I’m the parent of a perfectly average daughter and I suspect we are a bit late to the college party! She is a junior currently and has a 3.7 gpa and we just found out today that she got a 1300 on the SAT (should she take it again?) she’s pretty undecided about what she wants to study but is thinking maybe communications or English. She’s positive she wants to go away to school and we (mostly) agree with her because there aren’t many options where we live- Alaska! Neither her father or I attended college so we’re pretty much no help at all :(. We’ve heard so many horror stories about people going into so much debt that we really want to help her make the right choices. Does anyone have any suggestions about where we should begin?
- Your high school probably has a counselor that will have firsthand experience with students in your area. That should be your first stop for information.
- Your daughter fits into the "first generation student" category of college applicants and there are government, non-profit, and college programs designed to assist these students with the college admission process. A starting point: http://www.imfirst.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upward_Bound
This forum is full of people that are happy to help. Good luck and keep us updated!
Alaska is part of WUE, http://wiche.edu/wue and she can apply to the program and pay 150% of instate tuition at other WUE schools (some are automatic, some have a limit on how many students they accept), so look at the list and look into some of the schools in Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado, Utah.
Check Alaska’s sponsorship at other schools. I know they used to subsidized some of their residents to attend programs that aren’t offered in Alaska.
She has a lot of affordable options. Do not get sucked into the belief that she has to go to an expensive school (UCLA, USC) and borrow a lot of money. Look into Western Washington, Humboldt, Utah. She should take the SAT again, and take the ACT as she might do better on that. She’s got good stats, but you may find more money if they are a little higher.
1300 is already good, but SAT preparation classes and/or tutoring will help with her SAT score. It does not take much tutoring to make a significant difference. They will give her a practice SAT test to see how she does, or look at the SAT that she already took, and then will focus on the areas where they can do the most help. I will note that 3.7 and 1300 are above average. 
Being in Alaska, one thing to think about if she doesn’t want to stay in Alaska, is that British Columbia is the next closest location (to the limited extent that anything is near Alaska). UBC is very expensive for international students, very academically demanding and hard to get into. However, Simon Fraser U and the University of Victoria are both very reasonably priced, are very good universities, and might be a decent fit for someone with a GPA of 3.7. The University of Northern British Columbia is a very good small university in Prince George. For most of us this seems rather far to the north of civilization, but from Alaska it is of course south but closer than the lower 48.
She will want to apply to several universities, and you will want to pay close attention to cost. You don’t want her or you to go $100,000 in debt for university, and this should not be necessary. She does not need to go to a “big name” and expensive university. I agree with others that she should also look at WUE schools, but I don’t know anything about them.
My sis in law went to University of Alaska, Fairbanks…and she came from Illinois. University of Alaska is a surprisingly decent school with tons of opportunity. She might want to check it out and take advantage of lower tuition instate. Fairbanks is a nice city, the school is urban. If she’s used to a rural, isolated community…Fairbank’s 30.000 people might feel very big to her. Give her a chance to spread her wings without complete culture shock. Couldn’t hurt to go for a tour? I know their English program is decent. When my sis in law went there, she was offered an opportunity to teach English for a summer in Japan and really enjoyed it. She got a solid education in Fairbanks that has never hindered her teaching career in the lower states, or her first job in publishing.
You aren’t late!
Late is parents of current seniors who just now realize they can’t afford any of the schools their child was accepted to.
Do you have a college budget for her? savings and/or what could be contributed monthly or annually from current earnings? That, and your income (which determines need based aid) will impact her choices as well her scores and gpa.
If so, and you can share, many folks can help make recommendations. Without the budget it’s hard to help steer.
You can estimate what colleges will think you can pay by running a couple of net price calculators at some schools, all offer them on their websites.
As mentioned WUE is a great option for her as are some of the first gen resources and scholarships.
She will be limited by federal guidelines as to what she can borrow. It goes up a bit each year but the total is $27,500 for all 4 years. Which, with her possible majors is as much or more than she should consider.
Loans beyond that would have to be consigned by you, or taken out solely by you which obviously carries its own risk.
That’s why figuring out your budget now is so key, it will help her and you focus on schools that are affordable. There are many schools she has the stats to be accepted to, finding ones that best fit the budget is often a very different story.
First task for the parent is to make the financial plan and determine what you can contribute for her college costs. Then inform her early in the process what the cost constraints are, so that they does not become attached to an unaffordable school. Colleges have net price calculators on their web sites to estimate financial aid and net price.
In addition to WUE, there are also scholarship lists like:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
though you will want to check on school web sites since some have changed.
Thanks for all of your replies! She has about $40000 in a 529 account and i know she’s fortunate to have some choices. The economy in alaska is a mess and currently she will qualify for free instate tuition- but that could easily change at the end of this fiscal year and programs up here could disappear too
Another note about University of Fairbanks. They have a couple of publishing houses, and magazines run by the school…so English majors don’t suffer from lack of opportunity. They’re also a research university. One of their magazines is specific to marketing and communications.
As college goes…University of Fairbanks is cheap.
About $16K per year for tuition, room and board.
