I am a high school senior and I’m beginning to send in applications to colleges all around the north-east (and one in Florida). I know pretty much know what schools I can get into easily and what schools will be a little harder. I am not a partier but I am pretty social; I love making friends and hanging out with a wide variety of people. I have an anxiety disorder though, which makes the whole college process 1000 times more nervewracking, stressful, and scary for me. I love learning and I love school, so I tried to pick schools with a huge focus on education.
With that being said, my two top choices for schools are University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). I love both schools and when I stepped on each campus I could easily see myself going there. The only problem I have with UMBC is that it’s a little far away from my home and the only problem I have with TCNJ is that there is no wifi in the dorms.
Can anyone give me some advice on how to pick a school for when the time comes? I’d really appreciate it.
What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year ?
What is your home state? You have at least one OOS school on your list.
What is the Florida school?
They said they’ll pay for whatever school I want to go to, as long as it isn’t insane like 70,000 dollars. They prefer to stay below 35,000 but my top two go higher than that.
I’m from NY so both of those are out of state because I don’t really like the state schools I have been to, and the Florida school is Eckerd College.
Have you run the Net Price Calculators for each college on your list?
For the 2015-2016 school year, Eckerd College costs $50,900 for tuition, housing, meal plan and activity fee. When you add your flights from New York, textbooks and personal expenses, you are far above $35K and not that far from the cost your parents consider “insane.”
No I haven’t, should I do that?
I’m only applying to Eckerd because my parents want to see if I can get in, I’m kind of a homebody anyways so I’d never be able to go that far away from home.
Absolutely. And for any colleges that others suggest. If the NPC for your two top schools comes out at more than $35k (sounds as if you expect them to), you need to add at least some that do fit in the budget.
Okay, thank you!!
If you haven’t compared either of these schools with SUNY-Geneseo, you should do so.
How are your grades and test scores? FWIW, my daughter, a solid bright B/B+ student with a nice test score received around $20,000 in merit aid from Eckerd. So, it may not be an insane cost for you although it’s very far from home. We visited the school. Not the greatest architecture but the students were friendly and generous with help. The beach with the boat house and pet friendly dorm were also draws for my daughter. Don’t dismiss it.
When deciding (in the spring, not now), my daughter visited her top three choices. I accompanied her on two trips and she visited the third on her own. She picked the third school. Visiting on her own may actually helped because she learned she could travel by herself - it was her first time doing so - and gained more self-confidence from the experience.
Suny Geneseo is a very nice school and a peer in many ways to TCNJ. Geneseo has that charm lacking in the other SUNY schools. I passed through a number of years ago.
Eckerd can be generous with merit aid for a desired student.
TCNJ gives merit money to OOS students. SUNY Geneseo is a lovely school that will come in at less than $35,000.
The cost of Geneseo to a NY resident is substantially less than a likely case scenario at TCNJ.
How would you know? Did you visit the campus?
You could have a DIY Wifi if the dorms have “wired” network.
I forgot that this student lives in NY.
From [TCNJ’s Residence Hall FAQs](Residence Hall FAQs | Residential Education and Housing)
So basically if you go to TCNJ, just buy an ethernet cord or two. Sucks for smart phones, but doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal.
No wi-fi would be a deal breaker for my lot!
OP, have you give any thought to New College of Florida? IMHO, it is a much better alternative to Eckerd College and they give good merit aid to OOS students.
Actually yes I have thought of New College of Florida, I haven’t been able to visit or anything because I don’t have the money /:
I have a 96.8 GPA (out of 100) and I don’t know what that converts to because my school doesn’t do it that way, but then I took the SAT and got 690 in writing, 630 on math, and 660 on reading