Just to clarify - I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the schools will think they are taking a chance on him because of his academics - it’s the (previous) substance abuse that would be raising red flags as the schools may be worried that he is not “past that stage of his life.” He will be competing for admission and merit money against kids who also have good grades and scores and community involvement but have not been involved with drugs.
You’re correct that “applying to colleges is time-consuming and he can’t just apply to an endless amount,” but with his history he will likely have to cast a broader net than another student with his stats looking for merit would. You’re wise to be starting your in-depth research now.
OP- if the HS has had such a great track record getting their students in to academically challenging colleges, then getting an initial list from the guidance counselor seems like a good place to start. Then- folks here can help you with “If you love xyz college which is need only, you might like abc college which has merit awards”. Right now we’re trying to swim in a deep bowl of jello with you.
But if you tell me that the GC’s think Georgetown should be on his list, but you can’t afford Georgetown, I’d tell you to take a serious look at American. We can be more helpful if you first establish a baseline of where the GC’s think he should be targeting based on his stats, his “story”, and where other kids like him have been admitted.
Not trying to be negative- but a savvy GC is going to be your best starting point.
OP, some universities and colleges may be impressed by your son’s academic potential but some of the important advice here is that you need to understand which colleges offer merit. Many that you have listed do not.
I think the question on FAFSA is ‘have you been convicted of a drug crime while you were receiving federal financial aid?’ He should be okay for financial aid if any drug issues were while he was in high school. The schools can do whatever they want with that info for acceptance.
The Buckeye and Maximus scholarships at Ohio State are not for athletes only. Ohio state is actually a division 1 school, and has athletic scholarships for many of its student athletes.
The Buckeye and Maximus awards are merit awards…not related to sports.
Schools are not swimming in money, so if you are expecting a full ride, doesn’t exist at most schools.
His ECs
There are thousands of students with better GPAs, SATs, ECs, scholastic awards, etc. The schools can afford to be picky.
There are few merit dollars and they generally go to the best students who haven’t had records of, what you call “mischief”.
Our son was a NM winner. $2500 per year- that’s it.
Unless he wanted to go to a school in the Midwest.
USC would give him $20k out of a $70k yearly tuition as an NM winner. Not enough.
Our CA dd won a full ride to SUNY Buff and she took it.
Middle dd won a $300 book scholarship at UC Davis-that’s it.
I don’t know where you got the idea that your son would be swimming in Merit offers. Few and far between.
I don’t think I’d consider a 14 year old who overcame a drug problem an expert who would be a big benefit to other students. He might be a good student now, and responsible, but so might the kid who didn’t have any problems freshman year and got the same grades for all the years of high school. My kids had hard starts to life, but that didn’t get them any sympathy points in the college admissions game.
There are plenty of schools that give merit scholarships, but they aren’t in the northeast, and they aren’t the ones you’ve been naming. The LACs do like males, but a 3.4 might not be high enough for a big merit scholarship. Look in the south or midwest where the schools tend to be a little cheaper to begin with. He might like a school like U of Iowa for a good business school and an excelling writing program. His costs at the SUNY schools could come in under $40k without any merit.
I think we need a clarification…is this $40,000 a YEAR…or is it $40,000 total for the four years ($10,000 a year)?
If it’s $10,000 a year you can contribute, you are looking for more than a full tuition merit award…and with a 3.4GPA, that is NOT going to be easy to get.
If you can contribute $40,000 a YEAR, you absolutely should be looking at the SUNY schools.
OP does repeat the need for generous merit. The question about $$ has been asked repeatedly.
[QUOTE=""]
my wife and i will contribute about $40k he hopes to come out under $60k of debt
we make too much to get much financial aid but will get a little>>>
[/QUOTE]
Sounds like 100K total (dunno what that 60K debt means to OP but obviously way over direct loans). Does medical insurance pay for therapeutic schools for 4 years?
So…if this student then has $100,000 for all four years of college…then the SUNY schools absolutely should be on his list. There are a ton of them. Surely at least one would be a good choice for this student.
I also wanted to strongly echo looking outside of the NE for schools if you are chasing merit aid. There are some schools in the SE and West that would be more likely to be generous. How far flung are you willing to look? I’d take the 3.4 in context, as it would be an upward trend - that’s where the guidance counselor can best give you comps and tiers. Some schools will have a clear GPA cutoff for aid, but many will be holistic.
If the parents can contribute $40k, that’s $10k/year. The student can’t borrow $60k ($15k/year); he can only borrow ~$5500. If he works summers, he can probably afford to dorm at a SUNY. I’d pick a couple to apply to as safeties. I don’t think Binghamton, Stony Brook, New Paltz, Albany, or Geneseo will be safeties for this student because they’re such popular campuses. Send an app to some of them, for sure, but include a of the less popular campuses as a back up.