Barring multiple kids in college (as would be the case for the OP), families earning $200K/year only get aid at Harvard and a couple of others. No other Us have the deep pockets and income limits that high. Anything from another school is merit aid, totally unrelated to income. Cost of the school has nothing to do with it. DO run the Net Price Calculators.
Sorry above poster COA is the first part of the calculation and stands for Cost of Attendence. Everyone should do the calculations in many cases home equity and retirement savings are not counted against you either.
OP, you seem like you’re starting the process with a very reasonable, realistic plan. You’ve gotten a lot of great suggestions here; however, from experience, I would warn you about this one:
Unless your DD is securely above the 75th percentile for schools like Lafayette, she is unlikely to attract one of their coveted merit awards. Without those, the cost of the Lafayettes and Bucknells is often substantially higher for “doughnut hole” families than those schools that offer only need-based awards. I’m not saying not to apply to them, but be aware that there are different types of privates with very different aid policies.
Run each school’s net price calculator and be sure your daughter knows which ones will not be doable without significant merit money. That was the approach we took with our son. Know your overall budget and let you daughter know as well. We were shooting for something under $35k a year. We ended up with options that ranged from ~$15,000 to $45,000.
@belle08
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She is way over qualified for Ole Miss
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???
How the heck would you know that??? Based on what???
Nothing the OP wrote suggests that she’d be “way over qualified” for Ole Miss.
@mstomper What is your son’s weighted GPA including all classes (even PE)?
How many “semester C’s” does he have??
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Unfortunately, visiting the southern schools during the school year is just not possible for us but maybe next Fall we will go again during the school year if she decides that she really likes one of them.
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If you do go during the fall, avoid any home-game weekends unless you have relatives nearby to stay with. Hotels are extremely expensive during home game weekends and typically book up 6+ months in advance.
@Bloke123 What do you want the net cost to be per daughter per year for college?
I realize that many in the Tri-State area often have very high EFCs but less available income because property taxes, etc, are very high there.
Assuming that your income is over $100k, you can estimate that your EFC will be about 1/3 of your income (maybe more if you have a good amount of assets that aren’t in a protected retirement acct.) OF course, ANNUAL contributions to 401ks and similar are “added back in” as income, so keep that in mind.
IF you determine that you can pay - say - $15k per year, then your child needs a full tuition scholarship.
If your D makes NMF, then she should consider some schools that offer a 5th year tuition. She could strategize and get her BS in 3 years and use the remaining 2 years for PT.
@mom2college, I’m not sure what his weighted GPA is; he has taken lots of AP/Magnet classes. the problem is 2 D’s in English and 1 in biology. Other than biology his magnet grades are very good.
I also question the '“overqualified” statement. Is it based on Ole Miss being a state school in the deep south?
@mom2collegekids students at NJ high schools with a 3.6 GPA get accepted to much more selective schools than Ole Miss. My guess is this student is a 90th percentile tester or better.
Applying to Ole Miss may be a good way to get merit money. However, she can do that with some Big Ten schools perhaps and go to a better school.
@belle08
Believe me, there are many students at Ole MIss and Bama that will stronger than your NJ 3.6 GPA students.
And there are few (if any) Big 10 schools that will give large merit for a 3.6 GPA, even with 97th percentile test scores.
M2CK helped me understand a few things: I was concerned that Kid3 would be missing something by not attending a selective LAC like his older sibs. But UA and Ole Miss, I suspect, offer much of the same opportunities and some “flavor” that you may not get at some of the area LAC’s. Big sports, state of the art facilities, warm weather, nice people, smart people. I was surprised to hear that 50% of UA students are from OOS. I was also surprised to hear that the top 30% of UA students scored 2,000 or higher on SAT/ACT equivalent. Note, 30% of UA is ~9,000 students…that’s more kids than Lafayette, Gettysburg and Bucknell, combined.
It is a fair question to ask – is Gettysburg at $224,000 worth anything more than Honors at UA for $96,000? Some may say yes, others may say UA offers as much and possibly more, to the right students. The savings is just a nice bonus. UA is buying talent and it is working. Fortunately, for those considering UA, Ole Miss, Clemson, etc there is merit money available that is typically not available for similar stats in the NEast. In my view, regional bias has shielded the NE from understanding how great some of these southern U’s have become.
Rutgers tuition and fees are approximately $13.5K per year for in-state so that is our benchmark. If she can get enough merit scholarship money at Ole Miss or UA to get her OOS tuition and fees down to around $15K or even $17K per year, Ole Miss or UA would be doable for us financially.
I have no doubt or concern whatsoever that she would receive an excellent education at either Ole Miss or UA, both are great schools. My father received an excellent education at Ole Miss that propelled him to the very highest levels of corporate America in NYC of all places. I also have no doubt that she would receive and excellent education at Rutgers which is rated significantly higher than both Ole Miss and Alabama but I was starting to think that she was going to have to go to Rutgers whether she liked it or not and I am thrilled to now know that she may have some other excellent options.
