How do I find "financial safeties"?

Paying for College
1

<p>People keep suggesting that my d add financial safety schools to her list. Other than our NJ state schools, which do not appeal to her, how can we find these? Don't some of the better schools actually offer superior aid packages because they have larger endowments? I'm not sure how to identify the schools she should be visiting for her "financial safeties."</p>

<p>D:
4.2 weighted GPA, 3.6 unweighted
730 math, high 600s in writing/language SATs
Hispanic
Wants to major in math (possible minor in philosophy)
Nationally ranked ice skater, may not skate in college though
Other ECs theater, ballroom dancing, community service (trains disabled skaters for special Olympics)</p>

<p>Looking for colleges in NE, mid-Atlantic, Chicago, possibly (but less probable) west coast. The school must be very diverse, fairly liberal, and not have a huge Greek presence. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>A financial safety is simply a school that your student would actually be happy attending and you know you can pay for. So, without knowing a bit more about your budget/income, it’s difficult to suggest schools. Also, you don’t mention whether she’s looking for a big research school, a LAC, or something in between.</p>

<p>Schools that would be likely to give her big merit awards based on her stats can be considered financial safeties…some schools have “automatic” scholarships and you can find that info on their website or by looking that the long thread on this board. Alabama is one school that’s particularly well-known for their automatic scholarships. SUNY Stony Brook would be close, affordable, and has the WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) scholarship program. CUNY has the McCauley honors program and UB has the Acker Scholars and other merit awards which tend to bring the OOS cost down to instate levels (which are around $5K for tuition and $21K for full COA). Those are just a few of the many possibilities…and don’t forget the schools that guarantee to meet 100% of need. You can find details of those programs here:
[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php)</p>

<p>Edited to add: This is assuming that your DD is a junior…for some reason I can’t see your post history! If she’s a senior, obviously you’ll have to adjust your search to only include schools that are still accepting applications and not count on merit aid unless otherwise specified by the school!</p>

3

<p>If you haven’t already, check out the sticky threads on the Hispanic Students subforum (under College Admissions, Specialty Topics). You’ll find lots of info on scholarships, college diversity fly-ins, etc.</p>

4

<p>Wonderful! Thanks!</p>

5

<p>Two things:</p>

<p>I. the formula for “financial aid safety schools” is this </p>

<p>The “list” full cost (tution, fees, room and baord, travel, books, misc.)
minus need-based financial aid
minus merit based financial aid
equals actual Cost of Attendance (COA)
which is either
1- more than you can afford OR
2- less than you can afford </p>

<h1>2s are the financial aid safety schools.</h1>

<p>So for example, McGill in Montreal w/no aid (List Cost $27k) was the same for us as Oberlin (list cost $54k) because of the need-based and merit aid our kid received.</p>

<p>II. A screening method you can use includes using the College Board site to select schools that
1- give relatively more financial aid (e.g., at Gettysburg ~ 14% of the kids get an average of 10k in merit money vs. at Bucknell 4% of the kids get an average of 12k)<br>
2- and that your daughter is in the top 25% for SAT/ACT scores</p>

<p>the result of this screening are schools where your D would maximize her chance of obtaining merit aid</p>

<p>Hope this helps</p>

6

<p>I am confused–how do I search for schools that give more financial aid? I didn’t see that as a criterion (am I looking in the wrong place)?</p>

7

<p>Don’t some of the better schools actually offer superior aid packages because they have larger endowments? I’m not sure how to identify the schools she should be visiting for her “financial safeties.”</p>

<p>Yes…but since those are the schools with very selective admissions, those schools usually can’t be “financial safeties” since people have no idea of whether they’ll get accepted.</p>

<p>D:
4.2 weighted GPA, 3.6 unweighted
730 math, high 600s in writing/language SATs
Hispanic
Wants to major in math (possible minor in philosophy)</p>

<p>Will your D test again? Will she also take the ACT? She should so that she’ll have the best possible scores.</p>

