First, your daughter sounds amazing. She will be a contender wherever she applies. I’ve scanned the thread quickly and one thing I didn’t see (but could have missed): Is she an only child? If you have another child whose college years will overlap with your D’s this will work to your benefit. I went through this process 5 years ago, HS class of 2014, with twins. Having 2 in at once helped enormously with finances. My S did extremely well with outside scholarships racking up $17K worth - all of which were one-offs. (One year only). Some were national, some regional, and a few local. You need to look for these. Check out credit unions in your area, for example. Many of them offer scholarships to students in the area. My D also racked up about $8K of outside scholarships. It all helped. It’s a lot of work, though. Look at things like Coca-Cola Scholarship. Both my kids were semi-finalists, but didn’t make the final cut.
Re: where to apply. I agree with all who recommended WPI, RPI, and Pittsburgh. Pitt you need to apply EARLY to be in contention for their top scholarships. Your D will get $$$ (whether it’s enough or not - I don’t know). BUT she may be invited to interview for a handful of full-rides. Colorado School of Mines should also stay on your list. Back when my S was applying, this was the first acceptance. It came with some nice merit $$$ and he was invited to apply for one of their full-tuition scholarships (didn’t get it). Also, look at Tulane. My S was awarded one of the full tuition Paul Tulane scholarships. It was a tough call, but he ultimately turned it down. (I still sometimes regret that!) Also - look at Fordham. They have some full-tuition scholarships and they also have a 3+2 Engineering program in conjunction with Columbia.
Good luck and please do continue to post as you go through this agonizing roller-coaster ride called College Admissions.
@Twoin18
I probably should’ve worded it “go merit shopping” including guaranteed and/or competitive scholarships. I don’t necessarily include guaranteed as a safety because the student might not have visited and feel comfortable, but that’s just me. I liked for my kids to at least visit and know the campus before calling it a safety. Luckily we live near one of our state flagships and they’ve been to one of the other flagships for EC’s to have an accurate picture.
Using the OP as an example one of the UC/UCS would be a safety because she’s probably been to one or could easily visit. A school like Alabama maybe not because of the “happy to attend” qualifier. It might be guaranteed but not a safety until she visits and gives a yay or nay. Personally I think it would stink to only go for competitive scholarships and come up empty and be forced to go to your safety. It’s always nice to have a few options. If for nothing else to reaffirm your safeties as a good choice.
Despite all of the Alabama boosterism in this thread, its reduction in scholarship amounts means that the automatic scholarships that the student qualifies for will not be enough to bring the net price down to the OP’s limit. That is the bigger problem with Alabama, before even getting into stuff like social fit and whatever.
Fortunately, it seems like there are other options that come in at lower net prices, like UA and ASU in Arizona, etc…
Looking at the automatic scholarships available at the University of Arizona, the largest automatic OOS scholarship available is $35,000, OOS tuition is $36,600 which leaves a shortfall of $1,600. At University of Alabama the largest automatic scholarships that OP’s daughter would qualify for are Presidential at $26,000 and engineering at $2,500, OOS tuition is $30,250 which leaves a shortfall of $1,750 so we’re only talking about a difference of $150.
I think the bigger question is what additional savings and sources of income are available. For example, saving money with a cheaper housing and meal plan, and looking into internship and co-op opportunities with the income that they can provide.
The suggestion of University of New Mexico was made…and it was confirmed that with the Amigo Scholarship (guaranteed) the costs would be at or below the $20,000 price point. Is this school being considered?
Well, I was leaving this part out, as I didn’t want to complicate this thread even more so than it already is. But, here goes :
We have another daughter who is 2 years older but will also be graduating high school (our local public high school) in 2020. She was born 4 months premature (at 23 weeks gestational age, weighing 1 pound 3 ounces) back in 2000, and has been completely blind due to retinopathy of prematurity for her entire life. Academically, she does OK - has about a 3.7 GPA but with no honors or AP courses. She will be taking the SAT in October.
