<p>I am writing for a friend whose s1 is a senior. </p>
<p>They live in OC, make $75k, family of five and are probably correct in that their income probably is just barely over not qualifying for need based aid. </p>
<p>With it so close to Dec 1 when many apps are due, i am trying to find help in selecting some 4 year schools that will award nearly free tuition for her son ( they don't care where in the US) and it can be a 4th or 5th tier school -- since the other option is going to a jr college (as even going to the local state univ is too expensive for them) but they'd prefer a four year college with almost full tuition scholarship if possible.</p>
<p>Stats: 3.33 unweighted/3.43 weighted
SAT 1700 (1110 for critical thinking and math combined) /act 26
son has won awards for vocal performance for southern california</p>
<p>Any suggestions on where to apply at lower tiered schools that has good chance for nearly full tuition scholarship?</p>
<p>With his stats it seems unlikely anywhere. $75K would qualify for lots of need based aid at many schools if the student has good stats. Looks to me like junior college or a CSU with the parents paying what they can, lots of summer work, loans and work study will be his options.</p>
<p>Their income is in the same ballpark as our AGI, with just one kid, and the online calculators are showing us with an EFC barely over $10K, so I’d be surprised if he wasn’t eligible for a good deal of need-based aid.</p>
<p>$75K is the cutoff for a need-based automatic full ride at some elite schools, isn’t it? His stats won’t get him into those places, but certainly they should get him into plenty of places where need-based aid will be available.</p>
<p>I agree that he will probably going qualify for aid but a school to look at is Roger Williams in RI. They are generous with merit money and have surprisingly low thresholds for qualifying. I think it is tier one and has some highly rated programs, not to mention a picturesque location on the ocean.</p>
<p>^^ A lot places will offer about 10k in merit aid, BUT if the school’s COA is 40,000, it does not come close to a full ride. You are still left applying for financial aid to help a little with the 30,000 that is left to pay. Also, IF they live in Cali like the OP, the airfare will add to the costs. Roger Williams would be across the country for this student.</p>
<p>If the EFC is around 10,000 then the only federal need based aid he would qualify for would be loans. The Stafford loan is $5500 for a freshman. To high an EFC for federal grants. So for need based aid it would have to be a school that offers their own institutional aid.</p>
<p>For merit aid I would think it would be a tall order to find a full tuition scholarship with those Stats. Getting a full tuition scholarship usually requires that the Stats put the student in the top few % points for a school and a 26 ACT/3.33 UW GPA is not going to be in the top for many schools. There is probably some money out there. Problem with looking at OOS schools is that the tuition will generally be considerably higher and with those Stats it is possible a scholarship may be found to reduce the additional OOS fees but will probably leave at least the equivilant of instate tuition and probably some part of the OOS fees as well. That plus the additional cost of travel may mean it will not be cheaper than your state Us.</p>
<p>Is he looking at a performing major? If he is a good singer that might open some scholarship doors in the performance area.</p>
<p>The stats aren’t good enough for the elite schools that give full rides to middle income students I’m afraid.</p>
<p>I know that New Mexico Tech is very affordable for OOS students and merit aid does not have very high stats to qualify. I think that the University of New Mexico is the same way.</p>
<p>I just don’t think that there is any way he will qualify for free tuition at any school with his stats. My S had a similar GPA and a much higher ACT and the best he did was qualify for in state tuition with the exception of NMT which was very very affordable. We had a similar family income but lived in a cheaper area of the country. He has loans, we have loans, we’ve made it work. He picked a major where he should have employment after college and will make a decent income. It was the best we could hope for.</p>
<p>Full rides are very very hard to come by. Even at lower ranked schools. He might have to go to community college and transfer to a four year university. There is nothing wrong with this and I know kids who have done it. They are no worse for wear and have a college degree with very little debt.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies. As I am doing my own research for them, I am realizing they might not find much. </p>
<p>Advising them to cast a wide net…Brandon is applying to chapman Univ here in s calif and they are interested but its not likely the cost will get reduced to the nearly full ride. (he is expected to fund college on his own bc they ahve no savings to help him). Their s2 will graduate in 2 1/2 years and I am sure the parents will be more knowledgable by then as to what’s out there college search wise for him, but for s1, they are hitting against a time deadline too.</p>
<p>my kids are more the typical CC high acheivers so i don’t know as much what is available for the B+ type student. Brandon is not sure of his major, maybe vocal maybe not.</p>
<p>mom of 4 try Linfield College in McMinnville OR. My DD was accepted there with a slightly higher GPA, the same ACT and a slightly lower SAT. She was awarded 11K in merit and got a nice need based package too. </p>
<p>The student in questions being a young man his odds are even better and Linfield has a nice Performing ARts dept that may kick in some additional money. It is difinitely worth a call. <a href=“http://www.linfield.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.linfield.edu</a></p>
<p>If Brandon is planning to live and work in CA after he graduates, this family really needs to think through what the value of the degree from the type of college that might give him merit at this point is vs. the JC to CC route open to them in CA.</p>
<p>Momfromtexas found very favorable merit aid for both of her kids. One of them had stats that were not “perfect” and she did a lot of research and found a great school with great aid for him…and more than one, as I recall. You might want to send her a PM…but do read those threads (what I’ve learned about full ride scholarships). Momfromtexas found that there IS favorable merit aid for students with more “average” stats!</p>
<p>I’ve been through the ROTC scholarship process with my DS. The stats the OP listed are not competitive at all for the 4-year scholarships. Besides, it is really too late for the year. The process takes a lot of time and starts the summer before Sr year.</p>
<p>The only school that comes to mind is Miss St. I don’t know if it would be full tuition, but he could get a few stacked on top of each other to pay for most, if not all, of his OOS tuition. </p>
<p>If you go to the website…don’t just look at the automatic OOS scholarships, also look at the competitive ones. Miss St give a lot of those out, too. I was on their campus a week ago, very nice, very pretty, nice facilities.</p>
<p>Chapman offers need-based aid and merit scholarships/grants, but its starting price is pretty steep at $46K. He might look at Whittier which also offers merit scholarships as his stats are within their range of admitted students. Pitzer is a reach and has little in the way of merit scholarships, but they say they meet full need.</p>
<p>Is the student close enough to commute to CSULB?</p>
<p>THat was my thought, vbmom–biting the bullet and living at home can really decrease the cost of a California education, especially if you attend a Cal State.</p>
<p>Look at Univ of Northern Arizona. The OOS tuition is fairly low and they do give some merit aid to OOS students with certain SAT scores.
You might look into lower ranked liberal arts schools that are low on males.</p>