What kind of colleges can an ~80th percentile kid get merit aid at versus where she'd get in but get none?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is tough OP. Smaller and lower ranked privates may offer you merit, but they start out at $80K+ so $20K in merit doesn’t bring the COA down enough for you. Your state schools almost always offer the best cost.

This. My kid is a decent student (top 20%) and with a high SAT score (1500). Got decent merit at some out of sate flagships and private but these are still 40K+ which is still 10K more than instate flagship and 20K more than instate non-flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is tough OP. Smaller and lower ranked privates may offer you merit, but they start out at $80K+ so $20K in merit doesn’t bring the COA down enough for you. Your state schools almost always offer the best cost.

This. My kid is a decent student (top 20%) and with a high SAT score (1500). Got decent merit at some out of sate flagships and private but these are still 40K+ which is still 10K more than instate flagship and 20K more than instate non-flagship.

Also should have mentioned that like OP we are in MoCo non W school.

[Anonymous]

Look at MVSU. Very low ranked, but a full ride is a full ride

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of the smaller LACs that are not in the Swarthmore/Williams orbit. Places like Wooster and Dayton and Coe (in Iowa) and Gettysburg and York and maybe Elon? and Beloit (in Wisconsin). If your child is interested in smaller schools they will have LOTS of options and merit aid offers from the not tippy top small liberal arts colleges.

To the PP who is like- 80% is not worthy of merit, please go away. This student would bring a lot to the table and at many schools would be and should be! offered merit aid.

Good question, OP. Don’t let the mean people scare you off.

It is a good question, but just a reality check re Gettysburg. Last year my DC, who was in the top 10 % of their class and had a 1500 SAT, was accepted to Gettysburg and got a huge scholarship, which brought the cost of attendance down to a bit over 40k. OP’s DC is undoubtedly a lovely person, but with the stats OP floated her DC will not be able to go to Gettysburg for 40k (especially after 4-5 more years of tuition hikes).

[Anonymous]

In-state MD colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2). What kinds of colleges would she likely be able to get into without any merit aid?

If you're talking about LACs (which is my area of knowledge) the interesting thing is that the answer to your question No. 2 is "very few." The LACs beyond the top 30 or so offer merit aid to essentially everyone, and most of the LACs in the top 30 offer merit aid to no one. And a kid like you're describing is unlikely to be able to get into those LACs that don't offer merit aid, because they're very selective. Essentially, everyone is trying to get into the same 20 or so LACs, and those LACs can afford not to offer merit aid, and every other LAC is fighting for people and handing out substantial merit aid to kids like yours.

We found this with my kid, who sounds similar to your 80th percentile kid (though his SAT score was 1460.). He wound up EDing to Conn College, which gave him a substantial merit scholarship. But I'm not sure he could have "done better" if we'd been willing to do full-pay. Maybe he could have gotten into, say, Bates, ED. But WASP, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, Hamilton, Carleton? I don't think he would have.

Also, I would add that in terms of getting the COA down to $40,000 with merit aid, that would be very hard at any top 50-60 LAC for a kid with those stats. The schools in the 40-60 range will liberally hand out aid that gets the cost down to $50,000 or $55,000, but they know what their break-even line is. It is maybe possible at schools in very low cost of living areas.

This is the answer. With regard to the last paragraph, from the experience, another way of saying it is that the top 50-100 schools will only offer merit aid that will get the cost down to $50k a year or so even to students with higher stats, with the exception of a handful of very competitive scholarships. The scholarship offers that my kid got from the schools in that range were very consistent. The cheaper options (other than in-state) were OOS flagships that basically offered in-state tuition. But that leads back to the fact that a kid with lower stats might not even get in to the OOS flagship in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

2). What kinds of colleges would she likely be able to get into without any merit aid?

If you're talking about LACs (which is my area of knowledge) the interesting thing is that the answer to your question No. 2 is "very few." The LACs beyond the top 30 or so offer merit aid to essentially everyone, and most of the LACs in the top 30 offer merit aid to no one. And a kid like you're describing is unlikely to be able to get into those LACs that don't offer merit aid, because they're very selective. Essentially, everyone is trying to get into the same 20 or so LACs, and those LACs can afford not to offer merit aid, and every other LAC is fighting for people and handing out substantial merit aid to kids like yours.

We found this with my kid, who sounds similar to your 80th percentile kid (though his SAT score was 1460.). He wound up EDing to Conn College, which gave him a substantial merit scholarship. But I'm not sure he could have "done better" if we'd been willing to do full-pay. Maybe he could have gotten into, say, Bates, ED. But WASP, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Vassar, Hamilton, Carleton? I don't think he would have.

Also, I would add that in terms of getting the COA down to $40,000 with merit aid, that would be very hard at any top 50-60 LAC for a kid with those stats. The schools in the 40-60 range will liberally hand out aid that gets the cost down to $50,000 or $55,000, but they know what their break-even line is. It is maybe possible at schools in very low cost of living areas.

