I totally get it. $17,000/year really adds up and is too much for them to realistically work for to make up the difference. Regardless, it sounds like she has some really nice options. Fingers crossed for her on Manhattan merit.
Thank you @WinterIsComing21.
What is your son going to do?
I have heard good things about Boise St but again my D considers that “middle of nowhere”. in
I have told my daughter that she will get $16k if she graduates from Western WA and however much under budget Ohio Wesleyan comes at if applicable (could be as much as $40K). Manhattan would be a wash at best with maybe her needing to work a little if she gets the middle scholarship or not even an option if they don’t give a scholarship (or if she doesn’t get in obviously).
From your post #0, it looks like WWU is the only one under $27k, and OWU is the only other one under $37k. If she does not like OWU, then WWU is the obvious choice unless some other school delivers an unexpected scholarship that makes it affordable.
@ucbalumnus
Actually OWU is at $27K roughly and could be down to $17K per with this extra potential scholarship. I think she has a shot at a good scholarship at Manhattan and it would be a discussion if she got into Cal Poly as we all seem to feel that it could be worth the extra $. There are also a few long shots.
JBSeattle- Our home state is Colorado. His first choice is CU Boulder, which is the only school he has still not heard from. They don’t release early action decisions until Feb 1, so he is waiting on pins and needles. He was initially looking at places like University of Portland, University of San Diego, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Whitworth, and Loyola Chicago. This summer we visited the Spokane area, WWU, and Portland. He redirected his focus after running the numbers and realizing that even with some merit aid, most of these schools would be outside his budget. He regrouped and started looking in state and into the WUE schools. I think he ended up applying and getting in to ASU (not WUE but affordable), Boise State, Utah Business Scholars program, and Colorado State. He almost applied to SDSU, but for the same reasons as your daughter, he decided it was not worth the extra money. Looking at his list, most of his colleges are close to decent sized cities and have big sports teams. Boise is just an all around great city… friendly people, loads of outdoor activities, affordable, and great weather. My husband has been working there on and off over the past few years and loves it, but my son still ended up picking CU.
At $40k per year, CPSLO seems to be above your stretch limit of $37k per year:
https://financialaid.calpoly.edu/coa1819.html
@ucbalumnus
I know, I think we just all feel it might be worth it as it is close. I have done some research which makes it seem as if Cal Poly students graduate with higher salaries than the other schools on my D list and that is what I have heard people say but not really sure if it is true or not.
Have you looked at the schools’ career surveys?
http://www.wwu.edu/careers/1617_bachelors.shtml
https://careers.calpoly.edu/search.php
Be careful of mean versus median pay levels.
@ucbalumnus
Thank you!!! This is the concrete data that i was having trouble finding! The Cal Poly data is out of date and tough to look at as it is on a one on one basis but better than anything I had before!! Very interesting!
The other thing is that many Cal Poly graduates are going to more expensive areas of California.
Well, she has to get in first anyways!!
If she has any interest in industrial technology and packaging in the B School at Poly, they get great jobs and it’s a far easier admit. I’m not sure why. She can change the major she applied to if that resonates.
@eyemgh
She really is more interested in marketing but I will mention it. Thank you!
Hey JB 
A couple of thoughts and comments. Unfortunately the sad reality is that it is really really hard, with a high EFC and not tippy top stats, to find schools that will come in at your price range unless you shop on price alone and location is not a factor. As a parent with kids at both Cal Poly and UVM I’ll offer my thoughts on each, as well as SDSU where my husband attended for a year.
Cal Poly.
I do agree that she is an unlikely admit. If you can, try to figure out her MCA score, though no one is actually sure that’s what they still use. I also agree that it will not be under 40k. There is a small OOS scholarship that I think most kids get but I am not sure if it’s the same for all, or by college. Cal Poly’s president is agressively moving to charge higher OOS rates and while it didn’t go through this year, I’d expect hikes. This years COA was 40k before any kind of merit. They also charge by the credit so the price will vary based on the amount of credits taken. Cal Poly, and state schools in general, do not give out much if any merit. It is also impacted, and hard. Many are not on the 4 year plan. Our D did 2 summers and a quarter. One of the summers was at a local CC and the others were not a full load but it still ended up being a 4.25-4.5 years of tuition payment plan.
It is a great school. However, going there for marketing does not remotely promise her a better outcome, it is not what it is known for. And having a child who just graduated last weekend, I can tell you it falls prey to what most large state schools do in terms of placement/recruiting resources. Not enough, needs to be student driven and is focused on their signature majors. Which in our case didn’t include biology, our D didn’t do much (or anything as best we can tell) on her own. I honestly think for the $ she’d have done just as well, had a similar soccer experience at Colorado State, her second choice and we’d have saved quite a bit as she’d have been WUE.
UVM.
