Matching safety for prospective CS student [MA resident, 3.8/1330, $0 parent contribution]

College Search & Selection
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I’m from Massachusetts but okay with going out of state. I have a 3.8 GPA, still need to take the SATs because I got a score of 1330 last time. I’m going to need financial aid… my family’s income is around 80-90k so I think need-based aid might be a hit or miss but I’m trying my best to get merit aid (hence retaking the SAT). I don’t do sports, but I’ve been involved in my local NHS for years, helped revamp my school’s curriculum, helped revamp my school’s anti-discrimination policies, worked with another local volunteer club since eighth grade, been in a program with Harvard University, and I’m planning to start a tech club and run for president of NHS at my school. I need help finding safeties and targets, preferably in large urban environments.

Edit: I don’t need a Greek scene. I’m Jewish (Modern Orthodox) so I’d also like it if the college had kosher dining, religious services nearby, etc.

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Are you a junior or a senior? If you are a senior, the last SAT that you can take for most 2024 admissions is in December (there is also a November date). Safer schools for CS include WPI, RIT and RPI. You can start by running NPCs at those schools to see if they will be within budget for you. Often schools with need-based aid will be more generous for families at your income level so don’t discount them - at a minimum run the #s at a few “meets need” schools and see what that looks like.

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What’s the budget?

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U.Mass Amherst is very good for computer science. I have worked with a very long list of U.Mass CS graduates and many (or most) of them are excellent.

I do not know how likely acceptance to U.Mass Amherst is for you. U.Mass Lowell might be safer for admissions and it also quite good (although I would attend U.Mass Amherst if accepted to both).

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So you might look up some of these schools - which show kosher meals available to see if true. I’ll only list those schools with sizable Jewish communities:

Binghamton - now it may be a stretch getting in

Bradley - smaller community but if you go to their NPC and put in your stats, it’ll tell you your expected cost. NPC = net price calculator. It’s in Peoria, IL though - I’m assuming not an overly Jewish area.

Brandeis - will be a stretch - meets need

CUNY schools - Baruch, Brooklyn and Queens

My daughter’s school - College of Charleston - big Jewish population and Rachel’s kitchen and shows up on the list I’m looking at.

Frankly and Marshall meets need - you’d be iffy getting in.

Hofstra - go to the NPC and put in your stats and it’ll tell you the $$. Lots of Jewish students.

McGill - not sure on stats or cost.

SUNY Albany - and others

U of Arizona will be $35K a year - not sure the budget.

U Kansas - yes, large Jewish population

Attached is the full list I’m looking at.

You’ll definitely need some merit help. I didn’t mention Indiana due to cost - but if you were to double major in Jewish studies - google it, they’ve got some really great scholarships for people in Jewish studies. Other schools may too - I know Charleston has one for Jewish students but I forget the path that needs to be followed.

I left of a lot of unrealistic. And some of these have great merit…but not sure your budget.

Colleges With Kosher Meals Available | CollegeXpress

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Brandeis is one of my target schools!

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The most I’m willing to pay out of pocket is 20-25k. I know I’m going to have to work through college to support myself and probably take out federal loans but I want to keep my loans to a minimum.

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I’m a senior and taking the SATs in November. I’ve been studying since the summer. I’ll talk to my mom about getting more specific financial information to run NPCs.

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As a student the most you can borrow is around $27,000 across all 4 years of college (so roughly $6500 per year - the max loan amount actually starts lower and increases each year). Any amount over this would need to be co-signed by a parent. Does the $20-25k budget amount include that loan or is that in addition to any loans you take?

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That includes the loan. I’m still trying to figure out co-signing because both of my parents said they won’t pay for any college and that seems to include co-signing loans? I don’t know, they’re incredibly skittish when I bring up financials and it’s making the process a lot more stressful than I feel it needs to be.

Edit to add: I think part of it is because my mom was one of the first people in her family to go to college and my dad dropped out of high school in the eighth grade (after being held back twice) so there’s not a strong support network here. My mom is an educator but I guess it’s different when it comes to your own.

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Also I realize maybe I should list my extracurriculars and stats in full because now I can’t edit the post. Sorry, this is my first time using the website.

  • White, female, from Massachusetts
  • 80-90k income (if it makes any difference, my dad only makes around 20k- my mom brings in the rest because she works in a good school district)
  • SAT score: 1330, but I’m expecting it to improve when I take it again this November because I’ve been studying all summer
  • GPA: 3.8
  • Helped revamp school curriculum and anti-discrimination policies
  • (Hopefully) president of NHS
  • (Hopefully) president of school tech club
  • Started a business on the side to make money
  • done AP World History, AP Lang, AP Psych, AP Lit, AP Human Geography, AP U.S. History, AP Stats, and otherwise all honors classes (my school doesn’t offer a lot of STEM APs)
  • played flute since sixth grade
  • mentored freshmen going into high school through school program
  • Portrait of a Graduate member
  • developed plans to increase literacy rates at my high school
  • member of local volunteer club since eighth grade
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If your family won’t pay for any college, and you can only get $5500 in loans your first year, how would you get the rest of the money to total up to $20-25k?

