A Cautionary Tale: Looking for Money

When money is an issue, students need to be strategic about where they apply to college.

Syracuse University

I am sharing a story of a young man from Los Angeles from a couple of years ago that illustrates why the common practice of applying to a bunch of schools without considering whether aid is a realistic option is a dangerous strategy.

The teenager, who wants to major in journalism, was super excited when he got into his dream school – Syracuse University in upstate New York. His parents, on the other hand, were stressing.

Getting Stiffed by Syracuse

The  affluent  family’s expected family contribution was roughly $30,000. As you learned in the lesson entitled, Why An EFC Is Important, an EFC is what a family would be expected to pay, at a minimum, for one year at Syracuse or any other school.

Since tuition and room/board at this research university cost more than $54,000 at the time and books, travel, and incidentals boosted that price, that would leave room for Syracuse to give this student some need-based financial aid or more likely a merit award.  But  the  teen  got  nothing.  When  I  heard  this,  I  asked  about  the  teen’s  academic  profile and the mom said he had about a 3.4 GPA.

I’d  suggest  that  the  student’s  academic  profile  could  at  least  partially  explain  why  he  was stiffed. Most schools give their best awards to the students who will help them move up in the US News & World Report rankings. At this school, a student with a 3.4 GPA  isn’t  going  to  do  that.

When I checked the  average  grade  point  averages  of  Syracuse’s  incoming  freshman at the College Board, it showed that 63% of the students had GPAs of 3.5 or higher. A 3.4  GPA  wasn’t  special  at  this  particular  school.

How Many Students Receive Grants

I then checked with the federal College Navigator, which is a handy site to look at a variety of statistics on individual schools that the U.S. Department of Education maintains. (Here is a post that I once wrote about using College Navigator to find colleges: What Colleges Have Your Major?)

Looking  at  Syracuse’s  statistics  on  College  Navigator,  I  saw  that  69% of students at Syracuse receive institutional grants from the school. Consequently,  it’s  not surprising that a child that was close to the bottom third of the class would receive nothing even though he was eligible for need-based aid.

Syracuse University

Schools That Have to Try Hard

The vast majority of private institutions award a much greater percentage of their students with institutional grants and scholarships than Syracuse. Nearly 89% of freshman at private colleges and university receive an institutional grant.

There are plenty of institutions where every student or nearly everyone receives something.  At  my  son’s  school  – Beloit College – 95% of students get an institutional grant.

Beloit College

Here is just a tiny sampling of the more than 450 schools that offer at least 95% of their students awards:

Bellarmine University (KY) Centre College (KY) College of Wooster (OH) Depauw University (IN) Hendrix College (AR) Juniata  College  (my  daughter’s  alma  mater  in  PA,  see  photo) Knox College (IL) Lawrence University (WI) St. Benedict (MN) University of Dallas (TX) University of Redlands (CA) University of Scranton (PA) Valparaiso University (IN) Xavier University (OH)

A critical factor in whether a school will award most or all of its students grants is how hard it has to work to attract their freshman class.

Schools  that  aren’t  recognizable  to  the  average  college-bound teenagers and their parents will have to offer more applicants awards and often have to offer better merit scholarships. Most  master’s-level universities, which U.S. News classifies as regional universities, and private colleges fall into that must-try-harder category.

Schools  That  Don’t  Have  to  Try  As  Hard

In contrast, research-intensive universities are the least likely to offer price cuts to a majority of their students. These universities, which support many doctoral programs, actually represent a surprisingly small category of schools that include state public flagships and private institutions of which the Ivies are the most prominent. This small cadre of schools benefit from simple supply and demand. The demand for many of these brand-name schools far outstrip their supply so the institutions can make students, who do not qualify for need-based financial aid, pay full price.

Prestigious research universities can also limit their institutional awards because of their rankings,  their  locations  or  their  sports  teams.  Here’s  a  rule  of  thumb: if most people would recognize the name of a private university on a sweatshirt,  it’s  more  likely  to  give  out puny merit awards or none at all. While few parents and students know much about the academic offerings at Syracuse University, they probably are aware that the school has a very competitive basketball team that is often a March Madness player.

