lmkh70

I think my son has a decent chance of getting in to Baylor University. Problem is, their financial aid calculator says that our student would be offered $11,000 in student loans per years, plus, after that, we would still owe thousands, way above the EFC. Should I figure this calculator was correct and cross this school off our list? Or is it still worth the time and money to apply?

crazymomster

The NPCs this year are "trial".. it's their first year in use and may or may not be reliable in terms of information. Is it possible that your son may get merit aid? If your son is interested in Baylor, then he should apply. You really can't truly predict your FA award until it is in hand. Much more also gets used when determining the award than just what is on the website.

Perhaps also post on the Baylor forum to ask there about how the FA offer compared to the NPC.

mom2collegekids

Baylor is a FAFSA only school and doesn't meet need. I'd believe that the NPC is probably a good estimate.

Since you say that your child has a "decent chance," that doesn't sound like your child has HIGH stats for the school, therefore won't be awarded a large merit scholarship. I would believe that the estimate is fairly accurate.

lmkh70

Actually, they said he should have no problem getting in. But, I hate to say someone will get in..because we don't really know of course until the time comes. (plus, I don't want to jinx anything).

somemom

There should be a clear listing of the scholarships so you can see what you will receive. I recall a high need student getting good aid there, Pell grants etc, but if your EFC is high you would only get the merit.

cptofthehouse

The most important schools, the most difficult to identify, the crux of a college list should be schools that will certainly accept your student and that you know are affordable. They should also be something that will fit your student's goals, needs, and wants as well as possible. That should be the school that your student understand is where he will likely go.

After that, it's all a lottery and he should apply whereever he wants to give it a go. He has his place where he knows he can continue his education, it's affordable. Anything else is up in the air and he has to get not only the acceptance but the money to be able to have those choices. That should be clearly understood.

annasdad

IMO, it's key to avoid letting a kid lock into a place as their "dream school," lest that dream turn into a nightmare for kid and parents when the kid gets in and the cold, hard reality that it's not affordable hits. Find a school the kid really likes and that you can afford. Build your strategy around that school. Then if the kid gets into someplace glitzier with a package that makes it affordable, so much the better.

mom2collegekids

Actually, they said he should have no problem getting in


There's a HUGE difference between "no problem getting in" and having test scores (along with GPA) that are high enough to get a merit scholarship that might make for a more attractive package. Anyone with scores within the upper 50% of the school has a good chance of being accepted. However, merit is a different situation. Good sized merit is often only given to those within the top 25% of the school.

Are your son's test scores well within the top 25% at Baylor? Does he qualify for a scholarship that is listed on their website (or do they have a scholarship calculator)?

Does Baylor's NPC ask for stats? Again, I would trust their NPC except if I had a NMF child (BU does give NMF scholarships) or test scores high enough to warrant big merit. Have you called their Scholarship office to find out what your son's test scores would get him for merit.?

anxiousfather

Baylor's NPC was pretty accurate in our experience. They offer merit based (read: discount) scholarships based on SAT scores and class ranking. Please note that you will have to pay a substantial amount of money in tuition even if your child has high stats, although they provide full tuition scholarship for NMFs who select Baylor as their first choice. If you are in-state in Texas and your child is in the top 8%, you are usually better off going to UT or A&M.

mom2collegekids

^^^

Did the NPC ask for test scores and GPA? If so, then it would seem reasonable to trust BU's NPC.


OP....what is your EFC?

anxiousfather

mom2collegekids, it asked for class ranking and SAT/ACT scores, and whether one is a NMF who listed Baylor as first choice. There is even a 'scholarhip guide', a helpful chart to let one preview what sort of discount (I mean, "scholarship") to expect.

AdeleRose

I don't know anything about Baylor U, but I used the NPCs of each college my son applied to and, of the schools he got accepted into, only one of them was accurate (accepted at 6 colleges and waitlisted at 3 places, eventually offered a place and aid at one of those). I contacted the FAO of the school that seemed the best match for him, both in terms of its majors and his being above the middle 50% in SAT and GPA, because the projected aid was minimal even though our EFC was about $7000. They told me the NPC might not be accurate, and they take many factors into consideration when making aid decisions that might not boil down to the questions asked on the NPC.

So my son went ahead and applied, and he got his best aid package from that school, making it cheaper than our state school (neither of these best packages fully met our EFC, though, even with a $5,000 Stafford loan... so I'm trying to work more hours this year).

On the other hand, we had real trouble with other NPCs that predicted he would get a lot of aid and in reality he ended up getting very little -- possibly because so many kids from his school applied to those colleges that they could choose which ones to offer more aid to.

So I'd look not only at the GPA/SAT requirements, but at how likely it is that other students from your child's high school will be applying to Baylor, and where your child ranks in comparison. If it's a school he really wants to attend, I'd say it's probably worth the cost of the application if he stands a good chance of getting in. Maybe email the FAO about the NPC, too, to see whether they think the NPC is accurate. Good luck!

cptofthehouse

It's not just the kids from ones high school that will make that difference but kids from the area. There are schools that could fill their class with kids from certain areas. Why give merit money to attract them? They get enough full pays dying to go to the school. But if they want geographic diversity, they would be very interested in kids from areas sparsely represented. SO it is with a number of factors that go in to deciding who gets the merit awards.

mom2collegekids

mom2collegekids, [Baylor] asked for class ranking and SAT/ACT scores, and whether one is a NMF who listed Baylor as first choice. There is even a 'scholarhip guide', a helpful chart to let one preview what sort of discount (I mean, "scholarship") to expect.


OK....so since the OP used the NPC and presumably put in her child's accurate stats, then it seems that it would be safe to put some trust into the results.

Thanks.

momknowsbest3

I'm a little confused about what calculator she used. It said 11,000 in loans??? Did she use the scholarship calculator or the financial aid calculator?

There is a scholarship calculator. That one is VERY straightforward. I know that with my son's ACT score(34) that he will receive 15,000merit scholarship a year. ( 1/2 tuition) No guesswork. Now, the financial aid calculator is something completely different. Plus there are many other scholarships that are department, competition, etc. I'm not sure how accurate the financial calculator would be. I mean they will give more to people they want: women engineer majors for example.

All of that said, I guess I don't get the harm in applying. If you do it online, it is free. Also, Baylor allows you to retake the SAT or ACT as many times as you want to try and up the merit scholarship part. If you don't like the aid package, just turn them down.

I hope that helps.