<p>I'm a highschool senior and desperately need to get a grip on my college search.</p>
<p>I have 27 ACT, 3.8 unweighted GPA, great extracurriculars and transcript with AP classes but I'm also struggling to find a school with good financial aid and scholarships.</p>
<p>I'm from Ohio but am open to schools in all states. I'm paying for school myself and really need to find a school that will give me the money I need to graduate with little debt. Also, schools that offer good oncampus jobs would be nice but definitely not necessary.</p>
<p>So far, I'm looking at Eastern Michigan University (any reviews on that? how legit are their scholarships?), University of Dayton, University of Cincinnati, OSU, Miami and a few other schools but haven't decided where I'm applying to yet.</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Finances are so crucial at this point!</p>
<p>nervous, Are you clear on the difference between need based aid and merit aid? If your family is low income or EVEN middle class, you may qualify for need based aid. Ask your parents to use an on-line calculator to determine how much need based aid you may be eligible for. If need based aid works for you, then you’ll have a wide range of choices.</p>
<p>If your parents have the money but, for whatever reason, are unwilling or unable to spend it on college, then you need to look at colleges/universities that offer merit aid. </p>
<p>Figure this out first.</p>
<p>PS, If you are from a low income family, take a look at QuestBridge.</p>
<p>I’m clear on the difference between need based and merit aid. My parents say I would qualify for a good deal depending on the school. I’m the first one to go through this from my family so how much need based I would get is unknown. A mix of need based and merit based would be ideal though.</p>
<p>nervous, if you use an online calculator to get an estimated family contribution it won’t be unknown. </p>
<p>Your package may vary from school to school, but the calculator will give you an idea of what to expect. Ironically, need based aid is more widely available than merit aid and the most selective schools have the most money. If you qualify, you can widen your choices. With a 3.8 GPA and “great” ECs you could be aiming higher. </p>
<p>If you want to stay in the midwest, consider Grinnell, Carleton or Macalester. They are all quite generous with need based aid. Merit aid would depend on how much they want you. </p>
<p>I’d suggest you retake the ACT or try the SAT to get your scores up a bit. You may also need a couple of SATIIs.</p>
<p>You can go to each school’s web site and see if it has a “financial aid estimator” (put that in the search box) to estimate what kind of financial aid it may give you. Also put “scholarship” in the search box to see what kind of merit scholarships are available.</p>
<p>Be sure to apply to an instate public that you can commute to in case the other schools don’t work out.</p>
<p>OOS publics don’t usually give much aid. </p>
<p>If you want good sized merit scholarships look at schools that give big scholarships AND where your ACT is well within the top 25% of the school. </p>
<p>At Eastern Mich
middle quartiles
ACT Composite: 18 - 23 …so an ACT 27 is highish for the school. Do they give big scholarships to OOS students?</p>
<p>You say that you’ll be paying for all of college by yourself. You need to find out what your FAFSA EFC will likely be.</p>
<p>My parents say I would qualify for a good deal depending on the school.</p>
<p>Since you’re the first to go to school, your parents may not really know. And out of state publics don’t usually give great aid to OOS students unless they have high stats for the school.</p>
<p>Don’t discount OOS schools if they are the cheapest. Although in general, they tend to give the least aid to OOS students.</p>
<p>You will need to compare total costs of each school. I would choose the least expensive. You do not want much debt following you around on a teacher salary.</p>
<p>As far as EMU, they do have some strong programs and education is one of them. I believe that they give Ohio residences in state tuition. If so, that combined with the merit aid that they would give you might make it the cheapest.</p>
<p>Go to each school’s website and see if they have a net price calculator. Type in your financial data and scores; see what the final out of pocket will be for each school.</p>
<p>Take a look at University of Alabama. They seem to be giving out a lot of merit aid, but you might need much higher ACT/SAT scores. But at least check it out.</p>
<p>UAB in birmingham alabama would give you 10K per year against total cost of 20-24K</p>
<p>Blazer Elite Scholarship</p>
<p>$15,000
Based on academic achievement (28-36 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Gold Scholarship</p>
<p>$10,000
Based on academic achievement (26-27 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Pride Scholarship</p>
<p>$5,000
Based on academic achievement (24-25 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA) </p>
<p>they have education majors but not sure if they have special education? [url=<a href=“http://www.uab.edu%5DWelcome%5B/url”>http://www.uab.edu]Welcome[/url</a>]</p>
<p>if you did get your act up to 28…the blazer elite would cover tuition…dorms are 5200 per year and food plans range from 485 to 3600 per year</p>
<p>I do plan to apply to a local school I can commute to.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your suggestions. I don’t have a large grasp on what I’m doing yet regarding the admissions process but I’m trying to sort everything out.</p>
<p>Should I bother taking the ACT again after October or would that just be a waste because most deadlines are going to be before I could take it again?</p>