In our experience and that of others I know, the NPC is not always accurate. My son ended up choosing a school that based on the NPC was not affordable. I say apply widely even if the NPC says not affordable with the understanding that he can only choose a school within your budget.
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Thanks for all those leads! Yes, my son needs about a full year of adjustment, meaning the first semester or two are not going to go well. My daughter should be there by the end of the first semester and maybe be at worst 3.0 (just a way to express this).
Puget Sound is really on the top of list if it was not about money. He might apply anyway just to see if the npc is wrong.
My son trains year round in volleyball (as does his sister). Plays on two varsity school teams (long story but thatās possible where I live) and club and beach volleyball teams. While heās the best player on both varsity teams, heās not scholarship material. There arenāt many boys vb teams on our list, or anywhere, and I donāt think he can handle div III athletics and academics even if he does make a team.
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My daughters with higher stats got merit offers from Quinnipiac anc Scranton, but tuition was still $30,000+. The only private that came in below $30,000 was St. Joeās in Philadelphia, $20,000.
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thatās great on the side of hope, not so great on the side of research now. Hope is better I suppose.
Do you have examples of colleges whose npc was not affordable but turned out to be affordable?
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St Joes looks great. It came in at 32k for us, way too much.
did your daughter go there?
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My tidbit of data from the high school where I work has shown me that kids who are wanted at a school tend to get more aid than those who are run of the mill. Wanted doesnāt always mean grades. It can mean a worthy backstory of achieving something in spite of their background.
Butā¦ it comes from the student perspective of, āIām working hard to do this in spite of X and really want it.ā Iāve never seen it come from a parentās perspective of, āI want this for my kidā when the kid hasnāt put forth their own effort.
I donāt mean any of that as a put down, but if your son isnāt committed to this himself, the NPC may not be off in your situation as it could be with others as based upon my experiences.
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yes i read applications actually, and itās tiring so I skim them sometimes for the challenge story.
Iām holding the overall quality of the application as a constant, as it were, in this equation. Thereās no use mucking this up with that variable, even though itās super important, especially since itās one that can be controlled and I know how to control it.
Austin College in Texas ?
Beloit College in Wisconsin ?
If your son wonāt read a book cover-to-cover,why not just remove the covers ?
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No, she is not a big fan of Philadelphia (she gets nervous around the homeless there), sheās going to Clemson, who gave her a might lower merit scholarship. SJās gives a lot of merit.
OP: Wondering if this might be a strategy to finding the type of school you are looking for: look at the schools that have limited (to no) required curriculum. That way, your son can choose to take, or not take, the writing heavy classes at his own pace. And being able to choose classes that appeal to him should make the transition easier.
(I have learned some things from this thread - namely that some of the schools my kid is thinking of applying to are considered easy. I did not know! 
)
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Many schools on this list arenāt easy but rather, difficult but supportive (v. Sink or swim).
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Champlain College in Vermontā¦.not sure about the merit/NPC piece. More tech/stem oriented and I believe students can start taking classes in their major right away.
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I would word it a bit differently, many schools listed on this thread are (relatively) easy to be admitted to and may be considered ābuyersā in Jeff Selingo terminology resulting in probable merit aid, but are not necessarily filled with āeasyā classes.
I also think there may be many definitions of supportive v. sink-or-swim, many definitions of easy grading/transition, and many different ideas of what people want their child to get out of going to college and so there is an inherent amount of talking past one another on threads like this one.
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Athletics can give a LOT of structure to a freshman. My daughter was an excellent student and pretty good at studying (although didnāt like the liberal arts). Athletics gave her a group of friends, a schedule for work outs, practices, study tables and she actually loved study tables. The coach was an extra set of eyes watching her grades and class attendance; coach often received grades before daughter, and once when daughter went to a different section of a class, coach asked her why sheād missed class. There were also alcohol rules that coach enforced.
Seems a little juvenile but daughter was only 17 and it worked for her. The athletic scholarship money meant she didnāt have to work.
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heās not going to get a scholarship or even make a team (where they have mens vb typically). There may be some outlier small places that miraculously have a mens vb team. If so he might make it due to lack of competition and that would be an option for structure.
Heās not ill-disciplined though, just never been challenged academically. 2 of his 3 Bās he got in high school were due to clerical errors (teachers unresponsive about that) and one because he canāt draw to save his life, despite growing up in an arts-saturated family.
A coaches eyes on him could be good though, because he is not worldly-wise and is impressionable. I would almost say āimmatureā but in some ways he is way more mature than other boys his age.
He will almost certainly be in intramural vb though.
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Seconding this.
Look at low key D3 (where the volleyball team never ranks but players have fun), club teams, and organized intramurals.
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Or a club team. Theyāre often a good balance between varsity and intramural. He may be frustrated with an intramural team because the skill levels will likely be lower and the games less organized depending on the school.
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yeah Clark University for example looks great for vb clubs, that and I saw some others recently, maybe St Josephs.
Itās also okay if he is a big fish in a small intramural pond. Heās used to that at his small hs (he also plays for a big one).
Clarkās npc actually asked about participation in sports and ECs and jobs, which no one elseās did so far. Still it came in too high but maybe apply anyway.
edit: Juniata has a mens vb team. what a surprise. theyāre rated pretty highly actually. I think @econpop also told me their npc came in way higher for him than their offer.
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Circling back to Lawrenceā¦ when we toured this summer, the adcom said the atmosphere is so supportive that if you are doing poorly in a class, a teammate, hallmate, friend, even a teacher will literally lead you to the tutoring center by the hand to ensure you find the resources you need to succeed. Itās not cool to fail, and no one wants to see that happen. My son asked about pre-health and they touted their 100% med school acceptance rate. I chuckled and said āweed outā and they said oh no, we donāt do that! We want everyone who is interested in medicine to stay with it. In case itās not clear from these two stories, I really got the message this was a school where you wouldnāt fall between the cracks.
Just as an aside, my S22 sounds like yours in many ways, so I am eagerly following this thread.
Also, one more thing. You may be pleasantly surprised by UPS on merit aid. My daughterās grades werenāt nearly as good as your sonās. She applied TO. The total cost was close to a state school for us, although she did get a talent scholarship along with the decent merit.
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Wow thanks what an encouraging story! Lawrence checks so many boxes already. Both of my kids are musicians but not conservatory material. They should be able to find band mates at Lawrence.
Both kids may apply to UPS, just because. TO is talented opportunity?
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