However, this needs to be done for each college under consideration – different colleges may give widely varying net prices in their net price calculators and actual financial aid offers.
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Yes but at this point we need to get an aid estimate. OP can’t do NPCs for 100 schools.
If Rice come back full pay, it’s likely the OP will be full pay at many, if not most of all. If Rice comes back at a manageable # , then the list of potentials can likely expand.
Is one NPC enough ? Ideally not. But one needs a baseline to start and baby steps are easier….especially when someone asks - where do I start ?
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My DD (graduated in 2022) was similar to your daughter in terms of class ranking, etc.
If your daughter is interested in accounting, CS, or engineering, she may not want to attend a small liberal arts college that does not offer the same majors on a pre-professional track. My D22 received large merit awards from some of those schools, but that resulted in just matching full tuition at a public state university, at best.
My D22’s least expensive choices were in-state universities or universities in neighboring states that offered tuition discounts to residents of our state. Some also offered large merit scholarships to a small number of top students.
Ultimately, my D22 opted for a large state university, which offered certain benefits that I didn’t fully appreciate at first:
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The state school was much more generous about giving credit for AP courses that the smaller private schools. This resulted in my D22 having senior class standing as a second-year student. Because she wants to be a CPA, she needs another year’s worth of college credits beyond a bachelor degree to qualify for the CPA exam. All those AP credits mean she will be able to get those credits in 4 years, while on scholarship, without having to take a fifth year of classes.
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Those extra credits have also put her in position to get a dual BS degree in another major, allowing her to develop other interests and make her more marketable.
[One word of caution here: squeezing in all the required courses at a large public university can be trickier than at a smaller school. Classes fill up or conflict with other classes, over-burdened advisors give poor guidance, etc. More students end up having to take an extra year, so the school that SEEMS cheaper may not be. Theoretically, my D22 has enough credits to graduate this year after only two years of college, but she won’t be able to satisfy all the major requirements in that time. She will DEFINITELY be able to finish in four, though, so she took the opportunity to get extra degrees and CPA- qualifying credits during that time.]
- A large school offers a pretty robust job pipeline for accounting and engineering majors: lots of job fairs, hiring events, and internships with large employers who scoop up a new crop of students every year. In my albeit limited experience, the smaller liberal arts schools were best at preparing the student who had eyes on graduate school, rather than heading down the CPA or engineering route (unless you are in a 3/2 engineering program at a SLAC).
Anyway, I guess I learned that I needed to look at the hidden costs, not just the up-front price tag. Good luck in your process
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