Schools in New England that I could get aid from?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I'm a rising senior and I have been mostly thinking about applying to SUNYs because of the cost factor, but I want to also consider some other schools that I could possibly get merit based aid from. I'm
not sure because my stats aren't exceptional. </p>

<p>GPA: unweighted, 89</p>

<p>SAT: 2040- 570 math, 730 CR, 740 writing </p>

<p>ACT: 28</p>

<p>For ECs I will have had 2 years of cross country, one season of ultimate frisbee, 2 or 3 years of piano lessons, 2 years of environmental club, a year of LEO club, and a year of volunteering at an elementary school once a week in 10th grade. </p>

<p>This summer I am taking a history class at my local community college, and right now I have a B- but we haven't had the final yet so that could go up or down... Last year I took 2 APs, one I didn't take the exam for, the other was English and I got a 4. Next year I'm taking AP English Lit. and SUPA economics (college level). I will take the SAT II literature and hope to get 650+. I'm also retaking SATs and ACTs and hope to do better, especially on ACT. My recs and essay should be pretty good. </p>

<p>So I really like Ithaca and will probably apply there just for kicks. Are there any schools (I just said New England cause I live in NY and don't want it to be super far) that you think I could get enough aid that it would be a similar price to a state school, or a little over?</p>

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<p>Check out some of the other LACs in NY and in PA.
St. Lawrence, Juniata, Muhlenberg, Ursinus, etc.
Also look at Centre College and Transylvania in KY.</p>

<p>You might qualify for merit aid at some of these schools (esp. if you raise your scores a bit). Probably not enough to close in on the SUNYs, though.</p>

3

<p>Thanks! And yeah, I know the price of a SUNY is a stretch. Anywhere that the tuition would be significantly lowered I would consider though. Anyone else?</p>

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<p>does anyone have any more suggestions? i was also thinking about the boston area, any schools near there…</p>

5

<p>Finding any college to compete with the cost of SUNY is going to be really difficult.
Oh, and I saw your other post. Don’t let CC convince you that you are an “average student” as you are far from average.</p>

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<p>Bentley’s in Waltham, and you could probably get yourself a scholarship.
Lesley’s got campuses in both Cambridge and Boston-I think you’d do pretty well in aid.
Maybe Quinnipiac?</p>

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<p>Thank you! I really appreciate all the suggestions so far.</p>

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<p>Muhlenberg COA is $54K, and SUNY COAs are in the $20K range, so you’d need $34K/year merit aid to come out equal there. Your scores are average for Muhlenberg, so there is no chance of that happening. You need to be far above the average stats for a college to get merit aid of that magnitude.</p>

<p>Juniata gives 4 scholarships of this magnitude per year, but you have to be a National Merit or Achievement Scholar to apply.</p>

<p>New England is not the place to be looking for merit aid of this magnitude, with your stats.</p>

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<p>well yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have said that I was looking for something comparable to the cost of a SUNY. Just any college that offers a lot of merit aid. </p>

<p>Like one of the other posters mentioned Lesley, which offers guaranteed scholarships that I would qualify for, for $17,500. That would bring the total cost down to like 31,000, which obviously is more than a SUNY but is still considerably low compared to a lot of private colleges.</p>

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<p>My son had a GPA of about 3.3. He was offerd aid from Rogers Williams in RI and also from Westen New England Univ in Springfield, MA.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Look online at schools “for the B student”. You’d be at the top of the pack for those and it might help with merit. Also look at the “colleges that change lives” list, the member college list from QuestBridge and the affliated member college list from A Better Chance. These are all schools with a proven record of supporting “economic diversity”. As NY folk the SUNY schools definately provide some great opportunities…but don’t discount private options. In our “bracket” we received no FA from the two SUNYs my son applied to and it ended up that we’re playing less for a private school with a $50K pricetag than we would for the SUNY. Good luck!!</p>

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<p>You might check into Siena College and Marist College both in NY. Both schools have sticker prices less than most private colleges and you might qualify for some merit aid in order to bring final the price closer to that of a SUNY school.</p>

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<p>A friend of mine got accepted to Siena and was offered 12k a year in merit aid with similar stats to yours (~91 gpa, 29 ACT).</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone. I’m kind of looking to avoid schools with a strong religious affiliation which Siena seems to have. Great suggestions though and I will be sure to check them out.</p>