Seeking a school with great teacher interaction for an applied Math degree… Hopefully generous with merit aid. Suggestions?
Schools that are generous with merit, aren’t generous with every applicant (this isn’t T-ball where everyone gets a trophy. lol )
Schools that are generous merit are usually only generous with about 10-25% of their school.
So…for us to make suggestions, we need to know what your (or your child’s) stats are and what curriculum did you take…APs? honors? what?
620 CR 800 M
Ok…1420 M+CR
What do you want your net costs to be?
Look at:
Rhodes College
Springhill College
Sewanee College of the South
UAHuntsville
Tulane
3…9 unweighted GPA, 7 AP classes with scores of 3 and 4 on AP tests, math up to calc 3, two unpaid 160 hour internships (required by the school), went to state with Science Fair, National Spanish Honor Society, German Club, Beta Club, tutors high school students in math.
Also look at:
Christian Brothers in Memphis
Loyola-New Orleans
What do you want your net costs to be?
100,000k max
lol…for 4 years, I presume. 
ok…a net cost of about $25k per year.
keeping in mind that costs go up every year, so even the rates you’re seeing now aren’t the rates for NEXT fall.
Try to find schools where your net cost is less than $25k, so that you can afford those later annual increases in tuition, housing, and meal plans.
Try to find awards that aren’t stagnate…find ones that actually increase with any tuition increases.
For instance, a $20k per year award will stay at $20k per year…even if tuition has increased by 20% by senior year…so soon that $20k per year award feels like only a $10k per year award.
But…an award that is, for instance, “half tuition,” *may" grow with each tuition increase (you have to ask for clarification…some still won’t increase)
So…try to aim for full tuition or “near” full tuition awards, so that your contribution can pay for room, board, books, fees, travel, misc costs…which can be $15k-20k…depending on the school…and depending on whether your healthplan will work in the state where your child goes to school…many parents are finding that their plans won’t work or will only work for emergencies.
@1964manicmom With those stats, you have a solid shot at merit money at Rollins and Samford. In addition to other schools already listed, you might also want to check out Furman and Wofford.
PS: My younger sister attended Samford. Her roommate went on to get a PhD in Math, and she is now a college professor.
Furman and Woffard are on her radar. Thanks…
@1964manicmom I have a niece who is a junior at Furman; she seems to have had a good experience there. However, my daughter (who went through the application grind just last fall) did not apply there, largely because the merit scholarships turned out to have a very early deadline which involved being nominated by a school official, etc. By the time she was in the swing of things application-wise, the Furman scholarship deadline had already passed.
Make sure to check the dates and act accordingly if you’re considering the place and hope to be considered for merit aid!
Furman is unlikely to come in at $25K unless you are a SC resident. They are de-emphasizing merit aid since 2011.
Rhodes and Tulane are solid suggestions. I would add Trinity and Southwestern in Texan (I assume this is still southern?).
Good luck!
Birmingham-Southern, Agnes Scott, Flagler
@MrSamford2014 The scholarship that you’re referring to is the Furman Scholars which you have to be nominated for by GC in your Junior Year. Their are other scholarships available still as long as you apply ED or EA . Deadline is in November . @ColdinMinny scholarships to SC students have also declined as COA has climbed to over 60,000 per year.
and has already taken
I’m not too familiar with the math degree curriculum; however, given that your D is looking for an “applied math” degree and has already taken math up to “calc 3”, I would be concerned that your D will max out the math course offerings at some (all?) small colleges. If true, it would be worthwhile determining which small colleges your D is considering have cross-registration available at universities containing a math graduate program. This would still give her the “great teacher interaction” for all of her courses plus the opportunity to take more advanced math courses as an upperclassmen.
As for merit, my D (30 ACT; 3.6 UW GPA) applied to several Southern LACs last year including some that have been mentioned already. She received merit aid at most in the range of 18 - 30K. Your D should do significantly better with her stats. Some colleges list GPA and test score criteria for merit aid on their financial aid site. For example: http://www.rollins.edu/financial-aid/as-cps-financial-aid/scholarships/index.html
Some smaller southern colleges to consider:
Rollins
Eckerd
New College of FL
Agnes Scott
Wofford
Furman
Elon
Davidson
Rhodes
Sewanee
Birmingham Southern
Hendrix
Centre
Southwestern (TX)
Trinity (TX)
among others…
Elon comes to mind. Not sure if you could get it down to your price, but I would look in to it.
^Among smaller southern colleges, I think Elon is among the least generous with aid. Worth a look though.
I will also add Stetson to my previous list of suggestions… very generous with aid in our experience.
It’s also important to interact with these smaller colleges as much as possible by visiting and contacting the admissions reps (i.e. demonstrating interest).
We toured Elon… Loved it… But don’t think it is the “perfect” fit.
Also Univ of Richmond. Great small/mid size place.
There is a entire thread on “Southern LAC’s” that might prove useful. Tons of on-campus reviews of school visits, including Elon, which we did not care for too much, either.
Elon is also less expensive than many of their peers. Elon tuition/fees cost $32K, Wofford $38K, Furman $46K. So a smaller award at Elon goes further - net price is what really counts.