I agree with northwesty’s post #262, some of which I am quoting here:
"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…"
The FA at HYPSM are very generous (data, not anecdotes), which might make them affordable for OP. With OP’s daughter’s good stats, accomplishments in athletics, an URM status (perhaps) and special needs in family, she has a good chance at these schools. Don’t count these schools out and concentrate on crafting the all important essays and short answers.
Huntsville application took literally 5 minutes. They didn’t even ask about extracurriculars or to self-report grades or test scores. We received our acceptance packet and scholarship award within a week of them receiving the transcripts.
The OP says their income after taxes is $120,000 or so. If both are maxing their pretax IRA or TSA options, that could add $20,000 EACH to their incomes…so right there you have $160,000 income. It is very very possible that their gross income is in the $200,000 a year range. BUT that doesn’t matter except that it would put them out of the running for need based aid at most places. The fact presented is that the can afford $15,000 a year for college costs…and that’s it.
Lots of good options presented on this thread that have the potential to be affordable.
I might be looking closer at Nebraska after reading this thread. The NPC has it coming in cheaper than our in-state schools, and we have family in Lincoln, so bonus.
Seems like the forum is still fixated on Alabama (Tuscaloosa), even though it is likely that Arizona, Arizona State, Nebraska, Alabama Huntsville, Tuskegee, and Prairie View A&M appear to fit into the price limit better (due to Alabama (Tuscaloosa) reducing its scholarships this year). OP’s student should consider applying to whichever of these fit into the price limit and are desirable enough to attend as soon as possible.
@ucbalumnus I’m not fixated on anything…but the fact is…the Alabama applications (all three campuses) are open now, quick to complete, and the OP will have an admission decision very quickly with aid. Did I ever say only Tuscaloosa? I didn’t! Actually Huntsville WILL come in at the OPs prices point. But do them all.
This student resides in MA for prep school. The NMF cutoff score hasn’t been determined yet…has it? She might actually qualify. But even without that…UAH and UAB would likely be affordable.
If the OP’s dd applied to AL, she would qualify automatically for both the Presidential and the additional $2500 engineering scholarship. She could also apply to RRS or UF, and if accepted, possibly receive additional scholarship $$ through those programs ( not as all selected students do.) AL allows stacking of scholarships up to full COA.
I have advised a number of friends/relatives about how to identify colleges within budget constraints… I’ve seen highly variable family finance parameters: everything from upper middle class who didn’t want to pay a cent to low-income custodial parent/high income non-custodial parent who refused to pay, etc.
In this case, @KevinFromOC says he’s willing to pay 15K annually and he’s gotten excellent suggestions about how that might happen, including targeting safeties where merit for stats gets his child to that number. Lock those in, and then his daughter can roll the dice, if she wishes, with a manageable number of judiciously-chosen applications for low-probability competitive scholarships at top schools.
I am not going to speculate on the OP’s net worth, income stream, or spending history. I am going to suggest that he think about how it might be possible to up that 15K to 25K as it opens many, many more options. For example 15K family contribution + student loan + student summer income + on-campus part time work can get the budget up to 25K. If you could increase your contribution by 5K more per year, then your kid could dispense with the loans.
Do let us know how this plays out. We know many kids who attended private high schools who opted for honors programs at public universities because they offered generous merit for high stats. They are all thriving and should your daughter end up at a place like this, she will be in good company.
I just just ran the NPC for University of South Carolina. I got a estimated COA of 20,393 and merit of 30,889. similar stats as OP’s D and EFC of 30-35ish.
Most people on these forums mean Tuscaloosa when they write “Alabama” or “University of Alabama”, which has become the forum default answer to “need a full tuition scholarship”. In any case, yes, Huntsville with automatic scholarships comes in within the OP’s budget, but Birmingham does not and does not offer chemical engineering.
Thanks, I agree completely with your “5 ways”, and that’s what I’m looking at.
Regarding #1, The Harvard NPC came in at 33400. Perhaps it’s the equity in the house? We still plan on applying to some, just in case they take into account a couple of “extenuating circumstances” that you can’t put into the NPC, or if our other daughter is able to take college classes half time and count as a second child in college.
2-4, yep, researching those now
5 - That ship has sailed. You need to be verbally committed to a D1 school by your sophomore year to get a decent athletic scholarship.
We were lucky enough to buy a house in Orange in 1998 for $200K. According to Zillow it’s now worth $600K, although with some needed improvements (it’s still got the same kitchen appliances from when it was built in the 60’s - they built stuff made to last then!) it’s worth maybe $500K. And yes, $1500-$1800/month mortgage.
I think some of y’all work for NSA reverse engineering foreign military technology!
To me this is a huge part of the puzzle. Can a student still get more (i.e., can merit aid stack with need based aid)? From what I can tell the answer is NO.
For example, if the total COA from Joe’s College of Feline Science (JCFS) is $70,000, and their NPC says we qualify for $30,000 of need based aid, then we would pay $40,000. If our daughter wins the Siamese Grant for Feline Excellence merit scholarship of $25,000, then how much do we have to pay? I’d love to think its (70,000 - 30,000 - 25,000) = 15,000. But my understanding is that the school will say "Well, since you now have a $25,000 merit award, you’re need is reduced by the same amount and is now only $5000. So you’re bill is (70,000 - 5000 - 25000) = $40,000, exactly the same as what it would be without any merit aid. Aside from covering loans that are part of financial aid, a merit scholarship that’s less than or equal to the amount of need based aid is useless.
But then I read some descriptions, such as this one from Northeastern : “National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars will receive a competitive merit-based award and may also be eligible for financial aid.”. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot does that mean - “may also be eligible”? Does that mean they will stack merit aid with financial aid? Since they use the word “may”, what circumstances determine this?
I think it means what it says, if the merit exceeds the need (as NEU sees it, not as you do) then no FA, if the merit falls short, FA can top it up to meet need as they define it. What is your FAFSA EFC?
You have to read each college’s website that explains how they adjust financial aid when outside scholarships are obtained. Colleges can do what they please with their own money. If they want to let someone stack merit money on top of their own, they can. They have to adjust need for federal and state funds, but that usually means workstudy and subsidized Student loans, the self help, disappears. I doubt your DD qualifies for PELL Which is allowed to remain in place and stacked . It likely affects any Cal grants.
But schools vary— Lafayette College will reduce their own financial aid by their own Marquis Scholarship as one outraged father on these forums discovered. You should get those reading glasses in place and start looking up what those no merit, highly selective lottery tickets will do, the HPYMC et al gang that you are hoping could be possible with a big fat juicy 4 year outside scholarship in conjunction with their generous but-still-inadequate-for-you financial aid. So what happens if she gets $40-50k from Princeton which still leaves $30-40k to pay out of pocket, and DD gets a $25k per year outside award? Gotta look it up on P’s website, as well as each of other such schools. Yes, it is possible that some of the schools withdraw the equivalence in financial aid. Things change, so gotta look it up now for upcoming year. For-each-school. Yes, it’s a pain. That’s why many are saying applying to so many schools becomes stressful, easy to mess up, frustrating, confusing and often yields diminishing returns.