This is the answer. With regard to the last paragraph, from the experience, another way of saying it is that the top 50-100 schools will only offer merit aid that will get the cost down to $50k a year or so even to students with higher stats, with the exception of a handful of very competitive scholarships. The scholarship offers that my kid got from the schools in that range were very consistent. The cheaper options (other than in-state) were OOS flagships that basically offered in-state tuition. But that leads back to the fact that a kid with lower stats might not even get in to the OOS flagship in the first place.

DP: I agree with this take.

- parent of a kid with top stats who hunted for merit scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of the smaller LACs that are not in the Swarthmore/Williams orbit. Places like Wooster and Dayton and Coe (in Iowa) and Gettysburg and York and maybe Elon? and Beloit (in Wisconsin). If your child is interested in smaller schools they will have LOTS of options and merit aid offers from the not tippy top small liberal arts colleges.

To the PP who is like- 80% is not worthy of merit, please go away. This student would bring a lot to the table and at many schools would be and should be! offered merit aid.

Good question, OP. Don’t let the mean people scare you off.

It is a good question, but just a reality check re Gettysburg. Last year my DC, who was in the top 10 % of their class and had a 1500 SAT, was accepted to Gettysburg and got a huge scholarship, which brought the cost of attendance down to a bit over 40k. OP’s DC is undoubtedly a lovely person, but with the stats OP floated her DC will not be able to go to Gettysburg for 40k (especially after 4-5 more years of tuition hikes).

Did your kid go to Gettysburg?

[Anonymous]

For any given school, Google the school name and “common data set.” Most schools post a standard set of information annually that includes info on financial aid (in section H.) For example, I just looked up Loyola MD and learned that 96% of accepted kids who did not qualify for financial aid were awarded merit aid and that the average amount was 29k.

[Anonymous]

I found that if you can afford the $30-$40k range (all in) many private schools and SLACs will get you there. It’s if you can’t even afford that it’s a problem. My kid with very average stats will do best in a small school, and so many schools got us there. So many of these smaller schools have a lot to offer, but so many of the people here think that a) a school below T50 can has value and b) everyone who doesn’t have a 4.5+/1500+ are failures and too flawed to go to college. It says more about them than the kids.

I would really hone in on what kind of environment and programs are right for your kid and go to a bunch of college fairs. We discovered a couple in college fairs that really fit the bill and my kid got “merit” that gets the bill into the $30-$40 k range, even when the sticker price was higher. That was what we had budgeted for. Think smaller schools in PA, OH, MN, VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found that if you can afford the $30-$40k range (all in) many private schools and SLACs will get you there. It’s if you can’t even afford that it’s a problem. My kid with very average stats will do best in a small school, and so many schools got us there. So many of these smaller schools have a lot to offer, but so many of the people here think that a) a school below T50 can have no value and b) everyone who doesn’t have a 4.5+/1500+ are failures and too flawed to go to college. It says more about them than the kids.

I would really hone in on what kind of environment and programs are right for your kid and go to a bunch of college fairs. We discovered a couple in college fairs that really fit the bill and my kid got “merit” that gets the bill into the $30-$40 k range, even when the sticker price was higher. That was what we had budgeted for. Think smaller schools in PA, OH, MN, VA.

[Anonymous]

Your kid is young enough that s/he could start prepping for the SAT. It isn’t as difficult as it used to be but more importantly it’s very preppable. Unless your kid has test anxiety, there is zero reason why a kid that gets As and Bs can’t crack 1400 or higher. If your kid is motivated or compliant, you can use the free prep options. If they aren’t, then an in person tutor service would be better. Start prepping now for the PSAT to get that as high as possible then start prepping for the SAT.

Every single Asian American kid in your school district is doing this until they hit the highest score they can get.

[Anonymous]

Agnes Scott College gives merit aid to everyone, and increases the amount based on the student’s GPA. They also give a grant to every student that doesn’t live in Georgia.

We got a fantastic deal from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found that if you can afford the $30-$40k range (all in) many private schools and SLACs will get you there. It’s if you can’t even afford that it’s a problem. My kid with very average stats will do best in a small school, and so many schools got us there. So many of these smaller schools have a lot to offer, but so many of the people here think that a) a school below T50 can has value and b) everyone who doesn’t have a 4.5+/1500+ are failures and too flawed to go to college. It says more about them than the kids.

I would really hone in on what kind of environment and programs are right for your kid and go to a bunch of college fairs. We discovered a couple in college fairs that really fit the bill and my kid got “merit” that gets the bill into the $30-$40 k range, even when the sticker price was higher. That was what we had budgeted for. Think smaller schools in PA, OH, MN, VA.

30K-40K is right in our doable range. Could you share what some of these schools were?

[Anonymous]

I agree about the smaller mid-tier privates and liberal arts colleges as well as some of the larger Midwestern Universities. Do some research into “buyer” colleges and check out Jeff Selingo’s research and lists.