Background: Daughter is a senior so apps are almost all ready to go … planning on hitting first round of send buttons in the next few days
Stats: (trying out your forum speak)
GPA 3.875uw 4.695w
12 completed APs 6 more in process
Took all 12 AP tests, all were 5s except physics was a 4
SAT: 1560
ACT 35
Currently NMSF, we are expecting to be NMF
Our EFC per FAFSA is a number that is incomprehensible to us at 53K. We cover expenses for elderly parent with dimensia and although on paper look like we are fine, there is not extra anything in our budget. (still recovering from massive debt incurred during 08-10 and the job losses from that time period)
Daughter’s dream: school in NE liberal arts or an “important” school
Her current list … ordered from dream to safety
Brown
UChicago
Swarthmore
George Washington
American
St Johns
Fordham
Temple
UTDallas
UNLV (we live in Las Vegas)
U of KY
She has zero interest in the Florida programs nor anything truly “southern” e.g. AL, MISS, etc. nor AZ as it is too close to home
Is she missing any schools that would fit her dream of ivory tower on the east coast?
In case it matters, anthing over about $10K per year from us is simply not an option.
Do we have a chance here at achieving her dream and our financial reality?
(and whatever little gremlin is in the FAFSA computer and spits out that number is flat out crazy)
You need to forget FAFSA. Run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of the colleges and universities on her list. Those are more likely to give you a better sense of what your costs could be.
Does that $10k per year include her summer & school year earnings and a federal student loan? Or is $10k what the parents can chip in?
If the parents can cover $10k, and she can pick up a student loan plus summer & school year earnings, then things will be tight just about anywhere even with a full tuition & fees merit scholarship.
Some of the schools on your list don’t give merit money, only need based aid. Run the net price calculator for each of these schools. If they don’t work out financially, strike them now. Nothing worse than having a kid get into their “dream school” and having to tell them in the spring you can’t swing the $.
If your EFC is $53k and you only can pay $10k, I think your list is very unrealistic except for the last 3 schools, but I think she will get into the final 3 with the needed FA package. If she’s good with those, then the list is good.
I think Kentucky is a ‘southern’ school as much as any Florida school. They are in the SEC.
The SEC is an athletic conference. While these tend to be geographical in nature, it doesn’t mean that all the schools in the conference are similar in every (or even most) regards.
Its very late in the day to be changing things but I agree that the top 3 choices are pointless (no merit) and GWU and American are very unlikely to give enough merit to get the cost below about $45K-$50K per year (we only got $20K-$30K per year of merit from them, which appeared to be pretty much the max available).
I would add in Utah, although its also pretty close to home - she would be competitive for their full ride Eccles scholarship (https://honors.utah.edu/admissions/eccles-distinguished-scholarship/) and should at least get automatic full tuition merit aid. The problem is that you need to apply by November 1 to get the automatic merit (though the initial application is pretty simple and the Eccles application and essay is done much later). We really like the Honors college there and there are plenty of interesting liberal arts honors courses.
Its potentially worth giving USCal a shot too (Dec 1 application) to try for their full tuition scholarship.
Thanks for the replies so far!
I have wanted the top 3 scratched off … but told by husband/dad not to stifle her dreams and miracles can happen. I don’t live in miracle world!
The 10K would be from parents, not including any of her work / work study
EC: She competes in Debate, has made it to nationals freshman, sophomore and junior years, breaking to semifinals 2 of those times in multiple events, Debate captain soph and junior year, VP senior year; 2 years varsity tennis, started a club, and does peer tutoring
The NPCs for Temple, StJohn’s and Fordham seem to put the $$ right around 10-15K all told so may be swingable.
I know any of these would be tight … my hope is she picks UTDallas or a school that gives full COA … then we can help with grad school from a much better footing than we are on now.
I will also do a quick scroll through the link … she has about 15 different prepped and vetted essays that may be able to be modified quickly depending.
Boston College gives 15 full-tuition merit scholarships per year. Very competitive, but her qualifications would put her in the running and there’s no separate application - just have to submit the general application by November 1st. BC is competitive in debate so it could improve her chances if they’re interested in her in that respect. And the school seems to fit the broad profile of colleges that interest her.
Have you visited fordham? I live only an hour or so away but haven’t visited. I hear it is meh. What redeeming things have you heard about it? My child is a national merit semifinalist too, but we havent had the impetus to visit it.
Did you run Net Price Calculator for Swarthmore? They are CSS PROFILE and mention considering elder care. May have section where you elaborate on these expenses.
The Ivy League is just an athletic conference too, but people still group the schools as similar in the ways they run the schools for other things too. like admissions. I think most of the conferences have more in common than differences.
Kentucky is more southern than midwestern. I remember a co-worker traveling there well into the era of smoking and non-smoking sections in restaurants and hotels. He asked for the smoking section and the hostess said “Honey, this is Kentucky. You can smoke anywhere you please.”
I think the OP’s daughter will get into UK and get the full scholarship so doesn’t have to consider UF. She may like the weather better, may like the basketball better, may have a program in mind at UK, but I don’t think it is ‘less southern’ than Florida schools.
What about Scripps in Claremont CA? It is all women, making it one of the easiest of the schools in the Claremont Consortium (Havey Mudd, Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps, and Claremont McKenna) to get admitted to. All small LACs. All collocated, you can cross register and major in something at the other schools. My D is a sophomore and has taken classes at every school but Mudd. Don’t let the all women thing at Scripps put you off, because the schools are right next to each other, it is like going to a coed college.
If this family has an EFC of $53,000, then schools that only give need based aid are going to expect the family to pay $53,000.
