What colleges give merit aid to good (but not top) (artsy and STEM oriented) student from elite private?
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Anonymous
| DD attends an elite private in the South. She gets good, but not great grades (A- minus average), has a 1510 and does good activities (a few school clubs). She's a STEM oriented kid with artsy hobbies (she likes to sketch and do art projects with friends). She wants to major in a science, possibly pre-med, and we are looking for a school that's not too geographically remote so that she doesn't have take multiple forms of lengthy transportation. Also looking for a school where there's residential life, club structure of advising/clubs since she is pretty quiet and needs some help with socializing in a larger group. We likely can't afford the $90K/year price tag for elite private colleges, but she would like to leave the state we live in and attend college in a blue state. Which schools give substantial merit aid to such a student? |
Anonymous
UVM will give merit…nearly all the 2nd tier LACs (go to USNews LAC rankings and look at anything ranked like 15+) will probably give something so just look at ones in NY, NJ, New England. Macalster in MN will give something. |
Anonymous
|
St. Olaf could be a really good fit as well. It might not be quite as convenient as she wants, but is only about a 40 minute drive from the Minneapolis / St. Paul airport.
Our artsy / STEM kids were offered a really attractive package from St. Olaf, but ended up going elsewhere. |
Anonymous
|
Rhodes
Denison Sewanee Grinnell W&L Richmond Davidson |
Anonymous
| Check out Holy Cross in Massachusetts. They welcome kids from Southern private hs. HC meets 100% of demonstrated need. |
Anonymous
Davidson would give merit to A-/1510? Too good to be true. |
Anonymous
| My stem kid with a 1510 was offered a half tuition merit scholarship at Smith and $33k/year merit at Oberlin. |
Anonymous
|
Grinnell sounds like a great fit except it's not in a blue state. The school itself is extremely liberal and consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges.
If you are accepted ED, Grinnell automatically awards you a minimum of $20k a year in merit aid. With your daughter's numbers she might get more. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't pay for private HS if it meant I didn't have enough money to pay for college. |
Anonymous
Davidson is NOT in a blue state. And the tiny amount of merit it offers goes to kids who could otherwise go Ivy. |
Anonymous
|
If you're open to Jesuit schools, and she might like New York, I've heard Fordham is more generous with merit than many would think. Close friends with kids there say the dorm life is great/ very supportive but someone who posts regularly here disagrees.
Other Jesuit schools with (I hear) good merit aid for kids with scores like your kids' scores: Marquette, Fairfield, St. Joe's, Loyola. |
Anonymous
|
https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid
Look at schools who give more than 20% of students significant merit aid. |
Anonymous
| A lot of state schools will cost less than $90k. For example, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo costs $56k for tuition plus room and board, Univ. of Washington costs $68k for tuition plus room and board. Way less than $90k a year. |
Anonymous
|
I bet she would get money from a lot the SLAC in the 40-60 range. Denison, Furman and St. Olaf give out merit.
I really think you have a lot of options. Just need to figure out what type of school you want. Even OOS flagships will be much cheaper than 90. |
Anonymous
How do you know she's not on financial aid at the private HS? |