Another parent of a current senior who is “chasing the merit” – we knew we would have a gap between costs and what we can afford, as we are not eligible for financial aid. It made it easier for him, in some ways, to be able to say to his friends that he is not applying to Ivy, NESCAC or other schools that don’t give merit aid. He was appalled at the notion of loans, us or him. He has no admissions reaches – his list is all admission safeties and matches, with varying levels of merit aid anticipated. He has visited almost all of them, shown interest etc, and has a feel for campus. When the acceptances start, I think he will enjoy seeing who is showing him the love.
Our son is focusing on 2 schools. One doesn’t have the urban location he wants, but he liked it and they would give him tuition +room. The other has the urban location but it is uncertain whether they would weight his GPA so that it would be affordable.
I think you get her excited about the anticipation of seeing the offers and who is going to give her the best offer. It sounds like you are worried the process might not be exciting or stressful enough without big prestige schools in the mix. There is plenty to get excited about right up until “will I get the dorm I want, a good roommate, the sorority I want…”
My D didn’t apply to any academic reaches either, but there were some financial reaches. Winning a competitive scholarship that allowed her to attend one of them generated some serious excitement, as did a phone call from the dean of her department at another offering her a large departmental scholarship. Also some disappointment, but being realistic wasn’t miserable and depressing, and resulted in a great fit for her, and a bill we could safely afford.
Get her excited about getting paid to go to college. That’s essentially what merit scholarships do. A college wants her so bad and values her accomplishments so much that they will pay her to attend their school. That’s exciting.
^^IF she can get paid to go to college, that is…
winning merit scholarships is not a walk in the park these days…
Agree with @frugaldoctor.
My ds did not choose a school with merit $, but he had some big merit offers. He was a NMF. Alabama was one of his safeties and the first school he heard from. The total amount of the award over four years (actually, I guess it was five since five years of tuition could be had at the time) was around $120,000 - $130,000 (since we were OOS). I told him that was money had had EARNED because of his hard work in school. We definitely played up this angle. Not everyone can do that. It is an achievement to be recognized and celebrated.
If she does well enough in the PSAT to become National Merit Scholar, a good number of full-tuition scholarships become available.
@happy1 That was a great link…thanks so much for that. I will save it in case I need it!
@PurpleTitan We are from IL. Our flagship is UIUC which did not thrill her when we visited, and doesn’t have a very good honors program (from the little I’ve learned so far). It is also not cheap, even in-state. We can find better options elsewhere. I would not even consider it a safety, so I doubt we’ll be applying…we’ll see. As for APs, no scores yet, although I’m going to suggest she re-take those classes freshman year as needed, if we can swing it. She is looking into engineering right now…BioEng or Chem. That may change.
Say what? Instate tuition is $12k/year. What would you consider “cheap”?
Cost of attendance at UIUC ranges from $30,336 (with tuition + fees = $15,626) to $35,340 (with tuition + fees = $20,630), according to https://cost.illinois.edu/Home/Cost/R/U/Compare/FullTime/120158 .
Note that the high end of the range applies to engineering and business majors.
A better idea would be to try the old final exams of courses that she is allowed to skip using AP scores. Then she will know how well she knows the material by the college’s standards. This can help her avoid wastefully repeating what she already knows, but also avoid advancing further than she is ready for.
Too much “quan”, lol…
Yeah, UIUC is about 17K + a ton of fees. It’s not horrible in-state, but the state of Illinois is in such a sad shape, who knows what will happen in the next 5 years. Rag-tag honors program. Little chance at merit. There are other better options @bluebayou.
oops, my bad. Base tuition is $12k, and they tack on $3k additional for a total of $15k. (Some specialized majors are higher.) But my point still stands: that is still pretty good deal for an excellent school.
What does your kid want from an honors program?
btw, but those “options” will cost a whole lot more, unless you qualify for need-based aid, or can pull a nice scholly, most of which are very competitive.
btw: the instate school that you disdain is ranked highly for several engineering programs.
And without test scores, this thread is way premature. (Gotta have high numbers for merit money from top schools.)
Some kids in a California pay OOS for UIUC.
@bluebayou She saw Barrett at Ariz. State and the honors housing, and really liked that. UIUC has nothing like that. I’m not sure of too much other detail…for a high-tech university try to find out something about CHP at UIUC. It wasn’t too easy. She is looking at BioEng or ChemE for a major as of now. The other options like UMinn or Alabama and a few others won’t cost more than UIUC in-state.
Evidently, you’re not aware that UIUC freezes the price for students at the price they pay when they enter (for 4 years).
Also, for engineering, I’d choose UIUC (which is one of the most renown engineering schools and has an engineering student body with an ACT average of 32) over an average school with honors, all else being equal, unless there was something really special about that honors program.
BTW, if she’s interested in engineering, why the emphasis on honors? UIUC engineering will be plenty tough enough.
UIUC also admits by major, and while ChemE isn’t that hard for a student who is competitive for elite privates to get in to, Bioengineering is one of the toughest majors at UIUC to enter, with an acceptance rate that is a small fraction of the UIUC overall acceptance rate (the UIUC engineering acceptance rate, on average, is a little over half of the overall UIUC acceptance rate; bioengineering is considerably lower than that).
You’re right @PurpleTitan, I did NOT know that about the tuition freeze. I hope I don’t come across as if I actually know stuff. I don’t. I’m just beginning this journey, and I’m grateful for everyone willing to share their knowledge with a newbie.
I will spend some more time on UIUC with her. Our visit was less than impressive, but we didn’t give it much of a chance. We had just visited WUSTL at the urging of a friend who said they were just ‘giving’ money away there. Haha! That was before I found CC.