Question about Transferring Colleges and Financial Aid

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I am wondering if some of you parents or students know of good private colleges in the northeast region that offer quality education and would give good transfer students decent financial aid or merit scholarships? Actually, scratch the former. Just schools with good merit scholarships for transfer students.</p>

<p>The student I am inquiring on behalf of is in a good private college, U of New Hampshire, but she is not happy with the setting. She prefers to be in an urban area. Her preference was Boston U. but she could not afford it, based on the $ received from them.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, both parents work and have decent income but cannot or will not support her much since she is the last child of three to go to college.</p>

<p>The student wants to go to a good school with generous scholarships for transfer students, if available as an option. Preferably in one of the cities like Boston, New York, or Washington, D.C. with the former two being the preferred choices.</p>

<p>Are there any possibilities out there? Or is merit money very unlikely for transfer students? I am not sure of grades she has received after one semester in college (guess around A- average).</p>

<p>Thanks for any suggestions or ideas.</p>

<p>Merit money for transfer students is tough to find. Most schools use their merit resources to recruit incoming freshmen. Also, I believe the for students transferring after only one year she will often need to submit HS grades and board scores to many schools in addition to her college grades. She will need to check each school carefully to see what will be required.</p>

<p>I am sure there are parents who can suggest possible schools that may offer merit for transfer students, but more specific stats (likely including board scores) would be needed to help with a specific list.</p>

<p>She is in-state in NH? What is her major? Has she looked at the NE Regional Student program? These are other NE state schools that will offer IS or reduced tuition to students from other NE states IF the student’s major is not offered in the home state.</p>

<p>Can her family only afford to pay the equivalent of IS UNH tuition, or can they afford a bit more? </p>

<p>What about looking at CUNY (I believe they have a strong honors college, and would even be reasonable as an OOS/ out of city) , what about SUNYs – many have decent OOS tuition costs. She might also want to look at the OOS and transfer scholarship possibilities at UMD -CP, George Mason, and VCU. All are campuses in urban areas or close to them.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, transfer merit scholarships tend to be much less generous then freshman scholarships. For instance at my daughter’s university the highest transfer scholarship is a $2500 partial tuition waiver, while the top freshman scholarship is basically a full ride, and the next two are full tuition waivers plus additional cash amounts.</p>

<p>Ps. University of New Hampshire is a public college.</p>

<p>I’m fairly sure that, given her strict geographic criteria and lack of financial support, a private school is not going to be within her budget. I second the CUNY suggestion!</p>

<p>CUNY has some very expensive living costs associated with it so much of the cost savings could be illusory unless there are friends or family members who have a spare bedroom or a sleep sofa and don’t mind a tenant. Even a cheap apartment in Queens, or a tiny share is likely to cost much more than this family considers reasonable rent for a college student. YMMV.</p>

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>Thanks for all the knowledgeable replies. I knew I could depend on the collective wisdom here. Unfortunately, your replies confirmed what I suspected. Merit scholarships are generally bad or non-existent for transfer students.</p>

<p>I apologize. I was thinking U of NH is private because the student lives in NYS and is paying out of state tuition. So at this time, she is paying out of pocket around $22,000 a year. This amount is affordable, but it is at the upper limit of what she and her family can afford.</p>

<p>She is not interested in the CUNY or SUNY schools. I know the urban areas tend to be expensive, so the reality is her choices are very limited. The schools near DC sound like they should be looked at by her. I will pass the info to her.</p>

<p>It is a shame to see someone paying quite a bit for her college ed to be unhappy there. She really was uncertain about attending in the first place, but her other preferred schools did not come through with enough aid or merit packages. :(</p>

<p>^That’s very true…idk how a kid with no parental support would pay the living expenses in either Boston or NY! But if there’s any hope at all for her to transfer to a 4 year school in one of these cities, she’s going to have to make sure her tuition costs are as low as possible.</p>

<p>Not interested in ANY CUNY/SUNY and paying OOS tuition for a similar public school?! Does she now think she wants only a private school? If so, why? It sounds as if she may be looking for a LAC…is that it? I think she needs to realize that something on her list is going to have to go…and it can’t be the budget!</p>