Looking to augment our application list to lesser known/thought of schools with great merit. My idea of great merit would be reasonable chance of getting tuition 75-100% covered. I know of all the big state schools to try, U of Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas etc… But I’m looking for some lesser known gems that you have run into. My contribution to this project is Central Michigan University, Toledo University, UT Rio Grande and UT San Antonio.
if it helps, We live in Texas, but will probably be moving to Michigan after her graduation. My student is 1 out of 141, W 5.65 (it’s weird 4.0 reg coursework, 5.0 Honors and 6.0 Dual Credit, we don’t have AP) She will have about 54 DC hours all A’s and 15 Honors. Multiple average EC and honors; StuCo, NHS, @200 outside volunteer hours, Regional and Area honors for music and art. We have not done significant work on tests, but from what we have done 1350-1450? SAT
We prefer rural, honors programming (generally more scholarships) small discussion base classes, but no deal breakers. She is looking to major in biology with long-term goal of medical school. we will be heavily applying to Texas schools Due to valedictorian get first year tuition free at state schools, but she would really prefer somewhere green and beautiful up north.
With a contemplated move, you might hunt for schools that give in-state rates for her stats so you don’t run into residency issues. During our search, some big automatic merit (on top of qualifying for in-state rates) we found was at University of Central Arkansas, Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State, University of Nebraska-Kearney. You’d have to check their websites because it’s been a couple of years. We only visited UCA but it was beautiful. We definitely were after merit and not prestige.
What is your budget? If you’re interested in Midwest, prices can be reasonable even without huge merit. Truman State has a good academic reputation and the auto merit should get her just under $20K. My DD’s stats (lower than yours) got her down to around $25K at most small privates around Iowa.
I am trying my best to keep it around $10,000 a year. She can work to pay @ 1/2 and I can pay other. We will not qualify for any aid at most schools. We are trying hard to graduate undergrad debt free. I know it’s a reach, but some of these smaller U’s it is definitely a possibility, even without perfect stats
Consider Washington & Jefferson relatively near Pittsburgh. I can’t say they will get it down to 10K without need based being part of it, but it might be worth a shot.
Wyoming would give her great merit (and it’s cheap to begin with). Everything in Wyoming is rural.
Nebraska gives pretty good merit.
Wisconsin has a lot of schools around the state that are smaller and pretty inexpensive - Eau Claire, Stevens Point, Oshkosh, Whitewater. Most have a few subjects they are good in, or have a nursing school, forestry, etc.
Southeast Missouri came close to that for us. I tried to check it out again and I’m not sure but she should qualify for the in-state rates and the $5000 Copper Dome? One reason DD didn’t go there was transportation (2 hour bus ride after landing in St. Louis, or driving ALL the way across MO herself). Something to think about as we found those offering big merit were kind of out of the way!
Central Arkansas came in at $9K for us but I think they’ve changed their scholarships.
So, your hoped for figures are similar to ours so I’ll tell you how it’s working out for us. She’s at a Midwest regional public where the COA is about $16K after automatic merit, no need based aid. She has some money in savings. Freshman year she had to live on campus, but she earned about $7200 in one-time outside and competitive scholarships. I split the remaining cost with her. Sophomore year she moved off campus and that saves about $4K/year (another benefit of small town Midwest is low rents).
I pay $2500/semester to tuition and the remaining $1500 either comes from her savings or scholarships. She applies for the school’s foundation/departmental scholarships every year. I get $2500/year back on taxes with the tax credit so my net cost is $2500/year. So if you can pay $5000/year net, you could pay $7500 toward tuition and get the credit back. (Maybe bumping up the total COA you can handle.) She pays rent, utilities, and groceries too.
DD has gotten some extra help- the R&B refund in March 2020, CARES Act payments from college, stimulus I shared, and a very well paying job summer 2020. Those things allowed her to only have to work during breaks and not during the school year, which she could have done if needed. She is now working during her junior year to keep up on her rent. But she is also graduating almost a year early due to dual enrollment credits so that helps too. No debt!
The “directional” schools in Illinois – Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Eastern Illinois, and Western Illinois – make no distinction between in-state and OOS applicants. They may also have some good merit available; but you will need to run the NPC for each school.
Unfortunately, we will not qualify for any significant aid. I’m assuming from calculators that we will have and EFC @$50-60,000.
We are going to apply to many Texas schools not only cheaper overall, but if she continues to hold her valedictorian spot, she get freshman tuition waiver. She is very practical and cost, within reason, is her number one priority. However, she really is working hard to find northern university that is in the same price range that has what she needs to succeed and move on to grad school. Honestly, we visited Central Michigan and she really loves it. OOS same as residents and they have amazing merit, but I am trying to find as many options for her to apply to as I can, to make sure she has options and fall backs
The issue with sending her to a school “beneath” her and a directional at that is she’ll be with mainly locals - and she may not find her crowd.
At $50-60K, you can find a ton of schools - and frankly much much cheaper. May not free but under $40K - like Miami of Ohio. And schools under $30K like U of SC, etc. and I’m sure many more.
Umn Morris is a public LAC, excellent for science, has merit, and very low tuition.
Look into UMW in VA? They have a table with automatic scholarships.
Same as Truman State.
Hendrix should match your instate tuition and has competitive merit scholarships.
Would she be okay with technical colleges that are seeking more female applicants ? Rpi, rit, wpi, njit, florida tech? Scholarships deadlines may have been yesterday but check.
UMass Lowell has full tuition scholarships but I don’t know if it’d go as low as your price point and it might be a bit too big.
Same thing for SUNY Plattsburgh, UMN Duluth.
All 3 are solid academically though.
Wondering if you shouldn’t add a few “free to apply” private colleges? Like Augustana IL, Concordia Moorhead, Roanoke, Knox?
You have to be careful if she’s aiming for grad school or med school: not all college courses are the same. This is especially true in the humanities (you cannot do the same type of reading and process writing work with students whose average verbal is 480 and with a class where the average is about 700) but also true in science: some universities will dig deeper into an AP Bio general class and move further for Gen Bio 2, some will cover that material in a semester, and some will dilute it greatly…
Grad schools will look at the advanced classes taken; the MCAT will suppose a certain background that has been mastered (the MCAT supposes specific personal study in addition to classes but the background needs to be there.)
University of Rhode Island is a pretty, traditional New England campus. At approx 14k students and a decent oos population, it’s not huge as state flagships go. They are very transparent with their criteria for merit scholarships, which are very generous, including the Ryan Scholarship which is full tuition for 4 yrs. They also have an honors program that I was quite impressed with when ds20 spent a day in one of their honors program admissions events pre-Covid. We are oos and it would have been the least expensive school of all the schools he was accepted to, including those in-state for us.
Not AS generous with merit but generous nonetheless was UVM, where he is now. (Spent freshman year online at UMass Amherst and xferred). It’s gorgeous, in a vibrant small city surrounded by mountains on a lake, and has a well-respected honors college. About 11k undergrads. Strong in the sciences with a medical school and major hospital basically on campus. It’s also about 50 percent oos. Your dd’s stats are stronger than his, so I would imagine she would receive an even stronger package.
Clarkson University is small, rural, and very North (adjacent to the Adirondacks). Typically an engineering school, but definitely has biology, an honors program, and a direct admit PA program as well. They give fantastic merit aid up to full cost of attendance for a select few.
