Admission without affordability = rejection. Therefore, if the college is only affordable with a large merit scholarship, and that large merit scholarship is a reach, the college needs to go into the reach category.
6 Likes
This is where it feels like it gets tricky to predict. D22 had high stats as well (although not an art portfolio, which Iâm told by D23âs high school will make her stand out to adcoms). She targeted mostly schools where she was +75th percentile that give merit, but actually got yield protected from some where we thought she would be well positioned for admission/merit.
In the end she was happy (after getting over the misery of being punted from EA to RD) to receive a nice scholarship from Northeastern, where admission and merit felt like a huge reach. She is going in with about a yearâs worth of credits, plus she will make money during her co-ops, so the overall cost of her degree works.
4 Likes
This is correct. I just completed a FAFSA for S19 who is still in college, and as expected, it appears that the combination of having saved some money for college as well as living in an area where salaries are higher due to high cost of living rules out needs-based aid on my own. Definitely smack-dab in the middle of that donut!
Merit is definitely tightening up out there, just as costs continue to skyrocket. I used to feel good about having a $50K budget and kids who were high achieving in high school, which I hoped would even mean some merit at a T25 school. When we started looking at schools for D22, I quickly learned (through stalking CC!) that wasnât the case. We had to make sure she understood that just because she was high stats, that didnât mean that an ivy or Duke or similar schools could be on her list. There is so much chatter and underlying competition at her school about who got into which big-name colleges, and we had to tamp that down.
3 Likes
Looked at UMBC but art doesnât seem strong enough. VCU has the opposite issue - art is super strong (and the price is right!) but we question the strength of STEM there. Couldnât find merit at CMU but would love to have it on the list if those do exist!
This is excellent research and food for thought - thank you for your thorough response! $50K assumes what we can pay the first year, factoring in that costs will increase over four years and we will need to absorb those increases in our total budget. We would have more leeway if she goes to a college that accepts her AP/community college credits, as we think she will have about a yearâs worth, which would obviously decrease the total all-in cost. RIT and Northeastern are both attractive in that regard, as she could go for four years, but only take three years worth of credits, and round out the rest of her time by earning money doing co-ops.
3 Likes
Trinity University in San Antonio is often overlooked in these discussions of colleges offering good merit aid and may work for this situation, if the location is suitable to the OPâs student. Trinityâs large endowment per student allows it to offer significant merit aid.
AustenNutâs site at post 20 provides the following data for Trinity University:
Cost of Attendance: $63k (base tuition is a bit lower than many other colleges)
Percentage of Students w/o need receiving merit aid: 98%
Average merit award for students w/o need: $26.5k
Thatâs about a $36.5k anticipated COA per year.
Plus Trinity offers a handful of full tuition awards, including a few designated for Science majors (Semmes Distinguished Scholars in Science Scholarship). Trinity does offer both Physics and Art majors.
5 Likes
I donât know nearly as much as many of the posters about the topic of merit aid in general , but in regards to the Hail Mary, I can say that I personally know two kids in recent years for whom Washington University in St. Louis worked with the divorced mother to make the college affordable in the face of a father who refused to contribute much (or maybe even anything?) to the childâs tuition.
Knowing the families personally, I can say that they werenât typical divorces. The level of acrimony between the parents was extremely high, and I thought the fathersâ behavior was pretty appalling. At least one refused to even fill out the CSS. Still, neither were completely absentee fathers in the traditional sense given both fathers were paying regular child support. However, in the first case the father was estranged from the family except for paying the court-ordered child support. In the second case, the father was estranged from the applicant only but involved in the younger siblingsâ lives on a weekly basis.
I know that it took a lot of back and forth with the financial aid office and maybe some paperwork (all this contact with financial aid office happened before the kids submitted their ED applications), but in both cases, the child ended up receiving needs-based aid based on the mothersâ income alone. And in the other case, the child also received a competitive merit scholarship.
So I am certainly not wishing such an experience on your daughter. Hopefully she has a positive relationship with her dad and he follows through with his contribution, but I wanted to at least give you hope that if you start with the financial aid office at WashU, they will be open to hearing about any nuances or complexity to your financial situation.
