Looking for suggestions for schools that offer maximum financial aid

Paying for College
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Is Pitt a state school? we are not from the area at all.
i do think state schools are most generous to their state’s kids for sure . . .
I completely agree with having kids living away from home for at least a year or two.

I also think unless you are at a top school, or a lower end school trying to “up” its score ranges, or have found a special competitive scholarship program, it might be hard to find full COA. R&B is costly, but for our three kids in college/grad school, it seems to have gone down a bit once off campus. If you found a full tuition, i’d think R&B could be covered by your pell, small student loan, and student summer earnings. There are competitive scholarships out there, for sure though.

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Just a noted weakness of NPCs…if they don’t ask about business revenues, or land ownership, etc., and you have a business/land, the NPC may not to be accurate.

I agree looking at FAFSA only schools that meet a high proportion of need makes sense. Of course some schools that don’t need full need will meet full need for students they really want. This is a good source re: avg need met to start with: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d1ad956be52e800010a2502/t/610d8fc3df469359d2716599/1628278745199/Domestic+Financial+Aid+2021.pdf

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Pitt is a state school - and it’s hard to get merit there although the odds are much better if you apply early. Some schools have Pell matches - Pitt, I think College of Charleston if your EFC is under $30K - but they still leave more $$ and living (which in Charleston is off the charts high).

This is why I recommended schools like Alabama, UAH, Murray State, Arizona and others I mentioned - the tuition can get down to $3K or even $0 depending on when that SAT comes in…and these aren’t debatable. You deliver stats, they deliver the scholarship - i.e. it’s off a table.

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Yes, I have been running NPCs just out of curiosity. And yes, Agriculture business income and costs are a totally different monster. Just because my farm is worth “x” amount doesn’t mean it’s liquid or even possible to sell even a piece of it. Basically if you are in any farming enterprise it’s a money in and money out deal. We just deal with very high incomes and very high expenses. Just an example of a challenge on the CSS. They want the value of your home, when you purchased it and what you owe on it. On most sole proprietor farms the house is on the farm and part of the greater farm mortgage. How do you even begin to separate that out?
Thank you for your suggestions.

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This! With a zero EFC, this is a no brainer. DM me if you have questions about the program. My kid had a 0 efc, and went through the QB process. Went to school fully paid for, and also had a outside scholarship for $800 per semester for Incidentals.

ETA, just saw your post about the farm, it could throw FA off

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Elizabethtown has the Stamps. It’s strong in therapy related fields. I love Etown!

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My niece is from the Midwest & went to Louisiana Tech. With an academic scholarship, out of state tuition adjusted to in state & Pell, she got through debt free. She was happy there.

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University of Southern Mississippi will be full tuition and full housing for 33+ ACT, beautiful campus
Allegedly all universities in the University of Louisiana system (does NOT include LSU) waive out of state fees for kids with your D’s stats and will probably come out to free tuition and free housing with high ACT/SAT. Those schools are:
University of Louisiana Lafayette, pretty campus, lots of school spirit, Div I sports in mid sized city. would be my number one among the UL schools
Louisiana Tech, very reputable engineering school in small sleepy town
Southeastern Louisiana University in a cute small town, 45 minutes from New Orleans
University of New Orleans on the shores of Lake Ponchartrain in Nola (they might be less generous than the others)
Nicholls State, Northwestern State, now we are getting more remote :wink:

I think you will find schools like these all over the South and Midwest, I’m just not as familiar with those.

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Hi and my condolences on being my PA neighbor and dealing with the crappy state of higher ed in this state. :frowning:

I’m glad you have Pitt on your radar, b/c with your D’s interests, and Pitt’s financial aid, it might be a good fit. (That said, let me say that Pitt and all of the PA public/quasi public schools have ridiculous COAs for those of us in-state - generally the most expensive in the nation.)

Pitt offers the Panther Pride and Pitt Success grants. They may or may not be helpful in your situation, which, like my family’s, involves farm/business/LLC/royalty income that does not play well with normal W-2 income-based NPCs etc.

