Minny, are there any similar ones but not necessarily warm weather? I mean, I would like a nice climate, but it isn’t necessary.
You need to calculate your EFC here
https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1
If your EFC is below 7,000, you should focus on trying to get need-based aid.
If your EFC is too high for your parents’ budget, you should focus on trying to get merit-based aid, but you will likely have a gap between what your parents will pay and what the financial aid office says they can afford. That gap must be small enough to be filled by a loan or a student job. Merit-based aid is only partially predictable, so you will need a financial safety plan, such as starting at a community college or living at home while commuting to a four-year school.
The easiest-to-get merit awards generally leave families with an out-of-pocket equal to full-pay for a public school. Those packages are used to lure wealthier families away from an instate public to a private school. To get significantly more money than that, you will probably need to “undermatch” and be at the top of the applicant pool at whatever schools you are trying for.
My EFC is probably too high, but my parents still want me to get a merit scholarship. Anyway, my safety is definitely Wright state, because my dad works there and a very high percentage will be paid for me. I just wanted to see my chances at a merit scholarship at a somewhat nicer university.
if your family income is low enough then this is a list of schools that meet full financial need. some of them have a no-loan policy for need-based aid.
your 33 ACT also gets you full tuition at Ole Miss, plus you could win other scholarships that could reduce the cost of (or even cover) room and board. for example, scholarships from the Honors College or Croft Center for International Studies.
Don’t 'guess’Efc. Calculate it using the tools online.
If your dad works for a State University, it’s very likely you get to enjoy awesome tuition reduction at all universities in its network. Have him check into it. Sometimes it’s called 'TE '.
Do your parents want you to attend Wright State? Or would rather see you attend a ‘better’/ ‘more challenging’ college?
'a scholarship ’ is something - many schools offer 10or even 20k in scholarship. What matters is the net cost and the value.
For example, Kenyon or Northeastern or Whitman for 10k is a better value than Wright State for 5k.
How much did they say they could or were willing to afford ?
Do you know how much they make (less than 75k, less than 125k, more than 250k?)
Wait woah I mean that my EFC is probably too low, lol. Sorry about that, it’s that my parents are well off but want to challenge me to spend as little as possible in college.
Provide actual numbers please.
I mean we don’t have any need, my parents can pay for all of it, but would rather not. I’ll calculate it later when dad gets home, so I can look at the actual figures.
They make under 125k, and I would like to go to a nicer college for 10k, but they want me to go to WSU for much less. They are willing to pay under 15k, but would like to pay as little as possible.
full-tuition is nice but that leaves anywhere from $10K to $15K per year for room, board, books, supplies.
your stats would seem to give you a full ride at Howard and perhaps Louisiana Tech.
you will get automatic full tuition at Alabama or Ole Miss, and can try for additional scholarships to stack on top of it.
you might get full-tuition at Miami-Ohio or Temple, and can try for additional scholarships to stack on top of it.
so you can apply to Howard for a full-ride option, and apply to Alabama, Ole Miss, Temple, and Miami-Ohio to see what package of automatic merit + additional scholarships they might offer. that would start you out with 5 schools.
then you can see what big scholarships you think you could compete for on this list:
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
best of luck to you.
If your parents make 125K, you’re eligible for need-based grants equivalent to full-tuition scholarships at a LOT of Need-based schools like St Olaf, Macalester, Kenyon, Denison, Oberlin, Colby, Connecticut College, Rhodes, Centre, etc. These are VERY VERY good colleges. Run the NPC on them. If they seem to be within a range of acceptable costs, fill out the “request information”/“join the mailing list” form and plan to demonstrate interest (with intelligent, pertinent questions to Admissions, asking for an interview…)
Add them to the 5 above. 
Really? I thought 125K is too much for need-based. You learn something new every day!
Oh no. FAR from it. “Meet full need” schools are elite and therefore receive lots of applications from families who make 300 or 400K per year. So, it’s all relative. 125K may be twice the national average but it is NOT “a high income” for top “meet full need” schools.
Run the NPC on
Ohio State => doesn’t meet need, weird with in state merit
Miami Ohio => doesn’t meet need, has good merit
Kenyon => meets 100% need, generous
Denison => almost meets need and has generous merit
for instance.
So with the full tuition need-based grants, is it possible to stack on more scholarships?
And forgive my ignorance, but what is NPC?
And actually it isn’t exactly near 125k, it is below 95k
Net Price Calculator. You have to run it on each college website, because each college uses a different formula.
If the NPC doesn’t ask for your stats, then it hasn’t factored in the “merit” aid. In that case you have to hunt it down on the website, typically by typing the name of the college “+ merit scholarship”.
It’s important to know your EFC because, typically, regardless of what you do, the scholarships won’t stack to cover the EFC. The exception is for universities that offer merit, but they don’t guarantee to “meet need”, so that you may end up with the same amount to pay a a meet-ned school and at a merit-only school, or you may get a better deal at a need-only school, or at a school that combines both… Net price calculators are only one piece of the puzzle but they already give you some indication. If you parents aren’t divorced and don’t own a business, NPCs tend to be fairly accurate.
Can you try NPCs for these 4 schools and give your results (the “net price”, ie., price before any loan)?
Ok once I have the time, I’ll do those!
if you are talking about the 62 schools on that list, many of them ONLY offer need-based aid.
an NPC is a Net Price Calculator. every college should have one on their website. you can usually find it by typing Net Price Calculator in their website’s search bar. you fill in financial information, GPA, and other information, and it will tell you how much $$$ you can expect to receive in grants, loans, work study, and how much is left over for your parents.
many of the colleges on the list of 62 have their NPC’s connected with College Board, so you can save the information and run the NPC for a bunch of schools pretty quickly.
for us, some of the more generous schools were Notre Dame, Cornell, and Vanderbilt. if you want to create a list, you can use the US News rankings as a rough guide, because many if not most of these top universities and LAC’s are generous with need-based aid.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/data
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/data
if you are below $95K you may be pleasantly surprised with what’s available. it may be worth your while to add a couple higher reaches and lower reaches to your college list.
Even if you don’t make NMF, you might make National Hispanic Scholar (PSAT test, junior year), and that could translate into full tuition or full tuition plus. Knock that PSAT out of the ballpark, if you can.
OK. So I used guesstimates on some of these, but here is what I got
Denison: Net Price $33,670, out of pocket $25,545
OSU: $20,120
Kenyon: NPC $52,480 cost of attendance $44,480
Miami: Did not ask for stats, but said $22,493
Yup last year I got a 224 on PSAT, so I should be capable of doing either NMF or Hispanic scholar this year.