OUEngr

My daughter a highschool senior here in Illinois would love to go to school in South Carolina. She has 4.051 grade point average and scored a 29 on her Act. She has been a 3 yr varsity soccer starter, a student council officer, a FBLA officer and in a number of other organizations. she also has been an active volunteer.

We don't have any money saved up for her college as she had Leukemia when she was little, her sister had a serious heart condition WPW SVT) that required two oblation surgeries and her mother has Non-Hodgkins Lympohma and as a result severe depression. So all of the kids college funds have been spent on medical bills.

Anyway she is a happy well adjusted young lady that I am very proud of and would love to figure out a way to send her to a good school in South Carolina. Her sister, a College sophmore at the University of Tulsa earned a full ride. But there is still quite few expenses. I have a really well paying job, so I don't think there will be any grants forthcoming. I can probably come up with about $10,000 per year. So she is going to need to get some pretty great scholarships to be able to go to an out of state school.

Can anyone recommend good schools in SC where she might be able to get the kind of scholarships needed?

thinkpink787

Furman University is a liberal arts school in Greenville SC and they have a history of giving good money. Same with Wofford College in Spartanburg. Plus Clemson and USC can give good money to good students I think...I live in SC so the Clemson USC scholarships may be instate mostly but I know they have some for out of state too!

OUEngr

Hey Pink, Thanks for the input!

Furman is definitely interesting and after looking at the school's website, I think my daughter will apply.

Wofford is a little on the small side as ideally she would like a large college experience.

Does anyone have any suggestions pertaining to any of the Univ os SC campuses?

Also can anyone give me any advice or info on the Columbia College?

paperplane

Consider College of Charleston. My D with a notch higher stats (4.0 unweighted, top of class, 32 ACT--but no sports ECs) got a very nice scholarship offer there. However, even very nice wasn't 10k/year net cost (we did not qualify for need aid either). More like 16k/year--the scholarship offer discounted tuition (did not eliminate it, but made it MUCH cheaper).

16k was cost of attendance for her with room/board.

My D visited and really, really liked it...decided on something closer to home in the end but it was a contender.

I don't want to be a downer, but I think it will be unlikely to find something that will end up being only 10k a year if you don't qualify for need-based aid. That said, I could be wrong so keep looking!

Look for schools where she would be in the top 25% of the applicant pool. The higher the better, if you are looking for high merit. Good luck!

mom2collegekids

Have your D retest. If she gets higher scores, she may get a merit scholarship. Have her take the SAT as well.

If you go to the USCarolina scholarship website, you'll see which ACT/SAT scores are needed to get the various scholarships. If I remember correctly, read the fine print....some give OOS students X amount, but also waive or partially waive the OOS tuition portion.

If you can put in about $10k, and your D can borrow $5000, then that would cover room, board, fees, books, travel, misc. Your D essentially needs a FULL Tuition scholarship to make a school affordable.

You're right, you won't get grants to an OOS public like USoCarolina.

Before your D applies to various schools, run the Net Price Calculators.

What is it about USoCarolina that she likes? She may find better scholarships elsewhere.


Consider College of Charleston. My D with a notch higher stats (4.0 unweighted, top of class, 32 ACT

Just to clarify....An ACT 32 isn't a "notch higher"....it's a lot higher as far as colleges are concerned for merit. An ACT 32 is often the benchmark for large merit at the schools that give such.

Merit scholarships are often LARGELY determined by test scores that are backed up with a good GPA. ECs often have little to do with merit scholarships unless they're highly competitive awards.

notrichenough

My DD, with similar stats, got offered $10K of scholarships from Clemson, $9K from College of Charleston, and $19K-ish from University of South Carolina.

It's not enough to get the price down to $10K though - SC came the closest.

Here is SC's scholarship page - the lowest that offers IS tuition for OOS students is the McKissick. The average stats get higher every year.

Academic Scholarships

To get the price down to $10K she will need to be a McNair finalist or winner. The stats on that are killer - 34 ACT and 4.7 WGPA, and they don't give out many of those.

mom2collegekids

^^^
i think that link is for instate students.

OOS students look here...
Non-Resident | University of South Carolina



The thing is "similar stats" aren't the same as same stats when it comes to test scores. One point on a ACT (or equivalent SAT) can be a huge difference in merit. Notrichenough...your D's M+CR SAT is equivalent to an ACT 30. I know at my kids' undergrad, an ACT 29 only gets the student about $3,500 per year, but an ACT 30 gets a child $15,000....a huge difference.

If the student is looking for a southern SEC flagship kind of school with merit, she should look at Miss State and Ole Miss for merit scholarships.

notrichenough

The link I posted has the OOS scholarships if you scroll down.

Depends on the chart you use. This chart from ACT shows my D's M+CR score would be a 29:

Compare ACT and SAT Scores | ACT

She took the ACT and scored a 29.

She was actually a little under the averages shown for the McKissick. Someone has to be.

mom2collegekids

^^^
??? Where is it showing that?


1330–1350..... 30

A 1330 is considered to be equivalent to an ACT 30.

notrichenough

My D got a 1320.

mom2collegekids

Ahh...I was going by your post here Pitt Merit Aid!! where you claimed that she had a 1330. You must have had a typo.

notrichenough

She got a 1320, I know this because if she had been interested in Alabama I would have made her retake it until she got a 1330 because, as you know, that extra 10 points is worth $12,000+ per year.

I'm glad you have a photographic memory of my previous posts, it will keep me on my toes.

mom2collegekids

as you know, that extra 10 points is worth $12,000+ per year.


Right...that's why "similar stats" doesn't always net similar merit. A mere 10 pts can mean the difference between a token award and a substantial one.

As for my memory....it's a gift and a curse...lol I remembered what you had posted about your D's because I had specifically asked you what she scored in that thread.

notrichenough

I always thought it was strange that the jump in money was so incredibly high for 1 ACT point or 10 SAT points. Is there really that much difference in the desirability of a student between a 1320 and a 1330? Apparently... but it makes no sense to me.

mom2collegekids

I know...crazy. Similar for the 1390 kid...he gets about $15k, while the 1400 kid gets full tuition (about $22k)

That said, it's not unusual for Bama to offer a larger scholarship for that "borderline" student.

Last year, some/many of the ACT 29 kids were offered 50% tuition scholarships....but these offers came in the Spring and weren't assured. But they were nice surprises....an increase from $3500 to about $11k...and adjusts for future tuition increases.


P.S...my H hates my memory. lol