Any suggestions for under the radar, good quality, affordable colleges? Starting to do some research for my sophomore daughter. Thinking about somewhere like UNC Asheville - seems to have a good reputation, great student reviews and a less than hefty price tag, even for out of state students. (We are in NY.) Thanks!
Have you looked at the SUNY schools? Some of the smaller ones are a bit off the radar.
Thank you very much, everyone. She might very well end up going the SUNY route - certainly an affordable option for those of us who qualify for in state tuition. I am just worried that she will be surrounded by kids from very similar backgrounds and that her experience won’t really feel like “going away to college”. Just a - most likely incorrect! - perception.
At the SUNYs you will find kids who grew up on farms in Upstate, NY and kids who lived in fancy suburbs in Westchester and Long Island and then you have NYC kids and rich kids and poor kids and those in the middle. They’re pretty diverse.
One of those " public liberal arts colleges" is the MA College of Liberal Arts. They give a nice break to NY residents, and are about half an hour from Albany. Take a look.
According to the MCLA website:
The listed NY state tuition rate is $10,589, only slightly higher than the in-state rate of $10,075, and way below the normal out-of-state rate of $19,020. That’s an impressive deal for an out-of-state public school.
MCLA is located in the Berkshires, maybe 10 miles from the NY border. Their enrollment is 72% from MA, and apparently most of the rest are from NY. The campus is located near the foot of Mt. Greylock, which is the highest mountain in the state. It’s not a bad setting for a liberal arts college; Williams College, which is a top-ranked private LAC, is located near a different side of the same mountain.
…and, for what it’s worth, it has a really nice feel. My son ended up choosing another school. But I really would have been OKmwith MCLA for him.
The third local institution is the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (the North American equivalent of Hogwarts). The campus is located on the summit of Mt. Greylock, within hiking distance of MCLA; however, it is very difficult to find unless you have magical ability, so it definitely qualifies as “under the radar”. Admission is by invitation only, but the financial aid is good.
https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/ilvermorny
http://www.mcla.edu/news1/2016-June/jk-rowling-selects-local-setting-for-new-story
I’m a big fan of UNC-Asheville. Quality school, cool city.
You can run net price calculators on schools that seem like a good fit. If her stats are relatively high at a school, she might be in line for merit aid. A lot of private schools, and some public, with “sticker prices” north of $40k or $50k or $60k per year often cost much less. Schools effectively discount the “sticker price” to attract students. At some schools, the % of students receiving significant merit aid is very high. The tricky part, of course, is that you don’t want your kids to fall in love with a school, be accepted, and then have to tell them it is not affordable. If you decide to shoot for aid at some schools, that’s something that will have to be managed through discussion.
You can google schools that offer significant merit aid. Midwestern schools tend to offer a lot right now. Several quality schools include: Denison, College of Wooster, Kalamazoo, Oberlin, University of Ohio, Miami of Ohio, Ohio Wesleyan, and University of Pittsburgh. Their sticker prices might be high, but if your daughter’s stats seem to be in the top half of admits, she might get significant aid. I like to link the Miami of Ohio merit aid page to give a good, concise example of how it might work. Note that test scores are super-scored for admission and merit aid. It’s a quality school. Here’s Ohio Wesleyan too. You might look for something similar at the University of Ohio. One important note: Sometimes students must meet an earlier admission deadline (often Dec. 1) to be considered for merit aid. Good luck!
I have no idea why I typed “University of Ohio.” It’s Ohio University. Must have been because it was almost midnight, and I was catching up on the news.
https://www.ohio.edu/admissions/tuition/scholfinaid/signature.cfm
Affordability depends on many factors.
For a high-stats, low- (or even middle-) income student, the Ivies (and other highly selective private schools) could be among the most affordable. For a B+ upper middle income student, an in-state public school might be.
For a student with a GPA >= 3.5 and SAT CR+M >=1400, regardless of family income, an automatic merit scholarship (like the ones UAlabama offers) might result in the lowest net price.
If you want a small, not super selective/prestigious college with solid academics and relatively low sticker prices (somewhat regardless of family income or “merit”), New College of Florida is worth checking out. Don’t overlook the SUNYs, though.
^^^That’s the fundamental point I want to emphasize. Depending on your daughter’s record and family circumstances, you may very well get a better deal/lower price at a school that has a higher sticker price. For example, if your daughter had 33 or higher ACT (including super-scored) and a GPA higher than 3.5, Miami of Ohio might be cheaper than or comparable to a SUNY, even though if one just looked at the OOS tuition, it would look higher. The challenges are that more research into financial aid policies, etc. is required, and there is no way to know precisely what a college will cost in the end, which can lead to disappointment for students and parents. But you could very well find a great place at a great price. There is an extended thread on the Parents Forum for Schools that give good merit aid, if you think that might be relevant. Good luck!