@Alqbamine32, I can’t message you, but if you’d like any help in the search, feel free to reach out.
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I understand that when you need such a low COA it’s going to be a lot harder to find schools. I often see people on these forums saying a school “offers good merit“ but when I look into that school it turns out they regularly offer $30,000 off of a… $75,000 total price tag. 
And, it’s true that the very highly selective schools are much more likely to meet your full need, and to be generous about what they consider need. For instance, I ran net price calculators on a ton of schools using the exact same info to understand what our costs might be. The lowest cost? MIT at $26,000 a year (S24 have zero chance of getting in). The NPC results ran all the way up to $75,000 for some schools. Most were in the $45-$55,000 range but the more selective schools tended to be in the $35,000 range instead.
Anyway, my point is the cost varies so much and it’s a lot of work to pin down which places might actually be affordable!
Being so location specific does make a college search much more challenging. With D20, she had to let go of the idea of her ideal location to find schools she liked that would also fit the budget.
I’m definitely also willing to help with the college search (saw @AustenNut also offered). Feel free to shoot me a PM!
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Agree that prestige hunting is a big factor for affluent families, but some of these shotgunners are middle-income kids seeking need-based aid. If you are in the 80k-120k income bracket with reasonably high stats, there’s a good chance that your choices look something like this:
Lower-tier private w/ merit - 30k-50k COA
In-state public - 20k-30k (possibly w/ addt’l merit depending on state)
Southern flagships w/ merit - 20k-25k or so, depending on stats
T20 - No more than 20k, often <15k and potentially free
Given those choices, you can see how families would invest the ~$1k+ in application fees for the chance to save up to 20k-30k per year while attending a stronger school. Not saying it’s always the best strategy - it’s hard to do that many apps well, and some may not truly understand the long odds for unhooked students - but I can see why it happens.
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Thank you! You are always such a great researcher and you seem to know about so many possibilities. I have been resisting doing a “match me” post for her yet because she continues to change her mind about what she really wants every few months. I don’t think she is ready to craft a list yet. For example, I thought she was all in on the humanities and then she started talking architecture and more recently engineering. For all I know, next month she’ll be talking about medicine or botany or archaeology or body-building. Honestly, it is driving me a bit nuts. 
She was open to far away from home and then suddenly she became uninterested in anything more than a reasonable drive away. We will likely relocate to either Albany NY or Worcester MA this summer. It is less likely, but possible that we’ll land in Newark, NJ or Portland, Maine. I am juggling a lot of moving parts so it is all a little unclear right now. In any case, while she has high grades and scores, those are no guarantee of admittance to a reach or match college. So based on her current desire to be near home, I’d love ideas for non-reach Northeast schools that could potentially come in at a very low COA. At one point, I thought that she was open to HBCUs, but at least at the moment, she is saying no. She did apply to a summer program at Spelman and if she goes that might change her mind (again!).
That is very true. Back in the day I attended a SLAC on very generous financial aid. It was much cheaper than our state flagship would have been. I had a modest subsidized loan ($7k total) which was not a big burden to pay off. Some SLAC’s are generous too - I know Colby caps family contribution at $15k for families making $150k with typical assets (no idea what that means) - and they don’t include loans. Obviously that is much cheaper than most state schools if you can get in. I think there are other schools that are similarly generous (though not enough).
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I live about 20 minutes outside Worcester and my S23 wanted to be within 45 minutes of home (ideally even closer), so I have all the info on schools that are VERY close to Worcester if that’s where you end up. 
Have you tried running the NPC’s at any schools? Schools like Clark, Wheaton, & Endicott are all not terribly selective schools that I have heard good things about, and seem to have a variety of majors and the ability to switch between them easily. But they are those smaller private schools that I’m not sure if ever get your total COA down as low as you are needing.
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Thank you! I will let you know if we end up there --I think it is quite likely. My D22 has friends at both Clark and Wheaton so I have mentioned those to my D24. I don’t know the financial circumstances of the student at Clark, but I know at least one of the families at Wheaton needed substantial aid and perhaps got a merit scholarship to make it work? I don’t know anything about Endicott, but we can research it.
