In the offers my kids got, school-based merit always replaced grants. However, OUTSIDE scholarships often replaced loans or work-study.
Hi, Corgi master. I’m new to this site also, and have enjoyed the perspectives and information offered here. Based on our own recent college visits, I can offer a couple of ideas, although I’m not sure how the financial piece will play out. Hofstra University on Long Island might be a match. It’s fewer than 10,000 students, the campus itself is lovely, and it has a good selection if majors. Greek life is present but not overwhelming, and there are plenty of student activities. We attended the open house this past spring, and I was really impressed with the faculty that I met there. It seems like a place where a student can flourish, and where the professors are invested in their students. Of course, this impression is based in the open house that we attended. A couple of downsides are the fact that the area surrounding the campus isn’t the safest, from what I’ve heard. The upside to that is that security seems pretty tight, and freshmen are allowed to have cars on campus, which enables them to drive to a large, nice mall that’s about 10 minutes away and a nice little shopping and dining area that is also just a short drive away. Also, Jones beach is nearby which could be a fun place to gather with friends on the warmer days. I have heard that it’s a “commuter” campus, with many students coming from Long Island, so that might be difficult for socializing. But overall, it seemed like a good school. A few others are St. Joseph’s University near Philadelphia, and McDaniel College in Maryland. These schools might offer regional open houses in your area, so check their websites for that option. Good luck to your daughter, who sounds like a great kid!
I would buy Loren Pope’s books: Colleges that Change Lives (cited again! Also the website and national fairs), and his “Looking Beyond the Ivy League” which has a lot of info on schools, even if it is less famous than CTCL.
We don’t know enough about her to suggest specific schools really, and your desire for privacy will prevent that most likely. Mainly wonder if there is any extracurricular or art/music or sport that she loves. It can help to look at big and little, city, rural and suburban, for starters- doesn’t even have to be schools she wants, just the type of school. (We always went to the Amherst area where Amherst, UMass and Hampshire are located- LAC, university and “alternative”). What “vibe” would suit her?
Her SAT’s are fine but you will be surprised to see how many top schools are test optional: http://fairtest.org/university/optional In her case, however, GPA and SAT’s seem to match so her scores are probably good to include.
I think of Goucher, U. of Puget Sound, Lewis and Clark, Hobard William-Smith, but I don’t know if those are reaches, honestly. There are many many schools to think of. Lesley, Simmons, Emmanuel if she likes Boston-? New England College, Curry, St. Michael’s? Beloit? I am thinking of things randomly here and will stop 
She sounds great!
I am not sure where you live, but think hard about having her go to a college far away if there are other good ones near by. My DD is an hour away at college and she can come home for spring break. Many other 2015ers find it too expensive to come home except Tgiving/Xmas. So consider if that is a factor for her.
Oh…and I agree about TCNJ…that is where my daughter goes!
I just looked up the stats and was really surprised-it’s a lot tougher than it used to be. To redeem myself, I’ll post the link to the schools with the happiest kids…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2010/04/11/the-100-happiest-colleges.html#slide1
At the start of her junior year, my daughter looked a lot like yours. The only difference is that my child took some AP courses (same unweigbted GPA as your daughter and 1770 SAT/27ACT). Our EFC was alarmingly high so we knew D would not get any need based aid.
I echo the CTCL suggestion as well as the public LAC. D looked at these schools with those stats and put about nine schools on her list. Then she and I worked on raising her ACT score. She managed to raise her score to 31 June of her junior year. This meant her ACT score was at or above the 75th percentile but her unweighted GPA, and sometimes even her weighted GPA, was at or below the median.
The CTCL schools were fairly generous with the merit aid, bringing the net cost to us (no loans) to $25,000 - $32,000. University of Puget Sound was the only unaffordable school with a net cost of $45 000. UNC Asheville was the least generous with merit aid ($3,000) but net cost was still less than $35,000.
Finally don’t ignore the southeast schools. They can be generous. D and I found the northeast schools to be the most competitive and least generous with merit aid.
D is now a freshman at a small midwest LAC where we pay about 55% of the stated COA. So it is possible for a B, not a superstar but interesting, applicant to gain admission and merit aid.
There are subforums where parents of 3-3.3 kiddos talk about their colleges visits and their acceptances.
Go to parent forum, class of 20xx and then look thru some of the subforums.
Also link below might be helpful
My older daughter received a lot of merit aid to the University of New Haven. She was a solid B/B+ student in HS. The cost of the school came down to less than $30,000.
Look at Kalamazoo College (MI). It is one of the colleges included in CTCL.
