Intellectual Community + Merit Aid

College Search & Selection
1

Hello, all! I’m a high school junior looking for some help with my college search (and hoping to help others with theirs). For a long time, I considered the University of Chicago my one and only, but the low admission rate and high cost have forced me to become more realistic. I come from an upper middle class family, and with a household income hovering around 150k, I’m unlikely to get much financial aid anywhere but the most generous ivies.

My top priority is to go to a school where a critical mass of students care about learning for learning’s sake. Prestige isn’t important to me; in fact, I think some less prestigious schools attract more intellectually I minded kids because they’re there for the academics, not the brand name. Liberal arts colleges also appeal to me, as do their small class sizes, but I fear they’d be stifling if not a perfect fit. (I like Pomona, Kenyon, St. John’s…)

As much as I like all of the schools I mentioned before, it’s unlikely I’d get enough merit aid from (m)any of them. I need more than a couple thousand dollars – more like full/half tuition. Yes, I know how ridiculously competitive that is. Yes, I have a financial safety (local public school) lined up. But I’d still like to try. I know I probably won’t find a UChicago or Swarthmore or Reed with a ton of merit aid, so places with a solid intellectual community within a larger community would be interesting, too. (I’ve heard mixed reviews of honors colleges; some = rat race and some = helpful; because it varies by school, specifics are great!)

For reference, my SAT score is 2300+, I’m a likely NMSF, likely valedictorian, and unhooked white girl. Great ECs by my high school’s standard, but not by CC’s. Clear display of long-windedness a la this post. ;D

TL;DR:
Help me find schools with intellectual vibes and generous merit aid, please!

2

Go to the financial aid forum. There is a list of competitive merit packages listed in one of the two threads pinned at the top. There is also a list of automatic merit colleges, but they may not suit you better than your safety–worth a look, though. There is also a list of scholarships for NMF.

Pomona does not give merit but Scripps does.

3

I am actually in the process of compiling such a list for the teen girls I work with! Here are some of the schools I’ve found that offer partial, half, full tuition or full ride + stipend scholarships to competitive students:

Boston University
Wells College
George Washington University
University of Maryland
University of Miami
Tulane
Scripps College*
Simmons College*
Washington University in St. Louis
Syracuse University

  • Women’s Colleges

So I can’t confirm that they all have intellectual environments, but they are all generous. I’m compiling this school list for a bunch of writers, so admittedly all these schools have strong writing or journalism programs–not sure what you’re into. I went to BU and it has a lot of intellectual/nerdy school lovers but is way more laid back than Ivies. I have friends who went to Wells who loved it and are pretty smart cookies, by my estimation. I’ve heard good things about GWU. UMD has a mix but I’m sure depending on the major you’ll find those kids (their journalism school is excellent). Syracuse is apparently a party school, but it’s on my list b/c the academics are supposed to be excellent. Simmons is a smaller LAC, but has a good rep in Boston.

I’m not done with my list (this thread on CC has been enormously helpful: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html#latest); there are certainly more, but these should be a good starting point for your research. And I can answer any specific questions you have about BU. And if you happen to be interested in journalism, I know a lot about schools with good programs :slight_smile:

4

Big state flagship schools that offer sufficient merit scholarships for you may be the best hunting grounds. The population of highly intellectual students, even if only a small percentage, may still be sufficient in absolute numbers (e.g. 10% of 20,000 students is 2,000 students, the size of a small LAC), although they will be mixed in with all of the other students.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html links to lists that may be of interest to you.

5

NYU’s financial aid is a combination of merit and need, so you might get some aid off them IF you’re a really competitive applicant with HYP stats

6

My first suggestion is to define your exact financial parameters. Period. What is the upper limit of your budget. For example, Case Western would probably give you $30,000 for your stats. But that leaves a $30,000 gap. If your upper limit is $10-15,000, it is irrelevant that they offered $30,000.

