<p>Any ideas? 3.94 weighted, 690 m, 640 cr, 690 w. We had list narrowed to SUNY Geneseo, and College of NJ, which we can pay for. Now she wants to be closer to home. Ideas for colleges that can be under $30k with merit scholarship money in northeast?</p>
<p>How about some more information -
Type of school - large, small? Urban/rural? Private/Public?
Intended major?
Will she consider a Catholic college?</p>
<p>superstepmom – Do you know what your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is? Depending upon what the EFC is there may be a couple of 100% need LACs you might shoot for.</p>
<p>Not sure what type of school your child is looking for, but my ideas are Wheaton, Holy Cross, Babson, Bentley, and Clark – all in Mass. All of them have very different geographic settings (you probably know - Norton vs. Wellesley vs. Worcester, for example!) and different “vibes” so to speak.</p>
<p>However your daughter seems like a good fit, numbers wise, for this group of schools and she may get merit $$ at some of these. For example, she seems fairly competitive for the Babson pool - and their average non-need (aka merit) based aid award is $21,847/year. Same thing with Bentley (average non-need based aid: $17,052/yr).</p>
<p>I would first recommend running your numbers through a financial aid calculator. Use both the federal and instutional metiodologies.</p>
<p>many of the schools mentioned by jm$.02, are schools that use the CSS profile. First they are looking to take a more extensive look at your finamily’s financials that the FAFSA is going to (remember the only thing the FAFSA does is qualify you for federal aid)… Your EFC is most likely going to be higher at these schools. </p>
<p>If there is a non-custodial parent involved, her income and assets (and spouse’s) income and asset in addition to yours and your husband’s will be used in calculating financial aid.</p>
<p>I would recommend looking at schools where her states are at the 75th percentile and wehre she would stand a good chance of getting merit money.</p>
<p>What about Mass College of Liberal Arts…the Umass school in North Adams that is similar to Geneseo…?</p>
<p>MCLA may have aspirations to become another Geneseo but it has a long way to go. Your average Geneseo student is an A/A- student in a demanding curriculum with SAT scores in the 1290 – 1380 middle 50th. MCLA has an abundance of B students with middle 50th scores of 870 – 1120. MCLA is also much smaller than Geneseo, 2,000 undergrads versus 5,000.</p>
<p>I live in Western MA and I agree with hudsonvalley51. I never talk about Geneseo and MA College of the Liberal Arts in the same breath! I have known students who have had excellent experiences at both, but the colleges are not really comparable. </p>
<p>Clark, on the other hand, (already mentioned above) sounds like a good option for someone seeking merit aid and who likes Geneseo and TCNJ.</p>
<p>BU? (she could get merit aid there I think)</p>
<p>You are all so knowledgable! I will check out this MCLA, as I haven’t in the past. And merit money at the above mentioned schools.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think that we will not qualify for aid. Butwe are would like to find a place she would be thrilled to go while also scoring merit money.</p>
<p>My darling step-daughter believes that she likes a medium school (size of Geneseo or TCNJ), pretty near a large town–and in New England. </p>
<p>I’m going to go research the above…</p>
<p>Any other ideas?</p>
<p>Major not firm: History - International Studies. She is not really interested in Catholic schools, but I wouldn’t totally rule it out…</p>
<p>I second Clark. I loved it but son did not. The kids were a bit too much “save the world” for him. Lots of diversity on campus, too.</p>
<p>Would she consider a women’s college? Simmons may not be as large as your stepdaughter would like (just under 2,000 undergrads) but it’s right in the heart of Boston’s student hub, and there are a number of merit scholarships, including a full-tuition one for Boston public school grads, should she happen to be one.</p>
<p>We have looked at Clark. I think it is great (!), but she doesn’t like the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Thank you all!</p>
<p>How about UNH or Keene State?</p>
<p>Just from my own experience I have found many Catholic colleges will offer pretty good merit scholarships. Off the top of my head has she looked at Stonehill, Merrimack or Anna Maria?
I also would suggest she check out St Anselm’s in Manchester, Providence College and maybe even St Joseph’s in Maine.</p>
<p>Over the years, I have told a number of my advisees that, if they were teleported to Clark and woke up there as freshmen, they would love it. But most cannot get beyond the location, which really isn’t heinous. The campus is actually very pleasant as are the immediate surrounding buildings. But I wish more students would spend an overnight at Clark and try to look beyond their first impressions. </p>
<p>Your stepdaughter might want to try Mount Holyoke, too. They have gotten more liberal with merit aid in recent history.</p>
<p>Fairfield University maybe?</p>
<p>^^ I agree with Sally about Clark. I know the OP’s D has visited and rejected Clark, but for others, I think often the parent’s concern about Worcester (or other less-than-desirable college locations) colors their kids impressions. My D loved Clark and was completely oblivious to/unconcerned about the neighborhood.</p>
<p>I suggest looking at Stonehill. It’s Catholic but doesn’t really push the religion. My son was hs '07, he had a weighted 4.2 and 2150 SAT, he was offered $18k/year and their Honors program (at the time their full price was $38k, so the net cost would have been $20k). Beautiful campus, mid-sized. I know 4 kids who go there, all are happy, and were among the nicest kids in our hs. Don’t know how much international studies they have.</p>
<p>Also, if she’s willing to look outside of New England, she might be a good fit for Elon. It’s in NC, mid-sized, 5000 students, current sticker price $34k. Not a typical southern school - only 24% of students are from NC. The number two state is MA (10% of the students). About 75% of students are from NC, MA, NJ, VA, MD, CT and NY, the rest are from 37 other states and foreign. My daughter LOVES it there and it seems like most of her friend are from Mass. There are non-stop flights to Raleigh-Durham from Logan at a fairly reasonable price. (Jetblue & Delta). As far as International studies, all students at Elon take a freshman seminar called the Global Experience, and 71% of Elon students study abroad at LEAST once. They run on a 4-1-4 academic year, and have a lot of study-abroad professor-lead classes during that brief winter term.</p>