LOST: Can't Find a School for Me

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My parents cannot afford to pay for my college education, however I qualify for very little financial aid. Therefore, I am kind of stuck in where I should be looking at.</p>

<p>I would rather go out-of-state, but also to another good school that I could possibly qualify for merit aid/it already being a cheap school.</p>

<p>I have a 2060 SAT score, 4.5 GPA Weighted, (not sure unweighted, as my school has not provided it - however I am guessing somewhere around 3.7?) and some pretty solid extracurriculars. </p>

<p>Overall, I am looking for a school not too far from the Tri-State Area, whether that means north or south of it; as well as a school that is fairly-liberal/gay-friendly.</p>

<p>I am still unsure of my major so that definitely hurts when narrowing down choices, but I can't seem to find an affordable school that I would like and that is of some prestige.</p>

<p>I hope that didn't come off as being too much, I just have been searching for almost a year now and really can't seem to find anything.</p>

<p>Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you!</p>

2

<p>what is your M+CR</p>

<p>are you retesting?</p>

<p>I think most colleges these days are gay-friendly, unless they are bible schools.</p>

<p>how much can your family contribute? 5k? more? less? NOTHING???</p>

3

<p>710 Reading and 630 Math, however I plan on retesting one more time in the Fall to improve my math score.</p>

<p>And from what I understand, my family will be paying for my housing/personal expenses, but not the tuition of the school.</p>

4

<p>Although I am not sure which ‘Tri-State’ area you’re indicating, perhaps your state has reciprocal tuition agreements with neighboring states that may allow for a reduced or favorable tuition base at a neighbors’ state flagship. </p>

<p>The other thing you may want to look into are schools that promise full tuition based on GPA/standardized scores. Will transportation be part of what your parents are willing to pay? That may influence which schools you can apply to.</p>

5

<p>The New York Metropolitan Area, my apologies.
In-state for New Jersey.</p>

<p>And I am only looking at things that are driving distance, so under five hours I suppose.</p>

6

<p>Are you looking for smaller, LAC-type schools or larger uni’s?
Even if you are undecided, do you have any preference in academics, i.e. humanities, sciences, business?
Finally, when you mention prestige, give us a clue as to which schools impress you.</p>

7

<p>I actually would like a medium-sized school, but any would do depending on the location and atmosphere; and I am most likely going into the sciences in some sort.</p>

<p>I really liked GWU, UWisconsin, UMich (if I was even able to get in), however those options are incredibly expensive.</p>

8

<p>So a larger uni I suppose.</p>

9

<p>You are OOS for Wisc, they will no give you any aid. Your scores are not high enough to get merit at Michigan I suspect. You are really dreaming here. Full tuition is very rare. Sometimes a school only gives a couple of those awards. You have to look more widely and at less known schools for that.</p>

10

<p>I don’t think I was clear in my response, but I was asked as to which schools impressed me, not what I think I will actually end up choosing or ones that would be a good fit for me and my situation.
Those are schools, to me, that have prestige - which could act as a point of comparison in relation to other schools I would be applying to.</p>

11

<p>well, until you have a 1400+ M+CR it will be hard to direct you. The NE is NOT a good place to look for the HUGE merit that you need.</p>

<p>YOU need a full tuition award. right now, no known school in the NE is going to give you that. I dont even think schools like TCNJ, Ramapo, SUNYs, or CUNYs will…so you may need to loosen your geography.</p>

12

<p>do you have anything to contribute to the school that the school would pay for? unusual band instrument expertise? debating team member with national awards? 3rd baseman with a 6.2 WAR who can gun down runners from his knees?</p>

13

<p>To get within the price range you need ($00.00), I suggest that you make the compromise the size and possible location of the school and target those smaller LAC’s who are know for significant merit aid, such as Drew, Goucher, and Clark, or other CTCL schools. Remember that for OOS, the farther you go, the more you’ll need to pay more for transportation.
If you’re female, think about exploring women’s colleges.
Other than those, try some of the SUNY’s and CUNY’s, which have a lower price point, even for OOS, to begin with. Note that your best bet - academically and financially - will be Rutger’s, or other NJ in-states.</p>

<p>Perhaps since you’re doing this mostly on your own, and obviously need to be more price sensitive than most, you should focus on in-state for undergrad, with OOS being more possible for grad.</p>

14

<p>Thank you guys for the responses. I’ll definitely try checking out those LAC’s you listed. </p>

15

<p>I would say your best bet for a quality education is TCNJ and Rutgers as they are in-state.</p>

16

<p>What is your family’s income? Have you tried running the net price calculator for some schools?</p>

17

<p>I have not but I know I have an older sibling in college and she did not receive a lot of financial aid, but rather just large loans that she still has to pay back.</p>

18

<p>You don’t want large loans, period. $5500 is the max you can take out first year, $27K is the max for four years. You will want to keep it under 27K. </p>

<p>Get a hard number from your parents about what they will pay each year. Don’t be afraid to ask. You need this, so ask them. A hard number, not “books” or “books and travel” or “room and board” (one can hope!).</p>

<p>Forget prestige. It doesn’t matter in comparison to your getting a college degree. It doesn’t matter when you graduate either; what you need when you graduate are internships, research, high GPA, letters of rec, and the school I’ll use as an example below will provide those things. There are other such non-prestigious schools.</p>

<p>If you are correct that your sister got little support from her school because your parents make too much money but wouldnt/couldn’t give her much help, you need a small, inexpensive college, maybe rural, maybe in the south, that would give you a lot of merit, like full tuition.</p>

<p>You need to leverage your good grades and SAT into big merit aid. There are automatic tuition scholarships available here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com</a></p>

<p>Notice that UAlabama automatically would qualify you for full tuition and acceptance if your 2030 breaks down to a 1400 CR+M and your unweighted GPA is 3.5, which it likely is. Notice that the residual costs would then be $13K to you. With your parents contribution, 5500 in a loan each year, and some savings or good pay throughout the year, you could get a good education at Alabama. I have no association with UAlabama and nothing to gain by mentioning it.</p>

<p>There are other lower-cost schools that might offer you gobs of merit or tuition. You need to do the research. However, the likelihood that you will find one of these in the tri-state area or in the northeast in general is quite remote.</p>

<p>I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but your parents’ situation makes it likely that you need to hear it.</p>

19

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<p>very sad. too bad that the adults in your world didnt prevent this. Your sister will very likely regret this. </p>

20

<p>I’m not sure what to do then - because nothing seems like it would work.</p>