Rising senior looking for help building college list [California resident, 4.0 GPA, psychology and/or business/marketing, <$30k]

Chance Me / Match Me
8

I agree that the list in your first post is not a list with many schools that will make a $30k budget, nor do all the schools meet your state criteria.

Below are some schools that would generally be extremely likely admits that would have either a chance or a guarantee of meeting budget.

  • Binghamton (NY): About 14k undergrads. Price has gone up significantly on this one, as it’s now almost $46k/year. But they’ve been trying to get more out-of-state students with merit aid, so it’s at least worth looking into.

  • Bradley (IL): About 4k undergrads. Sticker of around $60k, but your D may get sufficient merit aid to bring this within budget as none of the net prices by income are over $30k.

  • Grand Valley State (MI): About 19k undergrads. This school will be right around $30k sticker, but merit aid is a definite possibility here. It’s just outside of Grand Rapids and I believe there’s a free shuttle or bus pass that allows students to get back and forth.

  • Loyola Chicago (IL): About 12k undergrads. There net price has been going up each year, but they do offer generous merit aid, and it could be worth an application to see how much your D would get.

  • New Mexico State: About 12k undergrads. With WUE this would be well within budget (about $23-24/yr).

  • Salisbury (MD): About 6700 undergrads. About $35k at sticker, but there’s a definite shot for sufficient merit aid.

  • Seton Hall (NJ): About 6k undergrads just outside of NYC. Your D might get sufficient merit aid here to bring it within budget.

  • Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads just outside of Albany. Your D might get sufficient merit aid to get this in budget.

  • SUNY New Paltz (NY): About 6100 undergrads. At all the SUNYs (outside of Binghamton), students from California can attend for the same price as tuition at UC-Berkeley.

  • U. of Minnesota – Duluth: About 8800 undergrads and sticker would be just under $30k, with merit aid also a possibility.

  • U. of Nevada – Reno: About 17k undergrads and sticker would be about $27k with WUE.

  • U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 6100 undergrads and the net prices look very favorable to getting this school within budget via merit aid.

  • Western Washington: About 14k undergrads and would run close to $29k with WUE.

2 Likes