<p>OK, child #2 has been accepted and made her decision. I'm gearing up for the college search with #3, a boy and a B student. Three children completing college in 6 years will be a monumental financial feat, so I am particularly looking for colleges in the northeast, or nearby, that offer merit scholarships to B students. We havent even begun, so no preference yet re: size or location, possibly looking for technical theater major, but not necessarily. I will look again through the various threads for B students, but if you have anything to offer off the top of your head, thanks!</p>
<p>This is a nifty site, if you haven’t used it before:</p>
<p>[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/)</p>
<p>You can use the search box in the left rail to get a list of all the colleges in a particular state…or a specific geographic area. If you use the ‘Map’ Function instead of the drop down menu, you can easily select multiple states. You can also select public/private or both… even program of study/majors, etc. </p>
<p>After you hit ‘show results’ you’ll get a list of hyperlinked colleges where you can see sticker price, graduation rates, average student loan burden and aid dollars awarded. It’s a great way to focus on admissions stats and net price (a tab that shows the average price FT undergrad students pay per year, after need and merit based aid is awarded). </p>
<p>Look at the Net Price tab for your family’s income bracket - that’s what the middle 50% of all applicants pay. If your student has stats that place him ABOVE the middle 50% (target the 75% percent data set referenced)- there is a chance for more merit aid, and thus, a lower net price. </p>
<p>If you find a good match… go directly to that school’s Admissions page > Tuition & Financial Aid > and then, Merit Scholarships to see if they reference GPA and SAT/ACT criteria that will place your son within range for specific awards.</p>
<p>Thanks MaryOC – good site – one question: I just tried it (because I too would love to get merit aid for my B student) but I don’t think the site lists all schools. I searched for: 4 year programs at schools between 1000 and 5000 students in a variety of southern states (SC included) with acceptance rates between 30% and 90%. I got 22 schools, but did not see Furman on there (which should have come up). I wonder if the site only lists schools that advertise with College Navigator…</p>
<p>Many any of the Lutheran (like Susquehanna, Gettysburg,Muhlenberg) might have an automatic merit scale.</p>
<p>GCmom, I would check out York college of Pennsylvania. It is a private school with a undegrad student body of about 8k. They do hand out money for students like yours, it is not huge, but…they have other opportunities as well and it is EXTREMElY inexpensive. I think tuition is around $15k and room&board is around $8. Good luck!</p>
<p>Classof2015, it’s a government site, so advertising isn’t a factor. I searched using your criteria and 4 year private not for profit, but only in SC and came up with 11 schools. I’d bet there was an extra check mark somewhere when you searched.</p>
<p>What is his GPA? What are his test scores? How much merit do you need …in other words, how much do you need your remaining costs to be?</p>
<p>If you need a LOT of merit so that your remaining costs are lowish, you may need to look outside the NE.</p>
<p>What will your EFC be for 3 kids in college at one time?</p>
<p>Thanks all for your suggestions. </p>
<p>His GPA right now is 3.1, not sure he’ll get that improved. Tests…not sure yet, hoping (not unrealistically based on one sibling’s experience), for 1800 or equivalent on ACT, but obviously not sure.</p>
<p>Another place to search for merit type aid is through your place of worship (if you are religious). Many denominations/religions offer scholarships to students active in their church/synagogue and may only require a 2.0 or 2.5 high school GPA.</p>
<p>Also, community organizations like Kiwanis, Lions clubs, etc often give scholarships and don’t always have a lot of applicants because people don’t think to apply there or don’t think that $250 or $500 is worth it (but hey, how long would it take your student working at a minimum wage job to earn that much, especially after taking out taxes, gas to get to work, lunch money etc).</p>
<p>Some of these may be renewable or may only be for the freshman year. If it is only for one year, it still gives the family one more year to save or look for other money.</p>
<p>Oh, and it’s actually 8 years of college, so the oldest and youngest each overlap with the middle for 2 years. We get a little FA for the middle, but she will be at a full-need, no loan school, which won’t be the case for my S.</p>
