How does a "top" student find their safety?

<p>fudge, yup. S withdrew three apps after getting into two of his top choices EA – but the ones he dropped weren’t exactly considered safeties. The only drawbacks to your strategy are whether you need a school you and you parents are happy with financially (and not many folks are thrilled with UChicago FA) and the possibility you’d want more options come April.</p>

<p>^^^U Chicago gives a preliminary estimate of need-based financial aid with the early acceptance, but does not reveal merit scholarship status until the end of March. Some schools don’t even do that much at early acceptance. Hence, that option is not very useful for someone who really needs to know what the final financial offer is going to be before making a choice.</p>

<p>My son thought his search was over when he was accepted early to Chicago. Fortunately, he sent in the other applications anyway. When he was awarded a whopping merit scholarship from another good school, he was quite pleased with himself for not walking off with the early offer without waiting for the final numbers to come in.</p>

<p>midmo,
We got the prelim FA estimate from Chicago, too. Two of the schools S1 kept on his list after getting EAs had significant merit possibilities – he knew we needed to see how merit, etc., would play out since we have some unusual expenses and weren’t sure how they’d be figured into the FA. That said, we were pretty darned happy w/his merit options at the end of March last year.</p>

<p>Dad II, you already HAVE a safety school both in admissions and finances…It’s Ohio State…your instate flagship state university. It’s an excellent school, and the price for instate is terrific…especially compared to the privates. If your son is an excellent student as you say, he may get some kind of merit aid from the school as well.</p>

<p>^ IIRC, OSU is not a financial safety for Dad II’s S because it costs 24k/year, on top of his D’s tuition.</p>

<p>^^^ Well thats confusing, for if DAD II’s DS is in state, the fees are listed as about 17K for tuition and R&B for instate students, with $7200 merit $$ for certain SAT/ACT scores which he will no doubt meet, and an additional $1-2K/yr for NMF. How does this come out to $24K? The higher fees are for OOS students. Dad II, can you explain??</p>

<p>Dad II…there are other state universities in Ohio in addition to Ohio State. I realize you think your son should only attend a “top” school…but if you are looking for financial value AND a good education, there certainly are others to look at. Miami, Ohio University, Kent, to name just a few. I’m quite sure your kid could get a wonderful education at any of these schools and if he’s really at the tippy top of his stats, they certainly DO have merit aid.</p>

<p>And, lucky for those residents of Ohio, The OSU is NOT raising their tuition ONE CENT this upcoming year

</p>

<p>^^A wonderful gift to Ohio residents. Makes you wonder what it means for OOS … Ah well, no concern here.</p>

<p>jym626, here is the link for that $24 is state cost: (DS may not get NMF this year). the only sure thing I think is the Maximus Scholarship of $2700 a year.</p>

<p>[Budgets</a> - Award Guide - The Ohio State University](<a href=“http://www.sfa.osu.edu/awardguide/index.asp?tab=e#pagecontent]Budgets”>http://www.sfa.osu.edu/awardguide/index.asp?tab=e#pagecontent)</p>

<p>PG, I believe we have 25% of the 8 schools in the 30 - 80 range. Please do less attack but give me some real suggestions. I am getting tired of repeating myself over and over again without getting any real meaningful discussions.</p>

<p>With the current financial situation, I think it is easier for us to get need based FA than merit based. To get need base FA, all we need to do is getting in. To get any significant merit $$, you must be the top of the top these a few years. T1, it does not matter which Ohio school, we just could not over estimate the possibility of getting significant amount of merit $$. </p>

<p>DS will only apply to 8 schools. The focus has to be on need based FA. We simply could not try every single Ohio school hoping to get merit $$.</p>

<p>For arugement’s sake, let’s do some numbers games here:</p>

<p>Let’s assume our profile EFC is $25K. If DS gets into a top school which meets 100% of the need, we will pay $12.5K for each of DS’s first two years. Then $25K for the last two years. That is a grand total of $75K.</p>

<p>If DS goes to OSU and gets 4K a year merit $$, we will still pay 4x20 = $80K. So, if everything else being equal, I would like to think most of the people would send their child to that $75K for 4 year school. </p>

<p>So, my question in OP should have been, how does a top student pick a school that meet 100% of the financial need and s/he could for sure get in?</p>

<p>I saw that list, Dad II. It is severely padded with $4500 in “miscellaneous” personal expenses. There is <em>no way</em> you are going to incur those. And the room/board fee seems to be high-- likely using a higher room and meal plan rate. Here’s what they list elsewhere for estimated fees:
Undergraduate
In-state tuition and fees (2008-2009): $8,679
(In-state tuition (2008-2009): $7,983)
In-state tuition (1 credit hour): $222
Out-of-state tuition and fees (2008-2009): $21,918
Out-of-state tuition (2008-2009): </p>

<p>Room and Board Information </p>

<p>Typical board (2008-2009):<br>
Room and board (2008-2009) $8,073*<br>
Additional fees (Estimated): $0
Undergrad Books (2008-2009): $1,383 </p>

