Upcoming tours [English & Diplomacy/4.0 GPA, no parent contribution besides parent loans]

Parents Forum
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I doubt everyone from hs goes to U Maine but how about the Farmington campus which calls itself a public LAC. Others like this are St Mary’s Maryland, SUNY Geneseo, New College Florida, Mary Washington, UNC Asheville, Christopher Newport, College of Charleston, Minnesota Morris .

Geneseo is worth a look and maybe UNCA. They are vague with merit amounts but direct costs are $38k.the others too pricey but Farmington is that type of school.

Don’t forget when you go away, you have to pay travel. And there are other college expenses - books and more.

In state colleges are typically the best bet because your price without merit (and when you get merit you have to keep up your go) - your price is generally lower because your state school is there for its taxpayers whereas you are not paying tax in Wisconsin so they won’t support you.

Ok - one more though from a not far state seeking more kids. Direct costs at WVU this year are $41508 (that’s tuition, room, and board).

Get a 30 on the ACT or 1360 on the SAT, get $17k off. No test but a 3.8, $14k off.

So both under $30k although there will be inflation.

There are low cost schools out there but are they low enough?

We all love and want to do for our kids, but if you love them too much today, you might hurt them long run.

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I second CTCL colleges. My eldest kid is attending one in TX.

https://ctcl.org/

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The NPCs that ask for your academic stats are best.

Note some schools don’t superscore.

And while you have confidence in your kid, I wouldn’t take the math up by more than 50. Maybe she’ll crush it next time or maybe not.

Or you can play with different scenarios.

For LACs, it’ll likely be tough to beat Ogelthorpe of sue qualifies for Flag 50 or Hendrix based on what you’ve described this far althiugh che k out W&Ls NPC since they show an income table (but look at assets). Of course it’s a reach.

Others closer to home that meet need - Franklin and Marshall, Lafayette, Union but it sounds like your need isn’t crazy high.

Only use NPCs. Don’t use my intuition. It’s easier because it stores yiur data but it’s not detailed.

. ClearCost

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@L_Abbott - take a look at https://www.centre.edu/. Centre College in Danville, KY. My D24 applied there and got accepted last year. They have a LOT of scholarships.

COA (not including books, travel, for example) is ~$66k/yr before scholarships & fin aid. they have auto merit scholarships. Highest auto-merit award gets you $30,000 off of tuition. Then the $5500/yr federal student loan would get the tuition, room & board almost to $30,000 total.

There’s language scholarships up to $5k/yr, but none for Korean. There’s also some competitive full tuition or full tuition+room+board scholarships worth considering. See Scholarships & Fellowships for more info.

There’s an awesome glass blowing studio there…most students fill their fine arts gen ed requirement by taking a glass blowing class.

Town it’s in is very safe. Feels like Mayberry. Good selection of restaurants a short walk from campus. Really good diversity. Students are required to take a 3-unit/credit “Centre Term” class in January. 3-week class. Some of the options for that include doing a 3-week course abroad with a Centre professor (1 of which goes to South Korea).

Danville, KY is about 45 min from the Lexington, KY airport.

If your kid doesn’t want to stay in Maine for college, that doesn’t mean she has to go all the way to the west coast. There’s a bunch of other awesome colleges between Maine and CA to consider! :slight_smile:

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Did you run the net price calculators for Mount Holyoke and Smith? My D23 attends Mount Holyoke and applied to Smith. Even with a top merit award at Mount Holyoke without financial aid a $30,000 price point would be tough to get to. We love Mount Holyoke but the cost of attendance is definitely high. Smith is mostly need based aid with a small amount of merit awards. If the net price calculator at Smith is favorable for your family Smith has a no loan policy and Mount Holyoke does not. We are instate for UMASS and even though she didn’t want to apply because of the large size that was our one negotiable application due to cost considerations. Not sure how UMASS is price wise for Maine residents but if affordable to your family, your daughter could take classes at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, and Hampshire. Our daughter was accepted at UNH and it was the essentially the same cost as UMASS. I would also look into Binghampton, and the NY state colleges as they may match the UMaine price. Good luck!

