My D1 has 4.47 weighted and 1370 SAT. All of her courses are AP or dual enrollment with local college. Top 10 in class of 600. Two sport athlete and other EC’s: student govt, volunteer, NHS. Our EFC is higher than we are willing to spend on undergrad (46k). Looking for help finding target schools for her where she would be a good fit and were merit aid is available. She is planning for dental school so a premed, bio, or chem major for undergrad. We are in state in NJ and applying to Rutgers. Looking to stay at that range ($30k) per year. I have seen on here Alabama listed on multiple threads. We would prefer she stay within drivable distance (8 hours or less) if possible. Thanks!
What about Rowan in NJ? That should be within your budget.
Does that $30,000 a year include the student federally funded loan annually. That would give her about a $35,000 a year budget.
I’m assuming she is a high school junior. Is that correct? If so, will she be retaking the SAT or will she take the ACT?
If she is a senior, there are some deadlines you have already missed for merit aid consideration.
I believe at Alabama, her SAT score would need to be higher for their better scholarships. @mom2collegekids can tell you what she would be eligible for with her current SAT score, and GPA.
Have you looked at any of the Colleges that Change Lives? She might get enough merit aid at one of those to bring your costs down to $30,000 a year. Juniata is one I would suggest offhand.
But get moving. For merit aid consideration, many colleges have December 1 admission application deadlines. Some schools (like South Carolina) have a scholarship application that has to be completed by December 1 (and it’s a doozie). Some schools that offer merit have deadlines that have already passed.
It’s not within 8 hours of you but Miami Ohio offers merit based on test score/GPA. Your daughter would be eligible for $14,000 - $20,000 per year. Tuition and room and board is about $50,000 for an OOS student putting them at the edge of what you say you can afford. If your daughter is a junior and increases her test scores she could qualify for more. My dd had a friend who desperately wanted to go there and her dad said she could as long as she qualified for their highest level of merit aid (to make it comparable to our state flagship). After a few attempts at the ACT she made it thanks to super scoring.
Take a look at some of the smaller SUNY schools such as New Paltz and Geneseo. Total cost of attendance for OOS residents is about $35-36,000 a year. The $5500 student loan and/or summer earnings may make these schools affordable.
Higher test scores and a willingness to travel further may bring more options.
If a junior, could consider guaranteed admissions health profession tracks at Pitt, VCU, Quinnipiac. Might be too late for 2020 senior.
Run Net Price Calculators. Some merit at Univ. Delaware.
Some merit at Loyola Univ. MD, Susquehanna, Dusquesne, St Johns - may come up on net price calculators.
What about TCNJ?
Binghamton, U Scranton (if Catholic okay). Lots of good suggestions here so far, especially CTCL schools.
WVU, U Toledo can be generous with merit.
But she doesn’t have to go OOS, don’t disregard your own instate public universities like Rowan, and Stockton, she might get good merit there, plus lower instate tuition will save a lot of money.
https://admissions.rowan.edu/academicprograms/premed.html
https://stockton.edu/admissions/majors.html
She should apply there soon, if she is a senior!
I don’t think the SAT score is high enough for merit at Pitt.
Ursinus gives a $35,000 scholarship I believe for those stats, she might qualify for more with her leadership and volunteering.
https://www.ursinus.edu/offices/student-financial-services/scholarship-opportunities/
Allegheny might also give enough merit to make it affordable.
Not sure what the deadlines are, so I would apply asap!
But she has excellent instate options as well.
The goal for students like this is usually finding BETTER options than in state choices. OP’s DD has some good affordable choices in NJ. If I were her, I’d only consider something more appealing to me than those schools or will cost dramatically less. I don’t see a whole lot of such possibilities. Perhaps, if a private LAC is preferable, which can be the case–something I see as a much better outcome for some kids, looking at schools like McDaniel, Ursinus, St Lawrence that can give good merit money could be some decent choices. Perhaps Hofstra U. Run NPCs for some of the lesser known catholic schools that might be better destinations than Rutgers, Rowan et al in NJ.
Really, in OP’s DD’s circumstances, in state is best choice.
Yes. She is a senior and we missed out on several colleges deadlines for merit aid. Retaking SAT is not an option because of the timing now. Unfortunately all of those ECs come at a cost…She will be applying to Rowan as well which is fairly close to us. Not discounting our in state options, just looking to explore alternatives in same price range.
Also forgot to add that we have our next one coming up for fall 2022. So we are really, like most here, looking for value.
Check out Iowa and Iowa State. Look at the online OOS scholarship rubric for Michigan State. (I know these aren’t within your driving parameters, but schools in the NE are expensive.)
For an out of the box suggestion. Look at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. This school is small and has very good science programs. Does she want to continue a sport?
Also…Today is the last day to register for the December ACT. Your daughter is a good student with a high class rank. I’d try very hard to have her take this test.
@kjcjms with that SAT, she is also eligible to apply for Rowan’s honors college. She’d get preferred housing and registration, among other things. Rowan offers up to $10k merit so it could be a very affordable option with great science facilities.
@kjcjms I know some NJ and PA kids with similar stats and thinking med school taking advantage of nc promise schools for OOS. I think it’s around $20,000/year before merit, and merit deadline dates are more forgiving.
Son accepted 11/19 to Rowan ECE. $3000 merit. Not his first choice but very very happy to have Rowan as an option in case TCNJ ED doesn’t pan out. Also waiting on UDel and Binghamton. Son will mostly likely attend Rowan if declined by TCNJ. Unlikely UDel or Binghamton comes anywhere near the cost of Rowan instate cost. Rowan Engineering is top notch. To all the ROI hornblowers of Stevens, if you take an apples to apples Comparison of engineering majors between Stevens, Rowan and tcnj, rowan and tcnj graduates the past few years did just as well in obtaining jobs and average salary as Stevens.
The NC Promise looks to be good at these three schools unless I’m not reading something correctly.
@txstella She rows but has only been actively recruited by schools outside of our price range (private d3 schools mainly). Ideally the school would have a team so she could try to walk on.
@tigerwife92 I did not realize this was for OOS as well. I will definitely look into this
@cptofthehouse You hit the nail on the head. Better options or better suited to her options. Rowan is a great school. She has 50 credits from their community college through dual enrollment. Rowan will transfer them as well as Rutgers, which is obviously a HUGE bonus. Our concerns are the size of Rutgers being too big for her, although it does offer her sport, and Rowan does not offer her sport. Obviously trade offs have to be made and shaving a year off undergrad is a great advantage. Many state schools seem to readily accept dual enrollment classes, but most privates and LACs do not. Honestly, I think she would be most comfortable at an LAC and most successful at one, but she may have to leave those credits behind to go to one. I know it seems no brainer to go Rutgers or Rowan, but everyone knows their kids. I cant imagine her not rowing, as it provided much needed time management skills