<p>Mamaduck - I have been running the net calculators and we do not qualify for any grants. We have a child in school now who graduates in Dec and we have never qualified for anything other than loans on the FAFSA. But we’ll still only have 1 in school next year. Our older 2 girls didn’t have the grades and ACT score that this one has, so the whole merit thing is new to us. We cannot afford to take on anymore debt for schooling and we don’t want this D to have the debt load our middle one does. But I appreciate the input!</p>
<p>I’m surprised at the low amount at St. Ambrose. From this site, [College</a> Navigator - Saint Ambrose University](<a href=“College Navigator - Saint Ambrose University”>College Navigator - Saint Ambrose University) it looks like they are very generous with fin aid with the average grant being $11,518. Have you really gotten all your financial aid packages from those schools? I don’t know how you could have because the FAFSA isn’t even filed until January. Even if you don’t qualify for need based aid, we found that many schools where we asked for merit aid required the FAFSA or CSS Profile. At some college we got a preliminary amount and then more when the final aid package came in. Most private schools seemed to realize that their sticker price really wasn’t affordable.</p>
<p>Colleges at which her scores and grades would be high, like over the 75th%…have you checked the “colleges known for good merit aid” thread?</p>
<p>Mamadubbs,How far away from home is she willing to go?</p>
<p>Mamadubbs,</p>
<p>It looks like you can afford about $15,000 per year. Does this figure mean just tuition/fees/room/board or does it mean total costs including books, etc.? </p>
<p>If it is total cost, then you are looking at needing a near full tuition scholarship since room/board/expenses at most schools will be near $10,000. The typical $10,000-$15,000 merit grants at privates are not going to be enough to get the price down low enough.</p>
<p>OHMom of 2, the class rank is an issue. The average ACT in her school is 25, so she truly is “average” with a class rank of 50% and her current ACT of 25. But her school is well above the state average. It never occurred to me that there wouldn’t be some sort of adjustment for the rank given that she attends a college prep school with a higher grading scale. </p>
<p>Kathiep - $10k is the max she will get from St. Ambrose in merit aid even if her ACT score goes up. They unweighted her GPA which is preventing her from earning more. This is what they told me when I spoke to them. Work study is not available due to our EFC. If something changes once we file the FAFSA that would be awesome, but I’m thinking it won’t. Would love to be wrong on this!</p>
<p>Packmom - she wants to stay close, but is willing to go 3.5-4 hours if needed. </p>
<p>Haystack - that’s it exactly. She could attend NIU (Northern Illinois) and commute from home. Unfortunately too many shootings and bad experiences with our middle daughter there who is graduating in Dec. Last shooter was our nephew’s former roommate. Just too many bad feelings about the school. </p>
<p>Right now UWW and EIU are on the top of the list. UWW is only 1.5 hours away and would be totally affordable if we lived in WI, or there was a reciprocal agreement with IL. D loves the size of both UWW and EIU and has a shot at the Honors Program at each. I work in WI as well and she would be located in my sales territory. It will come down to whether or not she receives private scholarships, which she is constantly applying for. </p>
<p>It’s frustrating to be in the “make too much to qualify for anything, but not enough to pay for everything” bucket. Then add a kid who worked her butt off in a good school and is coming up just short. Ugh!</p>
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<p>It sounds like she may want to look at schools that have a holistic view of admissions, don’t place a high value on rank, AND want her enough to offer significant merit since you won’t qualify for need-based aid? Are all of your state schools (IL, right?) totally out?</p>
<p>S’ school did not weight GPA nor do they rank students, at all. Every single class worth a full credit is given the same weight, whether it’s AP Calculus or Choir. Most colleges do their own weighting anyway, disregarding non-core subjects (like band) and adding in their own weight for APs and honors.</p>
<p>Edited to add: Have you looked at colleges with a reciprocity agreement with Illinois? <a href=“http://www.mhec.org/MSEPParticipatingInstitutions[/url]”>http://www.mhec.org/MSEPParticipatingInstitutions</a></p>
<p>Have you looked at Lake Forest (IL)? This LAC is suppose to have excellent merit and your D is above their accepted student stat avg. You may also want to look at Truman State (instate tuition for OOS students!). </p>
<p>Also, IL does have some reciprocity agreements with out of state schools with midwest exchange program. As of Aug., 2011, IL has joined the exchange. You can click link at bottom of page to search the college list:</p>
<p>[MHEC</a> : MSEP Description (328)](<a href=“http://www.mhec.org/MSEPDescription]MHEC”>http://www.mhec.org/MSEPDescription)</p>
<p>Ha, great minds :)</p>
<p>Mamadubbs–we’ve found merit aid awards are all roughly the same percent so finding $10,000+ for schools under $35K is difficult. We’ve looked at St. Ambrose as well and found that they do have very generous merit aid. </p>
<p>At $15,000/year out of pocket, have you looked at any of the South Dakota state schools? Their COA is right around $15K for out of state tuition, room, board, etc. She would get $1000/year for a 24 or better ACT too so she may be able to go there with no loans. SDSU in Brookings is a very nice school and worth a look. </p>
<p>I would also look at Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids, IA, her numbers fit very well there for some nice aid. </p>
