While I totally understand why this kid wants to get out of Utah for college, the reality is that with the parents owning rental property, she will probably not qualify for fin aid, but it sounds as if the parents are not going to contribute anything. And if they’re expecting her to do it on the federal loan, her only realistic option is SLCC, assuming that she lives in SLC, for her associate’s degree with automatic transfer agreement to the U of Utah, all while living at home. A better option would be the U all the way through, since they have excellent music education, but she would have to be working and saving from this minute forward, all the way through school. Fortunately, the U does offer substantial merit money to students with high GPAs, and even if she didn’t qualify coming out of high school, if she does well freshman year, she would be offered heavily discounted tuition thereafter.
I know this is not what she wants to hear. But with high"ish" stats, she’s not going to get a full ride anywhere. Most she might get would be full tuition at a 3rd tier LAC, and she cannot foot living expenses of >fifteen K /yr on the federal loan.
Right now I have the following list. Many of the WUE schools end up being expensive, though because they don’t grant any additional merit scholarships above the WUE scholarship.
Weber State
University of New Mexico
University of Wyoming
Utah State
Montana State
University of Montana
Western Washington University
Fort Lewis (Durango)
Cal State (Chico, Stanislas, Channel Islands, etc.)
UC - Merced
Seattle U
University of Utah
Boise State
University of Puget Sound (WA)
Carthage College (WI)
Colorado Mesa University
Butler University
Northern Arizona University
Central Michigan University
Carroll College (MT)
Adolphos Gustavus College (MN)
University of Idaho
Gonzaga University (WA)
University of Tulsa (OK)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
St. Olaf
College of Wooster (OH)
Syracuse (NY)
Lafayette College
Eastern New Mexico University
Berea College (KY)
Some of your LACs may not come in super affordable if we are still talking budget of zero and not qualifying for need based aid.
Saint Olaf’s current merit cap is 37K. They typically come in at the low to high 30K range with good to excellent merit (both my kids applied as music students, oldest kid had test scores and stats to apply anywhere)
Max merit at Wooster is 43K, puts it in the 30K+ range
Max merit at Gustavus Adolphus in MN is 36K, in the 30K+ range
Max merit at Puget Sound is 31K, that would likely run 40K+ without need based aid.
Has this family investigated whether they’d qualify for Berea? Financial Eligibility - Berea College Income is the primary metric, but they also note that “many factors are considered when determining a student’s financial eligibility, primarily using the FAFSA, but in some cases, a student may be required to submit a Financial Resource Questionnaire, Non-Custodial Financial Questionnaire, Self-Employed/Business Owner Questionnaire, or additional documentation to ultimately determine an applicant’s financial eligibility.” I am skeptical that a student who fails to qualify for need-based aid at other schools will pass the eligibility filters for Berea.
Yes, you can get help for your family friend’s child. For a high-achieving student looking for affordable out-of-state options, consider University of Florida or University of North Carolina at Greensboro for strong programs in education and vocal performance.
The only pay nothing is local CC if it is free. (Not all states have free CC). The only other option is postpone college education until 23 and it still will not be free.
Consider school that take CLEP credits.
CLEP all you can.
Consider online education…
In many places, the federally funded Direct Loan $5500 for freshman year will cover the tuition costs at a community college where the student can commute from home.
This student has no financial support for college and might need to think out of the traditional four year residential college box.
Community college for two years and transfer to four year college that has n articulation agreement with the CC so acceptance is pretty much guaranteed and courses will transfer. And some schools DO provide some scholarships for CC transfers…this all needs to be checked with the transfer advisor at the CC.
Work part time and go to college part time. Yes it will take longer to complete that degree but this might make it possible.
Attend a community college and get an associates degree that can lead to a JOB. Then work, save money, and finish the bachelors at a later date.
Look at the colleges in Utah, although I’m not understanding how even these will be affordable for this student.
Just an aside, but I wish more kids considered this option (or the alternative where you just get a job out of high school, although a 2-year degree can definitely open up a lot more options).
Many of the people I personally know who got the most out of higher education came back to it after some period of working. By that point, they understood exactly what they were looking for out of higher education, for what specific career purpose, and knew how to get it efficiently.
They were also more mature, organized, self-motivated people who found the work load of college relatively easy to manage.
In fact, you know that thing how when you get older, you look back at things your younger self did and realize you would now handle things so much better? You also think you would appreciate better the good things you took for granted back then? Well, some of these people were basically living out that fantasy, getting to go through the residential college experience with the life skills and perspective of an older adult.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out some of these plans that may take a little longer to get to a four-year degree might not just be less expensive, they might actually be better plans for a lot of people anyway.
