What kind of colleges can an ~80th percentile kid get merit aid at versus where she'd get in but get none?
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Anonymous
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Asking this before my kid hits HS for financial planning purposes (sorry! this is just really hard to figure out from the outside) but would love to get some insight on:
1). What kinds of colleges give significant merit aid to kids who are smart but not at the top of their class-- typically in the ballpark of 80th-90th percentile on standardized tests (Internet says this may translate to 1200-1300ish SAT), take some honors and AP classes but not all, get many As but also a fair number of Bs (especially in the harder classes), etc? I am guessing she will also not be the kind of kid who's driven to do things like pick extracurriculars or electives in ways that maximize her college admissions chances. Feel free to name specific schools or give a general ballpark of rankings/selectivity/etc, whatever's easiest but still gives some sense of what kind of schools we'd be talking about here. 2). What kinds of colleges would she likely be able to get into without any merit aid? 3). Are the kinds of colleges likely to give merit aid a much worse educational experience than the kinds of schools she'd likely get accepted to with little or no merit aid, enough so that we're likely going to feel like it's worth finding a way to pay the extra hundreds of thousands of dollars? (It would take some serious sacrifices to try to save that much, but we can try if we really ought to. We make a little less than $200,000 a year, which I gather means we are unlikely to get much or any need based aid.). FYI we are in Montgomery County MD (zoned for a non-W school.) Would love UMCP but recently learned that it is very much not a sure bet, especially for kids who are not at the very top of their class, plus for all I know she'd visit and hate it, so definitely does not make sense to have all our eggs in that basket. Thanks so much for anything you can share! |
Anonymous
| Midwest flagships |
Anonymous
| Lots of schools give merit aid to all who are accepted. |
Anonymous
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Honest question, with all due respect:
Why should a student with those credentials deserve "merit" aid? Where's the "merit?" |
Anonymous
| For "gives merit aid" let's define it as something like "gets total cost of attendance down to, say, something in the ballpark of $40K per year or less"? Does that seem realistic? |
Anonymous
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Do a google search of colleges that give merit aid to nearly all accepted students, and you will get a list of like 100 colleges.
It's all bullshit and these schools should just cut their tuition by 50%...but they think keeping a high rack rate has some value. |
Anonymous
My understanding is that many schools give merit aid to try to draw in kids who would be above-average level for their particular school, right? Trying to figure out how low down you need to go for schools to be interested in doing that for a kid like this. |
Anonymous
Merit aid used to be used that way, but not anymore. Now it's all about enrollment management. Applicants are being judged by zip code, etc., to determine how much of a discount they need to be offered in order for their parents to be willing to pay to have them attend. It's a big business, with schools employing companies that study the data. That makes it less about your kid and her credentials, and more about your wealth and income. The "Your College Bound Kid" podcast just ran a segment about this. It's not up on the website yet but soon will be: https://yourcollegeboundkid.com/episodes/ Here's an old news article given an overview: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/inside-college-merit-aid-manipulative-lucrative-system-keeps-it-running-ncna1256800 |
Anonymous
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Arizona State
Iowa Texas Tech Mississippi or Mississippi State Hofstra(friends kid had similar stats and got a scholarship, $20k I think). Temple |
Anonymous
| Stronger SAT/ACT scores often increase merit offers. Case Western is a medium size private university that offers great merit aid and no supplemental essay required! You don't need to be top of the class but a strong test score really helps boost the merit $ offer. |
Anonymous
A kid who is basically a 3.5 student with a 1200-1300 is not going to be above-average at any college anywhere. Do you qualify for financial aid? If not, I think you should expect to pay full pay and not chase merit at all. |
Anonymous
| Maybe some of the lower state schools, but on 200K, it may be a stretch. |
Anonymous
Why give such a hostile, incorrect answer? There are hundreds of colleges that will accept this student (they also have like 70%+ acceptance rates and have much lower average SAT scores of the kids that even submit scores) that give merit aid to literally everyone they accept. |
Anonymous
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Hmm. My kid is somewhat in your range but with all honors, AP, and DE classes and 4 B+ in her high school career.
These would meet your $40k criterion: Hofstra: $41k plus an additional $2500 to visit- COA around $40-41k. Dayton: 33k- COA around $35k. Mary Washington: $6k- COA about $30k. These gave merit but have higher COA than $40k: Loyola MD: $39k Duquesne: $33k Seton Hall: $28.5k Fordham: $36k Northwestern: $7400 (HA!) Pitt- no merit. |
Anonymous
Are you daft? WTF is wrong with you for taking a passive aggressive dig at someone asking a sincere question? The kid deserves merit at many schools because they have merit. They are smart, well above average and would be a huge contributor to many schools. Thewy bring much to the table and are worthy of getting a discount (which is what merit actually is) in return for attending a school where typical kids go. |