Safeties (Financial)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So, I'm a junior looking into college options, and I've found a decent amount of schools I'd like to attend. The problem is most of them cost around $50,000+ a year, and without a lot of help, my family cant afford that, yet we won't qualify for too much aid. I believe our efc should be around $25-30 thousand, but that is with my brother also in college, and he will be paying around $25-30 thousand a year at the school he is going to be attending (He is one year older than me.) </p>

<p>So, long story short, I need to come up with a few more safeties that I actually really want to attend where I'll either get a decent amount of money or tuition is cheap to begin with. I intend to major in computer science.</p>

<p>My stats are:
SAT: 1480 M + CR, 2120 composite.
GPA: unweighted: 95, weighted: 98 (currently, should increase as i take more AP's next year, my school has a weird weighting system)
EC's: nothing too special, have played Tuba since elementary school, playing in an orchestra that plays at carnegie hall this year, play guitar.</p>

<p>Right now my favorite schools are:
Boston University
Northeastern
NYU
Fordham</p>

<p>again, these are all really expensive, with northeastern being the only one i think I might get significant merit aid, and it's still expensive.</p>

<p>some financial safeties I'm considering:
UMD college park
Macaulay Honors at Cuny</p>

<p>neither of which are easy to get into.
So as you can see, I prefer city schools, at the very least I dont want to be at a tiny school in the middle of nowhere.
Any reccomendations?</p>

2

<p>I’m in a really similar situation to you. Top stats, could get admitted lots of places, but can’t pay for them, because my EFC is high, but my family doesn’t actually have the money (cause our town has a really high cost of living)</p>

<p>You have a good shot at merit aid at all your schools (your stats are pretty good)
also depends if you know roughly what you want to do (engineering, business, sciences, humanities, ect.) Does location (besides citys) matter a lot to you?
UMD is a solid school
Penn state is similar
GWU gives lots of merit aid.
U of Miami gives lots of merit aid
Most state schools are relatively affordable.</p>

3

<p>Run the EFC calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) to see how having two students in college at the same time will affect your EFC and your brother’s. Then, take a long hard look at your in-state public community colleges and universities. Can you commute to any of them? Do the community colleges have a formal articulation agreement for your major that would put you straight into the third year of that program at a 4-year school once you’ve completed the part taught at the CC?</p>

<p>Two good older threads on effective strategies for finding merit aid are:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A reasonably up-to-date thread on merit aid is:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>As far as location, I’d rather stay in the Northeast, probably not further south than DC. its tough enough to convince my parents to let me go away, nevermind across the country. </p>

<p>As far as the city thing goes, perhaps its cause I’m spoiled due to growing up on Long Island, half an hour away from Manhattan, but I’d rather not move to a small town. (This is my problem with most of the good SUNYs, along with my just overall dislike of Stony Brook)</p>

<p>@happymom, the efc of 25,000 was with the total split between me and my brother already. If it was just me It’d be close to $50 thousand. I think most people that know the cost of living on Long Island would agree that a $150,000 income isn’t all that extravagant. And, although I will be applying to some local schools that I’m basically guaranteed a large amount of money at or small in state tuition, I’m mainly looking for inbetween options that I might like more than those, and still get enough to bring the COA into manageable territory.</p>

5

<p>Since it sounds like you don’t qualify for aid, you need to find some financial safety schools that will give you ASSURED big merit for your stats…</p>

<p>AUTO $$$ CC Important links to Auto Scholarships…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>I got a 1300 on SATS and i got into all the schools you mentioned except nyu but none of my friends got any money there. fordham is very generous with financial aid and is a great school. i got no money at northeastern. if you will go to dc, george washington gives enough money out. i know it may seem like a small school, but the university of scranton should give you a full ride and it has a good reputation. maybe try the university of pittsburgh?? i hope this is helpful…</p>

7

<p>Bump.</p>

<p>Maybe I’m just being too picky?</p>

8

<p>Why only apply to local safeties when you have the whole SUNY system to choose from? Would a smaller city suffice? Albany, Binghamtom, Geneseo, and UB would be worth looking into. As far as I know, Bing and Geneseo don’t give merit aid to freshmen but UB does and you would certainly qualify for the honors program there. I know Geneseo isn’t city-like, but you might really like it there and it would be worth a visit if you’re in Western NY. All of these school have quite of few students from the NYC area so you might feel right at home there.</p>

9

<p>Loyola MD is similar to Fordham - Cathloic, Jesuit - located in Baltimore. They’re definitely getting more popular as surveys show kids are really happy w/professors, academics, social life and they have the nicest dorms around. Have known quite a few kids who’ve gone there and they all loved it.</p>

<p>I think you’d be on target to get a nice merit package from them – My D was admitted into honors this year and got a $25k Presidential Scholarship - her SATs/gpa were a bit above yours (1520 / 3.95 uw, 4/6 w) --they also gave her a generous grant. </p>

<p>With a fairly high EFC you need to look at the merit aid that schools offer - with your SATs I’d think there are quite a few that you’d be eligible for. If there’s a school near/in a big city just go the website and click thru their financial aid - most have a lot of info on merit scholarships.</p>

10

<p>Since you are from LI, and only a half hour away from Manhattan, then you are only a half hour away from LaGuardia, JFK or Islip. Consider applying some of the money that you are saving to inexpensive flights.</p>