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@MWFan shared the link to schools that participate in the New England Tuition Break program. Of the state flagships, these were majors that seemed like possibilities for your D. I do not know whether these schools would add additional merit aid on top of a Tuition Break deal, but it might be worth investigating. Of course, one concern about choosing a program like this is that the Tuition Break is only for certain majors, so if she changes her major to a field that’s not covered, then the tuition break would likely be gone, too.

  • U. of Connecticut: Economics of Sustainable Development and Management, Human Rights,

  • U. of Massachusetts – Amherst: Comparative Literature, Public Policy, Social Thought and Political Economy, Sustainable Community Development

  • U. of Rhode Island: Global Language and Area Studies, International Studies and Diplomacy, Writing and Rhetoric

  • U. of Vermont: Community and International Development

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Just want to boost this along with the Wheaton rec, as mine is from Maine and even at just four hours away it has felt to both of us that she has ‘gone away’ to college. It feels like a sweet spot- far enough away that she’s AWAY, but close enough to get there in an emergency or to do a same day round trip (unless there’s a storm the day before drop off, which is why I am posting this from a dark hotel room! We came down yesterday to beat the weather.) Not having to pay for flights and manage that distance is a considerable savings that doesnt get counted in any NPC. She doesn’t have a car, and has used the train and bus to get back and forth and used the train to go to Boston for the day (and now that shes found friends, they have plans to do that more this semester, and Providence too). She also was accepted to Lesley but found she liked the classic campus of Wheaton more than Lesley, and Wheaton was a little more artsy/quirky than Endicott or Roger Williams. Being in a small college town with quick and easy access to a big city has been a nice blend for my Maine kid, and is providing her those new experiences she craved by wanting to go away.

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Just a reminder…this OP says they will be funding all college costs with loans of some kind.

I’m hoping that this student has a significant improvement on her SAT score or the ACT ends up being a good choice. This student is a junior and must have taken the SAT early in her junior year. For the math, in particular, she might now or later in her junior year have learned some of the math needed to do well on the SAT. Just a thought…and I hope it’s true.

If the SAT (or ACT) improves enough, this will open the door for more colleges, and potentially for more merit aid. And this is very possible since this student took the SAT early in their junior year.

@Mwfan1921

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I agree that a higher test score may open up more merit at some schools, that other posters have mentioned.

All OP’s D can do is prep for the March SAT, not only content wise, but psychologically. Hopefully she can overcome the issue she had on the first test. Note the digital SAT does have a built in calculator, so that could be an option she might prefer. It sounds like OP’s D is in pre-calc this year, as she is taking Calc next year…so I wouldn’t expect any increased score solely due to content exposure (precalc is not on the SAT, so she had all the concepts covered on the fall SAT.) She will increase her score if she preps (which she’s doing) and doesn’t have the same calculator issue/anxiety that went with it.

I also agree with the poster(s) who said to maybe try the ACT. Content prep is basically the same, but she should take practice tests with strict timing (ACT has more questions per minute.)

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I agree that the OP should consider whether Ohio, or Pennsylvania, would work for them. In my experience, these schools are more likely to offer merit, and there are many terrific schools in the Midwest. In addition to Oberlin and Kenyon, people also really like the College of Wooster, I’m always partial to Denison because my son went there and loved it (they have a very interesting journalism major), and then in Pennsylania, there is Dickinson along with many others I am less familiar with. St. Olaf is another that sounds like a good fit, although it is in Minnesota.

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She can do publishing from anywhere.

I know a tippy-top student–4.0, National Merit Scholar, amazing ECs. She got into her “dream school” but was in a donut hole situation so couldn’t afford it. So she attended a non-famous school on their max merit scholarship where she rocked it academically.

