You can submit your financial information to Whitman College, an excellent liberal arts college in Washington State, even before you have applied and they will tell you exactly what you will receive in financial aid and scholarships immediately regardless of whether you have applied or not. The information is on their website.
In general, with the decline in full pay international students, being a full pay domestic applicant is an admissions advantage at need aware schools these days. Colleges still need to maintain their revenue streams in order to pay their bills.
UC Merced is larger than she wants, but on the doable end of the UCs. It is on the maybe list and will probably check the box when applying to UCSC. She is not excited about spending four years in the central valley, but our circumstances dictate flexibility.
Thankfully, my daughter is much more focused on fit than prestige. In fact, she has no interest in most of the most prestigious schools (Stanford, UCB, the Iveys, etc.) in large part because she has gone to a very competitive private high school and wants a school where kids love learning, but are collaborative and supportive and want to enjoy life as college students and not uber-focused on achieving. On the size tihing, she is a rising senior and is pretty confident that small schools (Liberal Arts Colleges in particular) are best for her, and I think she’s right. That’s not to say she won’t be flexible if needed and will be with the list, but small lliberal arts schools do suit her best. And, on the schools we’d never heard of point, that’s how Agnes Scott College ended up on her list. Was recommended as potential good fit by school counselor, and they are known to have good merit aid and counselor said our daughter is likely to get merit aid there. It is a “very likely” admit for her according to SCOIR analysis and her counselor, and we think she’d be happy there. We are doing a visit to see. But, if she ended up there, with some merit money, we’d probably be thrilled based on what we know so far. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. You all have been so incredibly helpful, I can’t even express it.
@blueberriesforsal and @Bill_Marsh Thank you for the Whitman information. It was a school she in fact researched earlier and the school itself actually fits a lot of the things she likes, so you all are spot on in terms of ideas. She had crossed it off her list as she was narrowing because of how remote in Eastern Washington it seemed and hard to get to. That said, with the financial information you shared about the school, we should revisit it. If it were close to Seattle (or maybe even Spokane) it likely never would have gotten eliminated from her earlier list. I should also add that it is very cool that Whitman does this early financial guarantee thing. Really good way to attract more folks who are concerned about speculative pricetags.
That’s the right mindset, for both student and parents.
There are very few people on CC that come back to say “Oh, I got stuck going to XXX college and hated it so much that it ruined college for me.” Some do say they wanted to transfer to ______ (bigger school, smaller school, cheaper school, more sports, warmer climate) but few say that their choice was a total disaster.
You’ve already gotten some great info here, but I thought I’d mention what Macalester told me during one of their information sessions. They noted that to get any financial aid (not their merit scholarships, but their need-based aid) at all, even in later years, you needed to apply for financial aid at initial application AND each year after. If you apply asking for financial aid and then in the following year you DON’T ask for aid, then you won’t be eligible at all anymore.
I understand the hesitancy on location! It’s the sort of school that’s a hidden gem as it’s in Eastern Washington instead of on the East Coast
I think there are around 225-250 kids from California that attend, and they often fly into either Pasco or Walla Walla and there are shuttles at the start and end of the breaks that go to/from the airports in addition to the local bus. (My son’s freshman roommate was from California.)
p.s. If she’s at all interested in the outdoors, the outdoor program coupled with the location is amazing. In the last two years my son’s gone hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, ice climbing, snow-shoeing, backpacking, and there’s also a ski bus. (Plus there’s their fantastic climbing gym.) And Walla Walla punches above its weight as it’s in the middle of wine country, so there is lots of good food, coffee, music, a farmers market, and galleries in town and it’s all within blocks of campus.
Yes…there are a small number of colleges that have restrictions on future institutional need based aid if you don’t apply when applying for admissions for domestic students.
For international students, this is the policy just about everywhere.
So…as noted above…the OP needs to check the financial aid policies at the colleges their student is considering.
But (as I think was pointed out above) this is for the school’s own aid. You can ALWAYS apply for federal aid by filing the FAFSA by the deadline for that school year which is usually 2 to 3 weeks before the end of the school year.
Most would rather have the school’s aid as federal aid can be loans that have to be repaid and now have higher interest rates, but you can apply.
I realize this is not a Match Me post (though if you want any help with suggestions, I’m sure lots of people would love to help), but I just wanted to throw out a couple of names.
These three would probably be financial safeties:
Sonoma State (CA): About 5400 undergrads and the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies might be a great fit. In-state pricing and more of a residential feel than most Cal States and it’s designated as CA’s public liberal arts school.
