Sticker Price vs Reality

Paying for College
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<p>Daughter entering Senior year of HS, heavy involvement in EC & sports, class VP etc..
Schools that appeal to her seem to be smaller local private schools in New England region.</p>

<p>Most seem to have a sticker price between $30k - $40k. With 2 siblings behind her and not a lot of savings this would be out of reach without heavy discount from school in form of merit scholarships. Initial check of FAFSA showed our income is too high. The State schools seem to have them (merits) available but what about private schools. They all brag how the average student gets $XX amount or XX% but is that mostly offset by true hardship scholarships?</p>

<p>1850 SAT's
3.7 GPA
Top 12% of her class (what we consider very good high school)</p>

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<p>Depends on the schools. You can usually find the info on thier websites. Many private schools do not offer merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>I found most private schools do offer merit aid. My d applied to 12 schools, all offered merit aid. However she was applying to schools that she was well matched to. She concentrated on matches and safeties. She did get accepted to one reach school but little merit aid was offered. The more attractive you are to the school, meaning sitting in their top 10-30% of applicants, the more money you will be offered. Additionally many schools also have named scholarships that you can apply for as well. One piece of advice I learned here was to look for scholastic match, reach and safety schools as well as academic safety, match and reach schools.</p>

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<p>It all depends on the college. Look at the accepted students from last year and check to see where your daughter’s stats line up. If she is at the TOP of the applicant pool, she MIGHT get merit aid from the schools…how much? No one can tell you. If she is applying to colleges where her stats are in the middle of those of accepted students, she likely will not receive merit aid.</p>

<p>We live in the northeast, and I’m trying hard to think of a private college in the northeast with a total sticker price of $30K…the costs instate of a couple of public flagships is approaching that.</p>

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<p>If you don’t mind me asking, mommamocha, which schools offered merit aid and which reach school did not offer much aid? What kind of stats did your d have? I have a similar strategy in that I am concentrating on schools that are still good academic institutions but where I would be in the top percentage of applicants for academics. But I haven’t found many institutions that confessed to offering merit aid specifically. Which schools did your d apply to?</p>

<p>OP, I do not know enough about aid to really answer your question as I recently was told that even if a child is offered merit aid, unless it covers full cost of attendance, it will be added to what the school won’t cover in terms of need based aid. </p>

<p>So if the cost of attendance is 50,000 at an institution that covers 100% of need, and your child receives a 15,000 merit scholarship, and your EFC is 10,000 then they will calculate your financial aid package like this: Cost of attendance - merit scholarship - EFC = Approximate financial aid package.</p>

<p>I do not know if this is true, it is just what I was told.
But that brings up the question, why do they even offer merit scholarships if it replaces financial aid rather than adds to it? How can anyone attend an institution that doesn’t cover 100% of need to begin with? Especially with so many students that arent able to afford schools that cover 100% of need? </p>

<p>It is all very confusing and I still am very unclear on how ANYONE can attend school.</p>

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<p>There are a couple of threads here you all should search and read. First…threads by momfromtexas who found full rides for both of her kiddos. The threads are old but the strategies still apply. Another one is a thread for guaranteed merit awards…it’s someplace. I hope someone else can post the links to them here or that you can search and find them yourselves.</p>

<p>As noted above…in most cases, if your student receives a MERIT award, it will REDUCE their financial need by that amount. SOME schools do allow “stacking” of financial aid awards (need based, merit, outside scholarship) up to the cost of attendance…but most do not. You would need to check the specific policy of each college that your child is applying to.</p>

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<p>The answer to your question mpedigo is that some students don’t qualify for any need-based assistance. The families can finance a big chunk of the cost of a college but not the whole thing and if the family gets a merit scholarship that can make the difference.</p>

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<p>I’ve wondered that too. One thing to do is read the wording carefully. If the school says that the average financial aid award is $XX that doesn’t mean that the average student receives $XX. It means out of the poll of students receiving financial aid the average award is $XX.</p>

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<p>This is an example from College of St. Rose (which I really liked)</p>

<p>Full Time Undergraduate Students:
Full Time Undergraduate Tuition (12-18 credit hours): $24,614.00
Room Fee: $5,176.00
Meal Plan (Plan 2): $5,246.00</p>

<p>They have a “Calculate your scholarship” and with a GPA of 90 and SAT’s over 1600 you get an automatic $14k. This leads me to wonder if sticker prices are just that.</p>

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<p>The total for the year is $36176 for incoming freshmen. If you are guaranteed $14K, your cost would be $22176. You need to add to that the cost of books, transportation and personal expenses…which this college doesn’t list in its cost of attendance figures.</p>

<p>The question…does your STUDENT like College of St. Rose? If so…go for it…if that is an affordable amount for you. This is a good resource for others on CC to see…as the scholarships they offer at College of St. Rose (in Albany NY) are guaranteed based on your GPA/SAT or ACT scores.</p>

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<p>

If you’re drawing an analogy to buying a car, the answer is no. There are some students paying the full price at every college. My S was one–we didn’t qualify for a need based award, and at the school he chose, he wasn’t desirable enough to get a merit award. Of course, that was our choice–he could have found a school where he’d snag a merit award, though he wouldn’t have wanted to go there. (I’ll note that in retrospect he thinks it was crazy for him not to attend our state flagship and save us a boatload of money. It will be interesting to see what happens with his own kids someday.)</p>

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<p>*do not know if this is true, it is just what I was told.
But that brings up the question, why do they even offer merit scholarships if it replaces financial aid rather than adds to it? How can anyone attend an institution that doesn’t cover 100% of need to begin with? Especially with so many students that arent able to afford schools that cover 100% of need? *</p>

<p>1) First of all, many schools that meet 100% of need do not offer merit scholarships…or not many. I think USC is a rare one to offer many.</p>

<p>2) The ones that do offer merit aid and 100% of need are hoping to attract a high stats kid who has “no need.”. So, if a high stats kid with NO need (or very little need) gets a $20k per year scholarship, then that is big savings to his parents.</p>

<p>*1850 SAT’s
3.7 GPA
Top 12% of her class (what we consider very good high school) *</p>

<p>To get enough merit to cover any “need” and then reduce EFC, your D is going to need big merit. </p>

<p>How much CAN you pay each year?</p>

<p>For example:…</p>

<p>Say you can only pay $20k per year, but…</p>

<p>50k = COA<br>
35k = EFC</p>

<p>then…
15k = need (and you’re expected to pay the 35k…but can only pay $20k) :(</p>

<p>But…</p>

<p>If your D were to get a $35k per year tuition scholarship, …then you’d only have to pay $20k per year! </p>

<p>Obviously, it’s going to be hard for an 1850 SAT to get a full tuition scholarship unless you go to a low tier school. </p>

<p>Once you determine how much you can pay each year, your strategy needs to consider THAT amount and finding schools where your D’s stats are considered in the top 10% for the school.</p>

<p>I suggest that she retest…and take the ACT.</p>

<p>Right now, she’s in a gray area…good stats, but not high enough for good sized merit to reduce EFC .</p>

<p>They all brag how the average student gets $XX amount or XX% but is that mostly offset by true hardship scholarships?</p>

<p>Yes, mostly…and also maybe some big merit scholarships for kids with REALLY high stats for the school…like top 5% for the school. So, look at the school’s middle quartile range. Your D’s scores need to be well penetrated in the top quartile for large merit.</p>