The relevant comparison is with households with college-age children, not all households (which would include singles living alone).
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We had similar financial goals with my D21… did not qualify for need-based aid but looked for merit to keep undergrad costs down so we can help with med/grad school. So she applied to less selective schools known for being generous with merit or schools with competitive merit with the knowledge she could only attend if awarded the scholarship. Her academic stats are similar to your son’s, lots of leadership (e.g. founded social justice club) and service (e.g. volunteer at free healthcare clinic for uninsured and immigrants), theatre/chorus, etc. I’ll note her outcome where applicable due to the similarities.
I agree that you have an excellent in state option for your financial goals and your son’s interests. But don’t let that prevent him from applying for competitive merit. (Note that some require nominations from his high school.) Make sure he is prepared for more essays and interviews (it is worth practicing a bit if this is new to him).
- The Stamps Scholarship is offered at multiple schools https://www.stampsscholars.org/our-program/partner-schools/. (My D was a semifinalist but did not progress. This was her first interview plus, unfortunately, it was asynchronous. She was admittedly underprepared, hence my comment above. Of course, her outcome may have been the same, but she wishes she felt she had given her best.)
- Boston Univ - Trustees & Presidential (and others)
- UVA - Jefferson Scholarship
- Vandy - Chancellors, Ingram and others
- UNC/Duke - Robertson
- Duke - Duke Scholar
- UNC - Morehead-Cain
- WashU - Danforth and others
- Emory - Emory Scholars
- Davidson - Belk (full ride), Bryan (athlete-scholar) & James B Duke (full tuition) and others. (My D was an alternate.)
- W&L - (I understand you have ruled this out so I just mention this for other readers.) - Johnson Scholarship and other full tuition scholarships. (My D was awarded this.)
Schools that awarded merit bringing COA down to $20k-$38k:
Furman, Rhodes, Case Western
Good luck to your S! I also agree with the posters discouraging applying to schools with no opportunity for affordability. My D considered doing this for “bragging rights” but thankfully we talked her out of it.
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It depends upon what you consider “decently”. Is it a family of five renting a studio apartment in NYC so that parents don’t have to spend 4 hours a day commuting? Or do they rent a 3 bedroom unit so that their boys and girls are not sharing a bedroom, and so that the parents have a bedroom with a door to close for privacy? Is it owning one car while living in NYC so that one doesn’t have to rent a car any time the family decides to go anywhere outside of NYC that is not right next to a train or bus station? Is it sending your younger children to aftercare programs, so that they are not coming home as latch-key kids for over 3 hours a day, while both parents work? Do you now realize that the cost of living in these areas is so high, that to live a standard middle class lifestyle, you really do need every penny of a 200K/yr income?
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I live in an “expensive area”. If it required $200k per year income to live here, I would be surrounded by poverty almost everywhere in the area. But I am not surrounded by poverty.
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Do you have 2 kids in a 4 person household?
I live in an expensive area, 5 college aged kids, husband just starting to make close to the lower number, yes we are funding our retirement but our house is 1500 square feet, no a/c, no garage, mostly beater cars, housing and services are high here. We are definitely middle class.
I think you guys are right, I will try to encourage him to NOT apply to schools that we won’t be able to afford. He is a very understanding child, and he already told us he doesn’t want to “burden” us with excessive college expenses, so maybe if he gets a lot of money at one of these other schools, we can help him with Law school, if he still has that dream. And/or, he can study abroad for a semester, which I know he would love to do!
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If you think you might be doing the NPC incorrectly, take a look at myintuition.com , which offers a much simplified NPC so you can see if you are in the ballpark.
A common mistake people make is to include their official retirement savings (401k, etc) as “regular” assets. Any assets already in a 401k are not counted as assets for financial aid purposes (note that money in regular savings or investment accounts is assessed, even if you are thinking it is being saved for retirement). However, any contributions you make to a 401k that year are assessed as income.
A few other things to consider.
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If you have a lot of home equity in your primary home, most colleges will not assess that for financial aid purposes – and even most that do will not use your full home equity or will cap it at a percentage of your AGI. So if that is a big issue, you could look for colleges that treat home equity more favorably.
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If you have younger children, then your COA may go down in the future because you have to pay for multiple kids in college. That was the rule of thumb until recently, but FAFSA is changing that rule to remove that financial advantage. However, as I understand it, Profile schools can make their own decision about this, and it might be worth asking colleges of interest about what their policy will be, if that is relevant to you.
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I agree with all of the comments about not letting your son apply to colleges that you know you can’t afford. Also, as I am sure you know, Princeton et al. are extremely difficult to get into – and take a large amount of effort to write all their required supplemental essays. That time could be better spent on scholarship essays for colleges where you could afford to send him if he was awarded the merit money. You could take a look at Vanderbilt and USC, both of which give good merit money.
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Did your son have any more ECs? Those schools on his first list are all reaches. Is he a URM or legacy? Im doubting he will even get into any of those even if he’s hooked unless he’s got more going on than you shared initially. A 1510 and rigor isn’t enough to get the nod from Chicago or Princeton.
My daughter came very, very close to attending the James Madison College at Michigan State, so I can speak to their merit (and also the fact that it seems like a really awesome program!). Michigan State awards OOS merit scholarships based on GPA + ACT/SAT score, and publishes the ranges, so it’s easy to see how much you’ll get. Additionally, if you are accepted to the Honors College, there are a whole range of scholarships available + professorial assistantships (it seems like you get a minimum $5k but many students had that bumped up to $13.5K over the spring + the assistantship, and then there’s another competition for even more). So as an OOS student, it is quite easy to get anywhere from $20 - 35K in merit from Michigan State with a high GPA and a 30+ ACT.
The James Madison College also offers a handful of scholarships, anywhere from $2K - $10K, some are for one year only, some are renewable.
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