<p>Hello!
I need some help in finding good safety/match/reach schools. Merit aid is a huge factor. I'm from Wisconsin (Milwaukee-area), and location isn't too big of a factor (well, unless it's right across the street). I would not like anything too tiny or rural either. I'm fairly certain on double-majoring in Political Science and either English or Environmental Studies. </p>
<p>Stats:
3.98 GPA
ACT: 31 (hoping to boost this one or two points, but we'll see)
APs by Graduation: Human Geography, World History, Government, Chemistry, US History, Environmental Science, Literature, Calculus A/B, Biology, and European History</p>
<p>Extracurricular:
National Honor Society 11, Vice President 12
Key Club: 9, 10, Secretary 11, President 12
Varsity Volleyball: Honorable Mention All-Conference 10, Captain (Injured) 11, Captain 12
Varsity Soccer: 9, Honorable Mention All-Conference 10 (cannot play anymore due to an extremely serious injury over the summer)
Model U.N.: 11, 12 Issue Coordinator
Part-time Job
Played club volleyball year-round until big injury. </p>
<p>How much can your parents afford? The obvious safety, assuming you can afford it, would be the University of Wisconsin Madison which is a top ES school, near the capital of an increasingly partisan state, and certainly isn’t “tiny”.</p>
<p>Can you give us some other criteria? Do you want a large university or a smaller liberal arts college? Greek life or not? Would you consider a women’s college if you’re a girl?</p>
<p>Sorry about how vague my post was! I am a female, and I won’t consider a women’s college. I would like to be in either a small urban area, a large urban area, or a suburb close to and urban area. I would like to attend a college where I can make connections with professors and where I don’t feel like “just a number.” I hesitate to say that I’d like a small school because I don’t want to know everyone on campus, and I’ve heard of large universities (i.e. Pittsburgh) where the administration and faculty are good with individual attention. A medium sized school is probably best for me. I will be paying for most of my college and am hoping for merit aid. </p>
<p>@whenhen Thank you for the input! UW-Madison is definitely on my list!</p>
<p>Yeah Pitt sounds like a fit. Northeastern and Boston University are larger schools in urban areas that offer individual attention as well. Both are expensive though. George Washington in DC is in a similar category as the previous two. Maybe Uwashington Seattle for larger urban. </p>
<p>Go to the financial aid forum and look at the stickied threads for full ride scholarships. I know Alabama would give you some good money based on your grades and scores.</p>
<p><<<<
will be paying for most of my college and am hoping for merit aid.
<<<</p>
<p>can you tell us more about this? how much will your family pay? Is your family low income?</p>
<p>How much merit do you need? It sounds like you need a lot. If so, many of the suggested schools wont work.</p>
<p>YOU can only borrow $5,500 for frosh year.</p>
<p>so…if your parents will pay $10,000 per year, and you borrow $5500, then you would need a FULL TUITION scholarship, so that your $15l from family and loans will cover room, board, books, fees, etc.</p>
<p>If your family cant pay $10k, then you may need nearly a full-ride.</p>
<p>YOu need to retake the ACT and SAT, because you need the highest score possible’</p>
<p>be sure to apply to a couple of schools that you know FOR SURE will give you HUGE, HUGE merit…otherwise you may find yourself with some merit awards here and there, but not enough to cover what you need.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I should have specified. My parents are divorced, and my dad is wealthy. He will contribute what he can to my college education, but I will have to eventually pay him back. He will help me when I need it, but scholarships are important. Fortunately, my high school gives out a TON of scholarships. I’m a contender for the 30k one, so that would be fabulous. He guesstimates that my trust fund for college will have about $8k by the time I leave. I guess aid isn’t the most important thing to me; I’m sorry if I have made it seem as though I’m in a harsh financial situation. </p>
<p>I think I’m being far too idealistic in my college search. I.e., not too big, not too small, but with plenty of research opportunities an personal attention. Presigious, but generous with merit aid for unprestigious students like me. I need to see the reality that college is going to be pricey.</p>
<p>Thank you for your comment. I have gained some perspective! </p>
<p>That is a pretty harsh situation, still, since you have to pay back the money. Doesn’t matter if you borrow from dear old dad or someone else, if the money really has to be repaid. Many of the schools people are listing here cost ~$50K/year, coming to $200,000 over four years. Even if you get a merit scholarship, at a lot of schools that might cover $15,000/year. So you still need to cover $140,000 over four years. Even with a one time $30K scholarship (if you are so lucky) and $8K in your college fund, you will have about $100,000 to make up. That is way, way too much to borrow, no matter who it is from. </p>
<p>Do you live with your mom? You might be eligible for some need based aid if she is not well off and if you apply to FAFSA-only schools. U of Wisconsin is FAFSA-only. You can run the net price calculator on the U of W financial aid website with your mom’s information and see what kind of aid you might get. You would also be eligible for in-state tuition at U of Minnesota-TC, since they have reciprocity with Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Others have mentioned U of Alabama – if you can gain a point on your ACT, they have some automatic scholarships there you should look into.</p>
<p>If you think some of these other colleges seem interesting, you need to realize that any school that asks for the CSS Profile or their own non-custodial parent financial aid information is probably not going to give you need based aid. The net price calculators won’t work for you. With plans for a Poli Sci/English/Environmental Studies path in college, you likely won’t have a high-paying job after college to pay back loans. You really ought to limit yourself if possible to the federal loan limit amount ($27,000) even if you do borrow from your dad – you will be saddling yourself with a real burden long term if you don’t limit your loans.</p>