Southern Oregon: About 4400 undergrads and I’ve heard a lot of great things about this school from people who have visited, reporting it as having more of a liberal arts feel, and it’s a WUE school.
Western Oregon: About 3200 undergrads at this WUE school that’s Oregon’s designated public liberal arts college.
And your post in the parents’ thread also made me think of this school (not a Catholic school). It’s not the right place for everyone, but for the right kids, it’s fabulous:
@AustenNut Thanks for these. I’m familiar with St. John’s college and think it is fantastic, but I don’t think it is quite her cup of tea, but I totally see why you suggested it. Will check out your other suggestions. I will say that, based on no facts, I had been assuming Sonoma State was mainly a commuter school and she very much wants residential. Will look into all of your suggestions more. Appreciated it.
Thanks for this! We do not need to tie ourself to an institution with financial issues. This whole thread was born out of financial uncertainty our family is facing due to financial instability/unreliability of institutions in our lives. The emotional drain of that makes me want nothing to do with places that have signs of bringing more of that drama in our lives. So, Sonoma State will be a no for me.
I very much understand this sentiment, and it definitely appears as though Somona State has some very significant cuts happening. I totally understand why you would not want to consider Sonoma State when you have other options that will be affordable and more stable.
That said, however, higher education is facing a number of financial headwinds, some of which have been known for many years. Due to declining birth rates, I think the high school class of 2025 was supposed to be the peak of high school graduates and that the enrollments are supposed to be declining nationwide. During Covid there was a lot of extra funding going around that helped stave off a number of financial issues that had been brewing for years, but that money is now gone, too. Now with the current administration’s policies related to research funding and international students, that is another financial hit for colleges.
All of this to say, I think it’s important to look into the financial position of any college, but I strongly suspect that a large number of schools will be facing financial difficulties in the coming years, including some that have never had financial issues in living memory. Thus, I would dig into finances, fields that are likely to be affected, etc, because it may not be possible to have a list built entirely of schools that will not be facing some financial difficulties.
Agree with all of that. There will inevitably be some unknown surprises in terms of which schools will face financial difficulties in the next 4-5 years (for example, very few people would have put Columbia potentially in that bucket 2 years ago, but now it is a real possibility with them as one of administration’s poster child targets). We’ll do the research we can and make our best guess, but schools that are already obviously in trouble are ones we’ll probably want to avoid.
Everyone - I will post a more thorough description of the visit on another thread later, but I just wanted to give a quick update on our Agnes Scott visit. Not only did all three of us absolutely love it (like it has shot up to one of the top two on my D26’s list!), but both admissions wise and money wise it is a no brainer. My daughter’s stats and activities, rigorous curriculum at a well regarded prep school, and being a CA resident at a school where they aim to yield a few CA kids a year and not a huge pool from there, mean that this is a “safety” school for her (I don’t like that word as it doesn’t capture how any of us feel about it, but in essence we’ve been told it’s almost certain she will get in). And, if she gets in, she will get a minimum of $28k in “merit” aid, and likely more.
Just that number $28k, not only puts it on par with a UC for us (maybe less?), but also alleviates my financial concerns. Even if the income changes I’m worried about happen, we can afford that!
I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have a school that my daughter genuinely loved be both a likely easy admit and affordable! Agnes Scott could end up being her top choice period when all is said and done, regardless of money. A huge weight has lifted from my soul!
I think you have captured why some people prefer terms such as “Likely” or “Foundation” over “Safety”. Safety implies you would only consider an offer from the college in some sort of emergency situation. But a great Likely/Foundation option is one you would be excited to attend.
And as in your D26’s case, sometimes a college is a Likely/Foundation because you have very good reason they would very much want to have you as a student. That should not be considered a bad thing! They are the world’s leading experts on who will thrive at their college, and if they believe strongly you would be one of those people, that’s something well worth considering.
So it is unfortunate when people implicitly think that the more likely a college is to admit them, the less they should want to go to that college. Instead when a college is a really good fit for what you want, AND you are a really good fit for what they want, that should rightly be one of your strongest possibilities to consider.
I think this is so important and true. My youngest chose a “Foundation” (this term is new to me) over a reach Ivy where he got in after being deferred. When the family really dug into the choice over a few weeks, it became clear that the only reason he would pick the fancy school was the feeling that it was “better” even though it was objectively not better for him for many reasons.
It’s hard, though, to try to make ourselves not conflate a sour grapes kind of thinking vs. a true love for the “worse” school.
ETA: on the specific topic here, we are also a potential full pay family, and we didn’t apply for FA at the reach school…I know it is supposed to be need blind but I am always suspicious.
