<p>OP, look at York. Could be completely wrong. I don’t know your kid.
Tell me what you think. [Tuition</a>, Fees and Costs | York College of PA ? Cost of College Tuition](<a href=“http://www.ycp.edu/financialaid/208.htm]Tuition”>http://www.ycp.edu/financialaid/208.htm)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ycp.edu/financialaid/204.htm[/url]”>http://www.ycp.edu/financialaid/204.htm</a></p>
<p>For an urban, more professionally oriented school, something like Philadelphia University might be an option.</p>
<p>Consider checking out Drew University-they may continue to offer scholarships at admission and are located in New Jersey.</p>
<p>I second Wooster and Juniata, would add Allegheny in PA, plus Hood, McDaniel and Goucher in MD if you can go a little more south</p>
<p>EFC should be around 35K… hoping merit and finaid can fill the gap in a private. Some privates lower forties I’m thinking. Still a lot to make up.</p>
<p>I think there is a lot of flexibility in the system. This won’t help you directly, but I was amazed that a kid I know, with like a 2.5 GPA but SAT average for school, got money from RPI. They wanted him because he’s from a flyover state and they probably hadn’t had a student from there forever. They were quite up front about why they wanted him. So I think ‘merit’ money is available, regardless of GPA, if they really want you for whatever reason.</p>
<p>Since you are in MA, I assume you have considered (and perhaps rejected as too close to home) Clark U in Worcester. It has a lower sticker price than many private LACs/unis and also award a lot of merit scholarships (starting at about $5k).</p>
<p>Not relevant to the OP but perhaps to others:</p>
<p>my 3.5/3.7 D with a 26 ACT earned merit money at the following</p>
<p>Linfield College 11K
University of Portland</p>
<p>both in Oregon</p>
<p>Carroll College in Helena MT</p>
<p>“So I think ‘merit’ money is available, regardless of GPA, if they really want you for whatever reason.”</p>
<p>True; “non-need based aid” is probably a more accurate description (though even need based aid can be packaged more attractively - -ie: all grants w/ no loans or nearly all grant money – for students a college is courting).</p>
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<p>I hope I understand…<br>
Your EFC is $35k per year. If she goes to a $45k private, you’re looking for some merit $$ and some F/A to meet that $10K shortfall each year (after you pay the first $35k)? Is that right? Do you think the F/A will be in student loans?</p>
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<p>I can see that happening…but the OP is from Mass…which is hardly a state that isn’t represented at all NE colleges (where the OP’s kid wants to go). I can see that being from a mid-west state or a southern state can be advantageous when trying to get accepted or get $$ for NE schools.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that at most colleges, merit aid reduces your need. So these schools are not likely to give a kid with a $35K EFC both.</p>
<p>Does your son have preferences re urban/suburban/rural? Field of study?</p>
<p>I have found PA to have the most high quality small schools. I respectfully suggest that given the attention issues you mentioned, smaller schools (2000 students) with small classes not taught by grad students will be better.</p>
<p>If you have not looked at the 3.0-3.3 student thread, it has many ideas. Some PA schools I have heard that combine lower tuition with good academics are Lycoming; Elizabethtown; Arcadia and York. You might also consider Scranton; Albright; Moravian; and St. Josephs. Many of these will offer free applications online once you register.</p>
<p>Clark; Goucher;Juniata; Alleghenny, Marist, Ithaca and Drew are all very fine schools, but harder to get into–which may make them less generous with aid. In NJ, Fairleigh Dickinson, Caldwell, Rider and Seton Hall may be worth a look, although I have heard better things about the PA schools.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Look at Clark - did not like it. Looking closely at Scranton may be a geo-hook, but from Mass. …I doubt it. Spouse wants to avoid urban campuses… most would be too large anyway,a shame because I like St. Joe’s or Drexel. Ithaca- family friend, (female) with similar stats got very little merit and cried for a week… she’s now unhappy at a small public. Farleigh-Dickinson I dismissed because S has some C’s and their app. pool seems to be growing. I don’t think he’ll get in frankly. Assumption, St. Mikes in VT, and Roger Williams are on a radar… who knows.</p>
<p>I second Drew, beautiful small campus in suburban NJ, walkable to NJ transit train into NYC.</p>
<p>Monmouth University? West Long Branch NJ. </p>
<p>Both are pricey private schools but may give merit aid.</p>
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<p>I was thinking something like this, too…</p>
<p>But, I couldn’t tell if the OP needed the merit money to try to go towards his EFC or if he wanted it to reduce the loans from F/A for the $10k shortfall (TCA $45 - EFC $35 = 10k need). </p>
<p>I think you’re right, the merit $$ would just reduce his F/A, it wouldn’t “subtract” from his EFC.</p>
<p>I see many other suggestions to be more competitive than FDU. Nightingale, your son likes this school I think that he should apply. Really.</p>
<p>Nightingale, your descriptions make sense. If you were rejecting St Joe as too urban, have you visited? Although one side borders the city, the rest is in a very affluent suburb. I live in NJ and FDU has a reputation as being much easier than most of the other schools–at our HS, every kid above 3.0 gets in and many below. Its biggest drawback is a reputation as a suitcase school, which may be overblown.
I believe Lycoming and Elizabethtown, both well regarded in PA as good, caring schools, have a list price around $36K and many students get aid. York’s list is about $26 I am told.</p>
<p>You may need to file a lot of applications and see how the aid comes out–I have seen many CC posts from parents mystified by widely varying amounts of aid being offered to their kids from similar schools.</p>
<p>Stay positive–you only need 1 good offer.</p>
<p>My friend’s D, who had a 3.0 GPA, mediocre (at best) ACT scores and very few ECs, got merit aid from her CTCL school, but it was in the south, not the northeast. It was a decent amount - $15K or so. She had merit aid offers from other schools that she didn’t attend, too. I think some of these merit aid awards are more a way of discounting tuition for certain otherwise full-pay folks than rewarding merit.</p>
<p>With a B average and 1200 plus sats your child should have no trouble getting merit aid/
discounting at many colleges. $35,000 should be a doable figure. Sounds like your child
needs to narrow down the choices some more. How far from home? What size school? etc</p>