Do I nudge DS towards safe school and better chance of Merit Aid

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

We have a Junior and he's our oldest, so we're learning our way through the college process. We met with a college advisor, and she suggested a few safe, target, and reach schools to consider. We are a Fed family and so finances are a concern. DS isn't interested in large schools like VA Tech, Pitt, Michigan, etc, and instead wants the smaller schools. The advisor suggested that merit aid is unlikely for any target or reach school, but that DS could likely receive merit aid for his supposed safety schools, based on his ACT 33 score and 4.6 GPA. She suggested Richmond and Case Western (and UMD, which even though it's large, she said it has a place for everyone and he has the grades and score to likely get in).

I'm torn about how strongly to nudge DS towards a school where he'll have a better chance to get aid (which seems to mean going to a less highly vaulted school), or that's more reasonably priced. I'm curious how other parents navigate these discussions and decisions. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Apply widely

[Anonymous]

And have a robust conversation with DS. If aid is needed, don’t hide it.

[Anonymous]

It's not unusual to apply to 10 schools. How many are on his list? Give him a list of others (you have research that you think might give merit aid) and have him choose a few

[Anonymous]

Op here, yes, the advisor said to apply to 8-10 schools and listed 3 safe, 3 target (50-50 chance) and 3 reach. She said the schools that will offer Merit aid (Financial aid is unlikely) are the ones that really want him. I don’t want to debate whether his credentials are strong, but he has 4.6 GPA and 33 ACT, which she said would make his sought after at Richmond and Case Western, hence my original posted question. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Have you run the NPC on college websites? Would you be full pay at top private schools? If you can't or won't be full pay at a $75k per year school you need to tell your son what the budget is and make sure he knows that without merit aid he is limited to in-state options (if that is the case).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you run the NPC on college websites? Would you be full pay at top private schools? If you can't or won't be full pay at a $75k per year school you need to tell your son what the budget is and make sure he knows that without merit aid he is limited to in-state options (if that is the case).

Op here, yes, I ran the NPC for one small private college and it said full pay. I assumed that would be the same elsewhere, but my understanding is that the NPC doesn’t account for potential merit aid and we wouldn’t know that until DS applies and is accepted. Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

That is correct. My kid with similar stats applied to 8 schools (no top 20s), and was offered merit at 4, ranging from 8K to 20K per year—they were the safeties and low matches.

[Anonymous]

Talk to him. Tell him this is how much you have in the college fund, this is how much extra you can pay out of income. And let him apply to a variety of schools and see where he gets in and costs. That is the problem with some counselors is they don't look at all the facts.

We have told ours from the start when they were little we have a prepaid college fund and a 529 and talked to them about schools and what is realistic. If they get merit aid, great, if not, they will go to our state schools so we can help with graduate school. No debt.

[Anonymous]

I told my DD who is junior with strong GPA and SAT scores She is going to UMD college park most likely honors college.
She wants to major in Biology and go to medical school.
She will be applying to colleges that will offer merit aid and the cost has to come down close to state school for her to attend it.

[Anonymous]

Let him decide after visiting the lower ranked schools. He may find a cohort of kids on those schools who are similarly situated, or he may decide that he’d rather go to a higher ranked big school in state after all. A lot can change in 2 years, so keep your options open and be straightforward with him about the budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you run the NPC on college websites? Would you be full pay at top private schools? If you can't or won't be full pay at a $75k per year school you need to tell your son what the budget is and make sure he knows that without merit aid he is limited to in-state options (if that is the case).

Op here, yes, I ran the NPC for one small private college and it said full pay. I assumed that would be the same elsewhere, but my understanding is that the NPC doesn’t account for potential merit aid and we wouldn’t know that until DS applies and is accepted. Am I wrong?

Some of the NPCs do account for merit aid (I tried it for Gettysburg and Mublenberg). Others don’t (I tried it for Grinnell and Richmond). Richmond, by the way, is a selective school. Other selective schools (but not tippy top) that give merit include Grinnell and Oberlin. I’ve heard places like Dennison and Wooster give large merit awards too.

[Anonymous]

Have a seriously honest conversation about what the money means. Apply widely.

As for CWRU - my kid was a lot like yours. He got enough from CWRU to make it the same as an ordinary OOS flagship. That's a fair amount of money, but still left us with a ton to come up with.

It is a great school.

[Anonymous]

I would discuss finding strong honors colleges at public universities with your child. Many offer excellent merit scholarships, research opportunities & stipends and study abroad. Students have all the advantages of a large institution with the benefit of a small high-achieving and motivated cohort.
There are other benefits including Honors housing and priority class registration. His GPA is strong but ACT could be higher.
Pitt has a good honors program as does South Carolina. ASU Barrett is great too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you run the NPC on college websites? Would you be full pay at top private schools? If you can't or won't be full pay at a $75k per year school you need to tell your son what the budget is and make sure he knows that without merit aid he is limited to in-state options (if that is the case).

Op here, yes, I ran the NPC for one small private college and it said full pay. I assumed that would be the same elsewhere, but my understanding is that the NPC doesn’t account for potential merit aid and we wouldn’t know that until DS applies and is accepted. Am I wrong?

If you are dual feds I would run the NPC on many different schools, as the results can vary (i.e., you may get better results at schools that provide the best financial aid such as HYP although getting accepted is quite a hurdle).

Some schools offer automatic merit aid for certain high stats. Miami of Ohio is one example. The merit aid won't show on their NPC results, but you just have to meet the criteria listed on the website.