Is that $87,450 gross or net-after-income-and-payroll taxes? The OP mentioned income of $120k after taxes, which corresponds to about $161k before taxes (not $200k that some other posters estimated). See https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes for an estimate ($161,000 income / Newport Beach, CA / Married / 4 Personal Exemptions).
Haven’t thought about it, but wouldn’t a gap year raise a red flag with many colleges? She could also to a Post Grad (PG) year at another prep school, and might be able to get a similar scholarship. That would actually help her for a D1 hockey scholarship, but there would be no more classes for her to take., at least not any STEM classes.
We’re certainly not ruling anything out, and things do change, but right now that would be pretty low probability.
I know something will work out for her, its just a matter of putting in the legwork to find the best something - and the tremendous help and suggestions from folks on this thread is going a long way towards that end.
There’s five ways to get your net price down to $15-20K:
- Fat need-based aid from a tip top school like HYPSM. Are you sure you've run the NPCs on those correctly? Harvard costs $15k if you make $150k. Need aid at these level schools is a totally different ballgame than at anywhere else.
- In-state tution and live at home. Variation on this that is popular in CA is 2 years at CC followed by two years live away at state U.
- Competitive full tuition merit schollie. My 35 ACT kid got one for Vandy and another at Santa Clara. So it is possible. But this can't be your core strategy. It might work out, but probably won't. And these take a TON of time and effort for low odds. Do only a couple of these at most.
- Auto full tuition merit schollie -- like the oft mentioned Alabama path.
- Hockey schollie. Might require a gap/PG year, but that's pretty common for hockey players. Hockey money is pretty good.
Frankly, I think #1 and #5 (which aren’t what you were asking about) are pretty strong options. Do not overlook them unless you are totally sure they will not work.
Don’t waste your time searching for outside schollies.
Good luck!!
@ucbalumnus Not sure if it was gross or net. But even if OP made $160K a year, he would never be able to come close to affording the median home value of 2.1 million in Newport Beach in your example above. (Thinking that was just a random city you chose?) OC is just an expensive place to live. That might seem like a lot of money to a lot of people, but it’s really not in my opinion. My husband and I do not live an extravagant lifestyle by any means but we are comfortable, primarily because we stayed in our house and paid off our mortgage when so many others were upgrading/upsizing their homes. The money we would have spent on that went to our children’s k-12 school tuition instead… I wouldn’t be able to say that if we made $120k OR $160K.
I’d say that you should scratch UVA from your list. Your chances of getting a Jefferson Schollie are about the same as getting a Rhodes Scholarship. Getting nominated for the Jefferson by your HS means the same as getting a powerball ticket.
“Look up the scholarship path taken by @CourtneyThurston She made the decision to ‘follow the money’ and didn’t go to an elite school but did graduate with money to spare.”
And a lot of it. Six-figures worth (from vigilant savings of cs internship money + vigilant savings of COA refunds.) Idk if OP is still looking for advice/still has questions, but I’m here if so. I probably would just echo all the advice from @twoinanddone and @thumper1 .
OP, colleges are in no way suspicious of students who take a gap year. Gap years are becoming ever more popular. There’s a legendary post here on CC of a kid who got shut out of every school he applied to (no safeties) and decided to take a gap year. The gap year proved to be totally enriching and he reapplied the following year to a balanced list of schools, got into all, and ended up at MIT.
The point though was that this student did really great things with his gap year which improved his app, and I don’t mean went on expensive gap year experiences. Look it up if you like. The mom was called Andi. Think that’s her user name.
Anyway, a gap year is a great idea, if you daughter is inclined to do that.
As far as attending lower ranked colleges, there will be intelligent, motivated students at most colleges. I am not sure the OPs daughter would be happy at a random, unknown directional U, but she should be able to have a fulfilling college experience at any of the colleges that have appeared in this thread.
Also, surprised no one has yet suggested BYU. Isn’t it free, or peanuts to attend? That’s a very good school, if your daughter can handle not drinking coffee for four years.
@BingeWatcher , or very very inexpensive if not LDS. I just looked. Tuition is under $6k.
Only free if LDS. No coffee??? yikes that would be a deal breaker…
Seems to be slightly more then just no more coffee or tea :
https://m.ranker.com/list/real-byu-honor-code-rules/kellen-perry
161K if he’s having NOTHING else withheld. No retirement, no HSA, no insurance contributions.
