my DD wanted a college with about 4000-5000 students. BUT she did look into honors college programs as well. Those really bring the size of the school down!
University ofmChicago has a very few select highly competitive scholarships. Same with all the other select schools. The merit awards are VERY select awards…VERY. Remember that most of the applicants to these schools are also very strong students.
What exactly is your daughter looking for? Size, geographic location, urban/suburban/rural? Give us some more information so we can give you decent financial suggestions! For example, if your daughter never wants to see snow, the list will be very different than if she does!
The easiest way to find non need based aid information on colleges is to google each college’s common data set and to look in the cost/financial aid section of their CDS. It will list the percentage of incoming freshman awarded non need based aid and the average amount awarded. I’ve done this for a number of top colleges. Generally speaking, the very top 5 or so LAC’s and the Ivy League schools do not award any merit aid. Here are some schools that do, the percentage of incoming freshman awarded non need based aid and the average amount:
Case Western 29% $22K
Cooper Union 100% $20K
Duke 4% $55K
Franklin W.Olin 100% $22K
George Washington 20% $18K
Oberlin 35% $13K
Rice 7% $23K
Tulane 30% $23K
USC 19% $16K
UVA 9% $10K
Vanderbilt 10% $19K
We were in the same situation 2 years ago with my D having a 36 ACT and our family income too high for financial aid. There are good colleges, one or two notches down from the top LAC’s and Ivy League that are looking to attract students like your daughter and they will offer significant merit aid. It seems like colleges either offer significant merit aid or they don’t. My belief is that colleges that are seeking to move up in the rankings or compete with other area colleges are more generous
One little bit of advice, if you are successful encouraging your child to apply to schools that offer merit aid - make sure that they would actually attend the college if they receive the merit aid. I encouraged D to apply to Kenyon, U.Maryland, GWU, CWRU and then when she was admitted to all these schools with $15K - $25K in merit aid I wanted her to at least give them serious consideration but she focused instead on one of the more prestigious schools she’d been admitted to
In terms of small (actually, tiny) schools, Olin & Cooper Union are half-tuition while Webb is free, but all 3 of those schools have a very limited number of majors (mostly/solely in STEM).
NCF is a public LAC in FL which, with their automatic OOS scholarship, OOS is close to in-state prices. In STEM, SD Mines and NM Tech OOS tuition is so cheap that it is almost as low as in-state tuition at some places (and they’re both small).
My DS got a great merit package from Ohio State and had a really wonderful experience. Don’t forget about honors colleges at some of these larger flagship schools that make the school “much smaller” according to my DS.
Also the best money for merit is in the early action application rounds which begin now with rolling decision schools and start around Oct. 15 for EA schools. Make sure your DD does her applications now and meets those early deadlines. Since your DD doesn’t have a lot of activities focus on the schools that are more test scores and gpa based for merit. GW gave my student two years ago $30K per year in merit since my student was a STEM female and they were wanting to fill their new STEM school.
If D is upcoming senior you will be using 2015 tax returns for FAFSA this year - if she’s applying to private colleges you will also have to submit CSS and most likely supplemental financial apps for the specific school. CSS and these supplemental forms will ask all sorts of questions about assets, investments, etc. They all “value” your assets differently.
As others have mentioned, there are competitive full-tuition scholarships that are VERY hard to get at lots of very good (i.e. Top 50/100 schools). Some require meeting early deadlines, special applications, or nominations. You haven’t said yet what state you live in or what your D wants to study - that would help folks make suggestions. If she’s NMSF that opens other doors. Can we assume she will be your only child in college? Are their siblings coming down the pike?
Honors college at state flagship is a route that many (happily) take.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. We are in Wisconsin and really hoping to get out of the Midwest but that is not a must. She will definitely be a science major most likely physics. Her top school were Princeton, Harvey mudd and cal tech but that’s just too expensive at this point. U Chicago is beautiful but she just didn’t ’ feel it’ plus it’s equally expensive. I guess we should all be glad to live in a world with so many great kids…I’m wishing them all the best
I loved gw but it was very expensive and she only "liked " it so luckily…we were able to remove one from the very long list. Other top choices ( beside ivy) are Johns Hopkins and Berkeley.
Olin and Cooper Union students are about the same caliber as kids at the schools you mentioned and are engineering-focused. NCF places a high percentage of grads in to grad and professional schools. Small wonder as it’s curriculum is grad-school-lite.
All 3 are tiny (though obviously there’s a lot going on in NYC and Olin isn’t far from Boston).
Look at University of Richmond - they offer quite a few full-tuition scholarships to top students every year. All who apply by a certain deadline (Dec. 1st???) are considered - no additional application process. Your D would have a good shot at one of these. Great school.
Also look at University of Rochester - for top kids they can be generous. Fantastic school - cold in the winter but if you’re from Wisconsin D should be used to it.
If you can’t pay $60,000 a year plus, why are there colleges on her list that cost $60,000 a year…plus?
If she applies and gets accepted, she won’t be able to attend. You have said that your assets plus current income make you ineligible for need based aid.
You need to find at least some affordable colleges…and I would suggest concentrating on those FIRST. Find places she would be happy to attend, where you either can afford the cost, or where she has guaranteed merit aid.
When you say “we” want to get of out of the Midwest…who do,you mean? Is the whole,family moving once you start your business? If so…and you do choose a public university in WI, you may find your kid no longer maintains instate status if you move to another state.
I am confused by how she is deciding what she likes b/c Berkeley is a large campus, almost equal in # of students to UW-M. FWIW, UW-M has one of the top physics depts in the country. (Top 10 in some fields.)
Is your DD really just picking schools based on perceived prestige? As mentioned, she has UCB on her list which is a large public, but is often thought of being “prestigious”.
Is your DD fully aware (and accepting) of your financial limitation? Or is she hoping that if she gets into one of these top schools that you’ll fold like a cheap tent and pay? (Many young folks do think this way).
Even when you incorporate, top schools want info on your small business. Also, check current prices, Mudd is over $70K per year now.
It isn’t clear what you are willing to pay. If she has an interest in LACs, she could get $15-$25K of merit aid at some schools ranked from around 20-60 in the USNews LAC rankings.
The whole point of merit aid is to pull in students above the average academic profile for the school. So you pretty much have to go further down the selectivity rankings to get merit. That is just the way it is.
@intparent I think that’s why this poster is looking for merit aid at top schools. They likely won’t ever qualify for need based aid. Simply put…the Profile asks for a value of your business. If you have a million dollars in equipment, you would,have to include that. In addition, some deductions allowed by the IRS are added back in as income for financial aid purposes.
This student has fine enough GPA and test scores. The family needs to look at schools where there is a strong likelihood of merit aid based on those. This likely isn’t going to,be in the top 20 schools on USNews.