University of Denver, Denison and Hobart are coming to mind.
Here are a few that are known to have happy students. Not sure if they are too far from home:
Miami or Ohio, U of Dayton, St. Louis University, Check out some of the other Catholic schools because many are a little easier to get into then the absolute top schools, have a little bit of merit, are medium sized and students seem to enjoy them- Fairfield, Providence. Also, take a look at Quinnipiac- I heard it is a beautiful campus. I know that there are some similar colleges in the South as well if that is your home base.
With 25,000 per year already saved plus small student loan and summer job you should be able to look at a budget of 30,000/year without too much stretch.
Your daughter sounds like a wonderful kid!
Has the OP been back since the first posting day?
don’t know much about the Beast happy list but when Princeton Review did a ranking of the happiest schools nationwide in 2008 TCNJ was #7. Also, as per money watch (CBS) focus on freshman retention rates.:
If you want to attend universities where students are happy, try looking for schools where students stick around after their freshmen year.
The state universities where freshmen retention rates are high tend to be flagship institutions that enjoy more resources and attract smart, affluent students.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, UCLA barely beat out the University of California, Berkeley as the No. 1 school among the 25 public universities that enjoy the greatest percentage of freshmen who remain for their sophomore year.
10 most expensive state universities for outsiders
Why students can’t keep up with rising college costs
8 ways to cut the cost of college
25 state universities with the highest freshmen retention
- UCLA 96.9%
- University of California, Berkeley 96.8%
- U.S. Naval Academy 96.5%
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 96.4%
- University of Virginia 96.1%
- University of California, San Diego 95.8%
- University of Michigan 95.7%
- University of Florida 95.6%
- University of Maryland 95.2%
- University of Wisconsin 94.8%
- University of California, Irvine 94.7%
- U.S. Military Academy 94.6%
- College of William and Mary 94.5%
- Georgia Institute of Technology 94.3%
- University of Georgia 94.1%
- University of Illinois 93.8%
- College of New Jersey 93.4%
- U.S. Coast Guard Academy 93.0%
- University of Washington 93.0%
- Ohio State University 92.8%
- University of Connecticut 92.5%
- Pennsylvania State University 92.5%
- University of Pittsburgh 92.2%
- University of Delaware 92.0%
- University of California, Davis 92.0%
Average freshman retention rate
The freshmen retention rates of these elite public universities are far higher than the rate at average public universities. According to statistics compiled by ACT Inc., the standardized test maker, the average freshmen retention rate for all four-year public institutions is 72.2%. The freshman retention rate at two-year public colleges is just 55.5%.
Freshmen retention rates are important because students who transfer out of their original schools are far less likely to graduate in four years. As it is, only 31% of full-time students attending state universities graduate in the traditional four years.
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© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc… All Rights Reserved.
Retention rates tend to have a high correlation with admission selectivity. I.e. stronger and better prepared entering frosh are less likely to flunk out or struggle and drop out.
If you hold incoming student qualifications constant, you will probably get far less variation between different schools (and a 3.2 HS GPA student probably will not be admitted to the schools in the list in reply #53 anyway).
Post then goes on to list top public universities outside the OP’s child’s range.
sigh. The OP’s child does not have the stats nor inclination to attend the vast majority of the 25 schools (I will concede she is a possible admit for TCNJ and Delaware but UCLA? Berkeley? UVA? UNC-CH? GT? Naval Academy?!). What was the point of the list?
Our younger one sounds similar to your daughter – an all around “good kid” – respectful, kind, solid student, but not a deep intellect, has achieved a good gpa through sheer will power. He would not do well in a larger academic environment, he needs a personal connection and an interactive, seminar setting to learn effectively. We also need merit aid to bridge our gap between what we have saved and what costs are.
Though we started with more competitive-admission schools like Vassar and Haverford, we shifted gears to focus on merit aid and environments where my hard-working but not deeply intellectual kid could flourish. We have focused primarily on CTCL and similar schools – Wooster, Earlham, Denison, Kalamazoo, Lawrence, Knox etc. We have been impressed at each one with the range of kid, from blue hair to Vineyard Vines - and how much kids of all sorts seem to blossom there. Even with my kid’s mediocre test scores, he got a merit aid pre-read from Wooster which predicted he would get close to half tuition merit award.
Good luck to your daughter! It will be okay!
the point of which list? The happiest list i posted was to prove that TCNJ was right there agian with other top schools.
That was the point of my list not to mention Princeton Reviews #7 happiest student body in the nation.