<ul>
<li>Avg room rate with basic dining plan</li>
</ul>

<p>So basic tuition, fees, room and board is about 16,752. You can buy books used (most of us do that) and cut costs. </p>

<p>And according to this, [The</a> Ohio State University](<a href=“http://undergrad.osu.edu/merit.html#nationalmerit]The”>http://undergrad.osu.edu/merit.html#nationalmerit) DS should qualify for freshman merit scholarships. How did he do on the PSAT? Do you know yet? How about SAT?ACT? Will he retake? Even if he <em>only</em> gets the $2700 scholarship (and I’ll bet he does better than that) at WORST you are looking at $14K/year. That’s a steal. Put him to work on those outside scholarships and you’ll have lots of choices.</p>

<p>You could make the same cost cutting measures at a top school. Also I don’t think 4500 is a high estimate for miscellaneous expenses. I probably spent around 1500-2000 a semester not including traveling expenses. If you’re going to choose a smaller meal plan, be prepared to allot some money toward buying groceries.</p>

<p>I think jym is saying that OSU may not necessarily be the top choice, but it CAN serve as a financial safety. The whole point of a safety is having an affordable school to attend if you don’t get into any reaches/matches.</p>

<p>I’m not sure if there are any 100% need safeties. Rochester, maybe, although their FA is iffy (great for some, terrible for others). Among the no/capped-loans schools, there are NO safeties.</p>

<p>“So, my question in OP should have been, how does a top student pick a school that meet 100% of the financial need and s/he could for sure get in?”</p>

<p>By looking at schools that are really keen on attracting top students and therefore want to “buy” them. But those schools won’t fit your criteria of What Everyone Has Heard Of, so you have a choice. What’s more important? The prestige of the school? Or the ability to give a top student lots of money?</p>

<p>^^^ To add one thing PG-- there are schools willing to offer lots of $$ to top students that the OP (but maybe not “everyone”,LOL, has heard of-- but they may not be the tippy top. The criteria to pick a school should not be whether we want to put the window decal in our car, IMO. </p>

<p>And $4500 for “incidentals”, especially if it doesnt include transportation, is … sorry… outrageous. That didnt include the books in their estimate. Thats a $500/mo spending allowance. Ridiculous.</p>

<p>And of your current list, Dad II, only 2 arent in the tippy top-- Case, at 41, and OSU at 57 (2008 US news book). Thats hardly in the “30-80” range. If they are your s’s academic safety’s, fine. But be sure they meet your $$ concerns too, or as I keep repeating-- get cracking on those outside scholarship applications.</p>

<p>And yes, Keilexandra, you were correct in your interpretation of what I was trying to say.</p>

<p>Dad II, I pulled this from another thread about the Univ of Alabama. Your son likely meets the bottom criteria and could get full tuition. So there you have it … An admissions safety AND an almost full-ride! What more could you want? </p>

<p>Out-of-State Scholarships for 2009-2010</p>

<p>An out-of-state first time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 30-31 ACT or 1320-1390 SAT score and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a UA Scholar and will receive 2/3 tuition.
Presidential Scholar</p>

<p>An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive the value of out-of-state tuition for four years.</p>

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<p>Dad II…as you already know…there are not a lot of schools out there that meet FULL need…and those that do are amongst the most competitive schools in which to gain admittance. </p>

<p>Has your son considered applying to any schools where there are special scholarships and applications to go with them? I know that University of South Carolina’s McNair Scholarship DOES cover the full cost of attendance. The school also has a terrific honors college program (with a very demanding application) that gives some excellent perks to those who are admitted.</p>

<p>Dad II…I noticed that your son is going abroad this summer. If finances are SUCH a concern to you and your family, perhaps having him work and save money this summer (which certainly could be applied to personal expenses or any other college expense for that matter) would be a better use of his time. Of course, if finances are NOT a concern, then the trip abroad would not be a problem. BUT if you are so so concerned about finances, I don’t understand how you can justify a trip abroad in lieu of a summer job for your son.</p>

<p>Dad II -
You seem to be looking for some sort of a guarantee-- a school that will guarantee to accept him and guarantee to cover 100% of need (or merit). But it seems you want that school to clearly be in the top tier and near the top of the top tier. If you find that, please let others know. Everyone here would love that gurarantee.</p>

<p>As you know, getting into college, and getting $$, takes a lot of work. There are no “guarantees”, especially in the top schools, that meet both of your criteria. Best to apply too a gazillion outside scholarships. My older s’s friend paid her entire way through college with a large number of relatively small scholarships. Worked for her. I agree with Thumper- maybe your s should stay home this summer and if not get a job, then spend his time researching and filling out these scholarship applications, if the $$ is truly that urgently needed. Finding and applying for scholarships can be a fulltime job!</p>

<p>If your son is applying to Duke, he should also be doing the Pogue and Robertson scholarship applications.</p>