State: Texas, attends highly regarded public magnet school
Budget: $10,000/year. Will not qualify for need-based aid.
Major: psychology, linguistics, philosophy, history
GPA: UW: 3.46 W: 4.2. School does not provide rank beyond top 6%, which she is not.
ACT: 33
SAT: 1460, superscore: (750 Reading and Writing), (710 Math)
AP: 6 APs (before senior year where she is taking 3 more). US History (5), World History (5), Physics 1 (4), Human Geography (5), European History (5), English Language and Composition (4)
Clubs: National Honor Society, National French Honor Society
Essays: these will be okay 7/10
LOR: these will be very strong 8/10
MUST go to school in a blue state with friendly laws towards LGBTQ
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To clarify, can the family contribute $10K/yr and then on top of this the student can borrow the federal max (about $6K/yr) and contribute a few thousand from work? Or is the $10K/yr the total amount available already including the loans and work?
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I really don’t know what schools can come in that low. Maybe check out University of Minnesota?
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A couple of possibilities in a blue state. They don’t fully reach the budget, but they’re the closest things I can think of at the moment.
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New Mexico State: Your daughter would be eligible for Conroy Honors Scholars as she would have an Academic Index above 159 (a 33 ACT and a 3.46 GPA has an index of 178.174). That is a $6k scholarship and eligible for $2500 for a study abroad experience. If she can get her GPA over a 3.5 then she would be eligible to receive an additional $18,326 toward reducing non-resident tuition. NMSU’s sticker price is a bit over $37k/year for out of state students. If she can get her GPA over a 3.5 (or talk to the admissions office about whether the rigor of her classes or anything else can help to qualify her for the non-resident tuition discount), then the costs here might be about $13k/year. Scholarships | New Mexico State University - BE BOLD. Shape the Future.
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U. of New Mexico: She would qualify for the Amigo scholarship which is approximately $22,919/year plus a $200/year stipend. UNM’s sticker price is a bit over $38k/year. The Amigo scholarship would bring costs down to about $15k/year. https://scholarship.unm.edu/
I believe that both NMSU and UNM have additional, smaller, scholarships that she could apply for whether it’s departmental or other options. So there’s no way of guaranteeing a price of $10k, but she might be able to reduce the price a bit more.
Although she wants a blue state, I would also take a look at the Texas publics in big cities, UT-Dallas and U. of Houston especially. I’m not sure what kind of scholarships she would qualify for, but Texas has some of the least-expensive public schools for in-state students. The other states with low in-state pricing also tend to be in red states. I will continue to think about some possibilities for your D.
Another option would be for her to move to a blue state and start working. After she gains residency, she could then apply as an in-state student. Even with that, though, the ability to get the cost down to $10k/year without any need-based aid will be extremely difficult.
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OP- are there grandparents or other family members living in Blue places who would be willing to have her live with them and commute? Your budget is problematic for high cost of living areas (i.e. many blue states) because the dorms and meal plan costs are so high. Are there commutable options open to her?
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Movement Advancement Project | Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State can help you determine which states are acceptable for you and your student.
This will be the most difficult constraint to meet, since it basically requires close to a full ride merit scholarship if going to a college outside of Texas.
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This may be difficult in some states as long as the student is considered dependent on parents for financial aid purposes*, since many states base tuition residency of dependent students on parent residency.
*Becoming independent for most financial aid purposes usually means age 24, married, or military veteran.
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Okay, did a bit more digging to see if I could think of any more possibilities for your D. The following schools seem as though they’d be worth a bit more digging:
- Central Michigan: Sticker price of a little over $26k. Your D would be eligible for $6250 in merit. In looking at the page, it doesn’t mention whether the 3.7 GPA for students to apply for the big scholarships is weighted or unweighted. I’d reach out to admissions to find out, but if the answer’s favorable, she could compete for full tuition or a full ride. Room & board is a hair over $12k. Scholarships for incoming freshmen and transfer students | Central Michigan University
- Northern Illinois: Sticker is a little over $25k. I’d reach out to the school to see if they look at weighted GPAs for her to compete for the big scholarships. Otherwise I don’t see a path to affordability: Merit Scholarships for Freshmen - NIU - Financial Aid and Scholarships Office
- Saint Cloud State (MN): Sticker of about $20k. It appears that the admissions scholarships might cap out at $2500/year, bringing the price to around $17,500. But there are additional departmental or other scholarships that could be applied for. Scholarships | St. Cloud State University
- Slippery Rock (PA ): Sticker a little under $26k. No chart, but it appears as though she’d be under consideration for scholarships. First-Year Scholarships | Slippery Rock University
These schools seem unlikely to meet budget and/or do not have multiple of your D’s areas of interest:
- Bemidji State (MN): No philosophy or linguistics. Sticker a little over $20k.