<p>It is pretty harsh to have wealthy parents (disqualifying you from need-based financial aid) who will contribute nothing (other than put you in debt to them). You need very large merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Here is your merit scholarship college shopping list:</p>
<p>Is the “loan” your dad would give you forgivable upon graduation - ie., he uses it as a way to show you that if you don’t perform, you’ll owe him money, but if you do, you’ll be graduating debt-free? Some wealthy parents say “If you get 3.3 or more at graduation, your debt is forgiven. If you have a 3-3.3 you repay (… the equivalent of the federal loan limit, for example). If you have less than 3.0 you must pay me back for my wasted investment.”</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s reasonable for your father to expect you’ll pay back the entire cost of college to him. It’s just not possible to repay a quarter of a million dollar for a recent college graduate. Your father may not realize that attending most top universities (either private or OOS publics) will cost that much - costs have changed very quickly and have no relationship to what they used to be 20 or 30 years ago. When your dad attended college, it’s likely a top, elite college cost about 15-20,000 a year and the local state university could be paid for with a job, no loans. However, States have cut the public universities’ budget and they have raised tuition. Elite colleges have increased tuition at an unconscionable speed - about 6 years ago, some marvelled that colleges could charge 40k/year… So your dad may not realize how much college costs or may have an unrealistic idea about financial aid, such as not understanding the difference between need and merit.</p>
<p>Yeah, my dad often talks about how he was able to pay for his college with a summer job and a little help from his grandparents. I don’t think he’ll expect the full price of college, but I haven’t discussed a deal with him at all. Even so, borrowing from him means no interest on loans. </p>
<p>A generation ago, it was much more possible for a high school graduate to earn enough to be self-supporting and be able to pay trivial state university tuition. Today, high school graduate earnings are worse relative to living expenses, and state university tuition is no longer as trivial (after accounting for inflation). Private university costs have also increased significantly (again, after accounting for inflation).</p>
<p>You do not want to be in the amount of debt that your father expects you to borrow from him.</p>
<p>Once again, I don’t think that I’ll be responsible for paying back in full. Probably not even close. I do have the opportunity to take over the family business, which = 100k a year or so. </p>
<p>It is still a TON of money to pay back. It will take you many years. If you take 10 years to pay him off after graduation, with no interest you would be paying $10,000/year ($833/month). That is going to be very tough, especially with the majors you are considering. And if you take longer to pay it back, it will be hanging over your head when you have your own kids and are trying pay their expenses, save for retirement, and maybe save for their college.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you work with your dad to show him the cost of some of the colleges you are considering. I wouldn’t run the net price calculator at most, just print out and show him the cost of attendance pages. If you want to show him merit information (if he thinks you will just get it all paid for through that), go to the Common Data Set (Google ‘<college name=""> Common Data Set’ to find most of them). In the most recent year, go to Section H and look at the section labeled something like “Number of Enrolled Students Awarded Non-need-based Scholarships and Grants” to see how many students who were not eligible for needs based aid that got merit aid and the average amounts they were awarded. Remember that students who have higher test scores compared to the applicant pool are more likely to receive merit awards, too, so that could help you figure out your chances.</college></p>
<p>I would say your best things to do right now are (1) work on getting your test scores up, and (2) work on educating your dad on the current cost of a college education. I would suggest you ask him to “help you” with your search, and as you talk about schools, pull the cost pages and look at the merit aid award statistics.</p>
<p>Thanks intparent! Your comments have been quite insightful. UW-Madison or another UW school probably makes the most sense considering its 25k per year as opposed to 50k. </p>
<p>intparent: what OP is talking about is a “loan”, as in, parent pays, then decides if it’s paid back.</p>
<p>Snax: there’s no fixed sumn. It depends on
1° whether the family makes $25,000 (poor) $45,000 a year (lower-middle class), $100,000 a year (upper middle class), etc.
2° whether the family has debt, savings, a college fund
3° whether the family places a premium on education or not
4° whether parents are divorced and whether college was included in the divorce agreement</p>
<p>Some wealthy parents are unwilling to pay their share and let their kids hang. So what I suggest is that you ask your father what colleges he sees you at. Then, run the Net Price Calculators at each of these colleges. Then, add one college you consider a safety for you, a public that’s a match (and you may include In state and OOS publics), a private that’s a match, and 1 reach school. Then bring the results to your dad. Show him the results for “his” colleges first. Expect him to be shocked and in disbelief. Then show him other results.
Tell him that in order to spend your time efficiently, you’ll need to know exactly how much he’s willing to “loan” you and what conditions are set on you to pay him back.</p>