<p>@artloversplus - I’m confused by your post. There was no mention of med school because she isn’t thinking of going that route. UChicago is at the top of her wish list - we visted last winter. Pretty much every school we’re looking at is need-blind. That’s not the issue. The issue is finding a good school that offers merit FA because we’re not poor enough for NBFA nor rich enough for cost to be a nonissue.</p>
<p>" U Roc - Eastman SoM"</p>
<p>LOL, I thought that SOM is School of Medicine.</p>
<p>Anyway, it is highly desirable for a music major to be interested in Medicine and medical schools do look for that kind of diversity.</p>
<p>Ahh, yes. The dangers of acronyms. I know many MDs, and it’s interesting how many of them have musical interests/talents. That’s why we fight every year to keep music in our K-12 schools - builds strong brains!</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, what exactly is the range of middle-class income that seems to constitute the “dead zone” for financial aid?</p>
<p>I’m not sure of the availability of merit aid there, but Lehigh may be worth checking into. Sort of LAC-like but has the variety of majors that she may be looking into.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon - there doesn’t appear to be an exact range - it slides around from school to school. Some put the low end of income at $60K - any household under that gets full NBFA. We went to one school that said it was set at $100K (not sure I believe them, but …). Then the high end is really fuzzy. All I know is we seem to be in that zone, no matter which school’s financial aid calculator we use. </p>
<p>And thank you for the suggestion of Lehigh - we’ll check it out.</p>
<p>For merit aid I would second (or third) Tulane and she could consider Fordham in NYC as well (she might qualify for Fordham’s honors program).</p>
<p>This article might be worth reading.
<a href=“http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2013/07/24/student-stories/”>Loading...;
<p>UMiami has really good merit aid for academics as well as a very nice music school. They have separate Stamps scholarships for academics as well as for the Frost Music school. The campus feels very small. My second son got a very nice package from UM but thought the Engineering school was too small. Totally understand the gator blood. My husband graduated from UF and the oldest son is currently attending there. </p>
<p>Thanks, @happy1! Fordham has also been mentioned before, and that blog article is def something I will have my DD read.</p>
<p>Hi MinneMom2, We went through the same thing with our daughter last year. My D was also high stats, NMF etc. and by the end of her Jr. year her wish list of colleges were all elite, difficult to get into and mostly need based only FA or a few with very competitive merit scholarships. We had a heart to heart with her and explained our financial situation to her in detail. We said she could apply to any colleges she wanted to but she had to come up with a few academic safety/likely matches and financial safeties that she would be happy to attend. She sulked for a couple of weeks, but then jumped into the search. We helped her with suggestions and some research, but really left it mostly up to her. I think that was really the key because in the end she owned those choices. She had one match on her list already, our excellent state flagship- great school, but bigger than she wanted. She decided she could be happy there if she was in the honors college and joined some clubs that interested her. She found another large state school that she liked a lot of things about except for size, it had rolling admissions, lower overall cost and automatic scholarships. And she found a midwest LAC that was similar to many of the elite east coast schools she liked, just less well known and less prestigious. It had all the specific things she was looking for, strong academics, D3 sports, excellent school orchestra accessible to nonmajors and in a not too small town. In the end she was admitted to all 3 of these schools before xmas and ended up choosing (and falling in love with) the LAC. She did apply to 2 elite east coast schools, but decided on the LAC before she heard back about admission from those. I hope this story helps and I wish you the best in your search!</p>
<p>@cellomom2 - thank you! I know we’re headed for that financial heart-to-heart. It’s not “news” to her that we can’t foot an Ivy bill, but we haven’t yet shown her the more detailed picture, so I think there’s a tendency for her to think maybe we’re just being stingy. And I really like your philosophy of having your D own her choices. That is certainly important for my strong-willed, independent kiddo…</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is extremely prestigious and awards merit based aid. </p>
<p>This kid sounds like a problem solver. I think you need to give her the dollar amount you will pay per year, and push her to explore options and figure out some of her choices. Suggest she get an account out here on CC, and give her the info she needs to run NPCs. Make the cost beyond what you can pay HER problem, not yours. I assume you are not willing to sign for loans beyond the federal loan amount she can take out ($28,000 total for her full four years of undergraduate study). She can’t get herself into too much financial trouble if you stick to not taking out loans beyond federal loans, and giving her an amount to spend.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats - Vandy is on her list 
Hope to visit soon.</p>
<p>@intparent - you are so right. DD is a problem solver (and already has a CC account). So DH and I are going to sit down and try to figure out an amount we can contribute. Complicating things is I am self-employed/freelancer and just never know what my income will be, so it makes using those calcuators a little tricky. I did stumble upon this thread in which a similar student devised a very smart plan of attack: <a href=“After the Dust Settled: Results for high-stats, merit-seeking kid - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>After the Dust Settled: Results for high-stats, merit-seeking kid - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;
<p>I appreciate your advice to just figure out a realistic EFC and let her see what she can come up with in terms of merit choices. Thanks!</p>
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<p>At the most generous with need-based financial aid schools, the “need-based financial aid dead zone” can start at a point higher than $200,000 (see <a href=“Net Price Calculator”>https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator</a> for an example). Most would consider such income levels to be higher than “middle class”…</p>
<p>However, there are schools which give no need-based financial aid at all other than repackaging federal aid, so their “need-based financial aid dead zone” starts where federal Pell grants stop (if you include federal aid) or the entire range of possible incomes (if you include only the school’s need-based financial aid).</p>
<p>Similar issues here. D got in all the selective schools but money did not follow. D got in Duke and Wake with slightly higher stats than OP…no merit money. Would she visit some state schools with good honors programs. University of SC would give her money and instate tuition and there are lots of high achieving peers in honors college. Might qualify for McNair for OOS students. I know it is larger, but the honors college is smaller group. If you like Wake, might also look at Furman.</p>
<p>Thanks @scmom12. She does have some state schools on her list, including our flagship, UF, U of Wash, and several UC schools. She just thinks she wqants something smaller. Good to know Honors Colleges at larger state schools might give her the more intimate setting she seeks - the key will be where the $$ is.</p>
<p>It is HIGHLY unlikely that you would receive any significant amount of financial aid from the U of Washington. Of late they are recruiting out-of-state applicants as full pay students.</p>
<p>Good to know @LakeWashington. Thanks!</p>
<p>Furman was the worst college merit-aid wise for my high stat guy. 30K+ needed on our end worst. YMMV</p>