Matches Wanted! Can Son get into any Tier 3/4 colleges? Where?

[gandalf78]

@ucbalumnus

finding merit would mean looking at colleges where the student is at the high end of the student range. I.e. a B-/B student may be more likely to find merit at a college that admits mostly C+ students.

Well stated.

[Pathnottaken]

Start at a local community college or regional 4 year and save those funds for transferring for Junior and Senior years at a 4 Year college.

Look at UMaine with the student Stanford loans, maybe pell, and with them matching in state tuitions for out of state students you might get closer to budget. They had pretty bold billboards in Mass and NH when I was up this weekend visiting my daughter at another college.

[thumper1]

What about Southern Connecticut State University, or Eastern Connecticut State University. Both are residential college campuses. Look at Central Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University.

These should come in near your budget especially if you take the Direct Loan…and really if you can commute.

The cost of attendance at Southern is about $27,000 a year.

PACT is a program that allows free tuition to our community colleges…check to see if you are eligible. This is another way to save some money…do general education courses at the closest community college, then transfer to one of the four year publics to finish your bachelors.

[parentologist]

You will find this thread, from a B student’s mom about his journey to find the right school, very interesting. S21--not an easy path, happy to get some input at this stage - #36 by Cheeringsection

This kid applied to private schools that accepted 70-85% of their applicants, and got some merit money, to boot. But if your son’s budget is 20K/yr, that would mean that he’d probably need to get all but 5K of his tuition covered as merit money. Plus, I’m not sure that these are the right schools for him, since I don’t think I’ve seen anything about what he is interested in studying. But certainly, a ton of schools were mentioned that B students can get into, and get merit from.

In CT, for private schools, he might want to consider U Hartford, U New Haven, possibly Quinnipiac. I think Loyola Md is definitely possible. Basically, I think he has a very reasonable shot at schools with a 70% acceptance rate or higher. But honestly, without major merit money, none of these places would be worth more to him than a SUNY or a CT state college. If a person is motivated, and reaches out to professors, they will get a good education wherever they go.

[MYOS1634]

OOS public universities will not be within budget (no merit aid for his stats and no financial aid for OOS residents).

Only exception I can think of is UMaine (automatic scholarship) but not sure it’d be affordable.
Just in case, run the NPC on Plymouth State, U Southern Maine, the CT state colleges?
(Will he be “grandfthered” to instate tuition in CT since you’ll have left during senior year and thus won’t be a resident when he starts college?)

SUNYs would be the best deal, applying to a wide range. Binghamton/Buffalo/Geneseo/Stony Brook likely out of reach, Albany and New Paltz reaches, so focusing on universities such as Oneonta, Oswego, Cortland, Plattsburgh would make the most sense (they are Tier2 SUNYs BTW, Tier 3-4 would be Potsdam, Old Westbury, Canton, Alfred State, Morrisville… and the CCs, some of which have dorms like TC3, but I don’t think your son needs the Tier 3-4 universities.)
For SUNY GPA/Score ranges:
https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/summary-sheets/Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf

Some Colleges that Change Lives may provide enough merit, depending on interest: Ursinus, Goucher, Hiram, Juniata, McDaniel, Ohio Wesleyan?
https://ctcl.org/
Some CTCL’s would be too selective but there’s a good range of reaches, matches, and safeties.
Run the NPC on Lycoming, Elizabethtown, St Bonaventure, St Michael’s, Champlain, Muhlenberg, Mount st Mary’s, Loyola Maryland.

[parentologist]

Mom moved with son to CT before son began senior year, so assuming that she has a job in CT, it should be easy for her to qualify son for in-state status in CT.

[MYOS1634]

OOPS sorry, I somehow thought mom used to live in CT and had just moved to NYS. Thanks.
Hm, fewer good IS choices in CT.

[parentologist]

Kid qualifies in-state in both, since father is still working and residing in NYS. He has tons of SUNY options, plus all 4 Conn State colleges, plus UConn branch to Storrs route.

And then there’s the option of chasing merit money at struggling, less-selective private colleges.