<p>As I said, there are plenty of good SUNYs for safeties. Chinablue: none of these appeal?</p>
<p>Binghamton is a real possibility.</p>
<p>Here’s two that fit most of what I think you are looking for:</p>
<p>University of Chicago
Washington University in St. Louis</p>
<p>Both are the right size, very prestigious, very diverse, and depending on your EFC could offer great aid. Also I don’t think either one is heavy on the greek scene. Not sure though.</p>
<p>One more thing – I believe Wash U students are always among the top ranked happiest students in the country.</p>
<p>I’m confused. Those schools are some of the hardest places to get into in the country. They are safeties for nobody, cbug.</p>
<p>Excellent insight. I did not think of private school safeties as being anything different than public school safeties but the possibility of a merit award would be nice. So for a different kid (2310 SAT, 4.0 in all APs, Officer all years, Begun two companies with >100 clients, much community service, varsity athlete, work year-round), the reaches are easy … what about some private school safeties that offer merit aid?</p>
<p>^ My bad redpoint. I had forgotten for a moment that we were only talking about adding safeties. So never mind. However (safeties aside) these are two schools that would have everything OPs DD is looking for.</p>
<p>Be careful that private schools are much more likely to consider “level of interest” as an admissions criteria (though some public schools like Michigan also do). Such schools may be those who do not want to be used as safeties, and may reject or waitlist high stats applicants who appear to be using them as safeties.</p>
<p>“Level of interest” as an admissions criterion can be checked in the common data set, section C7, found at most school web sites.</p>
<p>Ok then how about this for a match/safety: St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota would be perfect IMHO.</p>
<ul>
<li>Academic Prestige</li>
<li>3,300 students</li>
<li>Blissfully happy students</li>
<li>Great financial aid (Meet full need)</li>
<li>Accept about 50% of those who apply</li>
<li>One of the top schools in country for math</li>
</ul>
<p>St. Olaf’s neighbor Carleton should also be under consideration if that type of school is desired.</p>
<p>However, they may not necessarily be safeties for admissions.</p>
<p>Also, if the student will have taken post-calculus-BC math before graduating high school, she may easily exhaust the math offerings at an undergraduate-only school if she majors in math.</p>
<p>^ Speaking to ucbalumnus’ point about schools that consider “level of interest” – St. Olaf is one of them. I know a number of kids who were very well qualified but probably waitlisted or rejected for this reason. They accept the kids who truly want to be there. I’d highly recommend visiting.</p>
<p>If you are willing to look beyond East Coast, how about University of Iowa? 18k undergrads, gorgeous campus. You can run the Regents Admission formula (RAI, can’t remember what the I stands for) on-line to see if you meet the admissions standards and will be admitted. If your are OOS and have a RAI score above a certain number, you get automatic $4700 annual merit money. OOS tuition is about$26k, so tuition about $21k with the merit money. </p>
<p>Not sure how much aid you are looking for – if it is just a more affordable package, then Iowa could be financial and academic safety. If you need full ride somewhere, then you need to focus more specifically on places such as Alabama and, I think I have heard, Truman State, offer big merit money. </p>
<p>Would agree that in NY, the financial and academic safeties would be expected to be the instate campuses, though I am not at all familiar with how competitive admissions is at some of the campuses. </p>
<p>Good luck with this process.</p>
<p>If you visit a “level of interest” school, be sure that the visit is somehow recorded at the admissions office. But a “level of interest” school should not be thought of as a safety.</p>
<p>On the small LAC side, Truman State and University of Minnesota - Morris are inexpensive, though academic offerings may not be as extensive at small LACs than at big universities.</p>
<p>Agree with the Minnesota-Twin Cities – OOS tuition is about $18k and travel in and out of Minneapolis should be manageable from the East Coast (which is where I am guessing OP is from because the original list was geographically weighted there). </p>
<p>Again, OOS tuition at some flagships will be less than at privates, often by about $10-15k per year, however they do not give financial aid to OOS students generally. So, if the concern is to find schools with lower costs, assuming there is not going to be a generous aid package from a private school to compare with, publics like Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana (all around $26k tuition OOS) can be strong admits with a lower cost. However, if it is a question of substantial financial aid, none of those schools are likely to do anything more than a loan package, from what I hear. </p>
<p>In contrast, at least spending time on the Oberlin page, that is a school that seems to give merit money to try to get to desirable admits to accept. At 2800 kids, smaller than OP wants, and interest and fit matters significantly. Hardly an admissions safety, even for high stat kid. </p>
<p>Sounds like getting a realistic handle on the EFC for next year is essential.</p>
<p>A realistic handle on EFC and what the actual amount the family can contribute. If the latter is less than the former, then one needs to look at schools with merit scholarships and/or list prices lower than the actual amount the family can contribute.</p>
<p>*mom2collegekids - Are you saying this is an impossible task?
