@collegedad73, can you give us a little bit more clarity on the budget? Do all schools (except whatever your family gives exceptions to) need to fall under $30k? Or if a school ends up at $35k or $40k, or whatever, would they still be considered? (And though you don’t need to tell us the exceptions, make sure that your D understands the policy of which schools you would pay for at which price so that there is no confusion when the offers come in.)
Anyway, any insight you can provide on the budget so that people can provide suggestions that will be most useful to your family would be appreciated.
Additionally, as an FYI, here is a bit of history of Holy Cross’s acceptance rates (taken from here with an addition of this year’s rate as reported here and elsewhere on the interwebs).
| Holy Cross Class Year | Overall Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|
| 2029 | 17% |
| 2028 | 21.10% |
| 2027 | 36.36% |
| 2026 | 43.00% |
| 2025 | 37.94% |
| 2024 | 34.22% |
| 2023 | 38.01% |
| 2022 | 39.60% |
| 2021 | 38.46% |
| 2020 | 37.03% |
| 2019 | 43.34% |
| 2018 | 32.97% |
So, four years ago Holy Cross had an acceptance rate of 43%, and this year it has an acceptance rate of 17%. Although its admission rate has more than halved, I don’t think the quality of the school has changed drastically during that time.