We are old parents - 60 and 65 with sophomore twins entering college in Fall of 2028. My husband took social security at 62 and works PT. I work full time 100k plus.
I ran the detailed NPC/calculators on about 6-7 private colleges running 70-100k full COA. My price looks too good to be true on all but one.
What gives?
Depends on which 6-7 private colleges. Some of the most selective famous ones have very generous need-based financial aid that other private colleges are unlikely to match (those some of the other private colleges may offer large merit scholarships to admitted applicants whose academic credentials are at the top end of their usual students).
Be sure to run net price calculators on colleges that are highly likely or assured for admission in order to ensure that these colleges are affordable.
Depending on your assets - some schools can be very aggressive.
Rice, for example, at $140K or less, you get full tuition. Up to $200K, half tuition.
W&L at $150K or less is free tuition.
Denison has a chart and these are the 3 highest income levels:
$150,000-$200,000; 89% average, $58,513 grant
$200,000-$300,000, 78%, average, $45,800 grant
| $300K+, 20%, average, $36,049 |
|---|
Schools calculate differently - some hit on home equity, etc. but you can name the schools, but the wealthiest are aggressive.
I would however be cautious. You should make sure that your twins apply to some schools that will be affordable. This might (?) mean in-state public schools. It seems likely that actual results will match the NPCs, but you don’t want a bad surprise when the acceptances start coming in and it is good to have options.
We by the way set a budget that our daughters had to adhere to. One daughter was accepted to two schools that did not fit the budget, but fortunately decided that she preferred a different school anyway. Years later when she graduated with a bachelor’s degree and no debt she thanked me (I think twice) for not letting her attend the expensive schools.
Yes, always apply to a school or two that will assuredly get you to cost - so you always have a risk free option. In other words, a school whose cost full pay works or who has auto or minimum merit assured - that will get you to cost.
Which ones? Remember, your student needs to get accepted to one of these to benefit from their generous need based aid. There are some very generous private universities and these tend to be very competitive for admissions.
Your twins are entering their sophomore year in high school, right? It’s a little too early to even guess whether they will be competitive applicants at these generous and high competitive for admissions colleges.
And important…the NPCs are currently set for students starting college in 2026, and that is not your kids. For the 2028-2029 academic year, you will be using 2026 tax year income information. That year hasn’t even started…yet. AND college need based financial aid awarding formulas and policies do change.
You will need to run the net price calculators at the start of you kids’ senior year in high school for a more accurate estimate of your net costs.
Because of our age, and being near the end of our working careers, we can easily predict next years financial situation.
One is interested in law, one in the Anesthesia Associate Masters. They’ve always been high performing students, but of course time will tell their actual stats. They took PSAT 8/9 twice and will have at least 4 more SAT opps.
Expensive selective private schools which deliver a great education - AND - offer generous institutional aid - obviously who doesn’t want that? Ya gotta get in first! 
Definitely agree. They are all reach schools. I figured don’t even reach - if it’s not affordable, thus the research. From what I can tell, most state schools, particularly flagships, don’t give any financial break for need and only give merit for the highest of performing, and even then, the privates were alot less expensive.
I ran:
Rice
Johns Hopkins
William and Lee
SMU
Emory
Notre Dame
SMU was the highest. I had noted the 200k and under number in the news which caught my eye. We will visit some of these schools sophomore and junior year. It can motivating to know these OPPORTUNITIES are in reach financially. Thanks!
Ditto - we don’t want them to have loans for undergrad but encourage borrowing for graduate school, so long as the future income supports the early aggressive payoff.
There are some public universities that DO give merit aid to OOS students who are high performers. University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, Arizona Star, University of Alabama, University of Mississippi, Louisiana, Miami (Ohio). These are auto awards now.
And there are plenty of public universities with competitive scholarships…the Ohio State University, University of Maryland, University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina.
And some where high performers get merit awards like University of Delaware.
I could go on and on.
William and Lee? Do you mean Washington and Lee, or William and Mary…or what?
WASHINGTON and Lee yes. We would only consider out of state publics if given in-state rates. (Understood that conceivably they could otherwise bring down the rate). Our state doesn’t reciprocate with any other state at the undergraduate level.
The colleges I listed do not require any reciprocal agreement.
Washington and Lee is a great choice. The Johnson Scholarship is awarded to a significant %age of freshman, and the school guarantees to meet full need…if you have need.
I’ll let @DramaMama2021 and @cinnamon1212 chime in.
Once your kids have first semester junior year grades and an SAT or ACT score, it will be easier to guestimate their chances for scholarships and acceptances. And yes…some merit scholarships require test scores.
Shockingly many kids including both mine who ultimately soured on WashU for a large flagship and daughter whose top choice was a mid level regional public but got into one like you describe.
Kids have different likes and needs.
Don’t forget, both need grad school. Given the law, the creme de la creme (Harvard, Penn, UVA examples, regularly admit from well over 100 schools in their first year, not very large classes, Delaware or Denison, Swarthmore or South Florida is unlikely to matter much if at all but the gpa, LSAT, and today work experience after for many will.
I imagine but don’t know that it’s similar for the other major.
if your kids want that type of school - great. But there will many many paths to get where they want. Top med schools or residencies are loaded with kids from regular schools. I was a patient at Vandy and was surprised - undergrads like N Illinois, K State, Murray State, Luther - and the top schools too.
Please ensure you have cost effective schools in addition to your hoped for cost effective. I’m glad you have YOUR future top of mind.
There a handful of direct admit BS/MS CAA programs. Would your child be interested in one of those?
Wash U is not a flagship. It is a private university. Do you mean they chose a large flagship instead of Wash U?
But back to the OP. These twins need to visit some colleges of varying sizes and locations. They will have a better idea of what they like if they do. AND remember, they are just beginning their sophomore high school year. A lot could change in terms of their desires and interests between now and fall 2027 when they do college applications.
Yes, he was all in on Wash U til he visited Purdue.
Of course, he was all in on Purdue til he visited Alabama.
WUSTL - was beautiful and they touted back in the day their Tempurpedic mattresses (in he dorms arms race).
My point is - while on paper a small, generous school sounds great - it’s not for everyone.
But generosity runs the full cycle of small, mid and large….public and private….especially for those with top grades.
This is true. But top grades and scores as of the middle of grade 11…would be more helpful.
Not sure this factors in the twin situation.
Two kids in college at the same time will also have huge financial aid benefits from most private schools.
One issue with the highly selective private universities: All of the students were relatively close to being at the top of their class in high school. They are not all going to be in the top 1/2 of the class at MIT or Harvard or any other highly selective university. Someone has to be in the bottom 10% of the class at any of these schools. Different students will have different reactions to the sudden increase in rigor. Many will like it but many will find it stressful.
I think that today with the Internet students may be more likely to know what they are getting themselves into. Hopefully this will mean that more students can find a good fit compared to way back when I was dealing with the uptick in rigor between high school versus MIT.
Then there are students who don’t qualify for need based aid but do qualify for merit aid (which some top ranked schools don’t have).
Academically very strong students attend a very wide range of schools for a very wide range of reasons.
The Johnson is a merit scholarship, awarded to approx 10% of each class. However W&L’s need based financial aid is generous, so if you get enough need based aid you don’t have try for the Johnson (or, need the Johnson for W&L to be affordable, is probably a better way of saying it).