The counsellors are advising on the schools that historically give high need based and merit aid to the kids from our school. Creighton is one of them. the school has a relationship with the University. U of Utah Honors College seems to give the most merit to the kids from our school. U of Arizona quoted us $30 K with Merit. I honestly do not see any full needs based schools outside of the CSS Profile schools and I dont see that many options for a full ride aside from BAMA. That’s why we are trying so hard for the T20-if CSS profile is granted, he will get aid.
Not exactly true - there is minimal aid. For example, U Wash has the Purple and Gold. UMD has the Bannaker Key. But you are missing the point -for a bio or whatever pre med you are looking at - guess what, U of Kansas is just as good. UAB is a medical powerhouse. Ohio State and Ohio U (I think you were talking about Ohio State) has a lot of merit - both do, as does Miami of Ohio.
I love U of A - the Honors dorm is wonderful and Tucson is great - but it’s $63K. I don’t see $30K. Maybe they haven’t updated their NPC. That was the old amount for your gpa two years ago. It was $35K for a 4 and $30K for a 3.75-3.99. Then $32K. But it’s not $30K anymore - and hasn’t been for a few years.
That is good to not look at the schools where he has no chance - but when you have need and full need, you shouldn’t look at the gift horse in the mouth - or whatever the saying is. If someone will pay for you, you should consider. Ohio State will likely end up similar to U Arizona. Ohio U will be less than both Ohio State and Arizona. All the schools you mentioned are fine - but are subs for a sub $40K Florida State, a low 40s Purdue, for you an under $30K U of Kansas, and a free Alabama. I mean, free keeps your options - including med school - because who’s going to pay $100K a year for that - when you can only borrow $200K total ($50K a year).
You might look at some Hail Mary scholarships - the Roddy at Providence for Pre Med, the Johnson at Washington & Lee, the Belk at Davidson, the Levine at UNCC (you’ll say it’s beneath you), the Brinkley Lane at East Carolina, the Presidential at SMU, etc.
The colleges you are looking at- you have as much chance of getting cost to close to free as you do at UCLA - just being honest.
OK - you seem to have your plan and I wish you will - but if I were you, I’d focus on cost - because getting into a school you cannot afford is a rejection.
My concern with your plan is you’re assuming an admission - and I’m simply suggesting that you add an insurance policy.
But - I’ll sit back and not comment anymore. Best of luck.
This is not about having top kids at BAMA, it’s about fitting in. Why I know that he’ll fit in in CA and Massachusetts? Because that’s where the majority of immigrants from Russia are, the environment most similar to what we are used to-there are Russian stores, Russian churches, Russian communities. I cant force him to go to Florida-he will be beyond miserable, same for Alabama, he is already miserable in Hawaii-too hot, misses the snow. I dont think it’s worth being miserable for a full ride. I researched both UMass and U Michigan (he would be very happy there)- do not see them giving much merit aid. We just cant do the South-I went to college in Texas, on a full ride, it was hard-I was dying in the heat. Not everyone can do it. It’s very different from the lifestyle he wants. I do understand that the schools in the South give more aid, but it would be hard and I dont know if it’s worth it, considering that he can go to another country. We looked at University of Grenoble in France-it’s $4500/semester, and he would be in the middle of the Alps, skiing all the time, completely different quality of life from the boiling heat of Florida, Texas and Alabama. We are in Hawaii now, and he has not been to the beach ones, sits home all day, complaining of the heat, and Hawaii has great weather compared to Florida and Texas. If he cant handle Hawaii, how can he handle US South?
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I hope the schools can give you more information about waivers. I thought they were mostly given to applicants who have no idea where the second parent is (left the country, in jail, haven’t heard from in many years), or where there is a court order of no contact, I have not read a lot of parent/students who applied for a waiver where there is still contact with the non-custodial parent, even if that contact is only through the court case.
I hope your experience is different. Colleges don’t like to give money to students who have a parent who just doesn’t want to pay.
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He needs to major in something he can fall on if he does not get into Med School, that’s what I mean by best major. I do believe he should major into something non-medicine related to have his options open.
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The kids have no contact with the parent. The school is helping with the waver. Some of the schools are considering to go without the non-custodial waver, example-Tulane.
“No budget” means no parent money in this case, correct? Meaning that you need a net price under about $10k ($5.5k direct loan + $4.5k part time and summer work earnings)?
The waiver form at https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/css-profile-waiver-request-non-custodial-parent.pdf suggests that getting the waiver would be a reach.
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This ^ 100%
Does your student have an affordable safety? It does not have to be Bama.
There is no such school. There is the Ohio State University, and Ohio University. Both give merit aid to out of state students. And both are required to give your student any federally funded need based aid they are entitled to.
ETA…University of Maryland also gives merit aid to OOS students.
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How much merit aid does this family need? If I understand correctly, I think a lot.
Have you considered University of New Mexico?
@WayOutWestMom can tell which merit scholarships your student would be eligible to receive.
SAI is 5500 according to OP, but importantly, that is without bio dad’s financial info. Which is at the crux of the financial situation, for CSS profile schools. SAI 5500 would qualify for partial pell grant, but….if/when bio dad pays child support, that will change FAFSA…dramatically if he pays what he owes.
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But very little, and to only a small number of students (plus, it’s holistic and therefore not easy to predict). They do have the full-ride B/K scholarship, which is very competitive (especially for OOS), but this kid has an interesting background that may give him an edge.