I do think she has a solid chance of admittance here and with some merit, but likely on their lower side (8k or so). That said, it is not a school “known” for marketing although I think the B school has some east coast recognition. I am not sure it would remotely be worth the premium. While my S17 is there, he is also there very specifically for their College of Natural Resources and the Environment. If he decided to switch to Poly Sci or something the school wasn’t necessarily known for, he’d be back at WWU in a heartbeat. WWU also has a strong environmental program but it’s heavy gen ed for the first 2 years before you can declare the major, versus UVM from day one with direct admit to the major, small in the field classes and AP credits wiping out a lot of the gen ed. That difference to us, was worth the premium.
WWU.
I admit, for as much as I know about Western, I know next to nothing about the strength of the business school or marketing program. I will say though that their merit offers typically go out with the acceptance letter so if there wasn’t anything in the letter, I wouldn’t expect it.
San Diego State.
Unless your D has a compelling reason she “needs” to go there over WWU, I’d be hard pressed to pony up the extra as well. It is a VERY different type of school in my opinion than Western (larger, football, a bit of a party/greek rep) and it will have all the impaction issues that Cal State schools have so may not be a 4 year plan either. I would not be surprised by the lack of merit, they love OOS kids for the full price factor. While it was decades ago, my husband transferred out after one year due to the party factor. The kids I know there now seem happy and fine but I am not aware they got merit $. Instead they are there because they got direct admit to their engineering program of choice and did not at UW.
Drexel
Drexel, of all those on the list, outside of maybe Cal Poly, has the best business school and the co op factor could mean monies saved when on Co Op. A totally different vibe than the others but they have very very strong outcomes that could be worth the differential. Again, I’d want my kid to sell me on the “why Drexel” factor.
The rest of the schools are unlikely for much aid or she doesn’t want to attend. They are also massively different in personality so it’s a bit hard to tell what she is looking for in that area.
Ones that could offer enough money if you could get her to consider could be:
University of Redlands, University of Puget Sound, Seattle U, University of Portland, Gonzaga, Beloit, Bradley, Lawrence, DePaul.
Run the NPC’s.
I know she’s anti WA and if she really prefers Western to any of the WA options then I’d leave it alone.
Also, FWIW, my UVM S17 did talk about transferring to WWU both last year and this. Didn’t want it badly enough to actually do an application on his own, I said I would support it but not map out the steps.
@eandesmom
Funny meeting you here ?!
I think she gets SDSU is out after my wife threw “the fit”. Drexel is too expensive, would come in around $56k after $13k in merit. Univ of Denver accepted but no merit so also too expensive ($65k per).
She was deferred at UVM, telling her not to withdrawal but unlikely.
She received a $30k per year scholarship at Ohio Wesleyan with a potential for another $10k per year. She is not that excited about it (I made her apply as she had stats for the $30k scholarship).
We are eagerly awaiting a letter from Manhattan College. She needs to get
one of their scholarships but think she has a shot.
She is also waiting on Cal Poly and USD (not too hopeful).
I think the plan is that she will look at Manhattan if she gets in with scholarship ($32k per with bigger one, $37k without).
If not, then I am going to have her at least look at Ohio Wesleyan so she can make a decision. She has Western no matter what and not worried about merit at Western as COA is so reasonable instate.
On your list, I need to look further at those last 4 schools. She has already nixed the first 5 and has visited Seattle U and Portland.
I am giving her a to do list after Christmas. It includes a few withdrawals, applying honors at Western, maybe showing some interest at Vermont, going for the extra scholarship at OWU if applicable and maybe applying to one or more additional schools.
My additional list is: Whittier (in CA, has major, I think she could get a scholarship to bring cost to $35k plus was given no app fee waiver), Milsaps (expect her to say no given in Jackson,MS but like 5 year MBA program plus very affordable with likely merit), Susquehana (give nice merit for her stats it looks like, has majors she wants but she likely will say “middle of nowhere”), Union College in Nebraska (affordable even without merit, in Lincoln aka “middle of nowhere” per my D), Duquesne (like others above, small chance she might say Pittsburgh is ok), Boise St (WUE/affordable but she nixed before), and Northern Arizona (same as Boise St). I am thinking she may decide to apply to one. I did get her to apply to Manhattan after most of these other apps so all I can do is try.
@eandesmom
Interesting as my ex-boss’s son transferred from UVM to Utah (they live in SLC).
Well, my daughter just got into Manhattan College with a $25,100 scholarship per year!!
So net price of about $34k after subtracting the scholarship from the list price?
Yup, we can make it work.
Congratulations!
Other programs to look into: ASU Barrett, Montana State, Bentley, Bryant?
Thanks @MYOS1634
My daughter almost applied to Bentley, not sure why she didn’t.
I think she is pretty happy now with Manhattan and does not want to apply anywhere else. If Univ of San Diego rolls ourmt a big scholarship it would likely change her mind but that is improbable at best.