<p>My son has always worked very hard at school and I thought he had been doing well but reading everyone's posts here, I'm not sure he hasn't done enough to get scholarships & merit aid. I doubt we'll qualify for much financial aid except for possibly loans. I'm worried sick and need to come up with a gameplan! Hoping people here can help me - I'm so confused to what schools he should apply for a greater chance at merit aid.</p>
<p>My son's GPA is about a 3.7 (his school grades on a numeric scale). </p>
<p>He goes to a Jesuit Private High School. He has been an Honors Scholar for all 4 years. He has already taken AP World History and American History and had 5's on both exams. This year he is taking 4 more AP's.</p>
<p>His SAT's weren't great - 680 Math, 600 Critical Reading and 570 Writing. He just retook them in October and we should have his scores at th end of the week. He took the Kaplan course so hopefully it helped! He has some great EC such as spending a week building a house for Habitat for Humanity, School Ambassador, Big Brother, etc...</p>
<p>Some of the schools he's looking at are: Forham University, Boston College, Georgetown U. - he likes Jesuit schools. He also likes U. of Vermont, Cornell, Michigan State and possibly Stony Brook for an instate school.</p>
<p>I feel like I need to point him in the direction of some smaller colleges that might offer him scholarships/merit aid but don't know where to start. </p>
<p>you’d probably be better waiting to get those SAT scores back to have this conversation but at your son’s stat level he would be a candidate for merit/tuition discounting at a lot of small colleges. In the ny/ne area schools like Union or Clark come to mind. In Pa, Muhlenberg or Gettysburg and in Ohio, Wooster and Denison. You could probably end up paying something in the low thirties at quite a few LACs. But remember these days as a full paying customer you have a lot of leverage. Even places like Lafayette or Holy Cross may give you money or you son may be able to get into even higher level colleges like Bates or Hamilton if you are willing to pay the freight. Those stats may seem low here on CC but out there in the “real world”
they’re pretty good especially combined with a full paying customer. I think, also, there is a merit aid thread in the financial aid section of this site, that may be helpful</p>
<p>I would guess that Georgetown, BC and Cornell are reaches at this point for your son. I don’t think any of them awards merit aid (BC might…). </p>
<p>Fordham might be a match…depends on those SAT scores.</p>
<p>What about Loyola in Maryland? Or Siena (not Jesuit but is Catholic).</p>
<p>I would suggest that you figure out how much money you can provide to your son each year for college costs. You should also run your family financial numbers (income/assets) through one of the EFC calculators to get a guestimate of what the colleges might expect you to be responsible for financially. This information will be helpful to you and your son as you do your college search…especially if finances are a significant consideration.</p>
<p>Also remember that paying for college does not just come out of accumulated savings. Besides that, other streams of money that could help pay for college are current cash flow, a non-working spouse going to work, student loans, parent loans, student summer jobs, student on campus jobs, small scholarships, tuition discounts, etc. Going to a cheaper college or going to a college and living at home are also options that will make the dollar stretch farther.</p>
<p>Also, you are fortunate to live where the SUNY system is at the instate cost for your college bound student. There are a number of campuses in the SUNY system that are real gems and folks from OOS desire admittance. I would check some of those other SUNY schools as additional options as well.</p>
<p>You have to assess what you are able to afford, and the sooner the better. If it’s not going to be sufficient for college without a big merit scholarship, the time to tell your son is now. There is no point in his applying to schools like Georgetown or Cornell where he will not get any merit aid. You don’t want to spend April with a heartbroken kid with an acceptance he cannot afford.</p>
<p>Once you have passed this hurdle and consulted an aid calculator like the one on College Board, you know what your goal is: a school with a good reputation that awards significant merit dollars. I’d urge you to look beyond the fierce competition in the east. Check out St. Louis U, Creighton and Marquette.</p>
<p>The other angle that could work is applying to a LAC that has a big imbalance in the female-to-male ratio.</p>
<p>There are a number of colleges within SUNY that are gems…Geneseo is one of them. There are many students choosing this school over privates to save money for graduate school. </p>
<p>Is your son leaning towards Catholic universities or, at least, schools where being Catholic isn’t an oddity. (That was our concern…LOL… When we visited The University of Alabama, we were glad (and surprised) to see a big Catholic church right across the street.)</p>
<p>D got significant merit money even took the chance without sending test scores since they are a test optional school.
