Can you take the sat one more time? Just 50 points would make a difference in merit aid.
Eckerd immediately comes to mind. Run the NPC!
St Mary’s in Maryland would likely be the cheapest for you near the water.
Run the NPC on UNC Wilmington, College of’Charleston.
Is SDSU too expensive?
SDSU is 20 minutes from the beach so not close either. UCSD or USD would be much closer but much pricier.
@tk21769 thank you so much for your suggestions! i am currently looking into SMCM and NCF 
@MYOS1634 thank you! i’m currently thinking SMCM would be the best option for me i think i’m done taking the sat if i’m being honest lol i’m a rising senior so i need to start working on college essays and that kind of thing but i might try the act (i went about testing so wrong, i should’ve just picked one test and stuck to it but it is what it is)
@hop thank you for all of these suggestions!
@twoinanddone thank you! i’m going to look into florida tech and embry-riddle
@momofsenior1 i am a rising senior, but i’m now starting to think that St. Mary’s College of Maryland is my best bet in terms of price and lifestyle! thank you for your help
@PepperJo thank you!!!
Just have to say, Pepperdine may not be an LAC, right. But on a good weather day, what a spectacular view.
Big difference between ocean and bay or river and plain old ‘some water nearby.’ OP, St Mary’s looks beautiful- is that what you mean by “beachy?” It’s on a river.
Some posters are going to think ocean.
Run the net price calculator. on Eckerd.
Right now you have the equivalent of an act 28, you’d need a 1340 to have the equivalent of a 29.
You should really think of testing once more since crossing that 1300 threshold to 1340 would yield more scholarship money and 4 hours on a Saturday morning may make the difference for your favorite colleges.
What’s your budget?
What does the NPC tell you about the colleges listed by people on this thread so far?
Don’t forget to apply to 2 affordable safeties, 3 affordable matches.
@lookingforward of course SMCM is not ideal for a beachy vibe but at the end of the day i do need to keep price my main priority! being from maryland, everyone goes to towson, UMD, or salisbury so although SMCM does not have the beachiest of vibes (lol) it would be the better in state safety option and the cheapest (probably)!
Note to anyone reading that while Miami, FL is a coastal city, U Miami is in Coral Gables and is nowhere near the water. Those who do Marine Studies there have to travel to get to their lab setting and we were told it can take up to 45 minutes pending traffic even though it’s only about 7 (maybe 8?) miles. They work 45 minutes into their class schedule for it (info heard at an admissions session). When my lad compared it to Eckerd and being able to walk out of his dorm room right down to the water (and labs), there was no comparison about where he wanted to go.
Heading to the beach to watch the nightly sunset is a regular among students at Eckerd. Can’t do that at Miami. Otherwise… we all liked U Miami. It’s just not a school on the water if that’s what a student is looking for. At Eckerd students can take sailboats, kayaks, etc, out right from campus (for free) and walk to the dining hall/dorms in about 5 - 10 minutes once you’re done.
@Creekland thank you for clarifying
In that case, you cannot be picky about things like beach proximity.
The best you can come up with is a full ride merit scholarship wherever that offers the academic programs you are interested in. But full ride merit scholarships are less common and harder to get now (obviously, it helps if you have high stats). If that is not possible, you may have to defer college until you are eligible for financial aid as an independent student.
3.96 GPA and 1290 SAT may get you a full ride here:
https://www.pvamu.edu/faid/types-of-aid/scholarships/university-scholarships/
To the OP, how are you paying for your own college with loans? A student can only take out a limited about each year - varying between $5500 and $7500 I believe. Taking on a large amount of debt for any undergrad U is rarely wise - very rarely - as in, I hate to say, “never,” but this comes close.
Kids I know who have gone to St Mary’s (MD) have enjoyed it. If that’s more affordable to you, go there and enjoy yourself. You don’t want to be burdened by debt repayment for the rest of your life.
You can’t “pay for college yourself”. That’s a thing of the past like rotary phones. Parents are expected to contribute omething from savings and something from current earnings. Then, you can borrow $5,500 for your first year. (Any other loans would have to be taken by your parents). Finally here’s merit aid, which is highly dependent on test scores. Basically, the higher your test scores, the higher the scholarship, so that prepping for an extra 4-hour test session may yield thousands of dollars.
So, before any scholarship, what’s your actual budget? What will your parents contribute? Do you have a job?
Have you run the NPC on Eckerd and SMCM?
I think you can, but you just can’t pick any school. We have a metro campus in our city with 3 different choices - a branch of the state flagship, a state university and a community college. A student can go to for $4k- $10k per year. Of course living expenses are separate. There is a lot of funding available through loans and grants.
It can be done. It is not the ‘sleep away’ college experience some are looking for, but it’s available. If the OP really has to pay her own way, she’s going to have to put away thoughts of a beachy college campus and look to the community colleges in MD with hopes of transferring to a 4 year school. Several schools have great articulation agreements with U of Maryland.
Living with the parents at no charge or heavily subsidized is a parental contribution. If the OP doesn’t even get that, or the parents do not live in commuting range of a suitable college, then the need to pay for living costs make affording college more difficult for a traditional student whose parents disqualify financial aid but contribute nothing.
y’all pick apart everything i say omg lol?? anyway trust me it can be done, as my sister is going into her 4th year with loans taken out with the help of my parents but she is expected to pay them back herself