Mid-Atlantic SLACs with best merit? [PA resident, 3.9 GPA, 1230 SAT, public health or criminology]

Net tuition costs have been declining for nearly 20 years.

There are many sources for this data, but a recent CollegeBoard study showed average net tuition at public colleges was $16,520 for 2024/25 (avg private net tuition was also down.) Of course that does not include other ‘real’ costs such as room and board.

This does illustrate why OP may have a difficult time finding a total cost $20K or less for a four year residential college experience, but it’s important to recognize the large discounting (>50%) that is happening with tuition in this industry.

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Our in state flagship was $2922 in 2010, its now $14,222 a year for tuition. That seems like a big jump.

Are those net tuition numbers? And certainly there can be exceptions to the rule. But on average, net tuition costs have been declining and discount rates increasing…there is no controversy regarding those observations.

ETA: I do understand that for full pay families if they want to attend schools that don’t give merit aid, those prices have increased faster than inflation. But…many people don’t have to choose that option. It’s also true that most students are limited by their parents’ financial situation/college budgets and a four year residential experience is not possible for many families.

Yes, and my husband was able to graduate without any debt, our daughter wasn’t that lucky. We did the best to try and save, managed about $200,000, but with 5 kids that doesn’t go far. Fortunately they chose smart majors.

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Right, I am talking list prices, not discounting or price discrimination effects.

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We’re getting off topic, but there are sub-market dynamics at work here with public vs. private costs. For the publics, state funding has been in general decline since the late 1980’s, and with successive recessions, states have cut higher education but have not fully restored funding levels after a recovery. This has made public universities more reliant on tuition and fee revenue.

My last year, 1987-88, at a state flagship cost $9.3K with tuition, fees, room and meal plan. In constant, CPI-adjusted dollars, that would be $25.8K today. What does the that flagship charge for the same services today? $34.5K.

Take a look at Juniata College. Not sure it can get down to $20k but we pay about $30k after merit + additional focused scholarship. They have a criminal justice major and students can get exposure via classwork and internships locally
https://think.juniata.edu/stories/article/criminal-justice.php

FWIW, D23 applied to several schools on your list and they all seemed to come in around $30-$35k, that seemed to be the consensus on after-merit pricing for college in that tier. (at somewhat higher ranked LACs, pricing ended up more around $50k.)

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I too have heard of families getting good financial aid at Allegheny, including merit awards.

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You can negotiate price with the colleges. I’ve seen friends of mine do it, and then asked myself “Why didn’t I do that?” An Admissions Officer at Hobart advised my nephew to get an offer at another college and to come back and use the leverage to negotiate with the Financial Aid Office. We were told the same thing when we took the tour at Springfield College.

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I do realize NJ is definitely one of the most expensive state for public colleges, Rutgers total cost increased 26% in the past 10 years, NJ really doesn’t really reward high achieving students, but has a couple FA programs for low income.

I’ve heard this too, to never accept the first offer and use offers from similar schools to negotiate at your top choice. My daughter made it into the Honors program at Hood, but that is only secure once we put a deposit down. And we won’t be doing that until we get the full financial offers from at least several schools to do some comparisons. They only take a limited amount of students into the program, but fingers crossed others are also waiting for finances before committing and she doesn’t miss out on it. I think I’ll have her add Goucher to her list, as that could be another good comparison to Hood.

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When my daughter talked to profs at Wilkes, they said they have Criminology majors go on to working in forensics labs, social services, court services, etc. That is why Wilkes and Randolph Macon are on her list, they both have specific Criminology, which is more sociology based than Criminal Justice (the why’s behind the crime rather than the justice/penal system aspect). But the Public Health may have a broader range of job potential right out of school I think?

Have you factored in an in-campus job? We all know about work-study and the fact that not all students get that. (Yours may.) But at my GS’s college there are students working everywhere on campus and we were told that most of them are not work-study.

$15/hr x 20 hours/wk =$300/wk x 15 wks =$4500 x 2 semesters = $9000. Now Hood costs $21,000 - $5500 student loan = $15,500 cost to you.

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Great suggestion. Off campus too, depending on location. I had several gigs like this way back when - waitressing, pizza delivery, etc. One weekend night alone could be quite lucrative! Coupled with a summer job (which also helps the resume), it’s possible to put a reasonable dent in the tuition bill.

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My daughter worked at a pizzeria across the street from her apartment in college (no car). They taught her how to bartend, what a gift! She pays her Boston rent and food with her tip money. The first place she worked closed down, she now has 2 different bartending jobs, easy to get.

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These schools would not come anywhere near your price point. And they don’t offer much merit at all.

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She currently has an after school/weekend job and will hopefully work more hours during the summer as well to save. She is open to working either on or off campus while at school as well, though I’d prefer her to pick up a job after getting through the first semester and adjusting to classes, etc. So yes, that will help!

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Make sure your D understands the differences between jobs in these places which do not require a college degree and those that do. I hate to be a buzzkill… but many of these jobs are hourly with no career path without a Master’s (or a doctorate in the case of forensics).

We need educated people working in human services- so I am absolutely not knocking these roles. But I tell the young people I advise-- go in with your eyes open.

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As not high-income earners, we started saving pretty much 20 minutes after each kid was born! :laughing:

Had we not, they would have lived at home and gone to comm college and/or in-state publics (we are lucky that we have 2 publics within 30 min driving distance, and 3 comm colleges).

My high-stats kids went to Juniata - received lots of merit and it ended up being a few thousand less than our state flagship as did a lot of others that are on your list (I seriously think they just look at your state school and get it down to that!)

McDaniel and St. Mary’s of Maryland were about $7k less than state flagship.

St. Mary’s of Maryland is a public honors college with about 2500 students. So, for in-state kids it was $30k before any merit or financial aid back in 2019 when in-state flagship was about $24k and sticker price for privates like Juniata, Dickinson, etc were about $60k.

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Good choices.

Colleges that change lives.

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