My D is currently completing her freshman year at a Jesuit college (enrollment about 4k). D is very unhappy.
Her options to transfer are limited. We qualify for limited financial aid and from researching many colleges most don’t
offer merit aid to transfers only freshman. D was a very good student in high school.(4.0) Did many activities. Had 1330 sat. D got into many good schools but most did not offer much aid. (Boston College, Holy Cross, Northeastern) We could not afford. D was deferred from Penn ED and then rejected. Applied to Penn as transfer for next year but was waitlisted. D was accepted to Fordham with a great merit scholarship but choose to attend another college with a similar scholarship and reputable pre med program. But that was a mistake. D is interested in pre med. Had a 4.0 in fall semester. Still not done with spring semester.
I know most application deadlines have expired but some are June 1. Any advice or maybe try to transfer for Spring 2016.
Why is she unhappy? What is she hoping to change?
How much can your family afford to pay?
Is there any chance your child could be happy at one of your own home-state public universities?
First you need to figure out why she is unhappy and what type of situation might improve things. Then, as you noted getting merit aid will be an issue as a transfer so you need to call schools she is considering to see if there is any possibility of merit aid and if there is none, you need decide what is financially feasible. Perhaps she will be happier at the school next fall semester.
For some people transferring is a good thing – they are just at a school that doesn’t suit them. But your D needs to remember that “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side” Every school has some issues, some people you won’t love etc. And as a transfer it is often harder to break into a social group as many friendships are established during freshman year.
Its probably too late for fall. Perhaps go back to current school for fall and spend summer researching and possibly visiting a couple of target schools with the goal of spring transfer. Choose fall courses that meet transfer requirements for those schools. Does she regret turning down fordham? If so maybe worth a call to admissions. Did she get in anywhere else that was also affordable? And as others have pointed out what does she not like about current school? Size? Courses? Social atmosphere? Location?
There is nothing wrong with taking a leave of absence from the current college/university, and spending a Gap Year doing something reasonably interesting while reconsidering a transfer application list.