@brokeparent1970 I have been following this woman who offers free webinars teaching parents how to go about finding a financial and “right” fit for students and families, her website is http://www.thecollegesolution.com. Your post reminded me of her webinars because she used NYU as one of her examples. She says “don’t let the kid drive the process” or you will pay dearly. I took this advice to heart and am now waiting on acceptances for my daughter who is a HS senior. Her webinars are free, she sells access to classes to make money. I found the webinars to be very educational for me. I think I watched three webinars, they are fairly similar so if you can find one on the website you will get the gist of what she has to say. Best of luck!
@Sybylla That is a conversation I would have had to have had years ago. But I told him from the time he was in middle school, it was his responsibility to do his work and study to get into a good school, and my responsibility to pay for wherever he gets in. He chose NYU and applied Early Decision, so we’ll find out in five days if he has been accepted, and if so, he’s going. If he doesn’t get in there, the next three schools on his list are just as expensive (although, he’ll get some merit-based aid from two of them based on his outstanding grades and test scores). Assuming NYU is a go, I have two years covered (because I’ve been saving since he was born). He’ll work to pay for some, and I’ll pay for the rest with loans over the next ten years.
@enginmom4 We live in New York, so there are decent SUNY schools that are cheap for in-state residents. But none of them are known for specializing in his chosen field. There are about ten schools that do and 8 of them are private. College didn’t matter to my parents because they never went. So I was left to my own devices when I was 18. I decided then that it would be different for my kids. My son worked really hard in school so far and will go the college he deserves, even if I have to delay retirement to pay for it.
@brokeparent1970 - I wouldn’t phrase it as “will go to the college he deserves,” as though a kid “deserves” to go to an expensive college just because he decides it’s a good choice (with all the wisdom of an adolescent).
I have three kids. The oldest one is a senior at Princeton. He got the only kinds of merit available to go to Princeton, i.e. an independent NM $2500 scholarship from the NM corporation and a year of credits from APs saving us a year of tuition.
In our family, certainly the kids work hard, and certainly DH and I would love to give them every opportunity we can. But everyone always knew going in that money was an ingredient, and DS1 chose wise safeties that he would have been perfectly happy attending, including for example an early/rolling application to UPitt, so he had a financial and actual safety in hand by October (with merit aid). None of us would have thought him treated unfairly if he’d ended up at any of his applied schools, including the safest ones.
We were lucky that P offered very fair need-based aid to us, and it was possible to make it a reality. But we avoided all talk of “deserving,” “dream schools,” “best possible,” and so forth.
D19 is into Parsons with $24,000 a year in merit, about the most they offer (roughly half of tuition, not counting room and board or expenses). We’re very excited!
I haven’t read this whole thread, but Susquehanna has been very generous. My twin D19s have both been offered Presidential scholarships for $37,000 per year.
Just confirming @Britmom5 and Susquehanna; my son received the same $37K scholarship. Very surprising school.
I have Sons - not daughters. Don’t know how I did that! Lol
@brokeparent1970 Did your son get accepted ED? What have you decided to do? I have a friend who was recruited for a sport, and the coach assured the kid and his parents that they would receive half tuition merit. They were offered NOTHING. Just a bunch of loans. What a bait and switch!
Ohio Wesleyan has a great scholarship called The Branch Rickey Scholarship. Auto $30k per year with 3.4 UW and 1150 SAT.
I have a high stat kid. 34 ACT.
So far in this process we have gotten the following schools to have a COA under $20K. Please note: my COA is without books, transportation and personal expenses. For the most part those expenses are my D19’s worry.
Miami OH
Missouri S&T
Kent State
Alabama
St. Johns(NY)
Hoping to get some others.
Jellybean5 -
Thank you for the webinar link, I feel so overwhelmed with this process with our 1st S19 going to college this fall. I need all the help I can get
Our 3rd of three kids is a Junior in HS (the other two are underclassmen working on their Bachelors degrees now). She is looking to study Computer Science. Our budget is $25-30K per year, figuring four years which should be do-able considering she’ll be starting with a good number of AP credits (1 as a sophomore, 5 as a junior, probably just 3 as a senior as she is pursuing a research internship that will require her to leave two class periods early, and she’ll use the available timeslots to take AP Physics, AP Calc BC and AP English, plus the two classes she has left in the Comp Sci career academy which aren’t AP). She has looked at big schools and small schools and wants to go to a big school–she has said if it doesn’t have a marching band it’s not big enough. She seems to like schools with a lot of school spirit. Not a tech school, because she wants options in case she doesn’t like Comp Sci. Her unweighted GPA is 3.5, weighted GPA is 4.2 (end of sophomore year), she’s taken the SAT once and got 1410 (plans to take it again). Not sure what her class rank is, but it’s probably between top 15 and 25 percent. She’s active in the HS band (leadership roles), captain of a self organized HS club sport (played all 3 years), NHS member, members of music, math and tech honor societies, very active in the robotics club (she just started robotics this year), hoping to complete her GS Gold Award, and will probably have two impressive internships on her resume by the time she applies to college next fall. She’s a go-getter. She’s ideally looking to go somewhere that’s 6-8 hrs from the DC area. Somewhere that doesn’t have a reputation for lacking diversity. Ideally somewhere that there’s opportunities nearby (near a city, not necessarily IN the city, the outskirts of the city are fine). Not somewhere that is really super cold or really super hot.
Her list currently includes NC State, U of South Carolina, U of Maryland (in-state for us) and Ohio State. I’m having trouble determining if Rutgers New Brunswick, or NC State give any significant amount of merit aid to non-residents. We’d appreciate feedback on that, and any other suggestions of places to consider that offer good merit aid to non-residents.
My S18 is at NCSU. I haven’t heard of significant merit there but they do have some. Worth investigating.
UW 3.5 with sat of 1410 is unlikely to garner merit at desirable schools especially in CS where the standards are already higher. If you want real merit you need to find schools that will look at her weighted GPA and for sure she can improve her test score. That means looking at schools that are not necessarily desirable. Shore up local affordable options. I think too, understand that all the EC holistic stuff is more relevant for the super stats kids looking at highly selective schools. Don’t expect that stuff to be a deal breaker for normal kids.
Check out the University of Cincinnati National Outreach Award. Also the ability to co-op will help with costs.
@StrGzrMaryland – You kid should apply to NC State early action. Once accepted, they invite ‘top kids’ to complete another application (but I don’t think it’s onerous) to be considered for scholarships and honors programs. Not sure how much goes to OOS as we are in-state.
Good luck!!
@StrGzrMaryland - I agree with @Sybylla - the schools on your current list are unlikely to give big merit $ for CS. Look for programs where your daughter’s stats put her above the 75th percentile. Cincinnati would be worth a look. U of Akron would be another. Also, some of the big schools down south if she can get that SAT score up. Also look at your non flagship, instate options - UMD BC, St. Mary’s, etc…
-
Don’t know if anyone mentioned Michigan State. The school has very generous merit scholarships for OOS too. The criteria are all based entirely on GPA and SAT/ACT. If accepted into the Honor College, the student even gets $5k toward study abroad; and, if the student were the top of the tops, he is invited on campus to take the ADS (alumni distinguish scholarship) exam. The ADS covers everything.
-
Iowa State has a very low OS cost of attendance plus excellent merit scholarship too.
Case Western, gave my daughter 25 per year, same grades as your daughter, 34 ACT, engineering student