<p>Furman is in College Navigator (I searched by name). The underlying data for College Navigator is information that all schools that participate in Title IV programs are required to submit to the Department of Education.</p>
<p>Thanks jmnva06 and reeinaz - you’re both right – I tried it again and just checked 4 year college (and left public, private and private non-profit blank) and I found Furman plus several other schools I hadn’t considered before. This is a great resource.</p>
<p>Isn’t it a nifty site? I just discovered it this week, after completing back-to-back college searches for my oldest two. :rolleyes: I’m going to be so much more well versed, when I have to do it again for the twins, in another 5 years…</p>
<p>You can reportedly do a similar query using The College Board’s site… but I read that their financial aid filter isn’t very accurate because not all colleges report such data to The College Board. I haven’t used it personally, but their ‘MatchMaker’ tool can help show where your student’s stats will place them in the top 25% of all applicants, if you enter his test scores in the ‘Admission’ section.</p>
<p>My son got some money at Ohio University in Athens and a little at West Virginia U. He is headed to Ohio in the fall.</p>
<p>DS had meh grades (3.0) and good scores (2090), and received some merit aid from Goucher (Baltimore), which he is really looking forward to attending.</p>
<p>His GPA right now is 3.1, not sure he’ll get that improved. Tests…not sure yet, hoping (not unrealistically based on one sibling’s experience), for 1800 or equivalent on ACT, but obviously not sure.</p>
<p>To me, there seems to be a few different kinds of “merit awards” out there:</p>
<p>1) Bigger awards for high stats kids (for kids whose test scores stats are around the top 5% of the school). So if the upper quartile of a merit-awarding school is SAT (M+CR) 1350+, then maybe a 1480+ will get big merit. (of course, this varies by school) And, usually a good GPA is needed as well.</p>
<p>2) Competitive merit…a limited number of awards to top students…ECs may matter.</p>
<p>3) Tuition-discounting merit given to about the top 1/2 to 1/3 of the school. These awards can vary from about $8k per year to $15k per year depending on stats. These are often good privates that aren’t necessarily mentioned all the time on CC. While these awards are always welcomed, if you get a $8k award for a school that costs you $50k, that may not be enough to help you. </p>
<p>4) Preferential Pkg: A student is awarded a more generous aid pkg based because he has desirable stats. So, the school does a better job meeting need. </p>
<p>How much merit do you need? What do you want the “net” cost to be for this child? If it’s a private school with a COA of $50k, how much merit do you want?</p>
<p>BTW…Pay close attention to his Math + CR score for his SAT. That is often what’s looked at to determine merit.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to pay very close attention to past merit awards. All three of my kids were B students and all three got merit aid of over $10,000 a year. We did not qualify for need-based aid. They were in the top 25% of their school, but not the top 5%. They went to colleges that were match/safeties. I could see immediately that my son was going to get merit aid when he applied to Roanoke by just looking at this page - [College</a> Navigator - Roanoke College](<a href=“College Navigator - Roanoke College”>College Navigator - Roanoke College) They all had similar SAT scores too @ 1800. They did take the harder classes, including AP’s and honors. I think though that because they mostly looked at small privates, their EC’s were able to stand out.</p>
<p>Colby Sawyer in New London, NH gives very good merit aid depending on a student’s grade point average. Also, SAT’s/ACTs are not a big factor in the decision making process. The school is a small college in a small town. Their course offerings are varied from nursing, business, and liberal arts. It’s a good college for kids who like winter sports for extra curricular activities. A free ski pass to Mt Sunapee is part of the tuition.</p>
<p>Hi OP:</p>
<p>I can maybe think of 3 that you could look into:</p>
<p>University of Hartford in CT
Adelphi Univ on Long Island
Towson Univ in Baltimore</p>
<p>I know the first two have theater, not sure about Towson, but it probably does</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all the advice/ideas. I guess I’m hoping to bring the net cost for him into the $20,000-$30,000 range. Oldest has merit that brings her COA to a little over $20,000. And I guess I hope we could maintain a similar outflow. </p>
<p>Kathiep, I am actually happy to hear from you, as I believe you have a son at Champlain. Which is on my preliminary list for him to think about. My oldest is at St. Mike’s. I wouldn’t mind 4 more years of visiting Burlington!</p>