Public vs Private for student that needs aid with strong ACT, but so-so GPA

Paying for College
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<p>Been looking at schools. Currently have ~ 84 GPA and a 31 ACT. In-state schools are still pretty expensive (IL) so opening up search to OOS schools as well. Question, where would I be able to get most aid, a smaller-private college or a out of state public university? Thanks.</p>

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<p>OOS publics are funded by state taxpayers, so, their obligations are to children of taxpayers, first. OOS publics will be really expensive. (FYI, if you picked CA publics, that would cost you $40K to $60K)
Private colleges are funded by fees and “endowments” so, they have more money to fund their projects and financial aid.</p>

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<p>Is that your weighted GPA? Is that a 3.3?? or what??</p>

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<p>What can your family pay? Start with that figure. Then run the college-matching search engines to identify places where the out-of-state tuition & fees are $10,000 to $12,00 less than what your family can pay (to allow for your books, meals, and housing, etc.). This should let you know if there are any options that are immediately affordable for you.</p>

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<p>Check the NPC of each school you are interested in. Private may end up cheaper if you have a low EFC and the school meet your need. Other than that, in state public would usually be cheaper.</p>

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<p>BTW, what are your interests? U of I has guaranteed pathways through certain CC’s in to Engineering:
<a href=“http://pathways.engineering.illinois.edu/”>http://pathways.engineering.illinois.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for replies everyone.</p>

<p>Here are the answers I know. School does 0-100% not GPA, so according to the Princeton review that is about a 2.9 GPA. Would like to major in English – possibly with a focus on writing. Probably a high EFC but large family so would like to find as much help as possible.</p>

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<p>You might want to look at the pinned thread above that includes lower cost college options. There is a thread for schools that cost <$25,000 a year. Check that. I’m not sure that merit aid would be in the cards for you with your current stats.</p>

<p>Do you have any public instate options?</p>

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<p>You don’t just take your total average and convert that to get your GPA. Each class is evaluated - a 95 in one is an A, etc. then calculate the average of them all. Definitely look at the pinned threads here in the FA forum for some low cost options.</p>

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<p>Illinois State on list. Was hoping to go out of state.</p>

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<p>Also as I read back through my posts I keep typing as the student for whatever reason – this is actually the parent. Sorry for the confusion.</p>

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<p>Why do you want to consider oos? It is going to be much more expensive. </p>

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<p>You are the parent? Really??</p>

<p>If so, you need to work out your budget. Then start looking for schools where your kiddo will get accepted, and where you can afford the costs to attend. </p>

<p>There is a net price calculator on each college website that could help you. Just an FYI…if parents are divorced, are self employed, own their own business, or own real estate other than the primary residence…the NPC won’t be accurate.</p>

<p>What IS your budget for funding college? How much can you realistically pay for,each of the next four years?</p>

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<p>Thanks for responses again. I have been digging through NPCs on all websites. Without giving out too much info for most NPCs I am in highest bracket for income, highest bracket for number in household and lowest bracket for number in college (1) since this is our first heading to college. Realize highest bracket for income on most of these sites isn’t really all that high. Do have 529 plan and savings but not enough to cover 4 years of college . Looking to reduce dependency on loans as much as possible but realize they are inevitable. Given most OOS public schools are not really an option due to cost thought maybe his 31 ACT score could get him some merit aid if he went to a private institution where that 31 was above the 75th percentile for the school, hopefully making him a “desirable” student. Since this is first kid heading to college still a bit behind curve on a lot of this so trying to catch up quickly. </p>

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<p>Your kids’ stats are similar to my S’12, though yours’ ACT is higher. S did get good merit aid from some LACs…Wittenberg, Wooster, Capital, all in Ohio, and Adrian in MI.</p>

<p>He may enjoy a little bump at LACs simply for being male, most get more female applicants.</p>

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<p>Many of the colleges listed here will give OOS tuition waiver for ACT 31:</p>

<p><a href=“Automatic Out-of-State Tuition Waivers - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1505285-automatic-out-of-state-tuition-waivers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For example, with the OOS waiver, the cost for tuition, fees, room, and board at Oklahoma State would be just over $14K.</p>

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<p>OSU currently requires a 3.0 unweighted GPA for the OOS waiver.</p>

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<p>He may get a discount from Mizzou (depending on class rank):
<a href=“http://financialaid.missouri.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/scholarships/mark-twain-nonresident-scholarship/index.php”>http://financialaid.missouri.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/scholarships/mark-twain-nonresident-scholarship/index.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>PSAT does not qualify for National Merit, I assume?</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, IL publics are not that good with in-state financial aid.</p>

<p>However, out-of-state publics (other than Virginia and UNC-CH, which do give good need-based aid to out-of-state students; Michigan may do so only for low income out-of-state students) are only likely to be affordable on merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Private schools are likely to be better with need-based aid, but many are not that good (e.g. NYU).</p>

<p>Use the net price calculator at each school’s web site to check need-based financial aid.</p>

<p>The lists in <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt; may be of interest.</p>

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<p>I do not think that is a 2.9 GPA. I think it is at least a 3.0.</p>

<p>Here is Collegeboard’s answer:</p>

<p>


</p>

<p>Letter Grade  Percent Grade  4.0 Scale
A-                 90-92                      3.7</p>

<p>B+                 87-89                     3.3</p>

<p>B                   83-86                      3.0</p>

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