To  illustrate  what  I’m  talking  about,  here  are  some  of  the  well-known universities that occupy some of the top 50 spots in U.S.  News’ beauty contest that are located in largely desirable areas where awards tend to be even rarer. When looking at this list, keep in mind that at the typical private institution only about 11% of students pay full price. The percentages in the following list show how many students pay full price at each school:

Boston  College  (despite  it’s  name,  it’s  a  university)  58% Boston University 51% Brandeis University 43% Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 39% Duke University (NC) 51%

Johns Hopkins University (MD) 53% Lehigh University (PA) 49% Northwestern University (IL) 46% Tufts University (MA) 58% University of Notre Dame 42% University of Southern California 39% Wake Forest University (NC) 47% George Washington University (DC) 36% Affluent  families  who  won’t  qualify  for  financial  aid  will  usually  encounter  the  most  difficulty cutting the price of college at research universities with high rankings. And Ivy League  schools  don’t  provide  any  merit  scholarships.

An Alternative Strategy

If the teenager from Los Angeles had widened his net and looked for schools beyond highly ranked research universities like Syracuse he would have cut his college costs. For instance, he could have applied to another school in upstate New York – Ithaca College – which offers its own well-respected journalism program. Ithaca gives institutional grants to 87% of students. U.S. News puts Ithaca College in its regional university category which does not get much media attention.

Ithaca College

Coming Up Short at State Universities

The  teenager  from  Los  Angeles  also  didn’t  capture  money  at  any  of  the  other  schools  that he applied to, which were state institutions.

This  student  didn’t  qualify  for  aid  because  the  family  didn’t  target  schools  where  he  had  a realistic chance of getting any.

First,  the  student  didn’t  qualify  for  any  need-based aid at the state schools in California that  were  on  his  list,  but  that  wasn’t  unusual  because  his  family  did  not  qualify  for  the  Cal  Grant  which  is  the  state’s  major  need-based aid program. In California, merit aid at state universities is miniscule.

The  other  schools  on  the  teenager’s  list  were  out-of-state flagship universities including Indiana University and the University of Oregon (see photo).

Many state flagships will give highly talented out-of-state students scholarships with top GPA’s  and  standardized  test  scores,  but  the  most  in-demand ones are primarily focused on charging very high tuition to nonresidents to bring in needed dollars.

The  teen’s  GPA  and  presumably  his  SAT  scores  weren’t  high  enough  to  receive  a  price  break from these two popular state universities, which like other state institutions, primarily evaluate students based on their academic stats. Among state institutions, the most rigorous competition for money is going to be at the flagships which represent each  state’s  premier  public  research  university.

You will learn more about awards given by state schools by reading the lesson entitled, Advice for the B Student.

It’s  not  easy  to  be  shut  out  of  award  money  by  every  school  on  a  teen’s  list,  but  it  does  happen. Ironically, most private schools would have given this teenager a price break. The mom told me that she and her husband had enough saved to pay for one year of Syracuse.  They  aren’t  sure  what  to  do  after  that.

I feel for them.

Learn  More…

Tuition Hogs: The Priciest Schools in America

Boosting  a  Teen’s  Chances  for  Admission  (and  Money)

In  this  video,  you’ll  learn  tips  to  help  families  boost  their child’s  chances  of  admission  that can also lead to better aid packages or merit awards.

There are other ways besides grades and test scores to make a school open its wallet a bit wider. They include:

Looking for academic matches. Applying to test-optional schools if standardized test scores are low. Looking for talent/academic major scholarships offered by schools that

require separate applications. Applying to schools in other time zones. Schools love to brag about their

geographic diversity. Seeking  out  schools  that  aren’t  on  the  coasts  or  in  cities. For  elite  schools,  being  in  the  top  10%  of  the  applicant’s  class. Applying early decision. Showing  “demonstrated  interest”  in  a  school. Avoid being a stealth candidate. Simply being who you are – gender and ethnicity can make a difference. Being from a wealthy family. Most students are not academic superstars. Some have a great GPA and underwhelming  test  scores.  For  others  it’s  reversed.  And  there  are  also  plenty  of  students who simply have average stats.

