Early Options for Undecided Mid-Atlantic Seeking Merit (4.0 /1300 PSAT) [PA resident, <$20k]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Everyone was very helpful with my older son so I thought I’d reach out for my daughter! I felt like we started too late with my older son so as usually I’m course correcting and maybe too early with my daughter. Then for all the rest I’m usually right on target.

In a nutshell we have lots of kids so our goal is a very affordable college experience. My next one up is finishing her sophomore year. She’s a very hard worker and grades reflect that. Unfortunately we don’t have a ton of direction from an intended major because she really doesn’t know (which is fine, she’s 16!)

She’s a very talented artist, but isn’t interested in art school although likes the idea of being able to take some collegiate art classes.

I think she would do better not going outside mid-Atlantic area, but I guess we aren’t totally closed off to Ohio/Virginia/Northeast. I can’t see her heading to the south or west coast.

Basically I’m trying to come up with some ideas for college visits for over the summer so we can start to build a list!

Demographics

  • US Domestic
  • State/Location of residency: PA
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Archdiocesan Catholic
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.) None

Cost Constraints / Budget
Lots! Seeking as much aid as possible, maxing out at $20,000/year

Intended Major(s): Undecided, but leaning towards something health related that isn’t nursing (PT, OT, Speech) or maybe Business in the accounting/actuary sort of way.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.56
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank: 8/228
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1300 PSAT. Could go either way on SAT. Struggles a bit with high pressure tests. we will definitely do some prep this summer and the ability to take SAT multiple times should be helpful.

List your HS coursework

  • English: Honors English 1 (9th), AP Sem (10th), AP Lang (11th)
  • Math: Honors Algebra 1 (9th), Honors Geometry (10th), Honors Trig/pre-calculus (11th)
  • Science: Honors Bio (9th), Honors Chem (10th), AP Chem (11th)
  • History and social studies: Honors World History (9th), AP Gov (10th), APUSH (11th)
  • Language other than English: Honors Spanish 1 (9th), Honors Spanish 2 (10th), Honors Spanish 3 (11th)
  • Visual or performing arts: Studio Arts (9th), Honors Portfolio (11th)
  • Other academic courses:

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

  • General education course work:
  • Major preparation course work:

Awards

Art Scholarship (partial scholarship to current high school)
Law Day Art Award
English Award (9th)
Theology Award (9th)
Art Award (9th)

Extracurriculars

All 9-10 with plans to continue and aim for one or two leadership positions

Stage Crew (Minor leadership position 10th)

Art Club

Community Service Club

Academic Bowl

Part-Time job at assisted living facility

Various church-related volunteer hours (Vacation Bible School, etc)

Essays/LORs/Other
Good writer, essay probably won’t be anything that makes too much of a difference. LORs should be fine, again, nothing that moves the needle too much.

Schools

Places we are planning to look:

West Chester
Pitt
Penn State (prob not a fit for her but older brother is there so she’s familiar)
Catholic University
Scranton

2

Look at the Colleges That Change Lives list of colleges. Many are located geographically where you want to be. It’s very possible you could get decent merit aid at some of them.

1 Like
3

So the issue here is the $20K and what you can afford. If schools say you can afford more than $20K, then you’re unlikely to find $20K. So I think that’s issue #1 - and then it’s premature because you don’t have an SAT score.

But $20K in the mid-Atlantic is going to be tough. But some of the PASSHE schools - like Kutztown - are $25K for tuition, room and board. With a 4.0, an instate gets $5K merit - so there’s your $20K. Millersville is a bit more $$ but these are the type of schools you need to look at. You can see tuition, room, and board - and then find merit aid.

You can look at NC Promise schools but they’ve gone up a bit - like W Carolina (there are 4 promise schools) but they’ll be low 20s.