Had no trouble nabbing a job with a top publishing house straight out of college; she was hired alongside grads from the famous school she had to turn down. BUT, you need to understand that everybody is required to start at the bottom. Her first 3 years involved a sales route spread out across 4 Midwest states–a lot of time on the road, driving between small towns, sleeping in motels. The very opposite of glamorous. Yes, now she is being promoted to NYC. But she paid her dues.

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I think people need to remember - schools $30k plus - are nowhere near affordable… Heck even $20k plus aren’t affordable here.

We all love our favorites but even with an improved SAT, short of a few schools like Ole Miss (which is reputed for English) or Hail Mary scholarships, there’s not realistic options here. Even in state options, unless OP can reside at home, are a stretch for someone taking on loans for the entire experience.

And English, by the data, is a very low paying field.

It doesn’t sound like they’d qualify for questbridge (based on assets), but they can look into it.

And perhaps schools that use an income band and might offer free tuition (but also notate that’s assuming average assets and sometimes don’t come to fruition). Rice, Lehigh, others.

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I still stand by my recommendation for the OP to look at CTCL schools. It’s up to the OP to determine for their family what will work for them. There’s a lot of great CTCL schools in the NE and Ohio areas. And an awful lot of them have really good merit scholarships which are not income dependent.

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Hi L_Abbott,

I had a lot of anxiety at the beginning of this process about paying for college. It is tremendously stressful. It really did help my mental health to identify affordable safety and target schools that could be a good fit for D (even if she doesn’t think so yet). One school that I moved up on our list because it seems to be a very good school in a very nice location for a reasonable price is the University of Vermont.

Other schools mentioned here that I thought were nice suggestions: Drew, Bryn Mawr, Holy Cross, Clark, Brandeis, Kenyon, U Delaware.

This is an overwhelming process. I wish you and your daughter the very best during this college search.

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I agree that finding affordable schools and affordable possibilities is super important. However, I think that a number of CTCL schools or other similar types of institutions may provide routes to decently affordable. Meaning that I suspect that many of the non-big-name-brand schools will end up costing equal to or less than it would cost for her to attend her in-state flagship and, perhaps, she might be competitive for some schools’ big name scholarships which could potentially make things even more affordable.

As anyone who has seen my posts over the years knows, I am not a big fan of going into significant debt for a college degree. There are people who get really high quality outcomes by attending their local CC and then transferring to a 4-year college, including when they do the whole thing living at home.

That said, however, going into some debt for a residential college experience over a commuter experience is something that I can see the value in. If OP’s family is able to start putting $1k/month away now (as a means to see the feasibility of the large loans they are contemplating taking out), then that’s $12k/year right there. OP’s kid can get a federal loan, tacking on another $5500/year. So we’re still at a budget of $17-18k. But if OP’s kid starts working part-time now and full-time over the summer, and continues that through college, there might be another additional $5k/year (conservatively). So now we’re up to $23k. If the family wanted to ensure that their D had a residential college experience, taking out $7k/year in parent loans to cover the difference could be a reasonable choice. (It’s also entirely reasonable to decide not to do so.) But taking out a total of $30k in loans to support one’s kid at a residential college is entirely different than taking out $120k or more.

So yes, budget is still crucial here, but I think there are still an array of options to suggest and have OP’s D consider to see potential routes to affordability.

So yes, OP’s family needs to find the sure things financially and get make sure her D gets excited enough by them that she would happily attend. Ole Miss, though definitely not urban, could be a really interesting possibility. Hendrix is a college that would be infinitely more popular if it wasn’t in Arkansas. Oglethorpe would provide the city-experience with (probably) easy connections to Maine due to ATL being a big hub. All of these are great suggestions from @tsbna44.

But I don’t think we need to eliminate the recommendations of schools like Wheaton or College of Wooster or Drew, etc, even if there is very little likelihood of them being affordable without loans.