- Eastern New Mexico: No philosophy or linguistics. Sticker a little less than $19k.
- Elizabeth City State (NC): No philosophy or linguistics. Sticker a little less than $17k.
- Fayetteville State (NC): No philosophy or linguistics. Sticker a little over $19k.
- Ferris State (MI): No philosophy or linguistics. Sticker around $24k.
- Lake Superior State (MI): No philosophy or linguistics. Sticker a little under $26k.
- Minnesota State – Moorhead: Sticker is a little under $21k. There’s philosophy but no linguistics. She’d qualify for its biggest scholarship, but it’s only $3500/year. Freshman Scholarships at MSU Moorhead
- Southern Illinois – Carbondale: Specifies the use of an unweighted GPA. The scholarship amounts wouldn’t be large enough to get close to budget. Incoming Freshmen | Undergraduate Academic Scholarships | SIU
- U. of Maine – Fort Kent: No philosophy or linguistics
- U. of Maine - Presque Isle: No philosophy or linguistics
- U. of Minnesota – Crookston: No philosophy or linguistics
- Western New Mexico: No philosophy or linguistics
Didn’t have a chance to check out, but might be worth screening:
- Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
- Southwest Minnesota State
- U. of North Carolina – Pembroke. Sticker a little under $19k.
- Western Carolina: Sticker a little under $20k.
- Western Illinois
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North Carolina does not have particularly friendly state government policies regarding LGB or T: https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality_maps/profile_state/NC
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It is true that the MN State campuses you listed have relatively inexpensive costs, even for out-of-state students. But OP should be aware that they are in largely Red rural parts of the state, and might not have the vibe an LGBTQ+ student might want. If it were my own kid, I would very much agree with your advice to consider UT-Dallas and U of Houston (over any of the Minnesota schools you listed.)
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If your kid were willing to establish residency in Colorado (which might take a year), she could choose among a number of public universities that fall near the $10,000 mark for in-state tuition (with likely merit aid to bring down that number), including the University of Northern Colorado, Fort Lewis College, CSU Fort Collins, CU Denver, and Metropolitan State University of Denver. OOS tuition is about double. Of course, fees and living expenses would bring those costs above $10,000.
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In Colorado, an unmarried student under the age of 22 needs to be financially independent of parents in order to be able to establish undergraduate tuition residency instead of deriving it from parent residency. See Qualified Persons | Higher Education
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Thank you for mentioning this. Many times, people think of the country as looking something like this, with states as either solidly red or blue through their boundary edges (source):
Instead, it’s more like this (source):
Indeed, one can get even more granular. Here’s a look at Texas:
and Minnesota:
On that same map one can continue to zoom in to continue and get even more granular (as in which precincts voted which way), taking a look here at College Station, TX (source)
Here’s a look at Houston:
And Dallas/Fort Worth:
I think that your daughter will really need to consider whether she cares more about the laws of the state (for instance, states that are severely limiting medical procedures for T individuals) or the climate of the area where she is living, with respect to people being welcoming and inclusive. New Mexico might be an option where both could happen. But chances are, she may need to make a choice between welcoming laws/less welcoming environment and limiting laws/more welcoming environment. If you could let us know which factor is more important in her decision-making, that could help us to better define the goals and which colleges might meet them.
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Good question. Family can contribute $10,000 and student can borrow up to $6k and work. So that does make the budget a little higher.
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State laws are more important to allow for gender affirming care.
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We could think through this. thanks.
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That would make a really stretch budget, requiring both federal direct loan and some part time work earnings, of around $18-20k. Of course, that leaves little room for error.
That (and previous references to the student as she) suggests that the student is transgender female. Unfortunately, that is the part of LGBT that has the most political and social hostility directed against, which makes for an especially limiting constraint on both state laws and general social attitudes in local areas.
With respect to gender affirming medical care laws by state:
- Movement Advancement Project | Health Care / Bans on Best Practice Medical Care for Transgender Youth
- Movement Advancement Project | Transgender Healthcare "Shield" Laws
- Movement Advancement Project | Healthcare Laws and Policies
- Movement Advancement Project | Health Care / Medicaid Coverage of Transgender-Related Care
- Movement Advancement Project | Healthcare Laws and Policies
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Ah. That will be more challenging then.
Try Minnesota State University Mankato. With that AP score, they would automatically be granted in-state tuition. The COA for in-state then is $25,448 and maybe they could be awarded some other scholarships as well.
Honestly, shoot for the University of MN as well. I’m always reading on here about how much they seem to gift to OOS students.
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@Texas13, can you tell us which of these maps would be most aligned with your D’s needs? For instance, New Mexico has a shield law protecting access to transgender health care but has an unclear/no stated policy with respect to transgender health care being paid for by Medicaid or in its state employee health benefits. Does it matter if the transgender care is banned for youth if it’s protected for adults?