Once you know the finacial prism you have to investigate schools through, do so wisely. Use NPC to ensure you have several schools you can be happy attending. Then start looking at the super competitive scholarships at individual schools. Apply for some of them. You can’t win them without trying, but knowing that 1-3 out of a large number of applicants will win means needing to be realistic.

One of the drawbacks our ds found last yr was that many scholarships are tied to diversity or to amazing levels of community action service. He was an active volunteer his whole life bc he is a compassionate person who always wants to help others. But, no, he didn’t change his community in a resume defining moment. Many kids have huge levels of life-altering community impact. They are the kids you will be competing against. Or if tied to awards/research, you compete against Intel winners, etc.

So you need to apply, but you also need to be realistic.

If $$ is a controlling factor, there are lower ranked schools which will offer great merit money. Many have honors programs within the university which will be filled with peers just like you describe.

7

Clark University in Worcester MA offers a generous scholarship to applicants with high stats. A friend’s son chose it over full pay to a highly selective LAC, as did his roommate. He is very happy there. Clark draws students from high performing high schools in the Northeast and teaching is top notch for the intellectually curious. Full disclosure - I attended Clark many moons ago, with half of my entering class coming from private high schools in NYC and surrounding areas.

8

First, be sure to run Chicago’s online net price calculator. You may be eligible for a little more aid than you think.
For a family earning $150,000 with 2 children, $75K in checking/savings and another $75K in investments, Chicago’s NPC shows me a net price of $44,035 (after $20,200 in grant aid and $2,200 in “self help”). YMMV.

That aid (a little less than half tuition) still may not be enough aid to make it affordable. Other colleges that seem to meet your criteria (“intellectual” + merit) include:
Grinnell
Mt. Holyoke (women only)
Smith (women only)
Davidson

These are LACs, less selective than Chicago, that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need and also award an average of $15K or more in merit aid to at least 10% of incoming freshmen. You might have a shot at merit aid greater than Chicago’s possible ~$20K from one of these schools*. Somewhat less selective LACs that may offer more merit aid than more selective schools to someone with your stats include:
Lawrence University
Beloit
Rhodes
Centre
College of Wooster
(“Colleges That Change Lives” members)

Universities than may meet your criteria include Case Western, Brandeis, George Washington, Clark, and American U. None of these schools claim to meet full need, but all offer merit aid averaging at least $15K to at least 10% of incoming freshmen (so you might have a shot at more than Chicago’s possible ~$20K from one of these schools.) Vanderbilt and USC are “full need” universities that offer relatively large amounts of merit aid (but are more selective).

Sources:
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code=ALL&id=none&sortby=ug_ft_nn_noneed_d&sortorder=DESC

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need

  • A $15K merit scholarship will help you if it is added to the ~$20K you might get in n-b aid. If it only displaces that need-based aid, and is not greater than the n-b aid you'd otherwise get, it won't.

As suggested above, big state flagships that guarantee big merit scholarships for specific stats (such as Alabama) may come out with lower net costs than any of the above. However, if a school like Grinnell turns out to be do-able, you may decide it is worth some price premium over a bigger, less selective school.

9

Make sure you investigate merit combined with need based aid. Most schools still expect full family contribution and reduce/adjust accordingly. So don’t simply combine them in your head. For example, if the school costs 60,000 and the NPC says your EFC is $25,000, but you think you you will win $10,000 in merit, most likely you will still pay $25000. They will reduce their institutional grants first, not your EFC.

10

UChicago apparently does “stack” merit and need based aid.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1678792-does-u-chicago-stack-need-and-merit-aid.html

11

Case Western and Rochester have a reputation for being geeky/nerdy like UChicago and Swarthmore and you may get good merit money there (and yes, you need to determine what you can pay).

USC has a reputation for being the opposite of intellectual. Not saying that kids who go there aren’t bright, but it’s definitely far on the pre-professional end of the spectrum.

Look in to New College of Florida. Likely affordable and might just be what you are looking for.