<p>Since “safeties” often do NOT give great need-based aid, often a financial safety is a school that will give an ASSURED large merit based scholarship for the student’s stats. I don’t mean scholarships that just cover a small chunk, I’m talking about schools that give very large merit scholarships…such as full tuition or more.</p>

<p>Being a female Hispanic may or may not help at some schools. it will depend on the campus.</p>

8

<p>Yes…she will test again and take ACTs. Where can I find schools that will give “large merit scholarships” to kids at her level?</p>

9

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=automatic+scholarships[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=automatic+scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>A Financial Safety is a place that your family can afford without any aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) financial aid. However, not all financial safeties will be academic safeties. Harvard is a financial safety for almost anyone, but almost none of the qualified applicants are admitted.</p>

<p>An Academic Safety is a place where your child is guaranteed admission (or all but guaranteed admission) based on her profile. However, not all academic safeties will be affordable. And even if they are, they may not offer the program your daughter wants.</p>

<p>The trick is to find institutions that are financially viable, reasonably safe academically, offer the program that the student wants, and are places the student is willing to attend. If an institution does meet all of those four criteria, it can be considered a Rock Solid Safety.</p>

<p>Only you know your financial situation. Maybe 50K a year is OK, but 55k isn’t. Maybe even 5k is too much. You need to sit down with the EFC calculators, and find out what your FAFSA EFC is likely to be, and get a general notion about what your CSS Profile EFC could be. For the FAFSA, I like using the raw formula itself. <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf&lt;/a&gt; That way you can test out different financial scenarios. There are good online EFC calculators at [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_status.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_status.jsp)</p>

<p>Each institution publishes information about financial aid on its website, and information can also be found at [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics) and other college search websites. One good thread for your daughter to read through here is <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt; But if you look around a bit, you will find others.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

11

<p>*A Financial Safety is a place that your family can afford without any aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) financial aid. *</p>

<p>I differ with that definition.</p>

<p>I would say that a financial safety is a school that you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered thru ASSURED fed grants, ASSURED merit scholarships, small fed loans, and/or family funds.</p>

<p>Off topic…Happymom…is your D transferring for next fall?</p>

12

<p>Off topic - Happykid still has a year to go at her CC. We expect to spend part of Spring Break looking at possible transfer-to schools. Wish us luck!</p>

13

<p>This is great stuff. Thank you. It looks like I am eligible for all sorts of loans and aid.</p>

14

<p>Well, most parents are eligible for loans up to the full COA…around here we don’t view that as a good thing;) But if you can find scholarships and grants to keep everyone’s debt load to a minimum, that’s a workable safety strategy.</p>

15

<p>*This is great stuff. Thank you. It looks like I am eligible for all sorts of loans and aid.
*</p>

<p>What are you looking at that is telling you that? Yes, you (the parent) can borrow up to Cost of Attendance (minus any grants/scholarships), but as Sk8rmom says…that’s not a good thing.</p>

16

<p>I suggest you take a look at Alfred:</p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University : Undergraduate Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/undergraduate_cost.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/undergraduate_cost.cfm)</p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University : College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Mathematics](<a href=“http://las.alfred.edu/math/]Alfred”>http://las.alfred.edu/math/)</p>

17

<p>Momof2/Sk8trMom: It is a good thing if it means the difference between giving her the option of going wherever she wants, or not. Whether she/we choose to take that option is another story. </p>

<p>How we handle our finances is not the subject of discussion here.</p>

18

<p>Thank you susgeek!</p>

19

<p>the point of your thread was to discuss financial safety schools. By most people’s definition, that would not be a school where anyone has to take out large loans. </p>

<p>But, if you think that a financial safety could involve large loans, then that’s fine. Sk8rmom and I were just offering conventional wisdom.</p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>Sorry, but finding big loans is not the same as finding financial safeties. Otherwise, every school in the world would be a financial safety! If you folks want to bury yourselves in loans for the “dream school” experience, it’s up to you. Many have done that, and most live to regret it. You can read stories like this one all over the place:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;