The only concern I have (other than whether or not we can afford to send her to Ole Miss or UA) is if she would like it there based on the type of person that she is which is not the preppy sorority type. My early gut reaction based on what I’ve read so far is that Alabama, especially, is big enough and diverse enough for her to find her niche and fit in just fine but that will be for her to decide. Again, I’m just happy that these excellent options may exist for her.
This site is an amazing resource and I really appreciate all the valuable comments and advice, please keep them coming, I can’t wait to share them with my wife and daughter.
@pardullet Yep at Bama about 35% of kids have SATs from 600 and up but about 90% and 80% at Lehigh and Gettysburg. I think you are way off on your cost at schools like Lehigh and Gettsyburg you will find that kids from average families that can do the work and get accepted pay around what similar quality state schools charge. I have friends with kids at both places.
RE: costs at Bucknell et al. Based on our experience in 2013, income above about $150-180K at the selective LACs/private universities resulted in little to no need-based financial aid. People at that income level are expected to pay full fare (now topping $60K COA) unless there is merit involved. At Bucknell, for instance, the merit aid that is available is limited to a few $10K or $20K awards based on either talent (theatre, dance, etc.) or academic merit for the very top applicants (and there is also a need based component to these merit awards as well). The resulting “merit” is essentially a discount that will definitely not get COA down to $25 or $30K.
There are some slightly less selective LACs that we investigated (in the 40-70 range) that do seem to give out more merit (i.e. Denison, College of Wooster, Muhlenberg) that might bring those costs down. But to get top awards, students really need to have top stats. A $10K or $15K award while nice, is not going to bring costs to where OP needs them to be.
As others have said, each parent/student is well advised to run the NPCs with their own financial situation to find out what is possible/likely.
@belle08 Agreed, there are differences. My point was 80-90% of students at Gburg or Lehigh is ~2-3k undergrad students vs 9,000 at UA. You won’t want for peers. I have paid 4 years of tuition at Gettysburg and Lafayette! It hurts but I don’t regret it. My new thinking, however, is there are viable, quality options. 6 years ago, you and I would have had identical posts. To me, terrific LACs are not out of favor but, new and less expensive options have gained great ground.
“She is somewhat introverted and somewhat of a loner type although she is very social just preferring smaller more intimate groups. She is very accepting of others but is concerned that others there my not be accepting of her, especially if she is not in a sorority.”
Sounds like a possible fit for the new residential colleges at Ole Miss. When you visit, make sure to ask for a visit there (they may even be able to give you a tour guide who lives or lived there).
Also look into U. of Kentucky. UK’s OOS tuition is about $23k, and your D would get merit aid. UK’s medical center is unbelievable and all of its medical-related majors are very good. Dorms are wonderful. Its PT program has a near 100% license passage and job placement rate. UK is also driveable for you from NJ, so travel costs would be less. It’s not quite as “Southern” a school as Ole Miss.
I don’t know much about PT as a career, but I wonder how many state U’s expect graduates to stay in the state. That should be part of your research. UK’s placement rate that I mentioned above may be because all of them stay in KY. If your D wants to live near where she grew up, and not in Mississippi or Kentucky or Alabama, a nearby college might be your best option even if it costs more.
As another poster mentioned, have you looked at TCNJ? I don’t know their rep for this particular major, but very highly regarded, nice campus, access to Philly and NY. My d is a frosh there in CivEng.
@belle08
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@pardullet Yep at Bama about 35% of kids have SATs from 600 and up but about 90% and 80% at Lehigh and Gettysburg <<<<<
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seriously? You’re comparing small student bodies at private LACs to a very large public univ with over 30k undergrads??? lol
First of all, for Bama, you really need to use ACT scores because that is what the overwhelming majority submit…
and…25% have an ACT 32+ which is equivalent to about a 1410 M+CR
There are over 6800 frosh, so 25% is 1700 frosh.
36% have an ACT 30+, which is equivalent to a 1330 (not close to that 600 sections that you’re quoting)…that represents 2450 frosh with those stats.
Gee…how many frosh are in each of those LACs you quoted??? Lehigh has 1300 frosh of which some don’t have those stats. Gettysburg has about 700 frosh. And one of those schools is practically lily white.
For good merit scholarships, also look into Eckerd, Sewanee, Howard (HBCU), Agnes Scott.
Just a FYI - Lehigh isn’t a LAC. It’s a private research university. Because of its relatively small size (@5000 students), it does tend to have small class sizes and a lot of student/faculty interaction similar to a LAC.
Have you considered the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities? It is an excellent university academically, but may be better suited for your daughter culturally speaking. Their cost of attendance is similar to Ole Miss, possibly even lower.