<p>I found some sites that had schools with fantastic fin.aid programs, but they are out of my ballpark.</p>
<p>Stats:
GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.252 W
SAT: 1140/1600, 1710/2400
ACT: 24 Composite
Great EC's</p>
<p>I need a private school with those stat's around 47-70% acceptance rate. I cannot find any good colleges with those numbers that have a VERY GOOD fin.aid program. I don't care where it is in the country. Private school is preferable.</p>
<p>Have you looked at Baylor?</p>
<p>stohare…if you are talking about need based aid…the most generous schools are also the most competitive for admissions. I don’t believe your current standardized test scores would automatically put you in the running for admittance to those schools.</p>
<p>If you are looking for merit aid…look for schools where YOUR stats are ABOVE the 75%ile for accepted students.</p>
<p>I’ve been admitted to very competitive schools. I’m confident in my stat’s other than SAT/ACT. I got into NYU (as you saw earlier) so I’m obviously not stupid.</p>
<p>I think NYU only looked at your mom and step dad’s income, is that right? Other privates (that give good aid) will want to look at your dad and step mom’s income. That may hurt your eligibility for FA.</p>
<p>Stohare, you are looking for schools that have generous financial aid programs. Unless you have some outrageous hook, your acceptance to schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, etc would not be a lock at all. These schools accept about 10% of applicants…meaning they do not accept 90% of the applicants. NYU is not in the same league as these schools…and neither is NYU’s financial aid as you found out.</p>
<p>Your GPA is very good. Without knowing anything about your high school, it really is not very meaningful to me. Perhaps there is huge grade inflation at your school…maybe not. BUT the bottom line is your fine GPA is not going to guarantee you admission to these highly competitive schools with the outstanding need based aid.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to be blunt, but even folks with 2000 plus SAT scores do not get accepted into these highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>There ARE other options. Is there a public university in your state with a great honors program (although typically, the SAT/ACT score is used for the cutoff for these programs)? Are there any smaller schools you might consider…how about some of the smaller LAC’s in Ohio, for example…Denison, Ashland, Ohio Wesleyan. You might get some merit aid at these schools.</p>
<p>I have worked WAY to hard to go to a school like that. And, I wasnt referring to any Ivy’s, I mean like U of Virginia maybe?</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll have to settle with IU :(</p>
<p>You have a significant FA problem.</p>
<p>You say that your mom/step’s income is $90k, but they can only contribute between $4k-10k. </p>
<p>*My dad… idk if my mom wants him to. She kind of wants him out of the picture. *</p>
<p>And, you also say that your mom doesnt want your dad involved. Well, for the privates that give good aid, your dad/step will be included. </p>
<p>the problem I see is that you’re going to be given a rather high EFC once those private schools look at both Parents’ incomes.</p>
<p>It is not unusual for families with incomes of $90k to be given EFCs of $30k+.</p>
<p>UVa isn’t going to give you the aid you need with the family incomes your parents have. UVa requires BOTH parents income info to determine aid.</p>
<p>I have worked WAY to hard to go to a school like that.</p>
<p>Which school is that?</p>
<p>Well I cant pay that…
I wont get into the honors college at IU though because of low SAT/ACT scores…</p>
<p>Oh well, I’ll have my phone convo with NYU on Wednesday next week and see what they say.</p>
<p>Oh, and the FAFSA does not ask for my dad/step mom’s information. My mom told me this, cause she did it for my brother last year.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have a brother in college too…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>IU is a great school. It has a huge variety of majors and lots to do. Even if many kids from your current school go there…there will be PLENTY of others who did not. It’s not a tiny place. There are kids who are from OOS who would be thrilled to get accepted to IU.</p>
<p>I guess the “grass is always greener”. </p>
<p>Wait until after your conversation with NYU…and also have that chat with the parents. You need to KNOW what they can and will contribute.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ll have to do that tonight with the parents. </p>
<p>I dont see my dad at all hardly so I have NO CLUE what his financial situation is like.
College sucks when you’re parents file bankruptcy…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You are right…FAFSA does NOT ask for non-custodial parent and spouse information BUT schools with very generous financial aid programs sometimes require the Profile in addition to the FAFSA. These schools are giving THEIR money away…not just federal dollars…and they want information from EVERYONE. There are some profile schools that do not require the non-custodial parent form (which will include the step mom too)…but you need to check the schools to know what they require.</p>
<p>Hmm… I wish college was free like in France… oh I can dream. Haha.</p>
<p>FAFSA doesn’t ask for your (NCP) dad’s income, BUT the privates that give the best aid usually require CSS PROFILE and do require both parents’ info.</p>
<p>If your brother goes to a public school, then usually only a FAFSA is needed (so only mom’s income). But, if you go to a private that gives generous aid, usually they insist on seeing all parents’ incomes - either by requiring CSS Profile or their own form.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll win the lottery and wont have to worry about it… lol… but not really.
Ugh, idk…</p>
<p>*I dont see my dad at all hardly so I have NO CLUE what his financial situation is like.
*</p>
<p>If your dad is not an “involved dad,” then you’ll have a problem at most privates that give great aid. They will want his income/assets income, yet it’s unlikely he’ll contribute. This could backfire on you. His income could cause your EFC to rise and then you’d get even less FA.</p>
<p>Which in-state public will have the least number of your classmates attending? IU or Purdue? Do you live closer to one than the other? Both are big schools. Typically, when attending big schools, you don’t see old classmates that often. These schools are just too big; it’s not like high school where you have the same kids in your class all the time. </p>
<p>My kids don’t have their former classmates in their classes at their college.</p>
<p>They’re about the same distance away (1.5 hours). I would greatly prefer to go to IU, because Purdue focuses more on engineering/math while IU focues more on liberal arts and business. Since I want to study political science, IU is better. I’ve been accepted to both however. But, have not received fin.aid info from either yet.</p>
<p>Do you know what your EFC is?</p>
<p>The COA for in-state students at IU is $20,097.</p>
<p>Nope, they do all that with the FAFSA, which I cannot file yet.
So, I’ll have to wait for now.</p>