I have a high achieving student having a wonderful experience at DePaul in Chicago, you are welcome to message me if that comes up on your list. We were also trying for merit and affordability as a full pay family for undergrad. DePaul does have an honors program.
We also know happy students at Loyola Chicago.
Lots above - and I bet you did (miss a lot) 
Where did your student from several years ago end up - just curious.
My older son went to St. Joe’s with generous merit and excelled. My husband and I would be thrilled if younger son ended up there too but he would like a more urban environment, more similar to Drexel. SJU is not a great fit socially for our younger son.
I looked at Suffolk as it seemed to hit all the boxes, but some have told me to avoid at all cost, that it just is not up to snuff and it is hard to go to a school in a city where there are a lot of college students but your institution is not at the top of the pile for consideration for internships, etc.
Thank you for sharing that %, as I was not aware. I think I’m just about at the point where we can put together a good comparison chart and I’ll include that as a metric.
I know. It’s all about having faith in the process, and realizing they grow a lot in maturity between summer after junior year in HS and spring of senior year!
Thank you, Kayla. I will message you!
I think internships are found by the kid.
Both mine found theirs and my son his job - on indeed. Sure campuses have resources - they didn’t like what they had.
It’s not easy - but my daughter, at Charleston (which I think you should look at given he likes urban), had 7 offers for internships in DC (well 5 and two in Silver Springs) and worked at a prominent think tank in her DC semester. The issue with Charleston may be cost (it’s a possible to hit budget). And last Summer worked for our state in civil rights (but she’s caucasian)…all this found on indeed.
Think about CNU -I’m guessing it will end up too small - but remember Cassidy Hutchinson from the Trump Jan 6 hearings - that’s where she went. Not a huge name but a fine school and she obviously hustled. That’s the key point!!! Not the name.
So I think internships are kid based, not school based. If they put in the effort…
I mean, there was a recent post that some UNC kids (CS I think) were applying to 150 jobs (which is a smart strategy) to land one…so it’s not just…go to a good name. It’s find the right fit, and especially after sophomore year, start cranking the apps - targeted as best you can - and he’ll be fine. Having a summer job after first year helps - to show he has work experience even if unrelated.
I’m not commenting on Suffolk in general…but I’m sure if it “fit” - and he busts tail, it could work fine. I do know a law grad and she’s done well, out in California.
That’s the cost, in some ways, of saving money…you have to work that much harder…but you’re well ahead of the curve to begin with…and frankly, the kid who isn’t hustling is going to struggle from anywhere.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. What I find amazing is that despite there being thousands of schools, when you really narrow it down, there are not that many that are reasonably priced in an urban area.
Of his list, we’ve only got five realistic choices: Loyola Chicago, Pitt, UMCP, St. Joe’s, and Drexel (I’m not convinced but will let him apply).
I sent him 17 more choices, so we’ll see what he comes back with.
Thank you for sharing your daughter’s experience. I’ll add Charleston to the list. It was on my son’s list as well. Maybe I will finally get to visit!
Pitt is not within your budget of $50K. It’s a slight chance it could become - but unlikely.
Have you looked at VCU - it would seem to check a lot of boxes.
Since he has Loyola Chicago - how about New Orleans - and you can cross register at Tulane.
Since he liked UVA, if you go to Charleston, even if you fly, you can drive up to Columbia and check U of SC. It’s a compact campus for a big school, right in the downtown. If he gets in, it’d hit cost. It’d be worth the 2 hour out of the way diversion - given he does seem to like biggish (Drexel, UVA, Pitt etc.).
Suffolk has fantastic connectivity/networking in Greater Boston (North Shore, South Shore, Metro area including Burlington where a lot of companies have operations). I would not discount the “juice” that Suffolk has.
The advice to “avoid it at all costs” without even visiting/researching? I think that’s too facile. Every city has it’s version of Suffolk… GW and American are not “top tier” the way Georgetown is. NYU is not Columbia, Drexel and Temple are not U Penn. Pitt is not CMU. And Northeastern-- and now I’ll get flamed from the many Northeastern superfans on this site- is not Harvard, MIT, Wellesley or Brandeis.
And somehow tens of thousands of kids across the country who attend the “not Harvard” in their region manage to get jobs and launch. How about that!