Chicago has some merit awards, I believe. Brown does not.
Getting the costs down to $10,000 a year is going to be challenging.
Please clarify something, she is applying to LV where you live…but Utah is too close? Really? @twoinanddone what other schools do you know about in that neck of the woods?
I think she needs to let go of the “important school” thing. The most important thing she needs to understand is…the school bills need to be paid or she cannot attend. Period.
Does she understand that if the money is not forthcoming, she can’t go…and LV might be her only affordable option?
Frankly, I think she needs to open her mind to options that are affordable. The Benequisto is a full ride in Florida. I’m just not sure she should exclude that option. @twoinanddone can this be used at all FL publics?
It can be used at many Florida public schools (you have to qualify under a College-sponsored qualifying scholarship or a NM Corporate/$2500 scholarship)
The good news is I don’t think there is quite the rush to apply to the Florida schools or Benacquisto as to other NMS schools. If the OP’s daughter doesn’t get what she wants from her current list, she can still apply to the Florida school and the Benacquisto.
The problem is the schools out west don’t give full rides for NMF. She has UT-Dallas on the list. Someone suggested adding USC. The ‘LACs like in New England’ are Colorado College, maybe some in California, and then the Oregon/Washington LACs like Lewis and Clark, Reed, Willamette, Seattle U, Whitman). Beautiful, but unlikely to come in under $20k.
I think the OP is looking for NMF money and she has those schools (UT-Dallas, UK, and maybe Fordham) on her list. Now she just has to wait to see the offers.
(I think Fordham is lovely. Went to a wedding there and liked it a lot)
Hate to be devil’s advocate, but max merit at Scripps is half-tuition, which leaves an out-of-pocket well over $45K/year, best-case, for a family with a $53K EFC. I believe Mount Holyoke gives some full-tuition merit awards, so that could be worth a look.
For financial safeties that are more intimate in size than UTD et al, it could be worth looking at the midwestern public LAC’s. U of Minnesota, Morris is a small and high-quality LAC with small classes and a total student population of fewer than 1600 undergraduates. It gives full tuition for NMF, so the remaining cost would be under 13K/year. https://morris.umn.edu/about/unique-campus-history
Truman State in MO is another often-overlooked public LAC, because the name makes it sound like a typical public directional U. It’s actually a very solid public LAC with a student body of 6000 and mostly small classes. It’s a little more pre-professional than the elite LAC’s (and UMinn Morris), with a fair number of students studying business administration and education, but it’s definitely strong in the liberal arts too. The out-of-state “sticker price” is around 25K, and your daughter’s stats would take an automatic 8K off the top, which would put the cost at $17K/year worst-case; best-case it could be free with a study-abroad stipend: https://www.truman.edu/admission-cost/cost-aid/scholarships/competitive-scholarships/
I also agree that lobbing an app at U of Utah by the 11/1 priority deadline would be worthwhile - the Honors College there could be a good fit if she can get a big merit award, which could definitely happen.
I am native of Ohio and Kentucky is a confused area … it is like 35% midwestern and 65% southern … but it has a few programs she is interested in, including a surprising one in international diplomacy.
Daughter is not laser-focused on a career path … poli-sci, public policy, international relations all on one side and teaching / social work on the other side.
UNLV is on the list because it is a 100% guarantee. If everything else fails that is the ultimate safety.
We did tour Fordham and liked it … she very much likes the urban feel.
UofMinn Morris is an LAC? did it change radically in the past 30 years? Did my undergraduate in MN and lived in the state for 15 years … would never have even considered it. It was for kids with 2.0GPAs when they couldn’t get into the TC campus.
When I did the NPC, Fordham came in at around 15K when I put in all the stats … if she is willing to take out a loan and a job then it is in the realm of possibilities.
Trying to get inside the brain of a 17 year old whose circle of friends are focused on Ivy League only and whose parents can write a check … not easy. There are a lot of conflicted thoughts and emotions.
Then she sees some who manipulate the system to get into Questbridge (business owners, put business artificially out of their names, remove themselves from the deed to their paid off home and set up a separate residence of a rental in a seedy area)
The number of parents “divorcing” prior to EOY 2017 trying to game the FAFSA
She appreciates that we are honest with her, that we are doing everything by the book.
I very much agree with the most important thing … the bills, all the bills, need to be paid. She really knows this I think, my husband not so much I swear.
@Eeyore123 you mentioned that husband is hoping she doesn’t get in so he won’t have to tell her no. Trust me, I will be the one saying the no … he will be the shoulder to cry on.
Tonight she hit the send button to: UNLV, Fordham, Northeastern, St John’s, Temple and UChicago
Tomorrow UTDallas … fighting with their portal in getting something to upload
We had a nice discussion where she gave me a big hug and said that for some of these she just wants the pride of getting accepted whether she goes there or not.
She is taking the day off of school on Thursday … as are a ton of seniors … will look a bit more closely at BC and I am going to re-pitch Utah … lovely area and it is still an almost 8 hour drive from here
Then she sees some who manipulate the system to get into Questbridge (business owners, put business artificially out of their names, remove themselves from the deed to their paid off home and set up a separate residence of a rental in a seedy area)
The number of parents "divorcing" prior to EOY 2017 trying to game the FAFSA<<<<
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@@@ This does not sound like the language of a 17 yr old. You have the income and assets that drive your EFC. Focus on your family, not other kids at her school. It sounds petty and if anything, explain your kid could be cross with you for her budget, not other kids at school. She has filled out the fafsa, so she knows the numbers.