The vast majority of students end up attending non-selective state universities within their  borders.  And  if  that’s  where  your  client’s  child  is  heading,  then  having  an  uneven  academic  record  often  won’t  matter.  These  regional  public  schools  (I’m  not  talking  about  the most prominent public flagship universities) will often be the cheapest option regardless  of  an  applicant’s  academic profile.

Private colleges are the most likely to evaluate students holistically, in part, because they have the luxury to do so. Admission counselors can become acquainted with an applicant who is a surfer from Santa Barbara, who speaks Farsi, and plays chess competitively. In contrast, universities, which typically receive far more applications, are more  likely  to  weigh  a  child’s  statistics  – grades, test scores, and class rank – most heavily because it is too time consuming to evaluate students in a deeper fashion. These schools can use cut-offs – minimum grades and test scores – that admission offices require before applicants are given a serious look.

Read  More….

More on Wealthy Student Advantages

College in Need Closes Door on Needy Students This is The New York Times article that I referenced in the video.

Another Look at Merit Scholarships Why colleges give merit scholarships to wealthy students.

Colleges Spend More on Rich Students, Less on Poor

More on Test-Optional Practices

The Other Side of Test-Optional This is the article I wrote for The New York Times that I mentioned in the video.

Colleges and Universities That are Test-Optional Overview of test-optional schools.

Test  Optional  isn’t  for  Aspiring  Athletes Why students looking for an athletic scholarships will need test scores even at test-optional schools.

What are test optional colleges? Explanation on limitations of the test-optional list.

More on Demonstrated Interest Advantage

Why  You  Shouldn’t  Be  a  Stealth  College  Applicant It’s  a  bad  idea  to  be  a  stealth  candidate at schools that consider demonstrated interest.

More on Admission Advantages

The Three Biggest College Lies Forbes

How They Really Get In

University Reveals the Secrets of Winning College Scholarships I wrote a post after interviewing U. of Rochester admission dean

More on Throwing-a-Wider-Net Advantage

What Happens to People Who Go To Colleges No One Has Ever Heard Of?

A  Recruiter’s  Take  On Hiring Students From No-Name Schools

Do You Really Need an Ivy League Education?

More on Affirmative Action

A Better Affirmative Action: State Universities That Created Alternatives to Racial Preferences This is an in-depth report from the Century Foundation that examines how public universities in nine states created alternatives to racial affirmative action. The states in the report are Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and Washington.

Making Colleges More Diverse Even Without Affirmative Action This article from The Atlantic takes a look at what is happening in California to increase minority representation at the University of California.

Affirmative Action Fading From College Scene A USA Today article suggests affirmative action could be dying. Advice for the B Student

Most families do not know thatI  if  their  child  is  a  “B”  student,  they may have more options than they might assume.

Don’t  believe  me?

Here is a story of a young woman – I’ll  call  her  Katie  – whose mom is a friend of mine.

Katie attended a private high school in California where she earned a 3.0 GPA.

She applied to these four private schools and was accepted into all of them:

California Lutheran University Dominican University (CA) Linfield College (OR) Pacific Lutheran University (WA) When she received her acceptances, she received these annual merit awards:

California Lutheran $9,100 Dominican University $11,150 Linfield College $13,770 Pacific Lutheran U. $10,678 Katie’s  first  choice  was  Cal  Lutheran,  but  it  offered  her  the  lowest  award. Katie’s  mom  contacted Cal Lutheran and mentioned that the school was her No. 1 choice, but money was an issue and other schools offered better awards. Cal Lutheran asked the mom to fax the other award letters and the school added an additional $3,500 to the yearly award. That brought the first-year award to $12,600 and the total award to $50,400.

You  might  assume  that  a  student  with  a  3.0  GPA  wouldn’t  generate  any  merit  scholarship, much less have success in receiving a higher award. But that is wrong.