Good luck. 
Enjoy the search process.
Kids come to appreciate affordability of UMD between end of January and admitted student visits during spring of senior year.
Many local private school kids like yours go on to thrive at UMD, even via Freshman Connection and undecided Letters and Sciences.
Many active faith communities as well.
Thank you for sharing that. Yes, $11,000 in in-state tuition would be a dream. (And UMCP is tough to get into from my County, it’s not a slam dunk).
At base, he’s pretty pragmatic. I think he just needs to “shoot for the moon” with the reaches to know if he could have made it in. The reality is, if we were full pay and he could ED, he might well do so.
My husband believes in that survey that found where you aspire to go to college is most indicative of how you will succeed in college. So we’ll let him apply to the reaches, but make sure he has at least four or five solid options he’d be happy to attend.
So happy this is the last one to go through this process!
Just to make sure I understand - the title says less than $50K right…but you also say - whereas this kid will be full pay, hopefully with merit.
But are you entertaining full pay at a reach?
Otherwise, I really don’t understand why you’d let him apply to any school that can’t get there - a Gtown (I know it’s too close) for example.
There’s nothing worse than an admit that you knew up front could not happen, etc. is my point.
So I’ll disagree with your husband - if that’s the thinking.
Yes, you are disagreeing with my husband. Fact is, we did it this way with our eldest too and it worked out, so it is kind of hard to change the parameters for the second one.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this recommendation. I wish I had seen it sooner, but since Albany is rolling admission, my son can still apply.
I have to confess, I started to feel very overwhelmed by the college process and so I took a long break from CC. I’m so glad to come back and find your helpful tip!
Hi, OP back wishing everyone who has helped out here a Happy Halloween and good luck for tomorrow’s Nov 1 deadline if you have any apps outstanding.
Figure I owe you (and any new readers) an update as well.
He aced first quarter grades as well as the second SAT retake, so he is now at 3.85 (4.3 WGPA) with a 1440 SAT (750 R, 690 M). These good results had his school counselor move some schools from reach to target, which is nice.
He has EA or rolling apps in to:
U Madison Wisconsin
UVA
Loyola Chicago
Drexel
Pitt
UMD College Park
He is debating whether or not he wants to write one more essay to finish his URichmond app.
Nov 15 Jesuit schools deadline will include St. Joe’s and Marquette.
I’ll talk to him about SUNY Albany, as @aquapt suggested.
I think he ended up with some solid choices, with UVA being the reachiest, mainly because we are MD residents. Scoir shows him as a “green” for UVA, but again he’s got kids at his DC Catholic high school from VA, DC and MD, and Scoir does not show the successful applicants’ state of residence.
I had to say NO to a lot of schools he was interested in because of price: BC, Emory, Wake, Tufts, etc.
All of the schools he is applying to offer merit to certain students OR as in the case of Pitt, have low off campus housing costs.
I think UVA would be hard for us to swing, but I don’t think he will get in, so I am not overly worried.
I have grave concerns about Drexel due to their budget issues, so need to head over to that forum.
Thank you all again!
I have a kid that graduated recently from UW Madison from OOS. Only 5% of students there get any kind of merit and that includes very niche things, for example auditioned programs (music, dance, etc). The vast majority of OOS students are full pay. There are a few programs for low income OOS students.
Now that said, some merit at UW Madison requires seperate applications. This is easy to miss, but if your student and you have not scanned their scholarship hubs that might be something to try. Some are for particular majors, for students from particular cities/states, etc.
Thank you, @KaylaMidwest . UW’s OOS tuition could make it equivalent to the merit offered by the Jesuit institutions. We’ll see…
OP back with first bit of good news! He was awarded the Presidential scholarship at Loyola Chicago, which is a $31,000 yearly award that would reduce tuition and fees from $53,760 to $22,760. We are thrilled! The amount of relief I felt was incredible. Plus, he already has a sweater from Loyola Chicago! It’s the only school swag he has!
Of course, as we know, the devil is in the details - for example, I noticed a disclaimer on their website that scholarships do not apply to study abroad. I find that odd as when his older brother was at another Jesuit university, St. Joe’s, his merit award did apply to his semester abroad … so we’ll see!
