Bravo @Mom2aphysicsgeek! That post should be pinned!
This is a great posts. Love it
OP, Mt Holyoke offers a full tuition scholarship that is competitive but nowhere near the competition for the Duke or Vandy scholarship. With the direct student loan, a part time job and perhaps a small outside scholarship it might work.
Also look at the full ride LEEP scholarship at Clark University (in MA.)
There are full rides scholarships at several smaller schools but you have to investigate if they have the programs you are looking for and/or the opportunities. The benefit with the large flagship type universities in the south is that they might not offer the “fit” that a student has in mind (which might end up being not true at all) but they do offer the depth in academics and the opportunities that a large research university offers. It is always a give and take and greatly depends on the particular student.
Since you live in Minnesota, you should know that University of Minnesota-Morris is also an often recommended public liberal arts college. Between that and Truman, which offers many scholarships and work-study, you have the low-list price schools covered. If you can determine that those are affordable even with modest loans, at list then you have safeties while you pursue better scholarships.
@Momto2girls : your daughter must now have all her acceptances and scholarships. Can you update your thread?
(Note that this is a thread from 2017 - Op’s daughter is now a senior who has probably made a decision.)
The great news is that your daughter is a strong student and will likely qualify for merit-based scholarships somewhere if her test scores check out. Maybe not her first choice but a good choice. Especially if National Merit happens.
You should start with your in-state option. I don’t remember seeing mention of where you live. Also many states are in consortia with other states for in-state or reduced OOS tuition. Wisconsin and Minnesota have reciprocity, for example. Western states (minus TX) are in the WUE consortium. States like NY and NJ have initiated new financial assistance programs for college.
With a 10K budget, it sounds like you are looking for full tuition awards. Full rides are possible but increasingly rare. Full tuition would leave around 15K left over to pay for room, board, books, incidentals. With a federal student loan and work study that would be doable with your 10K contribution
You might also run the numbers at some meets full need schools that have more generous notions of need - just to see where the numbers fall. Harvard, Stanford, etc. Given that you have minimal assets and retirement and no home, your numbers at CSS profile schools (where assets, retirement, etc. are also assessed) might turn out better than you think.
Hopefully OP will update!
Yes, I hope she will because it’s a common situation and the more parents and kids read about ways to solve the problem, the better.
Glad someone brought this thread back up, these arebthebtypes of threads that in my opinion are most helpful on this website.
OP’s D was a rising junior in May 2017, so still has her senior year of HS ahead of her…