The admission directors at most schools  are  petrified  that  they  won’t  meet  their  annual  admission  goals.  And  it’s  getting  harder  to  do  so.

Every year, Inside Higher Ed, a respected online newspaper, sponsors a Gallup Poll of senior admission officers on a variety of issues and the biggest revelation of the most recent  survey  was  the  number  of  schools  that  didn’t  meet  their  enrollment  targets  during  the 2013-2014 admission season. By May 1, 2013, which is the traditional day when applicants are supposed to make their freshman deposits, 59% of the public and private schools that were polled still had vacancies.

In fact, some schools acknowledged a practice that has always been considered taboo. Some administrators admitted that they were contacting students after the May 1 deposit day in hopes of enticing students who had committed to other schools to change their minds.

Being Strategic When Looking for Schools

If  your  client’s  child  is  a  B  student  – and most teenagers are – you should have them look for colleges strategically when they are seeking to cut costs. Whether they are exploring state or private schools, here are some things to consider:

Look for Talent/Major Scholarships

While students are automatically in the running for need-based and merit aid when they apply,  families  typically  aren’t  aware  that  many  schools  offer  separate  in-house scholarships for students with particular talents and who want to major in specific academic disciplines. These could be an especially valuable opportunity  for  students’  with  lower  grade  point  averages  and  test  scores  who  usually  won’t  qualify  for  the  best  merit awards.

When students apply to a school, they usually are automatically in consideration for the institution’s  general  merit  awards,  but  schools  may require separate applications for their other scholarships. These in-house scholarships that can require extra work are often easier to get than the private outside scholarships that so many students pursue.

Check  a  school’s  website  for  these  additional  scholarships that can be awarded to students for such things as leadership, volunteering, artistic abilities, writing talent, entrepreneurship,  and  other  talents  that  aren’t  connected  to  grades.

An easy way to look for these extra scholarships is to head to the website of MeritAid.com which annually updates the scholarships each school offers. In the screenshot below, you will see an example of how scholarships are listed on the

website. The partial list of scholarships below are from Lake Forest College in Illinois. You should also check school websites for scholarships.

State Universities

Regional State Schools

If  your  families  don’t  want  to  pay  full  price  for  college,  the  most prominent flagships will probably be the least promising option. (Flagship is a term that describes the premiere public research university in each state.) These schools are very popular and typically reward students with the highest grade point averages and test scores in their states.

For students looking at public options, regional state universities will often have easier admission standards and lower sticker prices than the best-known public universities.

For  “B”  students  the  qualifications  for  capturing merit scholarships can be significantly lower.

Scholarships at all public universities will focus heavily, if not exclusively, on academic statistics – grades, test scores and class rank. State flagships and schools that started as agriculture schools  (the  latter  usually  has  “State”  in  their  title  such  as  Michigan  State  and Kansas State) that want to inch up in the college rankings, including the University of Arizona, Arizona State, University of Oklahoma, University of Alabama, University of Minnesota, Texas A&M, University of South Carolina, University of Florida, and Auburn provide excellent scholarships to students with stellar academic records and standardized scores.) The academic requirements for scholarships will typically be lower at regional universities than at the best-known public universities.

Finding regional schools will take more effort, but the payoff can be well worth it since there are hidden regional jewels scattered across the country. Some of these schools can offer better educational opportunities than their highly ranked flagship peers and can be more focused on undergraduates which is definitely not the top institutional priority of the best-known research universities. The No. 1 priority of intense research universities such at UCLA, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, U. of Michigan, and U. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign is professor research. Graduate students are the second priority of research universities and undergrads come in third.

Regional University Suggestions

Many SUNY campuses in New York fit into the category of regional state universities. The SUNYs are attractively priced for nonresidents and represent wonderful values for New  Yorkers.  (New  York  state  doesn’t  have  a  flagship  university,  but  these  three  share  the honors of the most research intensive SUNYs: University at Albany, Binghamton, and Stony Brook.) Some promising SUNYs include these campuses:

New Palz Geneseo Oswego Fredonia Purchase Buffalo Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Each school offers its own specialties. Fredonia, for instance, is well known for its music programs, Purchase is celebrated for its performing and creative arts programs and FIT specializes in design, fashion and business.

