition to the 5500 direct loan, and the Florida pre-paid that you can use out of state, or do you mean including that?
If you are in-state for VA you may want to add some VA state schools to your list.
@Heiditree I will take a look at OhioU, thank you! I have some family friends who went there and loved it. And thanks as well for the advice on Kenyon and Oberlin; Oberlin was on my list at one point, but the EFC was too high for me to seriously be able to consider it.
@KatMT I meant 10-25k in general, including the loan and Florida pre-paid plan. I’m sure I’ll have to take out some more loans than we originally planned, but we’re trying to start out on the lower price range to compensate for that.
OP run the NPC at Reed, I think you’ve a good chance at it coming in around the 25k mark with what you’ve posted. They’ve a very generous definition of need and I know that’s high on your list.
Another program to check out since you are interested in political science is the Ashbrook Scholars at Ashland University. https://www.ashland.edu/cas/history-political-science-department/ashbrook-scholar-program If you are liberal minded it might not be for you because I’m pretty confidant it is a conservative program. Another link http://ashbrookscholar.org/ If you are interested in the program, run the calculator at AU’s site to see if tuition will work out.
“I got a 2110 on old SAT (probably will be retaking) and have 3.9 UW and about 4.7 W.”
OK, these are very good stats! Good news!
Regarding retaking the SAT, I don’t know if I’d bother if you got a 1380 on the PSAT and the new format SAT. Your score on the old test is higher in % terms according to the concordance tables. You’d have to score a 1450+ on the new SAT to do better. JMO.
If your desire is a LAC and you seek large merit awards, I’d look at slightly less competitive places where your stats put you in the top 25% of admitted students. I would start with the Colleges that Change Lives book (or website) and check out places like Denison University (some full tuition scholarships available), Ohio Wesleyan, College of Wooster, Earlham, Lawrence, and Clark U. There are many others described in Loren Pope’s CTCL book. I see that you’re also open to women’s colleges and Mt. Holyoke has a few large merit awards.
I can’t say that you will attain your budget from these schools. You’ll have to run the numbers yourself. But it’s a good place to start.
I also agree with other posters that you want to lock in some financial safeties where your stats would get you free tuition and then your family budget plus loan or part time work could cover the room and board. The yolasite link listed upthread is a great place to start. Also focus on public universities with honors colleges (Ohio U, tOSU, Kentucky, Oklahoma, etc.) which can provide a more personalized college experience within the framework of a larger university.
As mentioned earlier, need-based and merit-based awards typically don’t stack. A merit award typically will reduce your need-based portion.
I’m sure you’ll have many choices - you are smart to be considering the financial aspects before you apply to avoid disappointment later on.