12

A lot of good suggestions. If you want to know how much merit aid a college gives out you can look it yo in their common data set. They will show the number of students offered non need based aid and the average amount. Of the colleges suggested the best fit would be Grinnell. They have a massive endowment, very intellectual student body and they are extremely generous. Iowa is not for everyone but if you are okay with the Midwest it is a superb college

13

Another vote for Mount Holyoke here. Lovely campus, smart academic vibe, part of a 5 college consortium that spiced up the social life, and some very good merit packages. My NMSF unhooked D2 got $25k in merit. Lawrence might be another option, a bit cheaper to start with and good merit money. Dickinson gives some fairly good merit, too. Be sure to show interest at all…

14

@indecisivish‌


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household income hovering around 150k, I'm unlikely to get much financial aid anywhere but the most generous ivies.

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Your EFC may be roughly about $45k per year… perhaps more if there are assets.

First you need to ask your parents how much they can spend each year on college. They may have a college fund for you and siblings…or not.

If they aren’t prepared for college and will have to pay out of current income, then there are many regions of the country where that income won’t net much for college…maybe only $10k-15k per year (more or less).

Once you know how much your parents will pay each year, then you can make a sensible list.

What is your major and career goal?

Are you an IL resident?

@proudterrier‌ I don’t think i would consider WashU “generous” with aid. Yes, if you’re a targeted student (perhaps URM or some other big hook), it’s not generous to the run-of-the-mill high stats student. WashU is jammed-pack with high stats students and most do not receive any merit, much less “generous” merit.

As for the others on your list, unless the students that you are working with are all very high stats students, I’m not sure that they’d get generous awards from a number of those schools.

For some, a half-tuition+ award may be almost meaningless if the school just applies it to need. If the student would otherwise be full or near-full pay, then getting a $20kish discount is good if the family will pay the other $40k.+

15

WashU is very generous with merit money for the kids they want most (same can be said for Duke, Vandy, Emory, USC, and maybe Rice).

But yes, they are a small percentage of the student body and just having high stats is likely not enough. Keep in mind that the kids they are trying to lure with those big merit packages are usually kids that HYPSM (or Julliard, etc.) want.

16

<<<
Yes, I have a financial safety (local public school


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Do you mean your state flagship or a school that you can commute to? If it’s a local public, would you be happy to attend there? If not…then it’s not a safety. Many kids say that their local school is their safety and don’t bother to find other financial safeties…and then are later upset that they’re stuck going to that local public.

Since money is an issue, you should have at least 3 financial safeties THAT YOU LIKE. That way if none of the pricey schools work out, you’ll still have a choice. We’re Americans…we like to have choice! :wink:

If you mean your state flagship, then are you certain that it’s affordable and that you like it? Are you sure that you have all costs covered? Many assume that their state schools are their safeties because they know that they’ll get admitted, but then they discover that they won’t get much aid…and the parents can’t pay.

<<<
I need more than a couple thousand dollars – more like full/half tuition. Yes, I know how ridiculously competitive that is.


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Once your parents tell you how much they can pay, you’ll know what size merit you’ll need to target.

We see a lot of families here on CC with that income who can only come up with about $15k per year (which would be over $1,200 a month from the family budget if the family doesn’t have a college fund…even this amount may prove difficult).

While $150k is a very strong income, there are many regions of the country where mortgages, property taxes, gov’t taxes, FICA, and other living expenses just eat up that income.

A rule of thumb is: If the parents AND student can contribute about $15k per year (family funds and maybe $5k fed student loan), then that can go towards room, board, fees, & transportation.) Saved summer earnings can cover books and personal expenses. If parents can pay $20k per year, then with a $5k student loan and work-earnings, then maybe a 3/4 tuition merit award could work.

Half tuition scholarships at costly schools are often useless unless the family can nearly full pay. A $20k half-tuition award won’t help if a $150k income family can’t pay the other $40k+ per year…and many can’t.

If your parents are vague about how much they’ll pay…explain to them that their income is highish and most schools will expect them to pay all or nearly all costs. Ask them how much from the monthly family budget can go towards college. $500? $1000? more? less…sometimes putting that way can help unaware parents focus on what is realistic and what isn’t. You may already have a feeling from what you hear in your household. If you’re often hearing that there isn’t much left-over each month…or that they’re trying to fund retirement, then you need to understand that there may not be much help.

