I am sure I will apply to a SUNY but my dream is to leave NY. I want a fresh start clean break. Life ain’t easy or pleasant here.
I know my scores are not great but think there must be someplace I could find away from NY.
Ain’t no interest in Buffalo. I just can’t.
Like I said before I could see being in that area between NY and Philly. First time I ever saw animals like deer on those trips to see my aunt. I am just so tired of the city.
I get you, really. The dream to live somewhere a bit warmer is strong. Look hard at the SUNY system (and community colleges in NY) to find the ones with the closest to your dream environment as possible. It won’t be much warmer, but some have more or less snow. Make sure to find at least one or two that you could get into with your current stats. And check the community colleges nearby them. Just for example, you would have to look further into it because I haven’t and only know generally, but Binghamton has a community college right there too. My understanding is that students share dorms there? Look at it. Look at Cortland and some of the others. I promise you that some of them are going to have the rural feel you are hoping for. Skip Buffalo but don’t skip all the SUNYs. Look at some of the smaller privates and run the NPCs. As I said before, St. Bonaventure (minutes from the PA border) may be the kind you are looking for, but I’m sure there are others very similar. If you can get your SAT (or ACT) a bit higher or if you qualify for EOP (I think that’s what it is? Research it!) you may find some are more possible.
Next, after you have those, look further south and see what you can find that might be affordable as well. None of us would tell you to forget trying to get further south, but don’t lose sight of what is most important. Get an affordable education and then if you don’t have mounds of debt, you will have more future options.
Look at Rider in NJ - not too far outside Philly. Not the city, not the country. They have had some financial troubles, so look carefully for your major. But my friend’s son was just accepted and his final cost was under $10k with the aid he was given. Try the NPC and see how it looks.
There are a million nice little schools in PA…the hard part is the financial. My son had lower stats than you and got $20k from Lycoming College in Williamsport - home of the little league world series. A nice size town, definitely not a city but a really nice, small, close knit school. The school was $50k at the time my son got $20k, but that was all merit; they may give you more for higher stats and financial need. Look at their website.
My friends son will graduate from Lycoming next month…he adores it there.
There are a bunch of small colleges in PA…do one of those college match surveys and see which ones it spits out.
The most important thing is that you get to go to college somewhere. That means building a college list from the bottom up. The SUNY system is affordable for state residents and accessible to kids with your stats. You may only be applying to what you consider to be the least worst state campuses, and you don’t have to go if you get in to a school further south that you can afford, but please apply.
Pick a couple SUNYs, get the apps in, then move on to finding schools that are more in line with your dreams. It almost always costs more money to go out of state. Sometimes a lot more. Your stats are fine for gaining admissions to many schools, but winning scholarships will be hard. I hope your dreams come true and you don’t need your backup plan, but it’s very important to have that backup plan in place.
If you’re serious about going out of state, register for the June SAT AND act. You should be eligible for fee waivers, ask your guidance counselor right away. And prepare every day, using Khan academy (+ books like Princeton review or Kaplan). Most students who get scholarships"prep" and take the test three or even four times. The first Junior year tesrnis a baseline against which to improve.
Next, fill out the request info form for all colleges listed on this thread. (if they ask for a test score indicate 1120 as this should be a relatively easy improvement to make). Use your college specific email address - you need to create it first, something like TyquanNYC_college@…mail.com
Then, the list. You need colleges you know you can go to no matter what. Those will be the SUNYs (Geneseo EOP, Albany, Cortland, Oswego, New Paltz) … Then, you can start in earnest with the others.
In particular, ask about HEOP at St Lawrence and Hobart/William Smith. St Bonaventure’s is another good suggestion.
Muhlenberg, Allegheny, Moravian, Lycoming, Lebanon valley - run the NPC. (Net price calculator usually found on the financial aid page.) There are so many excellent colleges in rural areas.
Then, there’s the south: look into Sewanee - it’s in the south and they literally OWN the mountain where the college is located. The entire mountain!
If you’re a boy, Morehouse; if you’re a girl, Spelman, Agnes Scott, Sweet Briar, Hollins, Wesleyan college…
But the rest thing you need to do is bring those test scores up. It’s the first step to reach your goal.
If you haven’t used Khan Academy, it’s a free online site. You can use it for your classes as well. Mine use it for high school and college classes. It also has SAT/ACT prep.
Those are good PA suggestions. I think Ursinus would be good as well.
So, I finally took some time and did some college search. After a little hunting online I thought the the following colleges might make sense.:
Muhlenberg
Gettysburg
Juniata
Ursinas
Lebanon valley.
Penn state
McDaniel
U of MD
Washington
Randolph Macon
Hampden Sydney
Longwiod
Any thoughts?
How much can your parents pay? Students who need financial aid to attend college either need high stats or they have to consider schools that will offer need based aid. If your parents can’t pay much and your stats are modest, you should focus your search on NYS colleges. If you’re able to raise your scores you can widen the net.
Low income students can get a Pell Grant of up to $6k, and in NYS, they may receive a TAP (tuition) grant of up to $6k for the CUNY/SUNY schools. If they file the FAFSA they can take the ~$5500/year federal student loan. That’s ~$17k max, and only if your EFC is $0. Find a couple financial safeties first, then expand your search.
Agree with @austinmshauri . The CUNY schools should be your first layer of financial safeties, and then the SUNY schools. And then the oos schools. Have you checked out the College of Staten Island? It’s a CUNY school and has a relatively suburban feel. It’s a large campus . Could be a compromise. One thing to emphasize is that many of the oos colleges you listed will offer some aid, but you will still have to pay something. Thats what many posters here are trying to get across. And then.there are textbook costs, transportation etc.Colleges will not give aid for all those extra expenses. Also, many of the oos colleges discount tuition, but room and board will still be your responsibilty.
I know you want to escape the big city drama . The surest way to do that is to get a degree that you can afford and then get a decent job.
Run the online Net Price Calculators on schools listed in post #27 (or any others that interest you).
If you can manage the Estimated Family Contribution, great. If you can’t, then you may need to focus more on in-state public schools (CUNYs and SUNYs), possibly including schools within commuting distance (to save on room & board costs).