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How about ULL ? You often show wonderful costs there !!

My comment about Wheaton was related to touring. Some kids tire so you want to preserve spots for the likely vs the small chance. Some kids can do 30 tours. Others are spent after 5. It’s really the info sessions mlre than the tours.

Unlikely to hit is ok if there’s a path meaning - does Wheaton offer any full scholarships, etc.

Or if the OP is willing to go to a cc or UMaine campus, then all other apps are gravy.

Thx

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Oh, I totally understand this! It’s one reason why I think that it’s important for OP’s family to consider what schools they end up visiting. For instance, rather than visiting “big name” schools, they might want to reconsider where they visit. So an Emmanuel College (in the heart of Boston, part of a college consortium, but a small school with a relatively defined campus) rather than a Brandeis (unless the Brandeis NPC comes back as showing that only a minimal amount of loans would be required). Or a Clark rather than the College of the Holy Cross.

Lots of these will be dependent on how the NPC looks. Wheaton, for instance, indicates that most of their students receive between $35-45k in merit aid (source). Its sticker price is about $77-78k. So a $45k scholarship (unknown if that’s the max) would bring the price down to about $33k.

Essentially, I agree that running the NPCs and looking at scholarship charts should help determine which colleges get visited and which should even be considered seriously. If a school’s coming back at $50k, then that’s probably a school that shouldn’t be considered. But if a school’s coming back around $30k, I think it’s reasonable to include it as a possibility.

U. of Louisiana - Lafayette would be another option to consider. It’s a school of about 13k undergrads in a town of about 120k people. Wither her current test scores and GPA she would receive the Cypress Scholarship which would include an out-of-state tuition waiver plus an additional $2600/year. So that would leave costs of about $20k/year.

If she is able to boost her SAT up at least 40 points, then she would qualify for the Magnolia scholarship which would be the OOS waiver, $2800/year for all 4-years, and then about $5300/year for the first two years to help cover on-campus housing costs. So about $15k for years 1 & 2 and then $20k/year for years 3 & 4.

If she were to boost her SAT to a 1420+ (or an ACT of 32+) then she would qualify for the Live Oak scholarship which would be the OOS waiver, $3k/year for 4-years, plus a little over $11k/year to cover room & board for four years, and eligibility for a campus job for an additional $2400/year. So then the costs run about $8k/year for all four years (not including the campus job funding).

You can read about the different scholarships here: Freshman Scholarships | University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Also, historically there’s been a strong writing and English tradition at ULL. Ernest Gaines was a longtime part of the faculty there.

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I am wondering if your daughter would be interested in being an exchange student herself?

Because I agree that European universities have some real strengths: the high quality of education, the low cost, the straightforward admissions criteria, the opportunity to really “spread your wings.” But there are potential downsides too: the language barrier, the culture shock, homesickness, the bare-bones nature of student supports compared to schools in the US.

So how about a year as a foreign-exchange student instead? It could act as a “trial run” for doing college there, while benefiting from the emotional and practical support of a host family. She would learn the language. She would find out how she responded to culture shock and home sickness. Either it would all work out really well in which case she would be ready for college abroad, or it would work out less well and she would know for sure that college abroad wouldn’t be right for her.

Either way, it wouldn’t be anything lost. College in most European countries is 3 years instead of 4, so she would still graduate “on time” compared to her American classmates. And if she decided not to continue on to European university, her year an an exchange student would only act to strengthen her application to American colleges because being an exchange student is a very strong EC.

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Could work, but the student/family will likely be limited to international schools where they can still take the federal student and parent plus loans:

https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/international-schools-in-federal-loan-programs.pdf

https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/international

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To chase merit, you need to find schools where you have stats that are at the top of accepted students, so a higher acceptance rates, likely schools. Has she been yo NYU? It was my daughter’s choice for grad school (we live close, she’s been in the area a lot), but fell in love with BU, felt it wasn’t as urban as NYC.

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