Since you’re a junior, there is a good chance your parents will be vague, unless there is a college fund. The key is to not make them feel bad about whatever they can pay. That will just cause more problems later. If they can only pay $6k per year ($500 a month), then with a $5,500 student loan from you and working/saving over the summer and working 8 hours a week during the school year can likely cover room, board, books, fees, misc expenses.

THANKFULLY…you have excellent stats and are a likely NMF…that can pull you out of a bad situation if necessary. Both of my children went to undergrad for practically free because of HUGE merit from their school. We didn’t intend for that to happen; we thought that we would need large merit for Child #1 (strong test-taker) so that we could fund Child #2’s college costs (who we thought that he would be a modest-test-taker…even though he was an A student…he hadn’t been able to test nearly as well as a K thru 10 student…once he was a junior/senior, his test scores surprised us with huge improvement…of course, by then, Child #1 was already in college on huge merit. )

Much of what I wrote in the above para may not have anything to do with you. However, you may have younger siblings that your parents are also concerned about funding for college. Families typically have to consider how much it will take to educate ALL of their kids…even the ones who are “good students,” but won’t likely get much/any merit or need-based aid. Sometimes families get themselves into jams by thinking that they can pay X for each child…but then a later child’s costs are X+…even at the same school. I wrote the above for anyone who might be in a similar situation as we were.

Be aware that YOU can’t borrow much (and shouldn’t borrow much!!)
You can borrow the following amounts:

frosh 5500
soph 6500
jr 7500
sr 7500

17

Some schools will first substitute merit scholarships for unmet need, then student contribution (student loan and/or student work study/expectation) before reducing need-based financial aid grants. I.e. limited “stacking”. Examples (not necessarily recommendations or realistic schools for the OP):

http://financialaid.stanford.edu/aid/outside/
https://students.ucsd.edu/finances/financial-aid/types/scholarships/

18

^^^

Often the difference is whether the merit is from the univ or from a 3rd party. And whether there is any gaps…or if the school has a policy that only a total of X “free money” can come from any source, if any school merit is given.

That said, I think this student first needs to clarify how much the family can pay each year. That income is one that can seem high to the FA calculators, but in reality that family can’t pay nearly that much due to living in an expensive region.

The issue may not be whether $5k or $10 in outside merit will help (and likely those awards would not be that big and likely will ONLY be for frosh year)…the real issue may be that the family will get hit with a $45k+ “family contribution” but only be able to pay $20k-35k…or even less.

19

Tulane? They would likely give you good merit and you’d be competitive for some of their full tuition scholarships.

20

Thanks, everyone! I’m currently looking through all of your suggestions.

I’ve talked to my parents about this before, but like mom2collegekids guessed, they’ve been quite vague. My dad has run a few NPCs, and (with the exception of HYP) they tend to put our EFC at ~35k+. They do have nearly 30k saved for me right now, which is great, but our monthly budget is pretty tight and I’m unsure how willing/able they’d be to take money from that. Based on my conversations with them, it seems to depend on the school. Right now, I’d guess we could swing $20k a year tops, including student loans.

Although the financial safety in question isn’t my state flagship, it’s comparable in quality. (The flagship’s too expensive & doesn’t offer more than ~4k in merit.) COA is about 27k in-state, but friends with lesser stats have gotten more than enough merit aid to make it affordable for me. Its IR program (possible major?) is well-established. I’d be content going there. My main issue is that for years I’ve held college as a sort of ideal, where people will care about classes, want to discuss academic topics outside class, etc… & Based on feedback from friends, I probably wouldn’t find that community in the honors college there. Students are bright, but pre-professional & overwhelmingly concerned with grades.

I don’t think it will be much different anywhere else that’d give me enough merit, and I know to be grateful for what I have, but I’d still like to believe that community exists somewhere.