The prices are lower for New Yorkers, as well as nonresidents, because the state of New York provides a greater percentage of support for its public universities (around 40%) than most states. The acceptance rates for some of these schools are in the 45%

to 55% range, but keep in mind that nonresidents who apply to state schools can enjoy an admission edge because they will ultimately pay more – even with intuitional scholarships – than residents to attend these schools. State schools have a large appetite for nonresident applicants to make up for inadequate support from their state governments.

A Regional University Suggestion

One of my favorite regional institutions is Western Washington University, which is a beautiful campus in Bellingham. (See photo.)

A family friend of mine from Southern California is thriving at this school, which is perhaps best known for its highly regarded honors college. Gwen finished high school with a 3.0 GPA and gained admittance into Western Washington. She was nowhere close  to  qualifying  for  the  school’s  honors college as a freshman, but she applied and gained admission into it as a sophomore because of her first-year grades.

The honors classes for freshmen and sophomores average around 25 students and the honors seminars for upper classmen generally range from 11 to 15 students. Those are the kind of intimate class sizes that you normally associate with private colleges!

Whether or not a child  is  a  “B”  student,  it  makes  sense  to  find  out  the  qualifications  for  honors colleges at state universities. State universities created honors colleges as a way to compete for smart students who might normally attend private colleges and universities. According to the National Collegiate Honors Council, 60% of honors colleges were created since 1994.

I’d  love  to  hear from you about state honors colleges that you like. One that I recommend checking out is Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University, which is a liberal arts college that has its own campus and a separate curriculum that

emphasizes rigor and interdisciplinary learning.

Sampling of Nonflagship Public Universities

North

Townson University (MD) Rowan University (NJ) Montclair State University (NJ) University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth West Chester U. of Pennsylvania (PA) South

George Mason U. (VA) James Madison University (VA) The Citadel (SC) Georgia College & State University Murray State University (KY) University of Tennessee-Chattanooga University of Texas at Dallas West

California Polytechnic State U., San Luis Obispo Sonoma State University CA) New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Evergreen State College (WA) University of Colorado-Denver Boise State University (ID) Midwest

Miami University-Oxford (OH) Ohio University University of Wisconsin-La Crosse University of Northern Illinois Wichita State University Central Michigan University University of Cincinnati Public Liberal Arts Colleges

Other public institutions that fit into the regional category are state liberal arts colleges that include some promising finds. The difficulty of getting into these schools will vary, but many of them welcome B students.

Schools in this category include:

University of Minnesota Morris (all nonresidents pay in-state tuition!) SUNY College at Geneseo (NY) St.  Mary’s  College  Maryland  (entire  school  is  an  honors  college!) New College of Florida Ramapo College of New Jersey Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts University of North Carolina-Asheville Truman State University (MO) University of Mary Washington (VA) Southern Oregon University Southern Utah University University of Virginia College at Wise You can find the list of all these institutions by visiting the website of the Council on Public Liberal Arts Colleges.

Flagship Universities

Flagships  that  aren’t  on  most  families’  radar  can  also  be  an  attractive  source  of  scholarship  money,  particularly  for  nonresidents.  While  a  “B”  student  would  have  a  hard (or more likely an impossible) time getting into a highly ranked flagships such as the University of Michigan, University of California-Berkeley, University of Virginia, they can get into lesser- known flagships and sometimes pocket merit scholarships.

The acceptance rates among flagships are dramatically different with those enjoying the highest rankings, naturally being the most exclusive.