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I’ve been reading this thread but was not planning to comment until I saw this post. My son is also a US citizen who grew up in Asia and never lived in the US until college. He played soccer through high school, but his primary sport was track. The range and number of schools in the US is overwhelming so in creating his list of schools to apply to we tried to focus on what was most important to him, including track. So any school without a men’s track team was out. He also wanted a small school, so anything over about 5,000 was out. He doesn’t like divisive politics, so a number of the schools we visited were out based on what he saw around campus when we visited. (Maybe this would be an issue for your son as well.) In the end, my son chose to attend Denison University, a small liberal arts college in Ohio. I am from the East Coast and was worried whether the Midwest would be a comfortable place for him, but after seeing schools across the country, that was the school that grabbed him and it turned out to be the right decision. The school is diverse and he made friends from all sorts of different backgrounds, and the track team gave him a home base. On the other hand, a friend whose kids are ethnically Chinese but grew up in Japan has told me they had difficulty fitting in at East Coast schools because the Chinese kids were slicing and dicing themselves into narrower groups and they didn’t fit into any of them. (Similar to what you said about UH Manoa.) So my point is not that your son should consider Denison specifically (although it is a great school!) but that school cultures vary quite a bit regardless of geography or demographics. He was lucky to find a school that was very inclusive, and we also found that the Midwest was actually a very good place for someone who did not grow up immersed in US sports, politics, culture, etc. There are any number of excellent schools in the Midwest that would probably be thrilled to have your son and would provide the aid you need, so you might want to take a look. It’s my understanding from those more knowledgeable than me that for med school admission purposes, grades can be more important than going to a school like MIT or Stanford. Also, I don’t think you mentioned whether your son hopes to continue playing soccer in college, but in our son’s case, the track team was a big plus in his getting settled in and prospering. In a D3 school, the time commitment is not overwhelming.
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OP- two suggestions.
1- Research the COL of the cities you are contemplating moving to when your son is a freshman. Living in Boston or Palo Alto as a household of 3 is VERY expensive, and your housing options may not be what you are contemplating. (i.e. finding an affordable place to live in Boston may mean an outer suburb which adds a long commute by public transportation to your college kid’s day). There ARE places to live– but they aren’t likely to be adjacent to campus, or a few T-stops away from campus.
2- Make sure that your D will still qualify for whatever tuition breaks you are contemplating for Utah, etc. once you all become residents of Massachusetts or wherever. I assume that you won’t be leaving her in Hawaii when you move? And she won’t have graduated from HS in Hawaii which might muddy HER residency issues a bit. Anticipate this upfront.
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Does your son have any interest in LACs? Smaller environment, more personal attention and lots are in cold environments. It may be hard to get accommodations for living with a parent but the smaller environment may make him more comfortable being on his own. And need based aid is very generous at many.
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Oh, this is a good point. Living anywhere “core” in the Bay Area on a gross income of $70k a year is probably going to be difficult. And you should definitely properly research the areas where rentals are lower.
Utah of course has the advantage of residency after one year as a student. That may be worth exploring further.
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University of New Mexico is culturally diverse school whose students are primarily not white.
New Mexico is know for its cultural diversity–both old Hispanics (Many of the old NM Hispanic families arrived in the area before the US even existed) and newer immigrants from South & Central America, Native American (Navajo, Ute, Apache, Zuni and 19 different Pueblo tribes), and white students from both conservative and liberal backgrounds. Also in the mix is fairly good sized Asian population (mostly Vietnamese and Chinese).
Albuquerque is also diverse w/r/t to religion too–Catholics churches, evangelical churches, main line Christian churches, two large mosques, a BaHa’i temple, a Mormon temple, Jewish synagoges (orthodox thru liberal), a very active Quaker meetinghouse, several Buddist centers…
The heat is dry in the summer. (People here complain whenever the humidity gets above 40%.) And it’s no where close to be as hot as it is in Phoenix or Tuscon. (Or even Salt Lake City) in the summer. There is skiing in the Sandia Mountains 20 minutes from UNM’s campus. And it does snow in ABQ in the winter.
UNM has medical school that is directly across the street from UNM’s main campus. UNM is among the least expensive medical schools in the country, but will not consider OOS applicants UNLESS they’ve graduated from UNM.
For undergrad:
UNM offers the Amigo Scholarship to OOS students. It gives recipients in-state tuition plus a $200/year stipend.
Instate tuition & fees is about $12K/year. Housing & meals runs around $12K/year.
No separate application required, all applicants are considered, but funds are limited so it’s first-come, first-served for the Amigo.
Regents Scholarship is s true full ride scholarship covers 100% of of tuition, fees, room and board. Regent scholars get special perks–honors housing, individual mentoring by professors in their field of study, special seminars, early opportunities for research.
The Regents’ Scholarship requires a separate application and interview. 10 are awarded each year.
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The dad pays child support, it’s on FAFSA. The child support case is in appeals court, and it will take up to 3 years, so there is no concern about it going on FAFSA. If he does pay it, we will use it to pay for college.
Got it. I thought he wasn’t paying child support at all. The fact that he is paying child support (even tho he is in arrears) makes it very unlikely that schools will give an NCP waiver. You can try, and you can and should ask that question upfront (you call without fully identifying yourself) as you build the college list. Does your ex live in the US?
You don’t have to say how much he is paying annually in child support, but when you are doing an SAI calculator or an NPC, 100% of the child support from the prior calendar year (NOT prior prior like income) goes on your S’s FAFSA (and CSS Profile) as a parental asset (assuming it’s not in your S’s name.) 100% of the child support also goes on your D’s FAFSA. It doesn’t matter there is more than one kid and it doesn’t matter that you will likely have spent some or all that child support when you file FAFSA…it all gets reported on each kid’s FAFSA.
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