Will this student qualify as a National Merit Semi-Finalist or Finalist? That would open up lots of options.
Additionally, the family may want to to run the Net Price Calculator at schools that don’t use the CSS profile (the list of schools has shrunk dramatically over the past year…I suspect due to the FAFSA rollout fiasco).
Hobart William Smith (NY): About 1600 undergrads and would only work if the NPC comes back with something approachable, as the max merit is $40k, though smaller scholarships for music, civic engagement, etc, are stackable with the merit awards (source). But the family would need to get some need-based aid in addition to the merit aid for this to work.
Saint Louis (MO): About 11k undergrads. Their top merit scholarship appears to be full tuition, but again, perhaps if the NPC comes back favorable, it might be able to be combined with need-based aid.
Stetson (FL): About 2600 undergrads. This student (initial thread and follow-up thread) received a full tuition merit scholarship to Stetson which might provide some context about how much merit the family you’re helping might hope to receive, and which might be able to be combined with need-based aid (if the NPC indicates that the family would qualify). Looks to have a fairly robust music program here, too.
Lastly, I would just find schools that offer full rides and try to compete for them. For instance, Southern Illinois - Carbondale has really impressed me with the number of its graduates who’ve gone on to earn doctorates in various fields and its Chancellor’s Scholarship is a full ride (applications due November 1): Incoming Freshmen | Undergraduate Academic Scholarships | SIU
I also forgot about U. of Louisiana - Lafayette as an option. Depending on the student’s stats, this could get down to around $8k/year or so (@2plustrio visited with one kid and it’s on the list for another). Here’s the scholarship info: Freshman Scholarships | University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Two suggestions, College of Idaho and Carroll College. It won’t be free but both schools have very large merit scholarships for good students. Carroll has a chart for their auto merit but there are other stackable merit awards as well. It looks like average gift aid is over 26K which makes the total price around 26K.
One possibility to consider, for a student who’s interested in elementary education, is to apply to City Year, which is an Americorps service program. The volunteers receive a stipend which is enough to live on in the chosen location; they live with other volunteers and work in public school classrooms. https://www.cityyear.org/about/ At the end of their service, volunteers receive a scholarship that they can apply to their education. (It isn’t enough to move the needle on OOS affordability, but it’s still a nice perk.) Volunteers can also extend and serve for more than one year.
This kind of experience would be relevant to her long term goals, and it could scratch the “getting out of Utah” itch in a way that would be funded. She still might have to pursue her education at home, but the change of scene might be healthier for her than simply grinding straight into community college or a local 4-year, at home.
This is a really thoughtful thread full of really great ideas for very low cost options.
I agree with many above that with a total projected budget of $27K for the 4 years, the choices are extremely limited. Of our three kids, one attended a state school and lived at home. The cost was still over $10K annually for tuition and fees. We had another with full tuition and most of room and board scholarship but travel expenses across the country and miscellaneous expenses were still over $8-10K annually.
However, hopefully this student and family can appreciate all of these excellent suggestions. And one thing that parents may overlook, especially when their first kid heads off to college, is the money that is saved by not having their child at home. So money spent on food, utilities, EC activities such as lessons, sports, etc. can perhaps be added to the amount projected as the budget. It may not be a lot, it may not be enough to allow their child to meet their desired path, but it may help make one of the excellent ideas above feasible.
Great opportunity to explore a bunch of different careers btw-- I know kids who have ended up in social work, counseling, clinical psych, policy/ed reform, etc. as a result of their Americorps placement.
Nothing sacred about starting college right after HS graduation!
Since we’re looking at such a small budget and have moved on to some great outside ideas like Americorps, I’ll go ahead and throw in the military as an option. A couple years with the chance to travel, and a free education.
The award is a Segal grant, and yes it can be used for college costs but it is not a scholarship as the award is taxable when used. It is the same amount as the Pell grant for that year if the person works the require number of hours for a year, which I think is 1800. But a great suggestion. There are a lot of other positions besides teaching too, but since this student is interested in education that might be that perfect fit.
The U of Wyoming has the Brown and Gold scholarship for WUE so not 150% of tuition but a percentage based on ACT score and gpa. They also have music talent awards and stack all awards so it is possible to get it down to $0 (but hard) and I think quite a few education dept awards. You cannot be a double major in music and education, but could minor in music (I think that’s 20 credits) or just take courses although it is hard to get into some. Housing is cheap in the dorms and off campus after that. My daughter found a great deal of $400/mo for a room in a house including utilities. NOT luxurious.
I’ll second Montana (and Montana State). A friend’s child goes to Montana for theater and loves it. And U of Northern Colo is great for both education and theater, and WUE.