Yes, Connecticut College meets need too. Their merit scholarships range between $15,000 -$34,000, so with a total cost of $89,600, the best that can do is bring it down to $55,000. But then Bowdoin and some others mentioned have no scholarship money. The advantage of scholarship money is that once it’s awarded, it’s guaranteed for 4 years regardless of bonuses or any other fluctuations in income. Guaranteed money is good.
My cousin’s daughter is a freshman at Conn College right now. She thought she’d be going to Syracuse until Conn College came through with a better financial package, better than they expected from the NPC, with a combination of scholarships and need based financial aid.. So, I’ma believer in Conn College these days.
The student said they already applied to University of Maine which I think is both a sure thing for admission and affordability (assuming they really are instate Maine residents).
In addition to Maine, OP has applied to Purdue where they will get in given they are non-STEM.
Tuition, room and board are slightly above $40K but assuming rates don’t go up and you can’t assume that any more, perhaps living off campus in future years gets it close.
Why Purdue, I’m not sure?
OP would hit cost at Kansas, WVU, FSU (with OOS waiver) and others I’ve listed above if interested.
I think choosing Germany vs. US is an entirely different discussion.
I wouldn’t think a Germany vs. US is substitutional like a US school vs. US School.
The OP has indicated that the current living status is not in the US.
AND the OP reports safeties are in GERMANY. I would think that he/she would know how to live in an international city since this is, and has been, the current living situation.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that the OP can manage.
I am eligible for instate tuition at Umaine since the requirement is 1 year of non-educational residency before the age of 18. I’m applying from an international school in China.
Is that acceptable to you ? If it is, you don’t even need to apply to OOS publics.
Part of the issue with your list is you are including schools over budget with little to zero chance of hitting vs schools that will hit. So if you want to apply OOS, you need to update your list without UM and UIUC and even Purdue is marginal unless you can float up a bit.
As for Bowdoin, you should not ED … unless you can swing the extra $$. Plenty of kids go to schools that crush the family financially and have to leave. Don’t even start there.
Find a school that hits your cost in the NPC if you are binding yourself.
thank you for your suggestions, personally even now I am not so sure of choosing between Germany and the States, it is two completely different set of experiences that both have benefits and downsides, like you said “life altering“
Thank you, I have safties like Uni Heidelberg, TUM, LMU, that are ranked highly and have unbelievably low tuition rates. I’ve lived in Munich for a month back in the summer of 2024, even with low German language skills, I managed and made good memories. Going back for 3 years of college would also be an option
It’s a $7,000 difference between an interactive portal with limited inputs versus a complete review by a Bowdoin professional. I don’t think it would be any more “unethical“ for the OP to apply to Bowdoin than someone who never ran the NPC before applying.
I don’t see a moral hazard here. If the OP was hoping for a break of a few thousand dollars in his direction and doesn’t get it, the OP has a right to appeal. Is Bowdoin really going to force the family to go into further debt for the sake of protecting its yield? I doubt it.