We have a different situation - our EFC is likely too high to qualify for need-based aid - but same goal: finding an affordable school. For us, the southern auto-merit schools have to be on the radar. Depending on your actual SAT, your D should check out UofSC, Bama, Mississippi, Mississippi State, LSU and Arkansas. The NPCs won’t help you, but the auto-merit pages of each school will. Very stats-based. You know exactly what you need to get a certain amount. And there are several awards that include room & board in addition to full tuition, so you’d be paying just fees and incidentals (plus transportation).

If none of the OOS options end up working, you should be able to get the following need-based aid that will help cover costs at an in-state school, even a Pitt branch campus or a PASSHE school (the directionals - Slippery Rock, Kutztown, West Chester etc) or even Northampton Community College, which has dorms:

Per semester:
3247 Pell
300 SEOG (federal supplemental educational grant)
2127 PHEAA (Pa Higher Education grant)
2750 federal student loan
= 8424
plus work-study (variable/not guaranteed)

I know these #s because I helped a kid get exactly those amounts last fall.

The PHEAA grant is not portable out of PA except in Delaware, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. (There are apparently limited exceptions in MD and NY).

Hope this helps!

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I didn’t realize that the PHEAA grant would be used at any institution outside of Pa. That is very helpful

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@tsbna44 Pell matches? If a student is eligible for the Pell Grant, they will receive that Pell Grant in the same amount at EVERY college.

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You don’t. Folks who have been on the forum for many years will remember a poster Curmedgeon. He had a very high stats daughter. He also owned a farm. They would have been full pay everywhere. She applied to and was accepted at Rhodes where she received a very generous (close to full ride) merit scholarship.

I would not assume that Pitt is a financial safety for you unless you can afford the instate costs to attend. It has become increasingly more competitive to get their merit aid awards, and especially very large amounts. It’s wonderful that your older daughter got this, but don’t assume the younger one will automatically get the same generous award….do try! Just don’t assume.

Does that $0 Fafsa EFC include having two students in college at the same time? If so, it’s very possible that will go away for the 2024-2025 Financial aid year….but it sounds like daughter one will already be out of college by then anyway.

I believe someone already suggested Quinnipiac. It’s worth trying.

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It’s limited to these states…but worth a look. The Grant can be used in Delaware, DC, Ohio, Vermont and West Virginia. And very limited in NY and MD.

Speaking of West Virginia, WVU would likely be affordable.

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Pitt, and some other schools, have programs/institutional funds that match Pell grants dollar for dollar: Pell Plus Program - Financial Aid | University of Pittsburgh

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I looked at Quinnipiac. Excellent program, I suspect there would not be enough financial aid. The reason I called Pitt a financial safety is that with the Pell match and the PHEAA grants it’s actually more reasonably priced than many other schools, including our state directionals and Penn State. If they would offer the same scholarship her sister got, it would be full ride (it was based on grades and financial need), but as you said, it’s not a guarantee. The Pell and Pell match amount to about a $13,000 scholarship and the PHEAA adds another $2000ish. That is huge. It seems Pitt wants to look like it’s helping economically disadvantaged people out. That works for us. However I do feel bad, because even with the Pell match it’s not enough financial aid to help those that need it most. I’m shocked by how few Pell recipients attend Pitt. In my opinion, instead of forgiving college loans the best thing the government or even Pennsylvania could do would be to increase the Pell grant and provide more grants for low income students.

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Maybe look for private schools that only use FAFSA, not CSS?

WVU came to mind.

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deleted - @mwfan beat me to it a few messages ago.

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They actually ARE helping low income students out!

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WVU is a public university….West Virginia University? But this student could find West Virginia University to be very affordable.

University of Chicago uses the fafsa plus their own very short form to award their institutional need based aid. Might be worth checking to see if the value of the farm would impact their aid.

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I’m assuming your Pell eligibility is based on two students in college. Will you second student still be Pell eligible once the older sibling graduates and there is only one in undergrad school?