2 Likes
Vanderbilt is another school that meets full needâŠand doesnât always take the non-custodial parent info into consideration.
2 Likes
Donât know details, but sawâ Carnegie Mellon awards⊠Carnegie Scholarship ProgramsâŠbut has been discontinued.
1 Like
Denison, Dickinson, and Union are 3 that could be worth a look on the basis of merit and a very strong program in at least one of her interests. Your list would suggest that she is not looking for LACs though but somewhere bigger schools. Is that the case?
2 Likes
RIT will get you into your price range with merit and does a wonderful job bringing together her interests. That is a good likely/match for her.
4 Likes
Wake Forest may also be of interest and has merit. They are strong in sciences and the local arts community builds on the opportunities on campus.
1 Like
This is very good to know, and is helpful for our situation. Thank you for sharing!
@Pathnottaken we were very impressed with RIT when we visited! They certainly have some innovative programs that combine STEM and the arts. With D22 heading to Northeastern, we are sold on the value of co-ops too.
1 Like
She has been targeting schools that are at least 3000+ undergraduates. Her brother started at a small LAC and didnât enjoy the size, so he transferred, which has made her cautious of small sized schools. We have very large high schools here so anything less than 2000 âfeels like high schoolâ according to D. That said, I donât see her enjoying a 30K sized school unless she was in a smaller group like an honors college.
1 Like
Be careful though when assessing size. That student population may include a med school which is 25 miles away, a law school which has zero interaction with the undergrad population, an Ag school which is also on a different campus, and a dozen graduate programs in arts and sciences which are housed elsewhere. The numbers donât tell you much about the undergrad experience. There are large schools that feel intimate, and small schools that seem bigger than they are.
I was at a relativeâs graduation from U Mich (the year before Covid). The university-wide ceremony is in the football stadium which- needless to say- was the most overwhelming and ginormous commencement Iâd ever seen.
And then the individual school ceremonies were scattered across campus. As my relative walked across the stage in a small performance hall, every single faculty member came forward to hug her. At the reception afterwards (where we met the faculty advisor, the Dean of the program, etc each of whom said something very sweet and personal which showed they actually knew her) I realized that although nobody would recommend Michigan to a kid who wants a tiny school, it actually works well for a kid targeting mid-size (if they are interested in a specific program). It was pretty cool to see how a small department and a large university can break the place down to an intimate size!!!
6 Likes
Thank you for that feedback about Michigan. I have heard that the art department does take the large university feel down to something more interactive and engaging on an individual level. Same thing with the UMD Honors College, which is what I think she would need to not feel overwhelmed on such a large campus. I think if there was an outstanding, unique art program at a smaller school, she would consider it, but overall it seems like the art programs with the most breadth of options are at larger universities.
Have you looked at Tufts or Northeastern? At both schools students take art courses at the SMFA (School of the Museum of Fine Arts), I believe. Iâm not sure about Physics (my D22 is all art but wanted university rather than art school and is going to VCUarts in the fall). We were also chasing merit and got good offers from VCU, Temple, GW. With your daughters stats you could try CMU, Michigan, BU? Maybe look at US News and World Report list of art schools then see which may also have strong STEM programs?
Northeastern is definitely on the list. She has been invited to apply for the College Board National Hispanic Recognition Program based on her PSAT score, and NU has in the past awarded $25-30K to some high stats kids in recognition of this honor, so fingers crossed for that. My understanding is that Tufts does not provide merit, but if Iâm wrong, I would definitely add that school to her list!
Great to hear that you got merit from those schools! Iâm not aware of GWâs art program but Iâll take a look, since she loves DC. Looked at VCUArts which is AMAZING (congrats to your D!), but we arenât as confident in their physics program and it looks difficult to cross over from the art school.
Michigan is on the list and provides a great framework for double majors between art and non-art. Same with BU, which has also been known for providing nice merit for kids who are recognized in the CB Hispanic Recognition program. CMU seems to be focused only on needs-based aid, but if merit was there, we would definitely have it on the list.
Thanks for your thoughts!
1 Like