I am generally pretty sharp financially and graduated from a Big Ten school with a degree in Finance. But I have discovered I know nothing about college financial aid. Help me please!
We are a slightly above middle class family. S22 is our only child and a good but not great student. We make a decent but not outrageous income and have been careful to save over the years. FAFSA says our EFC is 43K.
Son has received surprisingly weak (to me) merit and/or financial aid offers from schools like University of Denver and TCU that put the total COA in the 55K per year range. Still waiting on offers from Baylor and a few others.
I know not all or even most schools meet full need, but based on our profile is 55K what I should expect to pay at some of the better but not top 40-50 privates? That price makes 32K per year for CU Boulder (in state for us) look much more appealing.
Any suggestions or reality checks are appreciated.
A few commentsā¦Denver, TCU, and Baylor all use CSS Profile to determine what a family will pay (that may not be the same, or even close to, your FAFSA EFC).
None of those 3 schools meet full need either, so they may gap you. Meaning, your FA package and net COA will not necessarily meet the familyās expected contribution which they calculated using the CSS Profile. Did you run each schoolās net price calculator? Are the financial aid packages in line with those estimates?
I would say our experience is similar, that private colleges using CSS PROFILE expect us to pay an amount at least $10k more than our cost of attendance at our state public universities.
I agree with Thumper - you need to establish what you are able and willing to pay and that is your budget. Schools that offer merit aid do so in order to attract higher caliber applicants that could choose to go to higher ranked schools. If your son isnāt at or above the 75th %ile at those schools, getting significant merit isnāt very likely.
There is a big difference between merit money and need-based aid. There is also a big difference between meets 100% demonstrated need and gapping. Posters here can try and help come up with some last minute applications if you provide his stats and your desired budget.
Grades are average. 3.55 UW at a very competitive private HS. Went test optional because his ACT wasnāt great. DU offered 19K merit and 0 need based aid. TCU offered no merit and 18K need based aid.
We have roughly 30K/year saved now, could add 15K/year to that over the next four years, so 45K/year is realistic. Struggling like many parents do wanting my son to go to his top choice (Baylor) vs. comfortably affording a good 3-4th choice public in-state school.
Fortunately you have CU, a great school, if heās already in.
Your GC at a private should be able to let you know where kids go with that GPA. But on paper a 3.55 UW is not that competitive. Schools like Arizona have great merit but not a 3.55. The question isā¦how much a lift does this private HS āearnā. At schools that are GPA formulated (ie Arizona), it will be none.
I know itās an entire different environment but Wyoming would be a similar cost full pay, b4 merit. You may look at UNM and Nebraska too if trying to stay in the area. Private - you may run the Bradley NPC. It will show merit but itās more a regional school.
While you may find it odd that one school gave merit and the other need, itās likely because they donāt stack so they ran the #s both way and gave you the larger amount.
As you know, need is formulaic to each school and merit should never be assumed short of schools that list the exact amounts up front - Alabama, Arizona, Mizzou, Ms State and more. Merit may be formulaic within the colleges but in reality is highly subjective and youād never know why they gave the amounts they did. You can always ask Denver financial aid office - why no need aid - and theyāll likely say it would have been less than merit. Btw for class of ā25, Denver was giving kids with a 4.5 and 32 ACT 27k. Not sure how low they went statistic wise b4 going lower so 19k seems a lot for a 3.55 TO.
Tons of kids nationally love CU so itās a very nice fallback. Are you in because that may not work for all majors there? If not, hopefully you have a fallback such as CSU or Wyoming.
One other thought - have you looked at WUE schools such as UNR since Coloado qualifies? It will open up more low cost options. Wyoming, for example, shows $6930 tuition through WUE for offered programs.
hi there. we were in shock when the first of our 4 kids went to college. I think both of us just had ignored college costs. our fault. they have escalated so much over the years.
i canāt help you much on this with your choices.
But I will say in regards to monthly support itās been easier than we imagined to find extra $ during the month to contribute ( similar EFC here). Not having an extra kid at home saves in small ways that add up - and goes right back to them at their colleges. (less food, gas, activities, clothing, school expenses, fun expenses etc. you know). Our kids have all contributed a bit from summer work to their school expenses, and have learned to live a bit more frugally than at home when their parents were covering everything.
our #3 went out of state to a college on a scholarship. He likes it. He also tells me heād be fine and happy if he had stayed in state on his scholarships offered here. I think your kid can love college anywhere - its not hard to love somewhere that shows you the love back.
most of the schools were all very consistent with their NPCs when we looked, although we had hoped for more.
A suggestionā¦if you really think you can add an extra $1000 a month to your college contributionā¦start right now putting $1000 into your savings or 529 account. See if this is sustainableā¦
Many of the privates (and some publics) use discounting to attract students. Particularly those who can pay in full. But also used to offer discounts to those who are near full pay (like yourself).
Have you thought about ASU or UArizona? Heād probably get some merit aid to attend. Depending on how much scholarship awarded, price would probably be similar or slightly lower than your instate option. There is an online calculator that estimates merit aid for ASU.
Other option is to send him to community college for first two years and then transfer to a 4 year.
The good news is CU or other in state schools are under your savings. But you can also check WUE since you qualify and you even beat $32k. It is not just large schools but like the mid size ones youāve sought in TX. Donāt know your major butā¦. You pay 150% of in state for that stateā¦
U of Denver often has part of its aid offer as R&B, which does two things: makes that aid taxable to the student, and disappears after 2 years (or sooner if student doesnāt live on campus). Just be aware of how the aid is categorized.
At a state school, your son will also get the Colorado tuition grant (I canāt remember what it is called) of about $75/credit or ~$2200 yr. Not a ton, but it helps so CU may be a little less expensive than list price. Boulder is an expensive city to live in so rent and food may not go down in years 2-4. Youāll probably save on transportation (depending where you live in Colorado) over Baylor.
Have you calculated in the savings from no longer paying hs tuition? My nephewās private hs tuition was about the same as his CU tuition. Room and board at CU was a lot more than when he was living at home.
Run Ralphie Run. CU is a really fun place to go to school.
Another thing you can do if you want to do a deep dive into the numbers (which being a Finance guy you might like) is do a search on ācollege name Common Data Setā which will turn up a document for the college you are interested in that gives the breakdown on how many students receive merit aid amongst many other stats. If the number of kids who get merit is small it might not be worth pursuing, but if the number is high, maybe throw an app in that direction too. There are some schools where every single student gets $20K merit or more.
That is actually a good merit award for Univ of Denver with those grades alone. A strong test score can help quite a bit. But CU Boulder is a great school! No thoughts on Baylor but I hope they come through with something. If you do want to pursue Univ. of Denver I would call them to discuss it, and also check-in with your college advisor at the high school. At ours they track what merit aid is offered and will have an idea of if you might be able to get a bit more.
