Question: can anyone direct me to schools similar to Tulane? I am specifically looking for schools that ARE NOT SUPER SELECTIVE (NOT Harvard, Brown, U Miami, etc.) AND OFFER GENEROUS NEED-BASED FINANCIAL AID TO OUT OF STATE STUDENTS. I have a dear friend who’s son is applying to Tulane ED but is also looking for RD schools that might offer him NEED BASED AID. He is an average student with great test scores.
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Users are welcome to post suggestions for less selective schools like Tulane but since this is a question for a friend, do not ask questions about stats/scores/need.
OP - If your friend wants detailed information, per the ToS, they will need to start their own account and ask for themselves.
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I understand and apologize if my question is out of line. It’s hard, because my friend is a mother to 4 young children, works two jobs and didn’t go to college herself (nor has anyone else in the family, as far as I know). She has no experience with any of this and her 17 year old child is trying to navigate this process. I’m afraid she doesn’t even know where to start or what CC even is. Her child spends a lot of time at our home and I am just trying to give them informed options-- a place to start. My children benefit from my and my husband’s educational background, experiences, resources, and my available time to participate in forums such as CC. If I said “common data set” to my friend or her child, they would have absolutely no idea what I am talking about! I would appreciate any guidance people can offer re: schools that may be attainable for an average student with competitive test scores. Tulane ED was suggested by the school college counselor, but he is new this year and overwhelmed.
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What about Loyola New Orleans right next door? They share physical space and some intertwining of opportunities.
U of Louisiana Lafayette gives huge aid and is worthy of a look.
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Hi Lolly, you’re a good friend to try and help.
Your friend needs to establish a budget before any of us can be truly useful here. Virtually every PRIVATE college offers financial aid to out of state students, but establishing the budget first is going to save a lot of time. Many colleges with generous aid could still be unaffordable, depending on their budget.
Second, is the Tulane suggestion just a “this college sounds nice”, or are there actual things about Tulane that the student likes? There are hundreds of colleges “Like Tulane” if by that you mean in a fun city (Boston, DC, Chicago, Austin, St. Louis-- all of these are fun for a college kid). So figuring out what academic goals and interests the student has, location, distance from home, etc. is going to be necessary for us to really hone in on what you are asking.
And to your point about competitiveness- there are colleges at every point on the spectrum from “We reject 95% of kids who apply” to “We accept anyone who inputs their social security number and graduated from HS” so knowing what type of academic experience the kid wants is important before we randomly start flinging out the names of our favorite colleges…
We can probably help with a little more information…
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If the applicant needs substantial need based aid they should be running the net price calculator at Tulane’s website to see how feasible it will be for them BEFORE they apply ED. Tulane does pretty good coming close to need but that threshold is going to be different for every family.
When you say “like Tulane” - in what way? Weather, size, demographics, school spirit, academic programs?
Agree that it’s great the student has you to try and help.
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Yes, the student is aware of those calculations and that is exactly why Tulane is deemed a real possibility for ED. The “system” shows that Tulane is within financial reason and our state flagship, believe it or not, isn’t. I don’t understand how that can be, but the student assures me that what the calculation programs are telling him. As for ‘why Tulane’ I think it’s a combo of a lot of things: mid sized (he’s open to mid sized and smaller large universities (up to around around 25K undergrads), sports culture, good film/digital/business programs. He likes the idea of going somewhere warm (our home state is very cold 6 months of the year). He wants to go somewhere ‘fun’. Hope those things help you.
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I think the net price Calc for Tulane indicated a family burden of approx $9000/yr, which seemed do-able. I know many publics don’t offer much merit to OOS kids, unless their stats are mind-bogglingly-impressive, so I was hoping to find suggestions for other urban or suburban universities in warm climates with good film/media/business programs that he can run thru the net price calculator.
It’s not clear the full familial situation, and you don’t have to answer here. If mom is a single mom, Tulane will still want bio-dad’s financial info (if he is alive), so that has to be included in the NPC as well…I’m just trying to make sure the $9K Tulane NPC result is accurate.
I don’t know what you mean by average, but if this seemingly high need student has an average GPA/rigor/class rank, Tulane acceptance is highly unlikely. Make sure the kid is demonstrating interest at Tulane…an ED app alone is not enough demonstrated interest.
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Yes, they are aware that bio dad’s info has to be part of the calculation. It does not improve his financials at all.
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How about Elon in NC? It’s not exactly like Tulane but checks some of the boxes (warm weather, sports, etc). They also have a lot of merit scholarships and easier admission than Tulane. Might be worth a look.
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It’s really hard to make suggestions without knowing details. Although I agree Elon is not dissimilar to Tulane, it won’t get close to $9K for an average student. Here’s their net price by income range from college navigator
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If it were me I’d start googling sites for lists of colleges that will meet full financial need. I would say that’s the most important criteria before it gets to “someplace warm”.
Meeting financial may (likely) include as part of the package the expectation of some student loans. Outside scholarships can help as well but larger scholarships the school is likely to consider as part of the financial aid package and lower the schools burden (and not a financial pick-up to the student). You may know this already but it’s a common misunderstanding.
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take a look at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. They are comparably cheap to begin with and list automerit on their website, which could bring you down to their price point. They have a business school and a “moving image arts” major as well as a cinema studies minor. ULL is midsize, has good school spirit and division 1 sports. Lafayette is not New Orleans. It’s a smaller city but has good cultural offerings.
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I was thinking about something like the Odyssey Program at Elon, which meets full need (but obviously would be competitive).
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Again I don’t disagree, all we know is this student was characterized as ‘average’ with a high test score. We don’t know what average means, but when I think average, I don’t see them getting into Odyssey.
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Not sure on the financial side, but when I hear film and business and warm - what about LMU in California or Chapman. The film programs may be too competitive, but still opptys to get involved on campus if not in the film program plus internship opptys and production work is right there in LA.
Agreed
As to “average”— I mean average gpa. Very rigorous course load incl AP’s and strong test scores, but not 1500+.
Most of the Texas public’s will charge in state tuition if he’s awarded a scholarship minimum of $1,000. UT Austin does not however. For example U of North Texas in state COA is around $23,000. While not really like Tulane but closer to budget than perhaps some of his actual in state options.