@PepperJo I agree that housing costs can kill a large income, but OP already stated he has an annual mortgage of less than half his 30-40K EFC. So, what? $1500-$1800/month?
OP - I sent you a private message.
The OP has not indicated that his EFC as calculated by FAFSA is 30k-40k. Those are the numbers being spit out by the NPCs. Given his daughter’s excellent stats, I’d imagine the merit is already included in many of those estimates. It’s impossible to determine a gross income from a net of 120K because we do not know that the only thing the OP has left off is taxes. As mentioned upthread, retirement contributions, healthcare, dependent care, can all reduce a gross income. I suspect the gross is much higher as OP mentions being a software engineer with a flight attendant wife. So, the hunt for big merit and or simply a low cost engineering school become all the more important.
Newport Beach is a city that I happen to know is in Orange County. Census says that median household income there is $119k.
BYU cost of attendance is listed at https://enrollment.byu.edu/financialaid/cost-of-attendance . Total is about $19k (including $6k tuition) for CJCLDS members, $25k (including $12k tuition) for others.
I.e. within price limit if OP and student are CJCLDS members. But if they are, they would have been aware of that option already.
NPCs are supposed to only include guaranteed merit. A student can still get more. As an example, our youngest was coming up with full costs for most of his schools, including those that did end up offering him merit moneyabd of course those that told him he was up for merit consideration for awards made in the spring— this was his early round of applications. Fordham came up with a scholarship based on the grade and test score info, but he was offered far more with his EA acceptance. There are some merit awards that are such lottery tickets that to reduce the cost by those amounts is unrealistic. You can only bank on the sure things and they are getting scarcer each year.
Not at all.
Does your daughter’s prep school offer a post grad year? Would you be still eligible for your very significant financial aid there?
Would she consider something like Americorps?
Folks, the OPs income only really matters where need is considered. He has already indicated that he can only pay $15,000 a year…and if you read the whole thread you will see his family does have some extenuating circumstances that might preclude him paying more.
There have been a lot of good suggestions on this thread of ways to try to get the net cost for the family down to THEIR price point. That is the signal. Everything else is noise.
At this point…I would suggest getting some of those early applications with quick turnaround done ASAP. That way…there is the possibility an affordable acceptance will be in the bag for this student. She has a lot to offer…but getting the applications done is a number one thing now. Not sure how this will be navigated once she returns to her prep school 3000 miles away from the parent doing the research.
So…I would say…get Alabama, and Pitt done…now. Just get them done. And the ones noted upstream with very short applications that are free…just get them done.
I agree with @thumper1 Once the sure things are in place, the early deadlines done, the OP and DD can play the lottery to their heart’s content.
I don’t like the UC safety because they don’t let you know till late in the season. It’s so nice to have some birds in hand by year’s end. Also, I think commuting after 4 years in the other side of the country is truly last ditch. I think this student can find a school that is affordable and is away from home.
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Keep in mind that of the 40 Stamps scholarships at Georgia Tech, 20 go to in state students. So, the odds are very low for out of state applicants but possibly still worth a shot if she’s likes GT. I agree with the suggestion of U. South Carolina.
Regarding Pitt, I think it’s fine if she applies in September, but make sure the essays are very strong for merit consideration. Last year, my S applied at the beginning of October. He received $25,000 in merit and from everything I read on CC last year, that was pretty unusual. Most of the people commenting were receiving $10,000 or $15,000 when they likely would have received much more in previous years. My S was not considered for their full ride scholarship.
I agree with the above suggestion to drop UVA- Jefferson.
After a few years doing research, I helped my S19 with his application strategy last year and reviewed essays etc. He was trying for some schools with generous financial aid and some with full tuition scholarships but we knew he would have full tuition at UGA and GT (if he got in which he did). My impression is that for the large competitive scholarships (at both selective and less selective schools), the kids who often win them have excellent stats of course but also stellar leadership and community service (this part is important). Your daughter seems like an excellent kid and great candidate for some big scholarships but the competition is fierce. My S had a strong application but no hooks. He was admitted to some schools with very low acceptance rates (Vanderbilt, Brown, Emory) but was not a finalist for any of the full tuition scholarships to which he applied. I suggest choosing the schools wisely and spending more time on strong applications rather than on more applications. It would still mean applying to many more than the typical applicant but you don’t want to waste time.