If your family is not willing to contribute anything monetarily, find out if they are willing to support you by letting you live at home. If so, look into your local community college and take your first two years of classes there and then look into transferring, perhaps to UMass-Amherst or to Lowell. This is likely to be your “safety” option.

Will continue to think of other options for you.

ETA: I would also ask your family to run a FAFSA estimate (is it updated yet?). If it’s $6206 or less you may qualify for the MassGrant, and even if it’s above that, the MassGrant Plus may be an option for you at in-state schools.

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You’d need a full ride merit scholarship to bring Ohio State to your budget which makes it a reach. Morrill and Stamps Eminence require supplemental applications.

You might be able to bring it in budget with a full tuition scholarship (full tuition awards replace and don’t stack with National Buckeye and Maximus) so if you also apply to special scholarships (college, department, alumni) and housing (subsidized/lower cost) scholarships when those applications open it might still work out.

Active Hillel with its own cafe. University dining also serves kosher meals at limited locations, but dining services also offers delivery.

https://dining.osu.edu/nutrition-wellness/halal-and-kosher-options/

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So, how did you come up with a $20-25k budget - would that all be loans?

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With no parent contribution, a safety means an automatic merit scholarship that is close to a full ride. A stretch budget would be a net price of about $10k ($5.5k direct loan + $4.5k your work earnings), but lower is less risky.

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Exactly. And if loans…who is taking them out in excess of the federally funded Direct Loan ($5500 for freshman year).

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The reality of your situation is that most schools are going to see that 90k parental income and expect your family to contribute. If parents have other assets (bank account, CDs, real estate, a business, stocks, home ownership for CSS schools, etc.) they will expect more. You will likely pay close to full price at a place like UMass Amherst, well over budget.

Tuition & housing are ridiculously more expensive than it was when your mom went to school, while wages have not increased at the same rate. Would they possibly be willing to pay toward school the amount they were paying for your food/activities/clothing/etc. during high school?

Although it seems to be a touchy subject for them, your parents are doing you no favors by dancing around the money topic. You need information from tax returns and ALL balances from bank accounts/stocks/CDs/savings/etc. to be able to fill out each college net price calculator correctly.

Once you have the info needed to run NPCs, you can run them for your favorite schools and see what you come up with (each place calculates need differently).

Your best bets financially are going to be places with generous need based financial aid, but most of these schools are reach schools for everyone, due to way more great kids applying than they could ever accommodate. Brandeis is a school that falls in this category.

Your stats and EC are good, and you will likely see some merit, but 20k at a place that charges 80k, for example, is a long way off from what you need, and full ride merit scholarships generally number in the handful range.

A safety option would be to live at home while working full time (saving as much as possible for jr/sr year) while completing an associate’s degree, then transferring. If your state has an articulation agreement between community colleges and in-state publics, that would probably be your best shot at getting through your degree in 4 years with this approach.

TLDR: Run NPCs for potential schools*, if the numbers work**, apply to as many as makes sense to you. Apply for full-ride merit scholarships if your research shows you would be a strong contender, or as a Hail Mary at a couple of places. Research full time work/community college/jr transfer as a back up plan.

*accurate numbers for this are crucial
**Federal loan of $5500 + net job earnings, so <10K maybe?

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Are you by chance a Boston resident and therefore eligible for the tuition-free community college program? Tuition-Free Community College (TFCC) Plan.

Even if you are not, there is a robust automatic transfer program from Massachusetts community colleges to 4-year universities and that may be your most affordable option:

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Or if they do not want to tell you, see if they are willing to run the NPCs and tell you the results.

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The closest community college is an hour commute total everyday and I really really do not want to live in this area. There’s no opportunities whatsoever for internships, jobs to work to help fund my studies, etc. I’ve tried asking my mom if she’d be willing to pay anything towards tuition but when I do, she sort of just clams up. When I ask about our finances and ask what our general household income is to see if certain institutions would qualify as us being able to receive need-based aid (because some have ridiculously low standards for it) she clams up and accuses me of saying we’re poor. She keeps saying “we’ll get there when we get there” and my guidance counselor says not to think about cost but I don’t want to throw away hundreds on college applications to schools where the bill is going to be 60k a year with no aid.

I’m not sure how I feel about staying home and getting my associate’s for a lot of reasons (some mentioned above), the biggest one being when I was younger and dreaming about college my parents would constantly “joke” about kicking me out at 18. Sure, they might’ve been ACTUALLY joking but it always made me incredibly uneasy. Staying to get my associate’s is my “if nothing else works” option.

I’ve done the Rhodes NPC and according to it (including direct loans and merit-based aid) I have a pretty good chance of only having to pay around 25k. I know that’s a lot of working I’ll need to do but I’m creative and I know how to make money.