We’re still not sure what the best course of action is for her - it may be to go to a specialized center where she can better learn adult independence. Or it may be taking a few community college classes. Or, for the purposes of reducing our younger daughter’s tuition, it may be having her attend Cal State Fullerton (if she’s admitted) and take classes at least half time while living at home. I believe this is the only way she would be counted as a second child in college (would being a student half time at a community college count?). At this point we don’t know what the best course of action is for her, so for now I’m not counting her as another child in college. That’s kinda one of the reasons I want to leave some Ivy schools open - if she does go to CSUF half time, that suddenly brings the Princeton tuition down to about $19K for our younger daughter - within the realm of possibility.
Your older DD might count as special circumstances with FA. Whatever option your older DD takes, it might be part of a special consideration with some schools. Is she considered disabled? Will she have an independent life? Others might chip in.
I looked at Clarkson. I would give Clarkson (and Northeastern, BU, RIT, RPI, and Ohio State) an extra advantage - they have women’s D1 hockey. I have no data to back this up other than it sounding reasonable to me - that if she is admitted to one of those schools, and is in the running for a big merit scholarship, we would contact the coach there and let them know the situation. If they could get a D1 quality goalie that just lands in their laps for free (no athletic scholarship needed), maybe they would talk to the merit aid “giver-outers”, and pull a string or two. Is that reality? I don’t know. I do know she could play at the D1 level, and most coaches she’s met know that too (for those who know hockey, at her D1 prep school she was the starting goalie for both her sophomore and junior years, and has a 2 year total of 38 wins, 6 losses, 2 ties, 12 shutouts, a .916 save % and 1.32 GAA).
So that’s why I’d like to keep those schools in the mix.
But, back to my first sentence, I looked at Clarkson, and it doesn’t look like their merit aid will suffice. From what I read on their website their top merit award is $15K, which would be eaten up by the financial aid offer, meaning out out of pocket cost would not change and would still be ginormous. Please let me know if I missed something about Clarkson!
Please do what is better for your older daughter. Don’t send her to college just because it will reduce your second daughter’s costs at a place like Princeton (which has such a low acceptance rate, there is no guarantee she will be accepted).
I don’t want to hijack your thread…but your older daughters school should have a transition plan already in place for post HS graduation time. Does CA have a services for the blind department that can help? What about vocational rehab?
There are likely good post high school options for your older daughter that will prepare her for the future.
Back to younger daughter…you have lots of options that have been given to you here…many of which come in under your price point.
If you have expenses related to your older daughter, these should be brought to the attention of the financial aid departments at the colleges. Find out what you would need to do to get a special circumstances consideration…it’s possible this could help you in terms of costs someplace.
It’s all going to work out. You are being a strong advocate for both of your girls.
Others with more knowledge will chime in but if your daughter can play D1 sports has she been scouted? Can her current coach reach out and send tape or whatever they do? Why not use every advantage that you have?
@Knowsstuff this poster has already explained about the sports. The daughter is a hockey goalie. They had contact with coaches…and went to showcases. From what I read…she did receive an offer from Middlebury to play…but they give no sports scholarships, and the cost to attend seemed too high.
Yes, being at a community college does count as another college student for FAFSA purposes, but of course you are going to make the best educational decisions for her and can’t count on her following a traditional educational plan like her sister. It’s another ball in the air for you to juggle.
My daughter was born at 24 weeks and weighed 1# 4 oz in 1996. My kids were also in the same grade all through, and had very different educational paths and needs. My preemie took one semester off school, but it was the spring so didn’t change her sister’s EFC for that year. It did mean she was the only one on last year’s FAFSA, so there are always timing issues. I was really surprised my preemie made it through in 8 semesters, over 4.5 years. You can’t really count on that (I sure didn’t when we were picking schools and figuring out the EFC for the sister).
Talk to the Middlebury coach and ask for a Financial pre-read. Disclose that your daughter is Hispanic and has a disabled sister. I do know an athlete who had an ethnic scholarship there. Financial matters are handled by the parents so it will not be an additional distraction for your daughter.
Princeton and Harvard do not take full (?) home equity into account when calculating students’ EFCs, with the special needs of your other child, the final costs at Harvard or Princeton’s might be affordable for you with FA. University of Maryland’s Banneker-Key scholarships are open to OOS and requires no separate application nor extra LOCs; the deadline is November 1 (coalition application). https://www.bannekerkey.umd.edu/index.html