<p>For a student like this, private schools will likely be more affordable than public schools. </p>
<p>Based on our Naviance (also a competitive Northeast school). I think that she has a very good chance at Mt Holyoke with her current stats. I might even recommend applying Early Decision, which would give you an admissions boost. Bryn Mawr seems like a match also. Smith not so much. Bowdoin seems unrealistic. </p>
<p>Schools like Beloit and Lawrence she would have a great shot. Because the flagships are where most of the people go, the small LACs are a real bargain out there. </p>
<p>Rochester is also possible. There were definitely people (plural) who got in with her stats, but more didn’t. </p>
<p>My list would be </p>
<p>Mt Holyoke (ED)
Bryn Mawr
Beloit
Lawrence
Rochester
Knox</p>
<p>You can add others though I might stop visiting the uber competitive ones like Wellesley, Wesleyan, Vassar and Middlebury. Also, Mt Holyoke and Bryn Mawr are not on that full-need list, but if they give you a package your can’t afford you just say no.</p>
<p>Is anything other than University of Louisiana - Monroe a possible safety in this situation? I see a lot of suggestions of schools with competitive merit scholarships, but there does not seem to be much in the way of assured affordability besides ULM’s automatic full ride for the student’s likely stats.</p>
<p>Classicrockerdad, I hope you are right about Holyoke. It’s by far her first choice. She really wants to apply ED but I am worried re: financial aid. Their NPC shows a figure that would be a real stretch for us (>$16k) compared, for example, to what Skidmore and Smith’s show. What would we do if she got in ED and they offered like $18k?</p>
<p>Please have her take the “real” SAT as soon as possible. You’re assuming PSAT = SAT and while generally true, it’s an unknown. She may ace the real thing and open up more schools for merit aid but you can’t really narrow a list of schools without an ACT or SAT score to use. Plus taking it this winter allows you to test more than once to take advantage of superscoring.</p>
<p>In my observation, when students need more than calculated aid, they need to step down a level in selectivity and seek merit aid based on their offered strengths, be it GPA, standardized test scores, or an athletic or other talent. Most need to sacrifice something from their ideal scenario, often location, to find a school that will pay to attract them. I am thinking of a friend’s daughter who went to Xavier in Cincinnati from CT, and another who competed for merit aid at Ohio Wesleyan, even though her stats were higher than average and she could have gone to a more selective school. She hopes to attend grad school and could not incur undergraduate debt, so that worked for them.</p>
<p>The website shows around $38,000 for an OOS student (before any merit or need based aid). There are other St. Mary’s around, maybe you looked at one of those.</p>
<p>I just wanted to add my two cents - which is - based on your situation, I would NOT recommend applying ED anywhere. Early action - fine, but no ED. YOu can’t be in a position to have to take whatever is offered. You will need to be able to weigh your options with EA and Regular decision.</p>
<p>Is there a relative anywhere - she could live with - and attend school to reduce costs?</p>
If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. It’s not an option. As long as she knows getting in and being to afford it is a long shot, it is what it is. They also have ED II which might opt for instead since it would give you time to have some other offers for comparison. She may not need to do ED to get in. She’s pretty competitive for Mt Holyoke. </p>
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<p>I’m assuming southern Maine. </p>
<p>Portland to Appleton WI is about 4hr 20 min to 5 hr 30 min with a stop in either Detroit or Chicago. Not really cheap, </p>
<p>Portland to Beloit WI involves driving her down to Logan Airport (2 hours, taking JetBlue to O’hare 2.5 hours, taking a bus to Belot or renting a car at O’hare and driving her, 1.5 hours. Jet Blue from Boston -O’hare is $113 and the bus from O’hare to Beloit is $27. </p>
<p>Driving from Portland to Bryn Mawr is 418 miles and according to Google takes 6 hours and 45 minutes and uses a lot of gas and has a lot of tolls. </p>
<p>Time and distance are not always what they seem.</p>
<p>She needs to take both the ACT and SAT pronto. She may be naturally better at one than the other. She needs to find two good test dates between now and June - and take both of them. ACT with writing. That leaves her time to take one a second time next year.</p>
<p>Please do not apply ED - your chances of acceptance are not markedly different or better and if you have a difficult financial situation - you can not rely on ED. You will have to assess offers and determine your best fit/ and financial match.</p>
<p>The problem with “meet full need” schools is that the OP appears not to be able to afford the EFC that the “meet full need” schools expect the OP to contribute (and they likely have an ESC which the student’s Stafford loan borrowing capability has to be used for). Hence the need for very large merit scholarships (which pretty much have to be automatic-for-stats for the safety schools).</p>
<p>Higher SAT and ACT scores may give some more options here, although some of them require a higher HS GPA as well.</p>
<p>Agreed. Stafford Loans and Work Study can also help make up EFC - right? But you have to take the ACT and SAT to determine what schools she may qualify for merit.</p>
<p>One more thing - in case your daughter has a part-time job this year - she cannot earn more than roughly $6K this year - or it will further reduce her financial aid next year. If your income increases this year it may also reduce your aid and increase your EFC.</p>
<p>Where Expected<em>Student</em>Contribution is the student’s Stafford loan borrowing capability plus small amounts of work (possibly work-study) earnings. Such a school may meet what it defines full need with grants, but then the student’s Stafford loan borrowing capability would not be able to be applied to the EFC.</p>
<p>What would we do if she got in ED and they offered like $18k?</p>
<p>Then you can turn it down. :)</p>
<p>However, since money is an issue, then be sure to apply to other schools in early fall as well. Too many kids wait til after they get their ED results before applying to RD schools. That can be a huge mistake because many schools have Fall deadlines for merit scholarship considerations.</p>