*</p>
<p>No, but it could be the way that you’re going about this. If you have all of these restrictions for finding a financial safety…must have prestige, must have a desired amount of diversity, must have diverse thoughts/views (however you define that), etc, then you’re not likely going to find one that meets your number one issue…getting enough money to make it affordable. </p>
<p>And…looking for “need blind” schools won’t work. Nearly All schools are need blind. They don’t care if you can pay or not. “Need blind” does NOT mean that they meet need. It just means that they accept a student w/o looking to see if the student can afford to go…then they’ll gap you big time. </p>
<p>What you’re confusing is “need blind” with “need blind AND meets full need.” The “need blind and meets full need” schools will be the HARDEST ones to get accepted to. They won’t be safeties and might not be matches either. There are a rather small number of schools that are “need blind and meet full need.”</p>
<p>As for being optimistic about finding financial safeties that both you and your D like… </p>
<p>Your D has to like the financial safeties. Whether you “like” them, while not worthless, is less important. I don’t mean to be harsh here, but if your D likes a financial safety and will attend the school if that’s the only one affordable, what else matters? ???</p>
<p>What is your D’s likely major? and, how much can you pay each year? And what is the EFC? (did I miss those answers?)</p>
<p>edit…math, stats, econ, undecided…</p>
<p>*Like most of us here, we want our kids to be happy, productive and learn what they need to know to become prosperous secure adults. I know of many kids with incredible resumes going to their “safeties” only to be miserable. *</p>
<p>Well, that isn’t because they went to a safety, it’s because they didn’t “think thru” when picking a safety and probably just included a local state school or they were just angry that their top schools didn’t work out. They weren’t miserable because their safeties didn’t have every little thing on their list. Kids with money issues need at least 2-3 financial safeties so that they will still have a choice in the end.</p>
<p>I think the OP really needs to determine what their EFC will be with ONE child in college and 2 less in the household. It sounds like the other kids got merit (especially the NYU child), so they may never have had to pay their EFC.</p>
<p>And, determine what their likely contribution would be at CSS schools. maybe use a NPC calculator on UPenn’s website. And, don’t include the students who won’t be undergrads anymore. That gave another family wrong info.</p>
<p>I read and digested all of your thoughts. </p>
<p>“Your D has to like the financial safeties.” </p>
<p>Of course!</p>
<p>Carleton is not a safety. DD1 was waitlisted - vistited, NMF, 34 ACT, 3.92 GPA.</p>
<p>Bing or Geneseo are probably not safeties either. Lots of applicants.</p>
<p>Chinablue, we need an idea of what you can afford.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad - Where is your daughter thinking of going? </p>
<p>We had excellent luck getting off of wait lists and getting financial aid. The college gods must have been with us. I know our HS counselors really helped us too. I wish your D the best.</p>
<p>Now, let’s say we could put in $20,000 per year.</p>
<p>St Joe’s in Philly may be a good school to look into. National prestige? No. But regional prestige. Solid academics. Nice merit. Beautiful campus. If she likes Villanova, St. Joe’s will be appealing. [SJU:</a> Scholarships to St. Joseph’s University | College Scholarships](<a href=“http://sju.edu/admissions/scholarships2011.2012.html]SJU:”>http://sju.edu/admissions/scholarships2011.2012.html) On campus interview is required for the scholarships.</p>