Will I get merit aid?

Paying for College
1

Hello all, I am a rising senior stressing about affording college. I am relatively well off financially and was lucky enough to attend a high tuition private high school that I loved. However, this decision means that my parents have limited my funds for college. My brother, who opted for a public high school, is attending Bowdoin College and paying upwards of 60k a year. My parents are in the process of getting divorced and have made it very clear that it is not possible for them to pay this much for my college tuition, although I will most likely not qualify for need based aid.

Long story short- I need merit aid if I don’t want to attend my state school!

If anyone could tell me what my chances are for qualifying for any merit aid at these schools I would greatly appreciate it.

Occidental College
Scripps College
Santa Clara University
Loyola Marymount University
Northeastern University
George Washington University
American University.

My profile:

Caucasian female from a Midwest city, attended best private school in the state (not trying to brag, but it is frequently rated as such and is very rigorous)

GPA: 3.77 UW
(3.6 Freshman year, 3.7 Sophomore year, 4.0 Jr. Year)

ACT: 35 w/ 12 on writing

My school does not offer any AP courses and only has honors classes in Math and Science (all humanities courses are considered to be at honor level). I am a year ahead in honors level math and in the honors science track (I’m taking the most challenging courses available)

APUSH: 5
APCalc: 4

ECs:
part time job since early JR year, got promotion once 18

Varsity soccer team all 4 years of highschool: most improved freshman year, all conference sophomore year

Played club soccer throughout high school career, captain of team

Volunteer at Animal Humane Society for two years

Co president of Community Action and Service Learning club at school (SR year) member all four years, head of PR (JR year)
Planned school wide day of service (SR year)

Varsity track-3 years

Member of Peer Helpers- 3years

Student Mentor-2 years

I appreciate any feedback I can get, thank you so much!!

2

A 35 ACT will probably get u a 32k merit scholarship at Tulane.

3

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My brother, who opted for a public high school, is attending Bowdoin College and paying upwards of 60k a year. My parents are in the process of getting divorced and have made it very clear that it is not possible for them to pay this much for my college tuition, although I will most likely not qualify for need based aid.


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You need to ask each parent how much they’ll pay EACH year towards college. You have some expensive schools listed here. Even with a $30k merit award, they’d still be paying $30k+ per year. Can they STILL do that while also paying for your brother’s college and paying for their divorce? After divorce, many families find that they cant pay much at all since so much gets eaten up with atty costs, etc.

You can apply to those schools, but ALSO include a few schools that you know FOR SURE will give you LARGE merit with net costs low enough that you know that they will be affordable.

4

@mom2collegekids 30k is definitely affordable for us, thank you for your feedback!

5

Since merit aid is extremely important to you, I’d suggest broadening your list and including some colleges closer to home. You need financial safeties, and you need to factor in the cost of transportation back and forth to school.

Some great schools where applicants with your stats could potentially get substantial merit aid include Denison, Wooster, Earlham, Beloit, Centre, Sewanee, Lawrence, Rhodes, DePauw, and several others. Yes, they’re not on either coast, but they are great schools nevertheless. Be sure to run the NPCs for each, although it is trickier for divorced families.

6

If your parents can afford $30,000 a year, then you need to also look at your instate public universities. You can take a $5500 Direct Loan. That would make your budget $35,000 for freshman year, plus any earnings you make which could pay for personal expenses.

The colleges on your list are expensive. You know that. I would suggest you look carefully at your list. You need a balance that includes affordable schools.

7

Are you sure your parents can pay $90,000 a year between you and your brother? How much longer will he be in college? If you include some FAFSA only schools you will only have to include the income of the parent you live with the most, is that going to be your mom or dad?

8

Sure, you can include some fafsa only schools. You would need to include your custodial parent only…and any spousal support they receive on that fafsa.

BUT those fafsa only schools are less generous than the others…except for Albright College…and University of Chicago.

9

Yes, they can afford that @mommdc. He will be in school for two more years. I have looked at the local public universities and am aware that they may be where I end up, and am okay with that. It’s not my first choice but if that’s what needs to happen.

10

I really appreciate the FAFSA info, I was not aware. I live with my mom who makes a significantly lower income than my dad. My dad will be paying for the majority of our tuition, but I don’t have to report that to FAFSA?

11

Money paid on your behalf is reported the following year. It would be better. I think, for your dad to fund a 529.

Hoping others can verify whether this would be better.

12

If you live with your mom, her financials are what need to be reported on the FAFSA. But please note that any money your dad would pay for your education would need to be reported on the next year’s FAFSA as money paid by someone other than yourself or your mom.

Most places that require the CSS Profile or their own financial aid paperwork will require your father’s financials as well.

For more ideas on merit-aid, have a nice long chat with the people at your own high school. While they may not be able to give advice specific to your family’s situation, they surely know which colleges/universities have offered significant merit-based aid to their recent graduates.

13

https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1415/help/totalMoneyReceived.htm

@thumper1, do you think this would fall under “bills paid on student’s behalf” if dad paid some (most of) tuition?
The link above is not entirely clear to me since it doesn’t include education expenses.

14

I was thinking of instate schools and OOS publics that might be FAFSA only and offer merit. But now I’m not sure how much impact this would have if dad paid tuition.

Even if you don’t qualify for federal need based aid, Temple and UA with their scholarships could bring the price way down.

15

https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1516/help/faadef22.htm

this newer explanation mentions 529 owned by other than student or parent, it includes other relatives and non-custodial parent.

16

Good luck OP with gaining enough merit somewhere you desire to go so you do not have to fall back on a financial safety. Are you looking for a smaller private? What do you want to study? Do you/your parents want you to stay within a particular geographical area?

I would suggest having an expanded list of financial safeties. The divorce and changing situation could determine that you may not be able to count on much more than room/board - or that when all is said and done, your parents only want to pay the lowest amount possible. A bigger list of financial safeties would give you some options.

There are some larger publics with honors college that may fit what you want to study. For example UA.

Have you done a fair amount of campus visits?

Meet the application and scholarship deadlines. That way you can continue looking at schools before you have the late senior year decision deadline. Easy and quick application for UA with both applications. My DD is super happy at UA, but it is not geographically far for us.

17

So brother overlaps for 1 year or 2 years?