<p>You stats are very good. I would consider going a little further for your financial safety. </p>

<p>I think the following would be safeties for you if you apply early in the year and all are within a day’s drive from NYC, or at worst a very short flight. </p>

<p>Urban:
University of Pittsburgh
SUNY Buffalo
Ohio State University</p>

<p>The following are in small cities or suburban
University of Vermont
University of Delaware</p>

<p>The following Canadian schools I think are also financial safeties and only care about your numbers (that’s why I think they are safeties). </p>

<p>McGill University (Montreal)
University of Toronto</p>

<p>I agree that UMD might not be a safety.</p>

11

<p>Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll look into them. </p>

<p>Classicrockerdad, I know UMD isn’t really a safety, but if I do get in, then the price is manageable already, as opposed to other schools I’m looking at with tuitons of $35+.
I’m actually considering SUNY Buffalo now, I had previously usually just kind of disregarded it, but a combination of your suggestion and a few of my friends planning to attend there may sway me to at the very least apply.</p>

<p>Any other ideas anyone?</p>

12

<p>Another option that gives very good merit aid (for someone with the OP’s stats) and is in an urban area, is the University of Scranton. It is also a Jesuit school. It is a school that was on the bottom of D’s list until we visited and did a lot of research. We sent the deposit and she is very excited! It is a VERY good value, and worth a look…</p>

<p>(edit: just noticed that Sarah already mentioned Scranton. I guess I would second that recommendation. We were very happy with the merit aid. I just looked, and it has several program offerings for someone interested in Computer Science.)</p>

13

<p>shaedow – I think you are low-balling your chances at a lot of schools. You are a solid A student with close to a 1500 M&CR score. ECs seem to be your greatest weakness. I think you have a good shot for decent merit money at both Northeastern and Fordham. NYU and BU are dicier and are not known for reliably generous FA.</p>

<p>You are also probably close to an auto-admit at the top SUNYs (Binghamton, Geneseo) so long as you are in the top 10% of your class. OOS publics may be more expensive than you think and may be more expensive than private alternatives such as University of Rochester, Syracuse or Loyola of Maryland. At Vermont, for example, even if you qualified for the top OOS merit scholarship you’d still be looking at $36,000 before factoring in Stafford loans. I have no doubt you’d be admitted to UMD, but I wouldn’t call it a financial safety. </p>

<p>Have you asked your parents how much money they are willing to set aside for your college education annually? Are they willing to take out any loans to help with your education? If not, I’d have a heart-to-heart with them sooner rather than later. Then figure out how much you feel comfortable borrowing over the course of four years. This will help you to better zero in on your target financial aid package and will put you in a better position to compare apples, oranges and grapefruits.</p>

14

<p>shaedow, what are you interested in studying? Are you interested in research opportunities? I think you’d get more suggestions if people knew more about what you want, other than geographic area. </p>

<p>Glad you’re considering UB, Idk if you’re aware that UB gives 25 full ride scholarships each year and you’re within the competitive range. They also give other merit awards, starting at $2500, for much lower SAT scores than you have. </p>

<p>From their website:</p>

<p>UB’s top entering freshmen are awarded Presidential Scholarships (formerly Distinguished Honors Scholarships) which cover the full cost of attendance—tuition, fees, housing, board, books, travel and the other school-related expenses—for four years of undergraduate study. Approximately 25 awards are made to new freshmen each year, all of whom are automatically invited to participate in the University Honors College. To be considered, a student must have a combined critical reading and math SAT score of 1470 or better (or a minimum ACT score of 33) and an unweighted high school average of 95 or better. Last year the mean high school average and combined critical reading and math SAT score of presidential scholarship recipients were 98 and 1503, respectively.</p>

15

<p>Shaedow, My DD has similar stats 1510, 2240 4.0 GPA major: Chem engineering, 10 APs, decent EC’s ect. We have similar EFC with DS in 2nd yr college
She received
UMDCP honors, 16000 merit (full tuition cost 28000)
SUNY Buffalo Pres scholarship 4 yr full ride (19000)
Penn State Honors OOS 3500 merit (cost 35000)
U Rochchester 8000 merit (cost 53000)
Union College 24,500 merit ( cost 52000)</p>

<p>these # don’t include 5500 available loans</p>

16

<p>Shaedow…</p>

<p>How is UM-CP a financial safety? If you’re a NY resident, that doesnt’ make any sense to me.</p>

<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>

17

<p>Well, As far as UMD goes, I only consider it a financial safety because even without any merit aid, it is still in the upper ranges of affordability for my family, at ~30-35 year with room and board, so, although it is still expensive, I would be able to take on the loans to make up the difference… whereas that would be the last thing I’d want to do to make up the difference between around $20-25 thousand per year and $50. </p>

<p>For those who missed it, I intend to major in computer science.</p>

18

<p>Did you look at the link of schools with automatic scholarships?</p>

<p>With your stats you could get a really big scholarship at some schools. </p>

<p>I know that at my kids’ flagship, you would get free tuition (including free out of state tuition) **and **because you’d be a Comp Sci major, you’d get an additional $2500 per year. Total worth - over $90k</p>

<p>AUTO $$$ CC Important links to Auto Scholarships…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

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<p>That’d be Alabama. A slam dunk for you for both admission and affordability, fun, warm, and cheaper than all your in-state options. It could be nice to have that option in hand as you look at other possibilities.</p>