<p>Nebraska state schools are similar in cost to SD.</p>
<p>Truman in MO is a possibility as well. The net cost there will be pretty close to $15K but her stats are a little low. If she can get a 27 on her ACT though, that is auto admit :D.</p>
<p>What does she want to study?</p>
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<p>Is there really any school that does not practice what is commonly euphemistically referred to “holistic admissions?”</p>
<p>I pass on again this little anecdote - I spoke to an admissions official at college “V” who, in part, said her school does not practice holistic admissions. A few months later I spoke to another ad official at the same school who said they did.</p>
<p>They can’t even seem to agree on what they do at the same university.</p>
<p>Here is what you would be looking at for Truman State (I used IL resident, 50% ranking, 25 act, and I used your GPA of 3.3)… </p>
<p>Net Price Calculation
Direct Costs $18,300 Tuition/Fees/Room/Board…including the MSEP discount
Indirect Costs + $3,000 Books/Personal/Transportation Expenses<br>
Automatic Merit Award - $2000
Total Out of Pocket = $19,300</p>
<p>I don’t know if Truman uses weighted GPA, you might call and ask. Using the weighted GPA and raising the score to 27 will raise the merit to $2500.</p>
<p>If a 150% of WI instate tuition works for you, I would say that your D would do pretty well admissions-wise at UW-Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Green Bay, and some of the others (probably only not at LaCrosse). They are all listed on the website linked a few posts back. It’s a shame Whitewater isn’t included, but many of those other UW campuses are very similar and really great. I’m partial to Oshkosh’s campus, and to Milwaukee, with its great city access.</p>
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<p>It seems some, perhaps mainly public schools have a formula - _<em>GPA, _</em>SAT/ACT, _<em>rank gets _</em> merit money, and that’s that. Or so it appears from what Momma is saying about where her daughter may get more/less merit aid.</p>
<p>Some schools, perhaps mainly private, can say “this year we really want more girls like ___ from __ that can do __ and we’ll work to attract that kind of student right now by offering more money”. </p>
<p>S was offered a nice package to a small LAC in Michigan that was clearly impressed that he was a tuba player. They were also in a transition period, looking to branch out beyond their reputation as a school that’s good for athletes but not so much for musicians or serious students.</p>
<p>Perhaps “holistic” isn’t the right word, maybe “flexible” would have been better, but that’s what I meant.</p>
<p>Ohio Mom,</p>
<p>Please, please, please don’t think I was trying to be critical of you or what you posted at all.
If anything, my ire is directed at the schools.</p>
<p>And, FWIW, both schools involved in my conversation with the ad official are public state schools. As I said, V, and the other was T.</p>
<p>BTW, I attended U Delaware’s open house last month and they said they use “holisitc” criteria also. So it is definitely not unique to LACs only.</p>
<p>This is what bothers me about the whole class rank “game”. The GC at DS’s HS and I were discussing the merits of joining the NHS (DS did not want to, he felt he was too busy but that’s another story). The GC told me at the end of the day it won’t matter that much if he is in the NHS because the HS had a student who had plagarized earlier in their HS career and was not eligible for the NHS. The student graduated #2 in the class and got into a VERY good Ivy league school. I said nothing but I thought “How in the WORLD could this student have a ranking of #2 when they were caught plagarizing?!!” I understand that kids make mistakes but is cheating more forgivable than missing homework? (which I’m sure many of you can relate to) So at my son’s HS I think the class rankings are a bunch of hooey.</p>
<p>Haystack–Truman does not use weighted GPA’s and they have changed how they award OOS and Merit aid. She would qualify for $2500 automatically for OOS (it’s now based on merit and is the larger of the MSEP or merit award) and then just merit on top of that, probably $2500. They do not superscore for ACT.</p>
<p>Emmybet. We are finding that WI out of state tuition is close to, and in some cases lower than in state IL schools. I have a niece at UW Platteville which has reciprocity in her field of study. We like the UW system in general and are really leaning that way. I spoke to Whitewater today regarding their Honors Program and my D should have no problem getting in. We’re going to continue exploring that route in hopes that a higher ACT will earn her some scholarships that will close the gap. </p>
<p>I appreciate all the feedback!</p>
<p>I’m glad the WI schools are looking good to you and your D. I’ll admit I was a slow sell on publics until I moved to WI and saw what a great state system looks like. My kids really wanted to go east to school, for various reasons, but they know they would have gotten great educations here, or in Minnesota, where we have had reciprocity.</p>
<p>My D2 is at a private school with excellent merit aid, so they do exist. I would check out the “merit aid” thread and see if there aren’t a few more options for your D. But really the WI schools are well worth considering, and they sound like great options in your case. One of the top students in my D’s class is at Whitewater (along with many other kids we have known through the years); he is happy and doing very well.</p>
<p>Good to hear. I used to live in WI, and I wish I still did. D has been in private schools her whole life. We could go either way for college as each has their pros and cons. I don’t think we can go wrong with UW. The only IL school she really liked was Eastern but it’s a lot farther away.</p>