<p>This thread makes a great case for making sure that we (non-full pay families) ALWAYS have financial aid safety schools, institutions that have a history of supporting students with merit aid.</p>
<p>Example: D of a friend applied to Qunnipiac in CT in large part because she would be in the top 5% of students and would likely get signficant merit aid to attend (also, the school was a really good academic fit for her.) She also gets the benefit of being a Big Fish in a smaller pond.</p>
<p>OP asked in post #12 for solid schools in the Boston are that give a lot of merit aid. Not sure, but taking away that geographic restriction is part of finding good financial aid safety schools. There are plenty of solid schools in PA and OH that give good merit, and the willingness to look a bit farther afield can be quite helpful.</p>
<p>In Boston area: Wheaton<br>
In New England: Fairfield, Quinnipaic, UConn
in PA: Franklin and Marshall; Gettysberg, Mullenburg, Ursinus</p>
<p>Thanks for the list. I did bring up Quinnipiac and Ursinus to my son when we were looking but he seemed indifferent to either. Guess we should have checked out Wheaton…but it’s all water under the bridge at this point.</p>
<p>Last time I checked, Franklin & Marshall was no longer offering good merit. I think this has changed very recently. For example, they no longer offer the NMF scholarship.</p>
<p>Truly, there are small colleges all over the place that offer good merit aid. I think it does a disservice to say to look in one state over another.</p>
<p>What irritated me was that some less selective schools – which had courted my son, because his stats are significantly above their 75th percentile – turned out to be mega-stingy with merit aid. I’m talking Appalachian State and UNC Asheville, primarily. “We love you, join our Honors College, and BTW, pay for everything with loans.” Thanks but no thanks. These in-state schools are relatively inexpensive, but it almost becomes the principle of the thing. Kids with less impressive stats were getting merit aid. So, what’s wrong with us? Do we have home-school cooties, or something? Or is Appalachian State beating NMFs off with a stick this year? (Somehow I tend to doubt it.)</p>
<p>Bama is a better opportunity than either of these stingy in-state schools. And it’s essentially free. The stingy in-state schools really can kiss our grits. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>OK, so we’re talking publics, not privates. </p>
<p>Sure, there can definitely be better merit opportunities at some OOS publics, or at privates., then at in-state publics. I took a quick look at the merit awards for freshmen at Appalachia, and it seemed that most of them were for residents of a specific county, those with involvement in the community, specific majors, or required financial need along with academic achievement. That doesn’t strike me as the profile of a school looking to raise their image by snagging high-performing kids; it reads more like a local directional u trying like heck to make it possible for local in-state kids to actually attend college. They probably figured your kid could afford to attend, and moved on to the next file. I wouldn’t take it personally, or rag on the schools. </p>
<p>Sounds like you ended up with the right decision, but took a winding road to get there :)</p>
<p>Unless it’s a guaranteed done deal like Alabama and NMF, or other schools where you have certain minimum GPA/SATs, the merit/FA game means casting a wide net and seeing what comes up. If one or two schools don’t work out, shrug your shoulders and move on.</p>
<p>I do have to say that I will be tempted to write a courteous letter to any of the schools that we’re getting no aid on…basically telling them that I appreciated the offer of acceptance but that I didn’t think it was worth my S going tens of thousands in debt to attend when there are financially viable (and quite good) alternatives out there.</p>
<p>I hope, at some point, that the costs of a college education will get to the point where people will decline offers and the expensive schools will be left with enough open slots to make them think…</p>
<p>College costs are preposterous, but my understanding is that they are set, to some extent, via market analysis–what competitor schools are charging and what the market will bear. I think it will be quite a while before we see the bubble burst as the trend is in the opposite direction–all schools having rising numbers of applicants, and declining admit rates.</p>
<p>Just curious, though–you knew what the schools cost when your son applied, and you knew your EFC > COA, so you wouldn’t be eligible for financial aid based on need. What led you to expect merit aid at the schools your son chose? (For example, as mentioned above, he applied to one school that offers no merit aid at all.) I’m wondering if someone gave you a bum steer along the way.</p>
<p>Desk wrote: “…Just curious, though–you knew what the schools cost when your son applied, and you knew your EFC > COA, so you wouldn’t be eligible for financial aid based on need. What led you to expect merit aid at the schools your son chose? (For example, as mentioned above, he applied to one school that offers no merit aid at all.) I’m wondering if someone gave you a bum steer along the way. …”</p>
<p>Not quite, when most folks from the financial aid office including folks here at this forum telling everyone that you can still get FA with 120-180K or 200k annual income, then everyone is jumping in to see what the real award is.</p>
<p>I don’t know, Dad. I see a lot of folks on CC advising that families should use a good EFC estimator. Families should know that the biggest single factor driving EFC is income, and you can’t do much to alter your EFC. Families should know that a lot of colleges will not meet your full need.</p>
<p>I think I see a lot of talk about full-pay families seeking merit aid, sure, but not need-based. And the conventional wisdom on CC does seem to be that at most colleges that give merit aid, in order to get a good merit scholarship, you need to be in the top 20% or so of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>It does take some digging, but you can get a sense of how much need-based aid you might be eligible for at the need-only schools. Run a FAFSA forecaster, check. Then pull up an estimator from one of the most generous schools, like Princeton, and/or a school on your child’s list. If all of these give you a family contribution that’s greater than the COA, that’s a pretty good indicator that your child won’t be receiving need-based aid. The only exception (and Dad, this is what you might be referring to) is when a family has unusual expenses like huge medical bills, or an exceptionally large family.</p>
<p>For a point of comparison, I have been keeping a spreadsheet of the yearly projected net costs (tuition + room/board+fees - merit based aid) we will be out of pocket for my daughter’s education for the schools to which she has been accepted. (We are not elligible for any need based aid.) The variation in costs are staggering:</p>
<p>State University: $6,524
Kalamazoo College: $25,207
Butler University: $30,438
Rhodes College $25,890
Wake Forest University: $50,970</p>
<p>It is awafully hard justifying paying 2x to 8x as much money for a Wake education when she has these other options.</p>
<p>“Don’t forget to add in 4-5% increases every year”</p>
<p>Crazy isn’t it? I know DePauw will let you prepay for all 4 years to lock in the price of tuition, and I believe George Washington University locks in the rate of tuition based on what you paid in your freshman year. There are probably a few other exceptions, but you are spot on.</p>
<p>I agree with looking outside the Boston area for private schools that give aid and want to diversify. I know smart kids who got great money from Kenyon and Dennison in Ohio. These are strong LACs that are probably not well known outside the Midwest.</p>
<p>Of course, they’re in “flyover” territory and pretty rural to boot.</p>
<p>My s is a bio major. from cali. He was accepted to ucsd, ucsb, ucdavis, Marquette and Minnesota. In 4 years Marquette is an 80k student loan, the others are 20k student loan. Grad school is for sure so see ya Marquette.</p>