What schools would you recommend in the Boston area that give good merit aid? Thinking small labor arts colleges ideally, with access to public transportation
Brandeis hits everything on your wish list. My daughter is a student there and LOVES it.
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Stats? Define good merit. If a 10K award off a 80K pricetag is unaffordable, we donāt want to waste your time.
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For most schools, the NPC comes in between 25 and 35,000 for us. Just hoping to bring it down another 10 to 20,000 with merit. She wants to go to school for humanities and I know thereās not a ton of money in that so I want her to be able to pay back any loans she takes out without struggling.
Sheās a 4.0 unweighted student with quite a few AP classes, decent extracurriculars (has been a dancer on a team since she was eight and was the editor for the school magazine and is in the creative writing club, NHS and a bit of volunteering as well). Not the greatest SATs so hoping for test optional. I think her super score is currently 1250 and retesting again next week at school.
There has to be a trade off. Sure do the Brandeis NPC.
But in the area you have Gordon, Wheaton (big merit), Wellesley, stone hill, Emmanuel.
Unh has a train on campus to Boston - not an LAC but not large.
There will maybe have to be trade offs.
Wheaton could maybe hit your price point. But you need a bus and train to Boston etc.
Ahhhh. I see the name.
She has to āsettleā - thatās the trade off. What happened to UM Farmington or N Adams / Mass College of Liberal Arts.
You have to be realistic on budget. It was those or none if I recall.
Thatās the trade off for being able to attend college.
As I recall you were cash flowing the entire thing. In that sense, she should go to community college.
I get that kids want to go. Unfortunately itās the - you go where you can afford. She wanted to stay close - right - and the Hamilton, Union, Bates of the world were coming in too high ??
What are her commutable options? Start there. And is the 20K budget a hard cap or a āweād be happier at 20 than at 30 but 30 is doable with some belt tightening?ā
Just trying to get a handle on the money before we all go hog wildā¦ Boston area has a LOT of colleges, but many are really only realistic at your pricepoint if the kid can live at home and commute. Boston dorming/eating gets expensive very, very quickly.
A couple of things:
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Many schools that offer merit aid to a student who had received need-based aid will sub out their grant aid with the scholarship. Sometimes they will sub out loans or work-study with the scholarship. But rarely will a university stack the merit aid on top of the need-based aid because by receiving a scholarship, it decreases your amount of need, so the school then gives you less need-based aid.
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It sounds like youāre trying to have the price be about $15,000/year if Iām reading that quote correctly. Iām not sure if thereās any school in the Boston area that has room & board costs of $15k or less, so youāre looking for a school where your D would receive a full tuition scholarship. For most colleges, itās extremely challenging to receive a full tuition scholarship, particularly in the northeast, particularly in the Boston area. But those are the words you will want to be looking for when searching for a college at this price point in this part of the world.
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For additional context on OPās D, interests, and the budget, this thread may be helpful:
Thanks for reposting.
OP- what has changed since your last thread? You got a lot of suggestions last time aroundā¦ let us know what is new so we can zero in this time around.
I still think that exploring in-state options should be Priority 1. I understand wanting to try somewhere else, I totally sympathize with kids who donāt want their HS persona following them to college, want a bigger stage- but at least for half your Dās list she needs to be pragmatic. There is no financial aid fairy-- the āmeets needsā schools are going to be relatively transparent (unless your marital situation, income composition, etc. complicate things) and if the only affordable options at this point are Yale and Wellesley (if Iām remembering your last thread accurately) youāve got to retool the list. Both are great places, both are very generous-- but neither can be counted on as a sure thing.
Let us know whatās changed. And as I asked upthread- is the budget 20K, 30K or āwe want 20K but if we have to we can swing 25K without selling a kidneyā. Boston wonāt be getting cheaper between now and when your D shows up for college!
For those who canāt get through the entire thread - to me - this was the biggest sticking point:
"No, we have nothing we can pay out-of-pocket. Literally. "
So if you donāt have cash flow, itās all loans - so that really makes even a $20K budget impossible.
Endicott maybe? not sure how much merit they give honestly, but is smallā¦ youād have to get a lift to a train though.
Also, if $$ is super tight, community college is now free in MA, and there are some clear guaranteed pathways to Umass Amherst, which is highly ranked obviously! MassTransfer : UMass Amherst
I know, know your kid probably doesnāt want to hear that, but is a fantastic option
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OP is from Maine.
OP wants to stay close (I think).
I wonder if a Berea could work (Kentucky) - but I think you need full need and OP clearly has income or assets that donāt support that.
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oops! thanks for clarifyingā¦I assumed the access to public transit meant they lived near public transit and kid needed to get home easily.
The issue here is - OP canāt afford maybe anything - but there were some very low cost options noted - U Maine, Mass College of Liberal Arts (on the regional discount).
Clearly, OPs kid wants - what everyone can get - and the parent is having a hard time saying no - which is understandable, we all want to give our kids everything.
But this is a case where the Motel 6 (price point, not necessarily quality) is more realistic than the Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, Marriott, or Ritz Carlton.
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Near the end of your other thread you indicated that your D was becoming interested in the military academies.
If she is interested in serving in the military, has she thought about serving in the National Guard?
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont are some of the states where it seems like your D may be able to benefit from free tuition for National Guard members. So that could be U. of Vermont, UMass-Amherst (with consortium participation with Amherst and Hampshire, et al), or other public colleges in those states.
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We are looking at all of those schools, just trying to tour anything sheās remotely interested in and compile a list because I think sheās going to have to cast a wide net and go with whoever gives her the most aid.
Sheās casting a wide net in the hopes that something comes up that she can afford and that she likes. Just trying to give her as many options as possible, and she has expressed interest in the Boston area.
I donāt have trouble telling her no. But thank you for your assessment of my parenting techniques. Iām only trying to help her find a variety of schools that will possibly give her what she needs.
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Apologies.
You can easily find a list of all Boston area schools but I know youāve done a lot of NPC work - so Iād surmise youāve done so.
Apologies if I offended - just tying to be helpful.
List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston - Wikipedia
Did we suggest Clark or Holy Cross last time around, and could they come in at your price point? Both have has some āvibeyā similarities to Wellesley (and Yale, although for different reasons). Both attract a very nice, warm, inclusive student body. Holy Cross a little more intellectual and Clark maybe a tiny bit more pre-professional but both have faculty who REALLY love teaching undergrads, a nice social scene, neither place requires a huge budget to have fun/visit pricey restaurants all the time.
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We are also in OPās financial bracket (current SAI = 31k), and I just wanted to add that Iāve found the above to be absolutely true. Typically the merit will be applied first, and then need-based aid will be added to get to the final award that the college is able to offer, which may or may not get close to an affordable price. Iāve only found two ways to get below SAI/EFC:
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Gain admission to one of the 15-20 schools in the country that cap family contribution based on specific income thresholds in the 100k-200k range. All are highly selective - I think Colby may be the least selective of these right now, and it is 25% ED/5% RD.
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Obtain a full-tuition (or similarly large) merit scholarship from a school where the student is at the very top of the stats range for incoming students. These will often be lesser-known and less selective schools, but the scholarships do frequently involve a competitive process with essays/interviews/etc.
I donāt actually know offhand of any schools in the Boston area that offer a big scholarship along the lines of Category 2, but there very well could be some - I havenāt done a deep dive. I sympathize and wish OP the best.
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