<p>Our HS junior S in Georgia has told us that he'd be interested in considering going to the West for college. We're the classic middle-class family that probably wouldn't qualify for need-based aid but couldn't just write a $50K per year check, so that could be limiting. Based on his sophomore scores, S should be a National Merit Finalist. I'd anticipate that he'll probably wind up in the 2200+ SAT range with unweighted grades around 3.8-3.9; he finished the HS math curriculum as an 8th grader and began taking Calculus at the local university at age 13. APs aren't much of a selling point on his resume. He's passionate about playing snare in the marching band and that could be a key asset for him at many universities, but I'm not going to tell him to not apply to Stanford just because their "scramble" band isn't a traditional marching band.</p>
<p>Here's what I know so far:</p>
<p>USC gives half-tuition to NMFs and has an awesome band - he wants to consider it even though that still leaves the cost of attendance in the low $30Ks.
Stanford has a generous need-based aid program, though their online aid estimator doesn't appear too promising for us.
U. of Arizona gives $25K a year to NMFs, so the annual cost of attendance would be <$10K.
Arizona State has lots of NMFs and gives them substantial aid, though I'm not too keen on sending him across the continent to one of the biggest campuses in the country, and one renowned for a fairly hedonistic campus vibe at that.
LACs aren't out of the question, but although Westminster in SLC (for instance) gives great NMF scholarships, I know of no reason other than geography that it would constitute a particular draw for him.</p>
<p>I doubt it's what he means by "West," but for the sake of this thread I'll consider anything west of the Mississippi to be included. Thanks for your thoughts and ideas!</p>
<p>The top liberal arts college in California (the Claremonts and Occidental) are mainly need-based; they have a small number of merit scholarships they award but your son’s scores and grades might put him in the running. Your son could probably get merit aid from Santa Clara University although I hear it’s getting a little more difficult to come by. Other schools that award merit based on test scores and grades are University of the Pacific (good music program), University of Redlands (good for music), Chapman University and Cal Lutheran.</p>
<p>You have probably looked at the NMF list on here, but I think my duaghter heard from Texas A&M, UT Dallas, and Oklahoma about NM scholarships at those schools. A&M offered a little travel money to visit, and Oklahoma offered a laptop on top of everything else.</p>
<p>You might want to look at University of Idaho. Smallish for a state flagship @10,000 students.Good Honors program. NMF will get full tuition if you list it as first choice.Room and board costs lower than most other schools. Music pretty big there–every year they have Lionel Hampton jazz festival. Beautiful area but rural.</p>
<p>U Arizona’s NMF scholarship pays for tuition. The remaining costs would be room/board ($9k), books ($1k), and travel and misc expenses…so probably about $12k+ </p>
<p>AzSt NMF scholarship has been reduced. I don’t think it covers tuition anymore. I think the NMF scholarship is now about $17k per year. That leaves you with about $15k plus travel and misc.</p>
<p>Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but I was told that the state of Arizona’s economy is really hurting and it’s negatively affecting their schools. </p>
<p>If your son’s SAT is high, then he’d likely get a half tuition scholarship from Santa Clara, but that’s no better than what USC would give.</p>
<p>Are you mostly looking at schools that have football and bands?</p>
<p>I can’t think of many highishly ranked schools in the west that have football/band and big merit scholarships. There are smaller schools like USF, LMU, etc that should give merit.</p>
<p>*Does anyone know anything about U. of Arizona? How huge and anonymous would you think it might feel? *</p>
<p>A large university isn’t like a large high school. What will your son’s major be? For instance, if it’s engineering, and the COE at a large school isn’t huge, then why would your son feel anonymous? </p>
<p>Doesn’t U of Az have an honors college? If so, then that, too, would make a student be less anonymous. </p>
<p>How much is your annual budget or goal to spend?</p>
<p>At the University of New Mexico, NMF, National Hispanic Scholars or National Achievement Scholars get the “National Scholars” Scholarship worth $13,875/year. (More than full tuition, but a bit less than full COA which is $16,264. OOS scholarship students get in-state status for tuition.) Renewable for 4 years with 3.2 freshman GPA and 3.5 GPA sophomore year and above…</p>
<p>UNM has about 18,000 students on compact campus near downtown Albuquerque. (Nicer weather than Tuscon! And there is skiing 30 minutes from campus.) Well regarded music dept. Math dept often collaborates with the scientists at Los Alamos Labs (think hot new supercomputers).</p>