She may have been an outlier, female with significant math/science interests and a few years of research in HS.</p>
<p>Her GPA and course load were similar as your son.</p>
<p>If he likes the Burlington, VT area, you might consider St. Michael’s College. It’s not Jesuit but is Catholic (Edmundite), and would be a comfortable match or maybe even a safety (their average SATs are 573V/578M/574W). Check out their merit aid pages; sounds like your son would have a pretty good shot.</p>
<p>I have no first-hand knowledge of the University of Scranton, but my brother’s boss went there and was raving about it. I know that it’s Jesuit, and I hear they’re generous with merit money. Maybe others can fill in more details. </p>
<p>Marist College in Poughkeepsie is not officially Catholic but has that feel. It is known to give merit money for SATs above 1200, and the tuition is reasonable to begin with. I visited the campus with a friend, and it is lovely and spacious, right on the Hudson, with a gorgeous modern library.</p>
<p>Manhattan College is also worth a look. It’s located in the Riverdale area of the Bronx and is run by the LaSalle fathers.</p>
<p>Have you had a “sit down” with your son to discuss how much colleges cost these days (total cost - tuition, r&b, books, etc)? Have you discussed how much you can afford to pay each year and how much he’ll need in merit money?</p>
<p>He also needs to know what level of schools will likely give him merit for his stats. </p>
<p>That way, he won’t be expecting to attend schools that are unlikely (such as Boston College or Georgetown), since they are expensive, super-reaches, and aren’t generous with merit $$. Many state publics are also not generous to OOS students, but a few are. Those that are generous, should be considered as matches or safeties.</p>
<p>If you come up with a list of colleges that are affordable because of a combination of what you can pay plus merit money, then the two of you can look at these school’s “online tours” (aka virtual tours), to kind of get a feel for each one.</p>
<p>Is it safe to say that you can at least pay the same amount that you’re currently paying for Jesuit High? I’m guessing that’s about $10k per year (plus or minus). Do you have other children?</p>
<p>Thankfully, I found this discussion board when S applied to prep school. He is now a jr and we are starting to look at colleges. What I am doing is making a list of schools he is interested in, we have visited and adding in schools that will probabaly offer him merit money. I have a spreadsheet listing, school, location, info I get off “common data set” for that school (average GPA, number of students in top 10% of graduating class, SAT scores for middle 50%, COA, etc), and what scholarships my S may qualify for. In addition I note pros and cons of majors he is intersted in at that particular school. S can find the pie in the sky schools, I will find the financial safeties he would love to attend. S knows money may be an issue and the determining factor where he ends up going. </p>
<p>As others have said, BC will be a reach, and does not offer much in merit money. I think they only offer 10-15 full scholarships a year. Competition is very tough.</p>
<p>My advice is based on my D’s experience (college junior). She is at state college. She has numerous Merit scholarships (might be over 10, not sure) that cover her full tuition. In addition, her school has a lot of Merit $$ for Returning students with college GPA over 3.8. When she applied, she got additional $6500 to cover good portion of her R&B in sophomore year. So, here is my advice. Apply to in-state and work hard to get close to GPA=4.0 in college, research if additional funds are available for returning students and apply before deadline, which we unfortunately have missed last year. Oh, well, nobody is perfect. We have learned the hard way.</p>
<p>Many state schools do not offer much - if anything - for merit - even for in-state students. That’s why it’s important to look specifically at what each school offers - never assume. </p>
<p>Also look to see if the merit scholarships are automatic or competitive. It can be almost impossible to get a competitive scholarship without stellar stats because often only a small number are awarded, and sometimes hundreds of kids have applied for those. </p>
<p>While it may be a good idea to apply for some competitive scholarships, since they are “iffy,” it’s best to also apply to a few schools that will award automatic scholarships.</p>
<p>Another issue to keep in mind regarding competitive scholarships…many require an on-campus interview (at your expense). That was a real “turn-off” for us when distance was an issue (airfare, hotel, food, car rental, missing days of school, etc), just for a tiny chance at a competitive scholarship. We limited competitive scholarships to those that didn’t require a campus interview or weren’t too far away.</p>
<p>Also, look to see if scholarships can “stack”…meaning that a student can receive 2 or more scholarships from the school and add them together (some schools allow, some don’t). My sons’ school lets you stack a university scholarship with a departmental scholarship. DS1 has one scholarship that pays for his tuition and dorm, plus another one that gives $2500 per year. DS2 has a scholarship that pays for tuition, another one that pays $2500 a year, and another that pays $2000 per year.</p>