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@MACmiracle lives in New Jersey, and I believe indicated that there’s a program whereby state residents can qualify for free tuition at some of the state’s public colleges. Perhaps @MACmiracle can provide more info?
If that’s the case, your family may want to consider Kean, which offers lots of the programs your D has expressed interest in, and it’s also a candidate for NAAB accreditation (important for architecture). It has a non B. Arch (so something less time-intensive, but that would be strong prep for leading into an M. Arch), but it has majors in the humanities and athletic training, and an array of other subjects. It’s totally normal to want to explore!
I’d also run the NPC at U. of Hartford (where I suspect your D would be competitive for its big scholarships). I’ll think about some others, too.
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This is the free or reduced price tuition details for Rutgers NB. Scarlet Guarantee | Rutgers-New Brunswick
Rutgers Camden has something similar.
Here’s a link for the Rowan Opportunity program. Rowan Opportunity Program
These programs don’t cover room and board as far as I know.
There’s also a program in NJ that can cover tuition at community colleges and years three and four at any NJ public university. Office of the Secretary of Higher Education Garden State Guarantee (GSG)
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S24 has just finalized his lists of schools to apply to. He’s either visited or has planned visits to all but 1 of them, which we plan to visit in early fall. He’s going to apply early somewhere but hasn’t picked where yet. Want to see how the spring visits go before he decides. 5 safeties, 3 matches, 2 reaches.
I’ve heard those stories about students applying to 10 or 15 Ivies/top 10 LACs and getting waitlisted/rejected across the board, so we’ve tried steering him toward a broad spectrum of schools so he gets in somewhere he’d be happy attending. Admissions rate is not important to us. I am asking him to keep in touch with the admissions offices of the safeties he is really interested in so they don’t count him out for yield protection due to his stats. Hope this all works. All he needs is one!
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sounds like a good strategy!
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DS24 will apply to colleges in CA only(UCs, SJSU, Cal Polys - Pomona and SLO).
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Although D24 has completely deferred to me for the time being, I think she will be all CA and wiche. Focusing on options that have a breadth of majors, easy to change between them and are cheap. UCD, UCSC and all three cal polys at the top of the list.
@smbayguy does ds24 have a major in mind? curious if this list is based on the learnings from ds23’s process per your other thread. 
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He’s in engineering pathway in High school. So will take STEM in college. He hasn’t spoken what interests him.
May be CS or DS.
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Just venting:
DD2024 is so focused on a big activity that she’s leading (President) for her HS club (that could help a tiny bit with her college essay or EC), that she lets her grades tank.
She did this last year,
and a few years before for a play (she just couldn’t juggle schoolwork with rehearsals).
I threatened to yank her from this thing,
which means that the whole thing will crumple because she’s doing most of the work.
She just cries at me how I just don’t understand.
I keep shifting her college lists down down down (from T50 to T100 and now lower) because of her poor grades.
She’s just so different from her big brother who was a very high achiever.
I understand work-life balance,
and I’m trying to allow her more freedom, being less rigid,
AND I’m proud of her commitment and passion for this activity,
but at what sacrifices?
–
Problem is that she could get straight A’s, IF she actually cared about it, but she’d rather do other “stuff” (watch YouTube videos, hangout at the mall with friends, etc).
Growing up, I was poor, and I had worked hard to get straight A’s in order to get into the best college, and make my way.
But because my husband and I now can afford small luxuries, my daughter does not have the same drive to “get ahead” financially.
So I feel like she’s throwing away her opportunities, by choice.
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I know it can be stressful when our children struggle to juggle all their activities and academics but it is also a great learning opportunity at relatively low stakes. Having to figure out her own solution (or accepting the lower grades) is a way for her to really learn and own her choices and the consequences.
She will find a great school for her, even if it is lower than Top 100. There are like 3700 colleges and universities in the US. Going to the college ranked 112, or 217 is still in the Top 10% of all US higher education.
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Feel free to join us on the 3.0-3.4 GPA thread. We feel your pain.
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oh, link please.