D23 just got a letter about an another scholarship for being an out of state student. It’s moving things in the right direction. But still a bit of a gap between Hope and other colleges.
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D23 as well, 2 new scholarships tonight. Brings the total to 27k which I think is her best offer so far. She really likes Hope so I think it will likely be enough.
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Wow that’s amazing about scholarship opportunities getting added!
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Add WPI, based on what you have posted and fingers crossed on RIT.
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Thanks for that link. I just check and read that NC is also one of those seven states. I assumed that was the case because I’d never heard about any tuition reciprocity involving NC. Fortunately, NC has very affordable tuition and a scale of grants for low-income families, and many very good (or even great) universities, so it’s not necessary for residents to go OOS for a public university education.
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I’m so excited for your D23. Congratulations!
UMaine came in at direct costs slightly better than the others, but not as good Mount St. Mary’s or our instate publics with scholarships.
UMaine had been one of her favorites from the beginning.
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For marine bio and anthropology, look at Eckerd College. The largest number of marine science Hollings Scholars in the US. Great merit aid.
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I saw today that the AO from College of Puget Sound was offering an application fee waiver to reddit users. I know the college is very popular with our kids…so thought I’d pass along the information. It is on the popular A2C subreddit.
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Hi everyone ! Just wanted to update my son’s acceptances:
UMaine
UMASS Dartmouth
Xavier University
and now the University of Rhode Island.
All of the above gave some kind of merit aid. UMaine and Xavier University were both very generous. URI gave the least amount. We are very appreciative of any aid but honestly, I am gently urging UMASS Dartmouth and UMaine due to the cost. UMaine is the least expensive for us. Still awaiting some other schools.
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Congratulations!!! 
Would you mind sharing how different the cost is between Xavier and UMaine?
UMaine is about $2K higher than Mount St. Mary’s for us, so comparable. Besides climate, the sizes are very different. Both lean rural. Xavier is nice in that it’s in a place where there would be lots of opportunities around. I’m wondering if we should consider it.
Sure, I don’t mind sharing the information. Just for point of reference, we are in MA.
Xavier University is 58,820 minus 25,000 per year (what my son was offered). Plus, he was offered money towards books all four years as well. So about 30,000.
UMaine is around 47, 140.00 (room/board/tuition). He was offered around 21,000 merit a year. So around 25,000 a year.
You didn’t ask about UMASS Dartmouth but thought I share. He would be instate which is about 32,000. He was offered 5,000 merit each year. It will cost us about 26,000
We are having our son take out 1,000 per semester student loan for some “skin in the game” as well.
Hope this helps.
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S23 was accepted to Maine and Xavier. He’s accepted his offer to Miami OH, but I was really impressed with Xavier’s admission office and he really liked the UMaine admission officer who came to his school college fair. I think they are both good options. My dad went to Mount St Mary’s in the 60s. 
Good luck with whatever you decide.
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Ok so decision has been made in our house!
Major : fashion merchandising (so had to find schools which had this major)
Here were her acceptances.
University of Arizona
Alabama
Georgia Southern
Kent State
Univ of Rhode Island
High Point
Drexel
Belmont
VCUarts
SCAD
Indiana -deferred wanted 1sr semester grades (my alma mater) but she decided she didn’t want big school after all
Merit received
SCAD $8000/year
Arizona 2500/year
Kent state $7500/year
High Point $6000/year
URI $8000 (I think it was like 8250 a year )
She has chosen Belmont University
I think she really wanted to love Kent State bc it’s a highly regarded fashion program but it really seemed like a suitcase campus. It’s cute campus but very quiet.
Belmont is 1/2 Mile from Vanderbilt so she gets football there since a lot of Belmont kids go to the games.
It came down to SCAD and Belmont. Scad has a great program but she wanted some traditional campus things.
She already has found a Roommate.
When we started this process she really thought she would get into like 1 or 2 schools and wouldn’t get to tour and really have decisions.
She has a 3.2 very few honors. Only AP ART has an AP class. She is very creative and competitive dancer, is an artist always had a job for last 2 years. Her essay was so good and on a heartfelt level of her creative side. She shines in creativeness- writing dancing theater painting drawing.
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Honestly, we really were impressed with Xavier as well just too far.
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Belmont is my son’s first or second choice depending on the day ;)!
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Just wanted to clarify - I have a son (sophomore) at Xavier. Xavier does not offer money toward books - rather, books are included in the cost of tuition and provided by the university. However, many (all?) have to be returned at the end of the semester or you get charged for any books not returned.
My son loves Xavier. We are from MD and were pleasantly surprised how many kids are from the mid-Atlantic/New England. In fact, his freshman year roommate/suitemates were from Philly and CT and one of his current roommates is from NJ. I’m sure some of that is that the cost is more affordable compared to similar schools in the mid-Atlantic/NE.
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Wow, that makes Xavier look pretty attractive! My boys (S23 & S24) both get lots of mail from Xavier, but I haven’t known anything about it.
It is too far from us (MA) for S23, but maybe I’ll ask S24 to look into it. S23 is likely to end up at UMass Lowell, but S24 really doesn’t want to go to a UMass.
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Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan are two other universities in Ohio that offer nice merit and can be very reasonable. Miami of Ohio might also be worth a look.
When my older D applied, Ohio Wesleyan was cheaper than in state tuition at a public U by a fair amount after substantial merit.
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Yes, I stand corrected. Went back and looked at the information sent from Xavier. Xavier “will cover the cost of your required textbooks for 4 years, no matter how expensive the books are for your course. This will allow you to save an estimated 5,000 to invest in other areas.”
Didn’t mention returning books at end of the semester.
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