Ideas for merit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you looking to pay? He can get substantial $$ probably at some SLACS but a third off of $80k is still a lot.

Ideally under 40k. He will apply to state schools, would love to add other options.

That’s going to be tough with SLACs. Wooster and St. Olaf might work and I know kids who are at both colleges and love them. St. Olaf started at a lower price point when my kid applied, which helped. Not sure where they are now.

As someone said UMW and maybe CNU, JMU, GMU in state. Other posters have provided OOS. I’d add Pitt as a possible.

Case Western (midsized private) and Kenyon, Oberlin, Macalaster and Grinnell all offer decent merit aid— but getting below 40k (less than half price) with merit only at these colleges would be a challenge. Your kid would probably end up is the 50-60k range. Not sure how able you are to stretch or how willing you are to take out loans.

Not willing, because we have a dd who will go to college the following year so we will have two at once.

[Anonymous]

My daughter got enough merit at Duquesne to get under 40 K. Great school especially for business and anything in the health sciences. Pittsburgh is a great city and full of internship opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you looking to pay? He can get substantial $$ probably at some SLACS but a third off of $80k is still a lot.

Ideally under 40k. He will apply to state schools, would love to add other options.

PPs recs for Alabama and Arizona are your best bet. Also look at Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah

+1 KU is a very good school and Lawrence is rated as one of the best college towns. If he likes basketball, it’s awesome to spend four years going to the Allen Fieldhouse. Rock chalk!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you looking to pay? He can get substantial $$ probably at some SLACS but a third off of $80k is still a lot.

Ideally under 40k. He will apply to state schools, would love to add other options.

That’s going to be tough with SLACs. Wooster and St. Olaf might work and I know kids who are at both colleges and love them. St. Olaf started at a lower price point when my kid applied, which helped. Not sure where they are now.

As someone said UMW and maybe CNU, JMU, GMU in state. Other posters have provided OOS. I’d add Pitt as a possible.

Case Western (midsized private) and Kenyon, Oberlin, Macalaster and Grinnell all offer decent merit aid— but getting below 40k (less than half price) with merit only at these colleges would be a challenge. Your kid would probably end up is the 50-60k range. Not sure how able you are to stretch or how willing you are to take out loans.

You need to go lower in the rankings to get SLACs under $40k. DD (higher SAT, lower GPA than OP) found LACs ranked in the 70s-80s generally came in around $30-$35k after the initial merit offer and a couple offered additional opportunities for added scholarships. We're now paying about $27k. Schools ending up in that price range...Juniata, Allegheny, Washington College, SMCM (OOS). Also applied Dickinson and Mt Holyoke but they ended up at about $50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid with 1350 SAT, 4.0 unweighted, two varsity sports and a year-round job, no other ECs. Can he get excellent/full merit somewhere you think? Not top 100 I am sure, but any ideas of potential schools that might be generous?

What is the desired major/area of interest?

There are several schools in the Top 100 that will give good merit, not full but good with those scores/stats. Try the jesuit universities and you should get at least 35% of tuition in merit, if you apply for more scholarships you can easily get more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you looking to pay? He can get substantial $$ probably at some SLACS but a third off of $80k is still a lot.

Ideally under 40k. He will apply to state schools, would love to add other options.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but consider some Jesuit schools: St. Joe's, Loyola, Scranton, Fairfield.

Add in Gonzaga, Marquette, Dayton, Creighton. All give good merit and if you are only looking to get below $40K, it is entirely possible to get that with those stats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid with 1350 SAT, 4.0 unweighted, two varsity sports and a year-round job, no other ECs. Can he get excellent/full merit somewhere you think? Not top 100 I am sure, but any ideas of potential schools that might be generous?

What is the desired major/area of interest?

There are several schools in the Top 100 that will give good merit, not full but good with those scores/stats. Try the jesuit universities and you should get at least 35% of tuition in merit, if you apply for more scholarships you can easily get more.

Perhaps business or earth sciences. The only thing he is ruling out are Humanities but he is not set yet.

[Anonymous]

My kid wants LAC, so we have been paying verrrry close attention to merit stories. We know kids who got sub-40 cost-of-attendance offers to Lake Forest, Wooster, Willamette, Lawrence, Beloit, Hendrix, Kalamazoo, Puget Sound. Stats not too far off from OP's kid. I think Sewanee and St. Lawrence, too, but I might be misremembering.

It does seem like if you go up in prestige, you move closer to 50k coa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid with 1350 SAT, 4.0 unweighted, two varsity sports and a year-round job, no other ECs. Can he get excellent/full merit somewhere you think? Not top 100 I am sure, but any ideas of potential schools that might be generous?

Washington and Jefferson came in under 30k total for our kid. They did halve their tuition, so their total original cost was lower to begin with, but that's not bad. Lower stats than yours.

Also got steep discounts bringing it to about 40k at Washington College and Allegheny.

[Anonymous]

Yes, don’t worry.

Juniata for one. Possibly Dickinson.

[Anonymous]

My senior DD (3.9/TO) has merit offers at Mount St. Mary's and Stetson in FL getting us to around 30-35K. Lots of great merit to be had out there for your kid!

[Anonymous]

My DD had similar stats and got merit at every school where she was accepted -- including in-state schools.

[Anonymous]

Ursinus might be another possibility

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD had similar stats and got merit at every school where she was accepted -- including in-state schools.

Did any bring cost of attendance down into the 30s? That's what OP's hoping for.

[Anonymous]

Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Florida State.