I visited Kenyon and really loved it. The only issue is the price tag. I can’t see a scenario in which I’d ever be able to attend. Are there any similar schools (environment and education-wise) that come with a lower price tag? Location doesn’t matter.
You won’t qualify for fin aid? What are your stats? What is your price range?
What parts of Kenyon’s environment and education did you like?
University of Minnesota - Morris?
However, strength of departments may differ (e.g. Kenyon is well known for strength in English), so if there are particular subjects you are interested in, you may want to investigate offerings in those subjects.
Kenyon does provide the opportunity for merit aid in the $10-20k range
If you haven’t yet, gather some financial facts from your parents…then read this: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/opinion/college-cheaper-than-you-think.html?_r=0
Typically, only families earning at least $200,000 a year fail to qualify for financial aid. For families with middle-class incomes, highly selective colleges are much, much less expensive.
Good luck!
@magtf1, glad you provided a link to a story about the best secret that too few still know about. While $200k may be ambitious, there are many highly selective schools that will provide significant need based aid for families of $100k.
Denison, Wooster, and Earlham may have better merit.
My parents income on taxes was about $130,000 but they do not plan to contribute past what they have set aside for me, which is about $5,000/yr.
I have a 34 ACT and 3.98 uw gpa. My school doesn’t offer strictly AP classes; they just switched to doing them all CCP (so I get college credit from different colleges) instead. I didn’t take any of the AP tests for these; I’m not sure how this could negatively effect me.
Related to Kenyon, I loved the small, rural atmosphere. The school and the town all felt like one little community. I also liked how they put an emphasis on writing/communication in all majors, even though I am a potential English major. The education seems thorough and focused on thinking (I know, stereotypical LAC speak) rather than rote memorization or intensely career-focused.
Have you run the Net Price Calculators for different schools? There are actually a ton of rural Midwestern LACs. Where are you in-state for?
Ohio
Kenyon offers merit aid scholarships up to full tuition ($50+K). So does Grinnell. And Mount Holyoke. And several others, including some of the colleges on the Colleges that Change Lives website. Some of the southern LACs are cheaper than those in the northeast. There are some full ride scholarships out there as well (e.g., University of Richmond’s Richmond Scholars, Davidson College’s Belk; Washington and Lee’s Johnson scholarship). You should know, however, that many of these scholarships are extremely competitive (some require separate applications; some require nominations).
Many state university systems have some smaller LAC-type colleges in addition to the state flagships and larger research universities (e.g., William and Mary; UVA College at Wise; New College of Florida). Likewise, many of those larger public universities have honors colleges or honors programs within the larger university that can provide an LAC-type experience to top students.
With a $5,000 per year parent contribution, you need to find a net price under around $15,000, if you are willing to take student loan for $5,500 and work part time and during summers to earn another $4,500.
You can check net price calculators at college web sites for whether need-based aid will be enough. If not, you may have to find sufficiently large merit scholarships (at least full tuition, but possibly more at some colleges with higher room and board costs).
@lorenk18, You haven’t answered the question about the net price calculators. Running your family’s financial figures through a net price calculator is the best way to get an idea of how much need-based aid you might be eligible for.
Kenyon and many, many other colleges promise to meet full demonstrated need. Demonstrated need can be estimated on the net price calculator.
Need-based aid is the best way to secure funding at many schools. Merit aid is available too, but except in a few cases where scholarships are guaranteed based on grades and scores, it’s difficult to predict.
An income of $130K is borderline for need-based aid. Other factors, like other siblings in college at the same time or income from a family-run business, will impact the outcome both positively and negatively. At some colleges you may get enough need-based aid to make it worthwhile; at some you won’t. The first step is to find out by running your family information through a few NPCs.
Run the NPC’s, but also look at MiamiU and Ohio Honors Tutorial College.
They are both much bigger than a LAC but MiamiU is known for undergraduate teaching and the HTC offers individualized instruction by faculty. And you’re almost certain to get scholarships to those schools. Possibly enough to make them affordable.
Run the NPC for Hamilton as well. They are also a LAC that focuses on writing.
If you loved Kenyon, Hamilton will also be a good fit with a slightly larger campus and student population, and a much bigger endowment so more resources. In addition, because its need blind and meets 100% of demonstrated need the financial aid NPC results will be better.
I don’t see most of the options suggested here as realistic. I do know someone whose parents had the same attitude, but changed their mind and contributed more once they saw the NPC results (and their kid started researching service academies). I’d start there and show your parents. The kid ended up at Kenyon.
Centre, Knox, Trinity U (TX), Southwestern U, U of Puget Sound, Lewis and Clark, Clark University all offer full-tuition scholarships. Some offer only one or two. Centre offers a bunch of full-ride scholarships. My D was looking for large merit scholarships at LAC’s and this was her list. She only considered schools that offer at least some full-tuition scholarships. Your grades and scores are high enough to be considered, the rest of your application will make the difference for these very competitive awards. Make sure you have a safety school you can afford. You’ll be writing lots and lots of essays. Plan ahead. The deadlines are mostly in November. My D was happy to receive one of the big scholarships she applied for (she knew going in that the result might well be zero), and her cost is still higher than what you are looking for. However, for our family it was the same cost in the end as our state universities after all aid was considered. Make sure you and your parents have run the net price calculators for your state universities as well as the LAC’s you end up considering, so you all understand the costs you are facing, even at your local state universities, before you begin the application process.
@CrewDad, yes, that’s after you get through the Need Aware admission gate at Kenyon…