I am a graduated senior, currently committed to Barnard. Unfortunately, I was granted inadequate aid, which would leave me with a $120k+ debt after four years. I have decided to take a gap year and consider other options. I discussed my problem with a dean and she told me I would be allowed to forfeit my spot.
At present, I am trying to find a more affordable college or one which gives out merit aid. I love Barnard, but I need to be financially practical… I am hoping to finish undergrad with minimal debt, since money is now of greater concern for my family and I plan to further my studies with law school. Are there any particularly generous colleges? I would appreciate any recommendations.
Below are some qualification details:
ACT: 31 (35/27/35/28)
SAT II: U.S. History - 770, Literature - 760
UW GPA: 3.9
Awards: National AP Scholar, NSLI-Y & CBYX scholarships (DoS-funded study abroad), Bank of America Student Leader
Majors: International Relations/Political Science & Linguistics (can be altered based on offerings of college)
Preferences: 4-year school, no religious affiliation, double major, study abroad, few/no core reqs., diverse student body, a plus+ for beautiful architecture
Note: I will not consider any colleges in my home state (FL)
$120K+ is at least 3-4 times what I’d consider a reasonable maximum debt.
Barnard seems to be one of the 40-60 colleges with the best need-based aid. So, unless maybe you can get into an even more selective school (e.g. Harvard/Yale/Stanford), or unless your family’s circumstances have changed greatly, you are unlikely to get a much more generous n-b aid package. You could experiment with the online Net Price Calculators, if you haven’t already.
If what you need is merit scholarship money, then Barnard wasn’t a good choice because it doesn’t give any.
There are a few very selective colleges (e.g. UChicago, Duke, Vanderbilt) that do grant merit scholarships, but the competition for them would be extreme. There is larger number of somewhat less selective private schools where you’d have a better shot at something like a 1/4 to 1/2 tuition scholarship. Examples :
Davidson
Kenyon
Grinnell
Macalester
Mt. Holyoke (women only)
URichmond
Agnes Scott (women only)
Beloit
Lawrence
Earlham
Tulane
George Washington
Brandeis
You’re probably familiar with New College of Florida, which for my money would be a good alternative to some of the above (if you want an even lower net cost than what you’d get after a modest merit discount from a pricey private college).
Typically, colleges with the most generous merit scholarships (full tuition or full ride) are much less selective than Barnard. Examples: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
W.r.t. your intended majors, linguistics might be a little challenging if you want a LAC with merit money potential.
The strongest linguistics departments tend to be at big state flagships (which usually don’t give too much FA to OOS students) or at super selective private research universities (like Harvard, UChicago, MIT … or Columbia).
Merit requires you to have better stats. Is there anything you can do about that now you are graduated?
Why not school in your home state? Do you have a choice?
WRT merit, even half tuition might be more than what you have on offer presently, you won’t be able to stack merit and FA, so the list of examples is only useful if the COA works (as you already have learned). The rare high $$ merit awards are for the top achievers in the applicant pool. Even at the auto tuition schools.
How much do you have to use for college? You can’t do $30K a year. So what CAN you pay? R&B is at least 10K a year so that is $40K plus already accounted for.
Start rethinking your home state.
Check Alabama’s OOS merit scholarship criteria. http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
Unless I’m missing something, the OP could qualify for some of these awards.
Whether they’d result in a lower net price than Barnard’s isn’t clear.