If you get a strong enough ACT/SAT score, you can look South - UAH, W Carolina and perhaps some in TN - but you don’t want to leave the mid-Atlantic and noted specifically the South. In the midwest, it doesn’t get lower cost (that I’ve seen) than C Michigan U, but even that might be a bit over - and we’d need an SAT score.

If you qualify for need aid, then maybe others can open up -

Dickinson meets need so fill out their NPC. I linked it below. What cost does it show? We’ve also seen Susquehanna get low 20s. 20s is just - too low - to get to for merit aid on its own - in most every case. But your in-state PASSHE schools are likely your best chance.

That’s some early thoughts. But to get to $20K, you’ll need high need - and then high stats, I think outside of your in state publics that aren’t Penn State/Pitt/Temple.

Our Universities | PA State System of Higher Education

Net Price Calculator

4

The Net Price Calculators are currently set for students starting college in fall 2026. That is not this student. Financial aid awarding policies do change, and costs do too. So…anything this student’s parent gets using the net price calculator should be viewed as an estimate only.

If I’m reading this correctly, this student is finishing grade 10. So…they would be graduating HS in 2028. @Collegemom1906 is this correct? If so, the financial aid formulas for the 2028-2029 academic year (this student’s freshman year) would be using tax year info from 2026…which isn’t over yet. So…just be cautious.

It sounds like this student needs a full tuition scholarship.

Tagging @MaineLonghorn to see if Susquehanna could be an option if the SAT score and grades end up being sufficient for merit aid consideration.

5

Yes but you can use NPCs to see - if you should even bother with privates. OP is looking to make summer visits. You use the tools you have today - and hope they reflect similarly at application time. It may be OP won’t qualify and short of Hail Mary type scholarships privates will be out.

There was a student on here - there were some writing awards etc - that got them more. Not sure if it was @TheMonaLisa or another.

Here’s a few that could work - if the family seeks a Christian / Catholic education and is low income/assets.

  1. The Geneva Tuition Promise ensures that all eligible Pennsylvania traditional undergraduate students from families earning less than $70,000 annually will pay no tuition at Geneva College starting with the incoming class in the fall of 2024.

  2. Westminster College is reinforcing its commitment to affordability by introducing a new scholarship program for fall 2025, allowing more Pennsylvania students to earn their degree tuition-free.

    To be considered for the new Westminster Advantage Scholarship, students must be Pennsylvania residents with a weighted GPA of 3.0 or higher and have a total family annual income of $75,000 or less.

    Under the Westminster Advantage, all eligible Pennsylvania first-year and transfer students can attend Westminster College tuition-free for four years through a combination of college, federal and state financial aid programs.

  3. St Franciscan is Catholic and uses $65k as a bar.

  4. One may argue that this is South but as a southerner I’d say it’s not. The state is adjacent to PA. Just four hours from Pittsburgh or 8 driving from Philly. Marshall U is the opposite of WVU - smaller, contained - but it’s WV’s #2 public, very nice and tuition, room and board is currently mid 30s but $14k is the current auto merit amount for a 1360 SAT. Cant speak for tomorrow but today that’s $20k-ish. It has the College of Health Professions.

1 Like
6

Juniata has a high sticker price but is known for excellent merit. They also have some named fulled scholarships. Good pre-professional health science track.

2 Likes
7

My son received significant merit and grant from Susquehanna University. They gave him enough merit and grant money to bring the COA down to $24K. If he accepted the federal loan, the COA will be roughly $19K. And Susquehanna has one of the best business programs! Check it out! He received the following merit/grants totaling $57,500/year renewable for up to 4 years as long as he maintains a 3.2 or 3.4 (I can’t remember exactly) GPA.

Presidential Scholarship $44,000/year
Early Admit Grant (Apply before Nov 1!) $2,000/year
FAFSA Grant (submit FAFSA asap) $2,000/year
Good Neighbor Grant (We live in a neighboring state) $2,500/year
Visit Grant (Sign up for a campus visit!) $2,000/year
Janet Weis Writers Scholar (my son had to submit a writing portfolio) $5,000/year

Good luck!

