<p>Harvard does not consider principal residence equity.</p>
<p>Neither does Princeton. Yales policy isn’t clear.</p>
<p>I was surprised that no one thinks private, merit based scholarships are going to make much of a difference.</p>
<p>Because…private scholarships are:</p>
<p>often for only freshman year (so how do you close the gaps for years 2, 3, and 4?)</p>
<p>often for small amounts…so not enough to cover the gap you need to cover.</p>
<p>often have a “need” component (which means with your income, no consideration).</p>
<p>often are very hard to win.</p>
<p>Often get applied to “need” first Which means the school is just going to reduce your D’s award. It’s not like the school is still going to give you the same aid, and then leet you apply a private scholarship to your contribution.</p>
<p>The deadline for most of the private scholarships for this upcoming academic year has passed.</p>
<p>Just FYI, when my dd toured Seattle university her hostess was a gal in your situation. SU offered her full ride at the honors college, and she had an excellent experience. Princeton had offered her no aide. She had incredible opportunities at SU, and felt that it turned out to be a far better choice.</p>
<p>@EVV,</p>
<p>We are in somewhat the opposite situation you have described. We let our D attend the great social experiment that are the CA public schools, and now have enough to send to her anywhere she is accepted. We have a relatively low salary but have saved too much to qualify for any FA. If we had it to do over, we would have invested the money in a quality K-12 education.</p>
<p>“You don’t want to live in Queens, it is a very ‘iffy’ area…the home you chose not only comes with 4 bedrooms, but also with 4 kevlar vests”</p>
<p>Hey! I grew up there! And so did a lot of names you would recognize!</p>
<p>Here’s another story - personal. I wanted to attend Columbia for undergrad; couldn’t afford it. I went to a SLAC on a full scholarship. Guess where I am for my PhD? Best thing is I’m only $24K in debt.</p>
<p>I do have to say that desipte geographic cost differences, $175K is a lot of money anywhere. It may not be a lot relative to other upper-middle-class and wealthy families who can afford to go to Yale, but in absolute terms it is “a lot.” That doesn’t mean that it’s enough to afford Yale, though, which is understandable.</p>
<p>Is your daughter at all interested in attending a women’s college? Women’s colleges like Smith, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr and Wellesley have beautiful campuses, engaged and intellectual students, are usually nearby co-ed colleges, and often give a lot of aid. I went to a women’s college myself.</p>
<p>If she hurries she can apply to Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, by the scholarship deadline - it’s January 15. I applied there in 2004 - while ago - but they give very good financial aid; I got a full tuition scholarship there (3.6 GPA, 1460 SAT on the old test, good but not excellent extracurriculars - it’s not the place I went, though) and a friend with slightly higher stats got a full scholarship (tuition, fees, room, board) and graduated from there in 2008. The campus is absolutely beautiful; the dorm rooms are huge; there’s lots of tradition there and the women are amazing and so nice.</p>
<p>A little OT, but I also have to agree with Shrinkrap in saying “…??” to qdogra’s comments…makes me wonder if s/he has actually ever been to Queens. Queens has a lot of nice, upper-income areas, and especially if you go out towards Long Island people live in brownstones and large houses on quiet, tree-lined streets. Not quite the suburbs, but better :)</p>
<p>And even without An upper income, which I didn’t have, but didn’t know, growing up, it is still access to some experiences that folks outside of nyc could only imagine. And with a working class perspective. </p>
<p>Did I choose to my raise my kids there? No. But do I appreciate where I came from? Insert explicative …yeah! , here.</p>
<p>There are nice places in Queen, but not south Ozone Park.</p>
<p>It’s not just about nice places; it’s also about nice opportunities, right? I’m pretty sure where I grew up had a worse reputation than S Ozone Park, but if you had the right stuff, you could get yourself to Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, HS of Performing Arts, Music and Arts, and a variety of youth orchestra, youth dance, and many more opportunities. Public schools, without parental support, without a car.</p>
<p>The median home price in the zip code that includes South Ozone Park is >$350,000.</p>
<p>It’s not exactly a slum.</p>
<p>350k is NO indication of what that area is like,housing in NYC and the 5 boroughs is ridiculously overpriced…and yes, there are parts of Queens that are nice,but NOT South Ozone park</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, the times are a changin’…what you experienced in your formative years,is NOTHING like that today in Queens,particularly In South Ozone Park…i bet you wouldn’t live there for free…</p>
<p>@Mom2collegekids:
Re USC, my friend’s son currently attends USC. According to him, there are many kids who chose USC trustee scholarship (full tuition for four years) over HYPSM. </p>
<p>@& EnVinoVeritas:
Congratulations to your daughter and good luck to her. I am sure she will have many great opportunities.</p>
<p>*@Mom2collegekids:
Re USC, my friend’s son currently attends USC. According to him, there are many kids who chose USC trustee scholarship (full tuition for four years) over HYPSM. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Heck yes! If you’re a full pay family and it will be difficult to actually full pay, who the heck wouldn’t grab the full tuition from USC and then just pay for room, board, and books? $55k vs less than $20k. :)</p>
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<p>[Is</a> South Ozone Park, NY a bad neighborhood now? - Yahoo! Answers](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/question/index?qid=20090730185539AAtq2VB]Is”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/question/index?qid=20090730185539AAtq2VB)</p>
<p>Yikes, how many people have you ever met who admitted the area they live in is not so good? Few, somtake the above with a grain of salt…As someone who has been there,you don’t want to live there…and more factually,someone like yourself from the middle of the country,your head would spin just driving thru this area…and not unlike many older areas of NYC vicinity, it was ok a few generations ago…time has taken its toll</p>
<p>Isn’t OP in CA? Neighborhoods in NYC probably aren’t so relevant. ;)</p>
<p>The yahoo answers post is 2 years old. Here’s a more contemporaneous discussion of quality of life in Ozone Park [South</a> Ozone Park (New York, York: section 8, apartment, buying a house) - City-Data Forum](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/1309561-south-ozone-park.html]South”>South Ozone Park (New York, York: section 8, apartment, buying a house) - New York City - (NY) - City-Data Forum)</p>
<p>OP, is your D also applying to Harvard and Princeton? It would be interesting to see how their FA award would compare with Yale’s, if she was accepted to either H or P.</p>
<p>I also suggest she look at women’s colleges for merit aid, though Wellesley does not offer any (purely need-based). </p>
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<p>Perhaps not exactly what the Queens Chamber of Commerce was looking for when they wanted to find a new slogan for their website…;)</p>