Congratulations on turning your academic GPA around. As the lower GPA was from 7 years ago, your current GPA is going to probably be the primary focus of schools that you apply to.
In looking at your list, I suspect that very few will be affordable for you. Most public schools only provide need-based aid to its own state’s residents. Thus, all your likely and match schools (apart from UT Austin) will probably not be affordable since they’re all out-of-state (OOS) publics. If you see specific info from the university that disputes that (for instance, UNC-Chapel Hill and UVA meet the need of any domestic students, and Michigan may as well if the family’s income is below a certain amount), then they could remain. But as a general rule, that’s the situation.
Since you are 25 years old, I believe that your individual finances are considered and not those of your parents, so you are more likely to qualify for significant financial aid. That said, however, many schools that say they meet the full need of students are need aware, meaning that it can be harder for students who need very large amounts of aid to be accepted. Most schools are need-blind but do not meet the full-need of students. And then there are those that are need-blind and meet full-need, but those are extremely competitive to get into. Also note that when colleges say they meet need, they calculate that need. Some schools are more generous than others in calculating realistic need. The Net Price Calculator (NPC) is your friend here…run it at every single school you’re interested in and it will tell you an estimate of what to expect your cost will be. If it asks for your GPA and/or test scores, then it is likely to also include an estimate of the merit aid you would receive.
Some of the very competitive private schools may be a bit more hesitant about accepting a nontraditional aged student as they tend to specialize in the 18-23 population, but since you’re not that much older, it may not be as big of an issue. But those schools are extremely competitive and I’m unsure how many students they accept as transfers, or whether those transfers are coming primarily from other 4-year colleges or from community colleges.
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Schools
- Safety *: University of Houston, TXST, UT Dallas. (All auto admits)
- Likely *: Georgia State, George Mason, Rutgers, U Illinois Chicago,
Your in-state publics are probably going to be your best financial options if there is someone you can live with for free. But if you’re looking for other possibilities, then you might want to consider some of these schools, which usually have some combination of a large psychology department and being more financially generous based on looking at the net price for students with lower incomes.
Also, does your disability make you dependent on public transportation?
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Hamline (MN): St. Paul and the Twin Cities have a number of schools with a larger than typical non-traditional student population
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Manhattanville (NY): 11% of undergrads are age 25+
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McDaniel (MD)
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New College (FL): This is a public school, but they offer institutional grants for Pell recipients who still have unmet need, and don’t specify that it has to be for Florida residents.
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Niagara (NY): 12% of undergrads are age 25+
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Oglethorpe (GA): This Atlanta school offers a flagship match program, so its tuition could be the same as UT-Austin’s for you. Nearly all Atlanta schools are part of the consortium that allows them to take classes at other campuses, like Emory, Georgia Tech, SCAD, Morehouse, etc.
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U. of Detroit Mercy (MI): 9% of undergrads are age 25+
McDaniel and New College are both members of Colleges That Change Lives, an association of schools that were commended by a NY Times author for their focus on undergrad education, academic accessibility, etc.