Can anyone name any colleges that average B students could get admitted to that also meed a high % of need? My son will most likely not get merit aid due to test scores and gpa, but I KNOW there have to be lower tier colleges that still meet a high % of need based aid? We have 9 people in our family, 2 in college and live on one police officer’s salary, so we at least have the “need” side going for us…
Community college is definitely an option, so please don’t suggest that. We are looking for OTHER options…
Possibly state universities in your state (some states’ universities are better than others for in-state financial aid, though).
State school is not an option. Too selective for admission.
Surely there are state “directional” colleges in your state that are not selective.
TBH, if a great % of need is met then more students apply to the school and the selection rate gets tougher. Looking at in-state directionals may be the best way to go. If that’s too much then look at starting at a CC with reciprocity to the directional and save during those first two years.
Do your non-flagship/smaller in-state schools give merit? Several in our state give merit to B students.
Even the non-flagship state universities in your state are too selective for admission (or too expensive)?
This student appears to be from Maryland.
@happymomof1 perhaps,you can provide some pearls of wisdom…not just about CC, but also about other options in MD.
Check out small, rural LACs in midwestern states like Michigan that have been struggling to attract students. There are some great private schools where enrollments have been dropping the last few years due to economic conditions in their states and the difficult of attracting students to less glamorous parts of the country.
What do you mean by “B”?
What does he want to study?
It has been reported that smaller LACs where there are more female students than male students can be bit kinder with both admissions and aid. However that is not likely to get your son the bigaid package he needs.
If he is in-state for Maryland, there are a lot of public options. St. Mary’s, UM-CP, and UM-BC all can be challenging for admissions, but it is a different story at Towson, Eastern Shore, etc. Happykids friends who had big financial needs did get good aid at that sort of university.
The OP’s son wants to be in engineering. There are articulation agreements with some Maryland community colleges such as
http://www.csmd.edu/programs-courses/credit/guaranteed-transfer/
There is Morgan State, which was suggested on a prior thread and OP had no response. There is Frostburg (directly, not through articulation, or through articulation)
I understand OP is just trying to turn over every rock looking for the best school, but may have to decide what is going to give - price, major, location, or just the school he wants. South Dakota is cheap, but it is far. Salisbury is more in line with his stats, but no engineering.
It’s a tough spot, just as @“Erin’s Dad” says. There are a handful of colleges that meet full demonstrated need, and aren’t as tough to get into compared to other colleges that share the same policy. But at the same time they’re need aware and the higher the student’s financial need, the more prodigious that student will have to appear in the eyes of admissions.
If you want to remove the need aware from the equation, you’re still looking at the most selective colleges in the whole country. It’s almost a catch 22 of sorts, so I’d certainly agree with the others to look into state options (or maybe some SAT/ACT based automatic scholarships in some OOS colleges?)
This student needs to really improve his SAT score to be eligible for significant merit aid.
What about Frostburg or Morgan @steppingstonema
Maryland publics with engineering:
Frostburg State (general engineering)
Morgan State (civil, electrical, industrial engineering)
University of Maryland Baltimore County (chemical, computer, mechanical engineering)
University of Maryland College Park (aerospace, bio, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, fire protection, materials, mechanical engineering)
Beloit, Luther, Concordia Moorhead, Juniata, Susquehanna, Lycoming, West Chester, sometimes Muhlenberg depending on what type of “B” student, Siena, St Michael’s, UScranton, Marist? What about UCincinnati, ODU, Wku, UMass Lowell, Rowan…?
However many of these may not offer engineering or a B student may not qualify for an engineering scholarship. Most scholarships for Engineering go to high scoring students and engineering students tend to score higher than most students at any college, which makes things tougher.
Thank to those of you who jumped in with more info. Yes, we are in MD and only UMD-CP and UMBC have his major-mechanical engineering.
He is open to going anywhere in the country so location isn’t an option. Basically he has a 3.44 unweighted gpa and a 1100 sat/22 SAT.
I am making a list of schools where he falls in the mid-50% but many of them are still showing upwards of $30,000 net cost from the NPC. We are banking on need based aid since we already know he won’t likely get merit. Can anyone recommend ANY other schools that are generous with need based aid? I feel like I am literally looking up any college I have heard the name of and running the NPC but it’s like a needle in a haystack…
What are directional schools? I’ve never heard that term before.
I can’t think of any schools with engineering that would fit those parameters, unfortunately.
Are the low SAT/ACT scores in math sections or English? How about test optional schools- since his GPA is not bad? how are his ecs?
University of Hartford? Wentworth institute of technology in Boston?
‘Directional’ is a term used for the non-flagship public schools in a state. Many states named their schools by location, like U of North Florida (Jacksonville), West Florida (Pensacola), South Florida (not south at all in Tampa), etc. Maryland doesn’t do that and just used to name them after the city or town (Towson, Salisbury) in the old state college system or UM-(location) for the 5 schools of the old UM system (College Park, Eastern Shore, Balt. County). Many states have two separate systems for public schools, the universities and the state colleges, with the colleges sometimes being less selective.
Have you looked at the articulation agreements between the CC and universities? that may be his best shot at getting into UMBC or UMCP, or taking the first two years at a 4 year school near you, taking all the math and science courses he needs, and then transferring and taking the engineering courses. It may take longer that way.