EFC& College selection

Parents Forum
1

<p>I wanted to confirm my impression of the likely colleges that my S should be applying. He is interested in Biomedical / Chemical engineering.</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA: 4.14 weighted / 3.96 UW
ACT/SAT: 36 /2290 [1530 {CR+M}]
SAT Subject: Math 2/Physics/Chem: 800/800/790
National Merit semi finalist
2 in depth extracurricular activities</p>

<p>FAFSA EFC = $35,000. Haven’t estimated Profile EFC. (Higher value –> unfortunately much of the savings is kept aside for long term retirement and is in Money Market types; currently fully funding IRA/401K)</p>

<p>Want to pay around $12 – $15K max/yr for undergraduate; will use part of the savings for graduate school.</p>

<p>Colleges under consideration: </p>

<ol>
<li> State Universities in MI + Minnesota (Admission & Financial safety)</li>
<li> Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, USC, Case Western & Rice (Will be financial reach without substantial merit scholarships)</li>
</ol>

<p>S is applying to a few combined BS/MDs (Admission reaches)</p>

<p>Question:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Should my S forget about applying to Ivy types like Columbia engineering, Stanford, CalTech etc. They seem like both financial & admission reaches. I think my S will be happy to attend any of the non Ivy types. </p></li>
<li><p>I was advised to put the family savings in bond funds annuities. Don’t feel comfortable about annuities, since they (i) cannot be cashed before 59 ½ years of age without paying penalty for early withdrawal, (ii) are not insured (insurance products), and (iii) if the interest rates go up (likely scenario over the next several years), the value of principal $ withdrawn goes down. Any thoughts? Should this (Q.2) be in financial aid section?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>You could apply to some of the higher Ivies with the possibility you’d get good FA. I would also look at the Mississippi river schools (Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Miss) which would give good merit aid. There are some good merit aid schools in the FA forum under National Merit Scholarships by Keilexandra. I would definitely post the bond annuity question there.</p>

3

<p>Is son a senior? If so, it’s a bit late to move your funds… they will considered as available assets if they are not if retirement accounts.</p>

4

<p>Has he thought about Rice? Great merit aid, top school.</p>

5

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt; might give you some useful ideas.</p>

<p>It is perfectly OK for you to limit the list to colleges and universities that you have solid evidence will be affordable for your family. Don’t for one minute feel bad about that!</p>

6

<p>Perhaps Case Western?</p>

7

<p>IMO, Submit only the ACT–a perfect score will look excellent, of course! Assuming their merit aid hasn’t changed drastically in the past five years, your S should get a very nice scholarship at Case Western and be a good contender for strong merit aid at Rice and Vanderbilt (very competitive, of course, but he should be in the running at least). Washington U in St. Louisiana is another possible reach for good merit aid at a top ranked school. Alabama might be good safety, and as an NM(S?)F in engineering, I believe your S would qualify for full tuition plus an additional $2500 automatically.</p>

<p>Your son has a very strong profile!</p>

8

<p>As a NM Finalist at Alabama, your son would qualify for full tuition, honors housing, $2000 for study abroad or summer research, a $1000 yearly stipend and a laptop (valued at $2000). Also, he receives a $2500 scholarship each year from the engineering department. My son is a NM Scholar at Alabama. He is not in the engineering department, but two of his suite mates are. They spent the summer researching for the top computational chemist in the world. I would strongly recommend looking at the school. It has a lot to offer.</p>

9

<p>He should not apply to any Ivy unless you are prepared to pay your EFC. They do not give merit scholarships - only FA.</p>

10

<p>Since my S is not applying for early decision (for 2011), I presume he has to submit CSS profile & FAFSA by mid Feb 2011 (deadlines vary by colleges). Since quite a bit of the family retirement savings are currently still not in officially sanctioned retirement plan(s), I guess I have until the end of this year to move the funds into some kind of plan. I hope I am not making any mistake.</p>

<p>Yes, it looks like the top 20 may simply be a wishful thinking, except perhaps 1 or 2 higher level selective schools, which will then end up being far reach colleges (admission wise); we don’t want to spend up to EFC for undergraduate, which will leave nothing for graduate school. </p>

<p>He is applying to a school in Alabama. Just hoping that that he would be professionally as competitive in his field of engineering (ChemE or BME) & be able to hold up against the likes of MIT grads, as he is academically (currently) at high school. Recent article in WSJ suggests that certain state schools are quite competitive from recruiters’ point of view, which is quite reassuring.</p>

11

<p>Given an EFC of $35k/yr and a desire to pay $12-$15k/yr this limits the choice a lot because you will not get financial aid anywhere that is going to get you anywhere near the $12-$15k range … (the best financial aid will get to yoru EFC).</p>

<p>So you have … schools that give merit scholarships … and schools that only cost $12-$15k/yr which are pretty lmited … maybe commuting to State colleges (it would cost too much to live on campus) or community college. While that is not a lot of categories there are LOTS of schools that give merit scholarships.</p>

12

<p>Unless your S is stuck on being close to home…why on earth with stats like that would he go to the U of Alabama (sorry but it is way down in the rankings and opportunities for grad school, internships, etc.) when there are top schools dishing out great merit aid for STEM students.</p>

<p>University of Maryland (full ride scholarship - highly competitive)
(must apply by November)
University of Michigan (Shippensberg or something like that – highly competitive)
Boston University
Case Western
RPI
Rochester University
Swarthmore
WUSTL</p>

13

<p>OAMom, those are good schools. The one advantage of Bama is it offers guaranteed merit aid. The ones you site are all competitive for students.</p>

14

<p>Northeastern (Boston) gives a full tuition scholarship to all NMF. There are rules about naming them 1st choice in the spring, but no other hurdles. But room/board/fees will add up to $15K or more, especially if the student needs to fly to Boston. </p>

<p>Those stats will give a nice merit scholarship at Case (possibly even $27,500/year). But the remaining $8K tuition plus room/board will put you over $15K. </p>

<p>At the tippy top schools and most top schools expect to pay $35K (or your Profile EFC if higher).</p>

15

<p>A poster named Keilexandra has compilled a wonderful list: </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your son might want to add a couple of schools with huge NMF scholarships to the mix.</p>

16

<p>Swarthmore does not give any merit scholarships (with the exception of a couple of full rides for local students). All the financial aid is based on income using a swarthmore specific profile. At this point all awards are loan free.</p>

17

<p>Case Western is very good specifically for pre-meds and engineers. Also very famous for huge Merit scholarships. If my D. ended up there, we would have paid only about $5,000 / year in tuition. Your S. will definitely get awesome Merit package there.</p>

18

<p>Thanks; excellent suggestions, now my S needs to concentrate on schools that have both ChemE and BME, so it is easier to switch should he need to so in future. </p>

<p>Still looking for any suggestions about moving retirement funds into products that are FAFSA protected (hopefully not an annuity!).</p>