Just finishing 11th.
IB - probably in the range of 40-42. Prior to IB - almost perfect grades (not sure school creates an GPA).
Recs - will have AMAZING recs - teachers telling her she is a “once in a lifetime student” and teachers telling other teachers “she could teach the class” and “she makes me a better teacher.”
SAT - 1490 (first time), waiting on second time
ECs - student director of school play, social justice theatre, soccer team, student volunteer on new initiative for students to partner with other students to enhance learning, interned at tech start-up(and a bunch of school based volunteer activities)
American citizen living abroad
VERY liberal and would want a non-religious school and a school that was not conservative leaning.
Her interests at the moment - all over the place. Econ and poly sci a few months ago. Now biology and possibly related fields.
Her preference for schools - small LACs, however also loves urban schools. Has been interested in many of the women’s colleges esp Barnard. Her preference is New England or East Coast.
Our realities - won’t qualify for need based at at most schools. Willing to spend approximately 20,000 per year out of pocket. STRONG cultural preference for her to pursue a course of study that leads to a high-earning and stable career.
Looking for advice, suggestions or even ideas of the questions we need to be asking ourselves.
Midwestern LAC’s seem to be generous with merit aid and often have slightly lower COA, so $20k out of pocket is a possibility.
See if Smith and Mount Holyoke have merit aid.
Run Net Price Calculators on schools you have come up with so far. Don’t proceed with schools that are not affordable! Don’t even visit! Drop them like a hot potato. Make sure your D understands the financial limits.
Her “STRONG cultural preference” or yours? (Note: Biology does not really have that good major-specific job prospects.)
I.e. she must be merit seeking, probably needing almost a full tuition scholarship, though there may be some low cost schools like Truman State and University of Minnesota - Morris that may be in range with some federal direct loan and work earnings added to your contribution.
These lists are old and need to be checked on college web sites for changes, but they may give you some ideas:
@ucbalumnus - I’m not sure it matters whose cultural preference it is…it is however a constraint that our family needs to work within and that is why I mentioned it.
It matters because if it is her “STRONG cultural preference”, then she just needs information about what majors have good major-specific job and career prospects (along with the major-agnostic job and career prospects that any college graduate can seek) in order to make a more informed decision. On the other hand, if it is not her preference, but is the preference of you or others in the family, then you and she may end up in conflict because of that.
Bryn Mawr gives some merit aid (although unlikely to get you to $20K out of pocket per year) and has a beautiful campus with easy access to Philly and all its attractions as well as being part of the Quaker Consortium. Strong academics, strong in sciences as are partner schools like Haverford.
However, the data comes from PayScale, often criticized on these forums for its survey and reporting methodologies, though data about majors probably means much larger sample sizes than data about colleges.
If you can rely on the numbers there, you may want to note:
The top end graduates of all majors tend to do well (90th percentile mid-career pay is quite good, though perhaps not at the level of no financial aid at any college).
Some majors (e.g. music) have large differences between the top and bottom (90th and 10th percentile mid-career pay), while others (e.g. nursing, physician assistant) have much smaller differences.
With wanting costs to be $20000 or less, you are more than likely going to have to start your college search flipped on its head. What schools can you afford and then how do they fit your student’s needs. That is essentially a room/board/books/health insurance (assuming that you don’t have normal stateside health insurance) budget for an OOS for all schools student.
Clark University offers a few full ride scholarships. It fits many of your daughter’s criteria. If you are looking for essentially ~40k a year, that makes things more difficult. Check out the pinned post at the top of the parent’s forum, schools known for good merit. You also probably know about the competitive full tuition site: http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com
If she can get her SAT up a little, with superior recs, I think she has a good shot at some great scholarships.
The thing is…I’m not sure it’s going to be easy to get toma net cost of $20,000 a year. It’s possible if she gets a full tuition scholarship someplace. Look at the smaller LACs in the Midwest…Denison or Earlham or Beloit. She might get enough merit aid at those schools.
Like others said getting to $20000 at a private school with low or no financial need will be tough. I agree with the others that looking in lower cost regions of the country and dropping in selectivity to a college that will be willing to discount tuition to snag your kiddo is best. There are some good threads in the financial aid forum for parents looking for lower cost. With that budget your safeties could be your state public…although in my state that costs exceeds $20000 for low or no need families.
My D is getting a significant amount of merit from one of the “Colleges that change Lives” http://ctcl.org/
I think most of them give merit aid to good students
If she won’t qualify for need-based aid, and you are unwilling to pay much yourself, and you have no in-state flagship that is an affordable option, then your options are going to be quite limited. I wouldn’t worry about her preferences at this point, but try to come up with an affordable list-perhaps the Colleges that Change Lives might be a good place to start. For such a typical strong but not exceptional applicant, the search will need to be broad and deep. good luck.
Another possible option is to investigate higher education in whatever place you currently reside. Perhaps she would qualify for a local university, and universities abroad are almost always cheaper than US options.
That’s funny, I was going to suggest Colleges that Change Lives, and, specifically, Clark University in Worcester MA, which offers merit scholarships based on service primarily.
Would nursing school be an option? Computer science? If loans are going to be involved, I can see the need for an immediate stable salary. Some kids wander a bit after graduation, in terms of jobs, until they find a niche or go to grad school which further delays things!
Some very selective schools give financial aid for incomes as high as $150k. If you are above that, maybe you can stretch the $20k (none of my business, and you might have 6 kids and elderly parents to support).
Barnard is a great school. Have you investigated finances for that? Sarah Lawrence, CUNY’s, and SUNY Purchase come to mind. Purchase has great theater…but that certainly doesn’t offer stable income after graduation :_
NYC schools can be wonderful, but just as a guideline, NYU is estimating cost of attendance for its arts/sciences school at $77,409 next year for those coming from abroad. This amount likely will increase in later years. NYC is an expensive place to be a full-pay student.