What I am getting at is what is the most you are willing to pay out of pocket in $$? After the employer piece and merit.
I think that question is why there are so many posts on this thread. That metric/calculation is what many posters think is important, but which does not seem to be part of this familyâs calculation.
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So itâs not just me! For what it is worth, when we did our college comparisons we did not pay much attention to the merit award $. Everything came down to the remaining COA⊠what would come out of our bank account.
Calculations would be closer to following:
Tuition is $52K. Half of tuition is $26k. Let say taxes are 40 %. Company will give us after taxes 15.6K. If she will get $27K merit. We have left for tuition 52-27-15.6=9.4K
Room and board with fees are $15k. Family cost is give or take $25K. We can do it.
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What school will give her a $40,000 merit scholarship?
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Thank you so much. This makes perfect sense.
For purposes of this anonymous internet forum, would it be acceptable to suggest any options with the possibility of getting under $30k family cost?
I am going to send you a PM with my D21âs stats and results last year. Different year and different kid but hopefully will give you some idea of what to expect.
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It depends will she get different scholarships. It is possible at Ursinus. It is possible at some other schools. In most cases $35K will do the trick too.
Ah, I see. The thing about factoring in the tax bite, since the company grant is after taxes, is that anything thatâs not coming out of the 529 is also entirely after tax. So whether youâre paying it out of pocket, or out of the company grant, youâre still paying that with after-tax dollars. Whether company gives you 26K, or you pay 26K from your earnings or bank account, youâre still going to be paying it with after tax dollars that you earned, and hence paid income tax on.
If youâre in a high bracket, you probably donât qualify for need-based aid. Again, if youâre chasing merit money, sheâs gonna have to apply to schools where she brings up their stats, meaning 3rd tier private schools. When I think of 3rd tier private schools that might offer her superb merit money (like full tuition), but have significant Jewish life, again, U Hartford comes to mind.
From what you describe, College Park is still her best option. If she submits by Nov 1, she might even get merit money there. Muhlenberg is a good choice, in terms of academics and Jewish life, but I donât think theyâll give much merit money, but they might. Same goes for Union.
If she is planning on being a pediatrician, she REALLY needs to preserve money for med school. Pediatrics is the absolutely lowest paid specialty, so she really must plan ahead to keep loans for med school to a minimum. She should be looking into outside private scholarship money over the summer. Applications wonât be due likely at least until December, but she can start researching, and writing her essays, so that she wonât be under time pressure while in senior year classes.
From our experience all outside scholarships are waste of time unless you are URM or have financial need, or have some connection with that particular organization (so it is not open to everyone). My oldest daughter spent enormous amount of time and got nothing out of it.
I personally will not recommend anybody to spend time on generic scholarships. My daughter would be better offer volunteering or working. Spending time for nothing is very destructive.
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I would recommend looking at smaller, local scholarships. I work in education and have heard of numerous local scholarships (for the metro area) that only get a couple of applications, because theyâre not âworthâ it to others who only want to apply for bigger scholarships. But each one might be $500 or $1000 (or more) and that definitely can add up. With respect to big national scholarships, I agree that odds are very long indeed.
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I didnât mean general, no special focus, national scholarships! I totally agree with you that those are a complete waste of time. The scholarships would have to not be need based, and match up with some interest or activity of hers. My kids had some success with local, special-interest scholarships. For example, there might be a local Federation scholarship for kids planning on heading into less lucrative areas of medicine. Thatâs where the research component comes in.
So true! My spouse is on the board for one of those, and they have a devil of a time getting enough applications, nay, any submissions for an annual scholarship that they offer in our adjacent inner city, even though they send out notices to all the high schools in the city.
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When you say half ride - there is no school out there that Iâm aware of - thatâs $80K in tuition.
You may get a $50K school give you $40K - perhaps one of the Colleges that Changes Lives - but I doubt it.
The $80K colleges - are $80K including room and board.
All I know is College of Charleston is $34K out of state and my daughter is getting $37K. One of my daughterâs friends is in pre-med- getting his butt kicked in organic chemâŠbut he got into Rice, Penn, and Vandy - but for some reason chose where he did. Heâs in state to there.
There are other options - but you have to be willing to put in the time to look at each school. Research. Look at $$ they give on Common Data Set. It may be a school like UAH or UTC - UAH for sure can be cheap - with Test score - or FAU Honors in Jupiter, etc.
As for UMD being a safety - can you explain again? I know you did once. There are kids with near 4.0 and 1500 SAT getting rejected - so just want to ensure it truly is a safety.
It and Florida State are now both in the - not a safety for anyone - camp as far I can tell.
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I think the U of Hartford is an excellent suggestion. Itâs a school with a large Jewish population and it may give her the merit she is seeking.
I was just going to mention College of CharlestonâŠ
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@tsbna44 Iâm with you! Weâre in Texas, and unless youâre Top 6% (UT) or Top 10% (Texas A&M) of your graduating class-class rank-chances are slim youâll get in. Top 6% at Texas guarantees acceptance, BUT not acceptance to your chosen major. Iâm following an A&M thread right now, and kids with 1360-1400+ and/or 11% rank are getting denied. Both schools have holistic admissions, outside of automatic rank acceptance. If you go to a school that doesnât rank, even if youâre top of the class, you get thrown into holistic.
And my stars, unless youâre need based or NatMerit at A&M, donât count on any 
; Texas doesnât even give for NatMerit.
This whole thread boggles my brain. I canât imagine considering any school a âsafetyâ, without even taking ACT or ACT yet.
Arenât there other Texas public universities that have automatic admission criteria that extend to greater ranges of class rank than top 10%? While they may be in combination with SAT or ACT scores, many of them do not have particularly high SAT or ACT scores that, in combination with class rank, qualify for automatic admission.
It is safety because DD is dual enrolled in CC. She has 4.0 in CC and can transfer to UMD with their transfer agreement in one semester. If we end up there, she may take for one extra semester some classes (not premed related) like Communication, Ethics, Nutrition etc. and transfer. It is pretty much guaranteed transfer with GPA above 3.0. So UMD is true safety.
We can add St. Maryâs for another safety and transfer to UMD after a year, but that makes little sense.
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Yes, definitely many other state universities, UT and A&M are the âflagshipsâ, the largest.
Class of 2021 in UMD was totally test optional. Pretty much Class of 2022 is also test optional.
After that all kids decided not to provide SAT to UMD for 2023. 70% kids will apply test optional.
If DD transfer from CC she does not even need SAT or essay. She is automatically in with 30 credits and GPA above 3.0 or something like that.
I meant class that entered in 2021 and will enter in 2022. School is not even pushing ACT or SAT anymore, since current juniors do not need test scores to any schools in the area. There is no any single school on DD list that requires score for fall of 2023. Only kids with scores over 1500 provide scores.