My daughter is just starting to narrow down her top choices. She’s drawn to schools like UC Berkeley, Reed, Bard, UVM, NYU… Think vegan environmental activist;) I’m desperately searching for schools with a similar vibe that don’t cost over 40k a year. Anyone know of a hidden gem? Northeast/New England best:)
SUNY New Paltz. At least it was like that when I lived in the area for a few years back in the 90’s.
Would you/she consider-lesser known, smaller schools? There are some great, quirky options, like College of the Atlantic, that might fit the bill, or slightly less obscure schools like Juniata.
As you must be aware, what matters most isn’t the sticker price but the net price.
Have you run the online net price calculators on the colleges that interest you?
If you have, and if you’ve concluded that you cannot cover the Expected Family Contributions after need-based aid, then your best cost-management options include:
- Focusing on in-state public schools (which in many cases have full costs of attendance well under $40K)
- Focusing on big merit scholarship opportunities, which are covered in many CC discussions and also indicated on the following pages:
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ - Focusing on the relatively few private or OOS public schools that have relatively low prices for all/most students.
Behind Door #2, most schools that offer big merit scholarships automatically, for qualifying stats, probably would not often be described as progressive, liberal, and intellectual. However, many small liberal arts colleges, ones that arguably meet those descriptions, do award fairly many merit grants in the $15K-$20K range. Click-sort on the columns marked “non-need-based aid” on the following page:
https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts
Schools behind Door #3 include Cooper Union, Olin, and Deep Springs College (but are all extremely selective and may not be quite what you want). Some state flagships have sticker prices below $40K even for OOS students.
https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php
New College of Florida is a public institution that seems to satisfy your criteria, and apparently offers merit discounts for all/most OOS students.
https://www.ncf.edu/admissions/cost-and-aid/scholarships/out-of-state-freshmen/
Clark University offers generous merit aid if she is a strong student, and it has the vibe you seek.
Still so expensive!
Maybe with merit aid at Sarah Lawrence, Skidmore, Vassar? What about women’s colleges?
Vassar doesn’t do merit, and Skidmore is very stingy with it (they have to really want you). DK about SL.
Collegemom3717 is right: there is no merit aid at Vassar, which meets full demonstrated financial need instead.
Skidmore limits merit opportunities to science majors and a music scholarship, and you need to be a top-notch student for the science ones.
Vassar does no merit nor does Barnard and they are not hippy by any measure.
Bryn mawr and Mt. H offer merit, but aren’t overly hippy
Mills in CA has cross reg at Berkeley – and has lowred its tuition overall. That sort of counts as merit
Hampshire is more hippy and offers merit. Mt. H is in the same consortium as Hampshire
Smith is in Northampton MA which has a hippy feel and Smith offers merit.
Try–
Green Mountain in VT
Marlboro in VT
Warren Wilson in North Carolina – very hippy plus a “working” college
Evergreen – public so maybe no merit. It would be rare
New College – mentioned above – recenlty has offered OOS merit. You may want to see if that’s still offered.
Bennington – in VT – may offer merit but will still be expensive.
Lewis and Clark – has merit
Unity College in Maine
U of Maine at Orono – has a flagship matching program, mathing your in-state flaship tuition. I think of UMO as UVM but cheaper
UVM – Burlington.
Paul Smith’s College in NY
Quest in Canada
You can find out how much merit offered by a school by lookning at the website Collegedata. That will tell you under the “money” tab how much merit a school has offered per year usually.
I know a young woman who speaks fondly of her time at Goucher, and based on her stories, it may fit your daughter’s criteria.
What is your state? How much would you be comfortable spending?
We are in New England. The least expensive schools that we found in the northeast were our in-state public schools, and some schools in Canada (for us any school in Canada, for international students the not-quite-so-famous schools). These were all well under $30k with merit aid. We thought of the College of the Atlantic, but it didn’t have the majors we were looking for. UVM with a presidential merit scholarship (if your daughter qualifies) is not much over $40k per year (without the presidential scholarship and out of state it is a bit expensive IMHO). The University of Maine is another one to consider.
“progressive, liberal, intellectual” would seem to be hard to avoid in universities in the northeast.
Apologies – I think I got this thread crossed with the one looking for hippy schools. Please scratch my list above!
Wheaton in Mass is all that you ask for and may have hefty merit for you.
Mt. Holyoke
Smith
Hampshire (more expensive I think)
Bryn Mawr
Haverford
Bates
Colby
Hamilton
Bard
Bennington
Seconding SUNY New Paltz as being worth a look. NY has good rates even for OOS students.
Goucher offers very good merit aid so may be an option as well.
Thank you all so much! She’s a hippie for sure! And a musician and an activist and def not into ra-ra sports schools or greek life. All of these options are so wonderful but the sticker shock is real! I was hoping to discover something less known that fits the bill;)
What is your budget like? There are enough progressive, liberal, intellectual hippie types at most campuses for her to be able to find her people if money ends up dictating where she has to end up.
UNC Asheville is a well-regarded public LAC in very earthy, crunchy Asheville – OOS is under $40k
Guilford College, a Quaker school, might also be worth a look.
Seconding the recommendations of Sarah Lawrence, Goucher and Guilford–from what I’ve heard, all are good about merit aid (Goucher in particular). Guilford locks in your 1st year tuition so it’s guaranteed not to increase, which is great. My daughter is looking for schools with similar qualities, and right now her list includes Goucher, SL, Bryn Mawr and Smith, but I think BM and Smith are going to be too $$. We are in-state for William and Mary, so that’s her first choice at the moment.
What are her stats? If she is competitive at the list in #1 she would likely get enough merit aid at a place like Beloit to get the cost around $30k/year. Their NPC gives a merit estimate. I believe it is mostly GPA based. Oberlin gives a lot of merit. More reachy both from academics and price.
Definitely check out SUNY New Paltz…even OOS full price is reasonable.
Have you run the Net Price Calculators to see how much you woul dneed to pay