If you have financial need… At University of Alaska–Fairbanks, 52% percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $6,502.
Decent aid, inexpensive, and decent opportunity.
@dfbdfb might be a good resource for you (another AK parent with a HS senior this year).
Ok so she has 10K per year in her 529. Will you be able to contribute any additional cash funding or do you know if you will qualify for any need based aid? If that is her full budget you’ll likely need to look for full tuition scholarships, merit scholarships that stack with a first gen scholarship or stay in state.
here is a link to one net price calculator that can help you estimate
https://admissions.wwu.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
Her stats put her just under the average for WAE at Western Washington University, using it as an example as it’s going to be easier travel wise than many and less expensive flights.
https://admissions.wwu.edu/freshman/freshman-out-state-scholarships
That would bring your cost of attendance down to $28,783 (using 16-17 rates but the 17-18 ones are very similar, at least for in state)
Less the 10k annually in the 529 and you have $18,783 that you’d need to come up with.
She can take $5500 in federal loans her freshman year ($6400 sophomore and then $7500 junior and senior) which brings it down to $13,283 her freshman year. Following years will be similar or a bit higher as while she can borrow a tad more, the costs will go up.
$36,783 OOS Cost of attendance (flights may be a bit higher)
-$8,000 from OOS tuition waiver (competitive but she’d have a shot at it)
-$10,00 from 529
- $5,500 from student loan
= $13,283 needed annually
Most state schools do not offer much in the way of need based aid to out of state students
If she works summers and saves, and works during the school year you can bring that number down more but there will still be a gap of $8-10K annually depending on how much she contributes from work earnings. She would not be able to take loans for that gap (nor should she). As her parents, you can borrow that much if you qualify but that’s also generally not a good idea though everyone’s risk tolerance and situation is different.
Her stats put her in range to qualify for similar offers elsewhere either through the WUE or published stats based offers. Her stats are good but don’t seem quite at the full tuition award levels which is what would be ideal. Do look through the yola site linked above but as said, much of that info is old and may not still be true. If you do have financial need some private schools may be a better option but without knowing more it’s hard to say.
If you do a net price calculator and can determine what your EFC is (expected family contribution) that will help folks offer additional suggestions.
It’s great that you have some money put away. I agree she should retake her SAT and try for a higher score. There are probably some coleges where she can qualify for free tution. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
Have a look at the link, it lists schools and their requirements for giving free tution or full rides. If she gets her score up a lot, she can be more ambitious. There are plenty of colleges that would love to have an Alaskan student.
Does anyone know when the Super Match feature will be up and running again? @MaineLonghorn ?
OP, have your daughter borrow a Fiske or Princeton review college guide book from the library, or order one, so she can start researching some schools. She should plan to begin her essays in the summer if possible. The Common App has already released the essay prompts. If she wants to apply somehwere early decision, which boosts chances of getting in, those apps are often due mid November or early December. Or there are colleges with rolling admissions, and she will find out quickly if she is accepted. Otherwise, many apps are due Jan 1 or by mid Jan. She should be thinking about which two teachers she wants to ask for a recommendation. She shouldn’t leave that until September.
As far as what needs to be done and when, right now she needs to compile a list of safety, match and reach schools. This means schools that she is almost certain to get into, ones she has a good chance of getting into, and ones that she might get into. Very basically, safety= 50% or more acceptance rate, stats near or above the 75th percentile. Match=50%-30% acceptance rate, stats comfortably above 50th percentile and ideally above 75th percentile. Reach=acceptance rates below 30%, stats as high as possible. High reach, any college with acceptance rates below 20% is a high reach for all, regardless of stats. There’s a ton of variation within those categories too. A lot will depend on your finances and how much aid you might qualify for, of course.
She should finsih off her school year as strongly as possible. The SAT is going to offered again in May,June, and August, so I advise her to consider taking it again. Khan academy has good, free videos to help prep for it. If she doesn’t already have the official SAT study guide, she should get that too.
If her heart is set on going out-of-state I would have her take the SAT again or have her try the ACT. And study HARD for it… So many merit awards are based on standardized testing scores these days. Show her the pages for merit aid and the difference that even a small bump in her score might make.
Alabama gives great merit aid to OOS students, and I believe that places like KU and LSU do as well… Look at a bunch of school and run their calculators!
@Lindagaf, I will ask an administrator about the Super Match feature. Thanks for flagging me.
I was also going to recommend that you get in touch with @dfbdfb who is also a university professor at U Alaska as well as a parent of a senior.
If she wants to try something out of state, looking to WUE schools, one that you might want to consider is Western Washington in Bellingham - roughly equidistant between Seattle and Vancouver. With WUE discount, total cost of attendance is around 21-22K.
Or University of New Mexico, where she would qualify for the Amigo scholarship with current GPA/test scores. Room board and tuition is less than 20K under Amigo. Alaska Airlines serves Albuquerque.
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
If she wants to study and try to bring that SAT up to 1400+ that would open up additional scholarship options.
@Lindagaf, here is what I was told: "This is work in progress and we’ll make sure to announce it as soon as it’s ready. "