4 Likes
8

Washington and Jefferson has a sticker price of 49K, and the max merit is 17K. Not sure 32K is enough. Run a NPC to see if there is any nee based aid.

2 Likes
9

I should have included our SAI has for the last two years been around $24000, and we are comfortable with her taking federal loans. So if we can find a meets need school that accepts her (recognizing that they often have different ways of calculating need) we may get to that number.

1 Like
10

Yes looking for ideally a full tuition scholarship. I feel like her stats are almost exactly my stats from one million years ago and I was able to get full tuition, but I know things are very different these days!

1 Like
11

As a rule we’ve enjoyed any time we’ve visited West Virginia. I feel like it’s an underrated state. I’ll check this out!

1 Like
12

We will definitely check them out!

1 Like
13

You might run the NPC of a school that doesn’t use CSS. Not sure which they are but Allegheny and Kalamazoo both use FAFSA.

There are schools out there with tuition or full ride scholarships -W&L Johnson, UVA Jefferson, W&M 1693 - Vandy, WashU, Emory, Davidson - many. But these are beyond reaches. A recent student just informed of one at E Carolina - a less competitive school so maybe schools like it and UNCC are worth a look for their full rides.

But those are not a plan but rather a hope.
Run these and the Dickinson one I listed above. Once she has a true SAT there might be more ideas.

Of course, all these privates will be need aware so you still need that PASSHE or assured to hit cost.

14

Yes - the good news is she’s familiar with West Chester and seems like she would be happy there, so I feel like we have a safety in them provided she maintains her current average. They also happen to have a great speech therapy masters so they may be an excellent option if that’s the route she ends up going.

2 Likes
15

That’s great. For this year, with a double and unlimited food, it’s $23,287. They don’t seem to have a merit table but says merit can be $500-$2000. It may be a bit above your desire but certainly within range so that will give the student flexibility to pursue some ‘home run’ type scholarships, knowing they will be unlikely. But having WCU as a fallback allows flexibility.

1 Like
16

I am not sure about excellent merit at Juniata. FA possible. It was not the cheapest school after merit in our case (with no FA). They also were not interested to match merit from other stronger schools.

1 Like
17

I would look at some of the other Catholic schools in the region. I know several kids who have gotten enough merit/aid from St. Joe’s, Loyola Maryland, DeSales University, and Duquesne to make them comparable or even a little less than their in-state Pennsylvania or Delaware options. They’re not far from some of the schools you’re already considering visiting.

1 Like
18

Thanks for the reminder! I forgot about Loyola and they actually gave my son fantastic merit and need based aid but he was engineering and we felt like it just wasn’t a strong a program as PSU would offer.

19

State schools will likely get you closest to your price. Private schools can get you into $30s unless you really exceed their average students. Catholic schools are good places to look for health professions, they offer a lot of those majors because it fits their mission. Scranton, St. Joseph’s, and Loyola-MD are all known for giving good students merit aid, and they will like that you came from a Catholic high school.

West Chester is a good price and I believe they offer OT and actuarial programs, since it was on both of my kids’ lists. Great price for me out-of-state. My son looked at Susquehanna and they gave them the lowest cost of attendance. Ended up at Stonehill which was second-cheapest and Catholic, also small like Susquehanna.

Visit a few and when you can narrow down the preference list, come back here for more suggestions. Penn State-West Chester-Scranton gives you three different sizes, some locational diversity.

1 Like
20

I think you mean Franciscan University in Stubenville? OP may know this, but it is a very religious Catholic university; many Religious study there in the summers, especially if they are educators and working toward a masters (several of the nuns from my kids’ school did as they were Dominicans of Nashville so it was close to their summer home).

There is also Wheeling Jesuit in WV, and it has a lot of medical majors (nursing, therapy, psych).

1 Like