I do very well academically and would like to go to a school that reflects that. However, I also don’t have the money necessary to go to an Ivy League school without acquiring massive amounts of debt. What are some schools that select their students based on academic performance over their parents’ professions?
What do you define as relatively affordable? Someone whose parents make $300,000 a year can afford much more than someone whose parents make $35,000 a year.
Have you run the net price calculators at some universities? I often find that poorer students are not aware of just how much financial aid well endowed colleges can award.
Look at the sticky threads at the top of http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/ for lists of low cost schools and large scholarships.
Of course, if you from a low income family, some highly selective schools may be low cost on need-based financial aid. Check their net price calculators.
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What are some schools that select their students based on academic performance over their parents’ professions?
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uhh…every school in the US.
@ucbalumnus I second this. Sticker price is sooooooo meaningless when it comes to college shopping. In 99% of cases, it’s an arbitrary number that has little bearing on what you’ll actually end up paying. Run the NPCs, and see what comes up. The only cases where I see that the posted tuition costs are close to what people actually pay is when their parents are sitting on obscene stacks of money, or when applying to a public school from out of state - they typically don’t like giving money to OOS kids. Still a few exceptions though - for example, I know that UNC and UVA meet need.
As an example, me and my smack-dab-middle class family (maybe even a touch over?) would pay something stupid like $6k/yr for Ivy leagues (if I were able to get in…hahah). I’m pretty sure that’s less than my state’s schools.
Your state U is a great place to start.
I’ve run the net price calculators for many schools for my D who is a senior. We have a middle class income and some of the more elite schools would be cheaper for us than most other schools because they are wealthy and generous with need based aid. However, please keep in mind that there are many high achieving students at every state university, who are there in part for financial reasons. So don’t think that you need to go to an elite school just because you have a great academic resume. There are valuable opportunities to be had everywhere.
If you have very strong qualifications but your family income falls well below the national median (~$52K/year), then for you there are about 50-60 highly reputable colleges where the total net cost of attendance will be as little as $5K/year (or even less) after need-based financial aid.
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/09/14/colleges-that-report-meeting-full-financial-need
If you have very strong qualifications but your family income is 1x-3x the national median, or possibly more, then you should still qualify for some need-based aid from most of those same schools. Run the online net price calculators for any of them that interest you.
If you have strong qualifications, regardless of your family income, some colleges will offer you full tuition or even full ride scholarships.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Quite a few other, more selective colleges may offer you smaller amounts of merit aid, even if your family income is too high for need-based aid.
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts
The national service academies (army, navy, air force), and Deep Springs College, are just about the only “highly regarded” American colleges that provide free tuition, room and board to all enrolled students, regardless of the family’s ability to pay. Cooper Union and Olin College of Engineering provide heavily subsidized rates to all enrolled students.