Trust me, the last thing I want to do is apply to a bunch of colleges, get in, and then realize I’m unable to afford them. That would be miserable.
I made another thread asking for recommendations for schools that give good merit aid to out of state students. I am already applying to the FL schools, but I still want to apply to some places out of state.
I know my budget, but when I ran the NPC for multiple schools it was higher than my EFC will be. I’m applying to a couple selective schools, but I am trying to find more affordable options that are also out of state.
Enough merit aid to get costs to $20K is hard to do. Check out STAMPS scholarships.
The problem is that you want to get gone- but most of the places you can be sure of keeping your budget to $20K are going to be a step down from your in-state options. And your possible career interests- political science and/or law- are both really tough options financially: polisci pays terribly in the first few years, and almost always requires an (expensive) Masters to get the good jobs. Law requires (even more expensive) Law degree.
Getting to $20k will be tough. You basically need a full-tuition scholarship. S20 with almost identical stats typically got COA down to $35-50k at private schools with merit, no FA. Unless you have some hook it will be difficult. The only school he got to $20k was one of our in-state flagships (Temple). They’ve been looking to get high stat in-state kids to compete with Penn State and Pitt. There also seems to be a geographic influence. The best offers S20 got were from schools that don’t typically draw students from our area.
If you can up your SAT to 1500 or better OR consider schools outside the top 100 you might have a better shot at full-tuition scholarships. 1500 seems to be the starting point for the full-tuition scholarships. They are very competitive.
Should you aim higher? Absolutely. Just be realistic. At that point you have to consider is it worth it to look lower or try to go in-state to a top public university at a low cost. Especially if you’re able to get into any Honors programs.
Places that came in about $20-25k for D a couple of years ago: Ole Miss, Alabama, Arizona, Miami OH, South Carolina. Will they do that now, no one knows and some of these are already ‘updating their scholarship pages’ (per the websites).
Alabama has the Blount Liberal Arts Initiative which has lots of law/polisci types (as well as all kinds of other majors)
Ole Miss has the Croft Institute for international studies.
Other ideas: Wyoming, Montana, Montana State, Utah, Utah State
Are any of these academically better than UF? I doubt it. If you want a smaller state school, or more outdoorsy environment, then the western schools especially offer that.
For polisci/ law, you will be entering on the lower end of salaries and need grad school. I’d be chomping for UF Honors, study abroad, and go somewhere out of state for grad school.