"What do you want your net costs to be?
Privates can be $55k-70k per year.
$15k-20k per year in merit could still leave you with a high bill.
Many privates throw around $10k-20k in merit, but that doesn’t always make the schools affordable. "
Amen to that.
I’m sure she would love Pepperdine. If costs to get her there were feasible we would definitely consider it.
Our good friend’s son applied and was admitted to Pepperdine. Initially it was too expensive, but I was amazed at how much they “wheeled and dealed” to make it fit their budget. Worth applying to, to see what they will do to admit your D. Otherwise, it sounds a perfect fit for her.
Wofford is great school with good networking but I’m not sure I’d call it a Christian school although it may have had denominational ties at some point as many schools had. Davidson yes though more selective. One of my favorite schools. Was furman mentioned? I think I missed some of thread
Graduation rates will largely track admission selectivity, although there may be a few colleges where they are significantly higher or lower than predicted by admission selectivity.
For the airfare cost issue, perhaps it may be worth considering the cost of airfare for likely trips (beginning and end of of school year and breaks) and adding it to the net price of each school when comparing costs.
If College X has estimated yearly airfare costs $2,000 greater than that of College Y, but College X otherwise has a net price that is $10,000 lower than College Y, it still nets to $8,000 less expensive.
Then you need not rule out geographic regions based on assumed airfare costs, but can incorporate the airfare costs into the cost comparisons.
Sometimes airfare coast to coast is cheaper than coast to midwest or coast to south. I can go from JFK to LAX this month for $144. The cheapest flight JFK to Huntsville, AL is more than $400. Not sure how much of an experienced flyer you are, but less distance doesn’t mean cheaper. Go onto Kayak and check fares before you rule in or rule out certain locations.
@4Hurley, I love the new list. I don’t see anything wrong with putting Colby Sawyer back on. I think it’s a bit of a hidden gem. They have an honors program, and seem to offer great financial aid. We visited it last month and my D loved it.
Have you looked at Franklin Pierce? I have heard they give decent merit aid.
I wanted to come back and share the results my daughter had with her applications. She ended up applying to 14 schools since we were hoping for significant merit aid.
The schools she applied to were:
Eckerd College
Florida Southern College
Rollins College
Stetson University
Stonehill College
University of Alabama-Huntsville
Spring Hill College
Wofford College
Endicott College
Emory University/Oxford College
University of Hartford
University of New Hampshire
Mercer
Saint Leo
She was accepted into all of the schools and did get great aid from almost all of them. She’s narrowed it down to Oxford College of Emory or University of Alabama Huntsville. Not sure yet where she’ll end up, but both are good choices.
Thanks again for all the help and advice!
@4Hurley Congratulations! How wonderful she got into all of the schools-that must have been very exciting! Let us know where she ends up.
Congratulations!