I think I said a few times that I’m hoping to get to EFC, not lower than EFC. However, there are some colleges that calculate estimated contribution lower than FAFSA, which might have been confusing.
My kids each have in fact got a college’s maximum merit, in both cases it was clearly the writing that swung that. That was the exception. In most cases I was able to verify that they got less merit than other students with equal or lower stats (uw gpa and grade, not weighted gpa).
Yes all I want is to pay EFC and I think it’s 50/50 chance for my daughter and some chance for son if he takes loans. By this I also mean that it’s quite possible that we fail to get to this price point, as many have predicted.
The high school does not have a good record of placement, as far as I can tell, although I have no data. They receive very little guidance, have no chance for weighted grades, there are no honors or awards at the school, not even honors roll.
My kids have a chance because I can research things and find opportunities, and because they can write, and have someone who can check their writing, and I consult also with a professional.
But they get no boost for going to a privileged school. Interestingly, in the case of some elite colleges there is a possibility that they might pluck someone out of the inner city and the school winds up being a positive. That’s only at the highest levels though.
One of the reasons they are changing the word “expected family contribution” is because it’s a misnomer as most institutions will not commit to meeting full need. The lower the acceptance rate, the more of a chance need is met. Also, exceptional students can get a better package by dipping lower in prestige level. The average excellent student usually doesn’t get much at state institutions, especially at the flagships.
DD has now received 3 acceptances from her safeties, one with an auto OOS $35k scholarship based on GPA (puts the total cost around $15k). We are waiting on potential additional scholarships, aid, and honors from all 3. It really is gratifying for her to be assured a place somewhere, while we wait on the results from the fits and the reaches. We are “taking a break” until we hear from ED1, but it’s hard for me not to talk about schools all the time. I told her pretty soon I’d have to find a new hobby, but to bear with me for now. I’m just excited for her.
Ha, yes, it does quickly become a hobby, doesn’t it? I’ve seen a few parents from here go on to turn their interest in admissions into small businesses.
As I understand it, if your kids didn’t have access to AP classes their transcripts will be assessed with that in mind. They are looking at the rigor of classes taken related to what is available.
yeah that’s what they say. Often you’ll see the two sentences back to back:
“We care about rigor above all!”
“We evaluate applications in context!”
Both of those can’t be true, logically.
I found plenty of examples through sharing info here on CC and other places that show APs carry the day, or else something else related to a high school’s reputation, and some AOs that have admitted the same and even some schools where it’s flatly advertised this weighted grade gets you that amount of money.
But of course that’s not an argument in favor of what we are striving for in our family! Despite the fact that that is not true completely, I think there are some attempts to look past APs and wherever that opening opens, hopefully we can step through.
Well, I admire your kids for their persistence. Submitting that many applications is a tremendous amount of work regardless of whether they are strong writers or not. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that something works out the way you want.
Yes, it was UofA. I’ll throw out Ole Miss as an idea for schools with automatic scholarships that cover OOS and a fair amount of tuition if you want to add another to the pile of apps.
Sac State does look like it would cost $8k a year (as a commuter) and it seems like they have a pretty decent First Year Experience program, much like many LACs do, to help students transition into college life and academic expectations.