Sampling of Flagship Acceptance Rates

University of Massachusetts 63% University of New Mexico 65% University of Tennessee 67% University of Maine 78% University of Hawaii 81% University of Utah 83% University of Kansas 92% University of Montana 96% Acceptance Rates at Highly Ranked State Universities

UCLA 22% University of California-Berkeley 18% University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 28% University of Virginia 30% College of William and Mary 32%

University of Michigan 41% Some lesser-known flagships are aggressively pursuing students outside their states with scholarship packages and their sticker prices are much lower than the rankings darlings. These other flagships are seeking outsiders for a variety of reasons. A major preoccupation of schools is to increase their U.S.  News’ rankings. In states with declining high school student population, universities need to look beyond their borders to fill their seats. And administrators would love for their schools to be more geographically diverse.

University of New Mexico in Albuquerque is one of the flagships that is aggressively pursuing outsiders, including those with B averages. The average UNM freshman earned a 3.24 GPA and had a SAT score of 1084 (math/reading). As you can see from the screenshot below, nonresidents with a 3.0 GPA and an ACT or 26 or an SAT of 1190, can qualify for a $16,138-a-year merit scholarship.

Graduation Rates

One thing you have to pay attention to when looking at state and private schools for any students are graduation rates. Parents want their children to graduate in four years, but most  don’t.  The  four-year grad rate for full-time students is 31% for state schools and 53% for private schools.

The  most  elite  schools,  where  “B”  students  are  unlikely  to  be,  will  enjoy  the  best  graduation rates for a number of reasons. The students attending these schools are more likely to have the academic wherewithal to graduate in four years. They also tend to  be  wealthier  so  they  won’t  have  to  drop  out  for  lack  of  money  and  elite  schools  typically provide their students with access to classes and bountiful resources to get them to the finish line in four years.

A handy resource for graduation rates is College Completion, which is a microsite of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The graduation rates statistics, which come from the federal government, only look at full-time freshmen who end up graduating from their original school. The federal government counts students who transfer as students who never graduated from their original institution.

It’s  important  to  ask  schools how students can graduate in four years and why so many don’t.  Also  ask  what  kind  of  student  does  graduate  in  four  years.  When  talking  to  reps  of  some state schools with lower grad rates they have often told me that nonresident students graduate on time in much higher percentages.

Private Colleges and Universities

If the child’s  GPA  isn’t  as  strong  as  the  parents like, they could also consider focusing on schools that use a holistic admission process. At schools that take a longer look at a child, the GPA will be important, but other factors will also be weighed such as a student’s  coursework,  extracurricular  activities,  gender,  state  of  origin,  demonstrated  interest in the school, recommendations, and interview.

Private schools, and in particular, private colleges are more likely to embrace this admission  approach.  Since  colleges  don’t  have  the  visibility  that  the  most  prominent  universities enjoy, colleges have to work harder to attract students and that often means providing better awards for students with lower academic profiles.

Boston  College  (it’s  a  university  despite  its  name)  doesn’t  have  to  give  a  merit  scholarship to a child with a 3.0 GPA because it enjoys a well-regarded  brand  name,  it’s  located in an Eastern city (big draw for applicants), and for those reasons it attracts a surplus of students clamoring to get in. In fact, Boston College only gives merit aid to about  1%  of  its  students.  In  contrast,  Juniata  College  (my  daughter’s  alma  mater),  which  is located in a remote part of central Pennsylvania and Carroll College in Billings, MT, give money to nearly every student.

And  that  brings  up  an  important  point  when  “B”  students  are  looking  for  private  schools  that will offer discounts. Teenagers will have better luck finding affordable schools that are not located in cities and, in particular on the coasts. Due to their location, schools in metropolitan areas can be more selective and stingier than schools in less desirable areas.  Whether  or  not  your  client’s  child  is  a  “B”  student,  they  should watch the video – Boosting  a  Teen’s  Chances  of  Admission (And Money) – that  I  recorded  in  this  week’s  lesson.

You’ll  find  a  lot  more  advice  about  cutting  the  price  at  private  colleges  and  universities  in  this  week’s  lessons.

Community College Option

I have encountered many parents, who are curious about sending their children to community colleges. Many  of  these  parents  haven’t  saved  enough  money  for  four-year institutions, but they also wonder why they should sacrifice financially when their children, who  weren’t  stellar  students,  could  take  the  same  general-ed  classes  they’d  get at a public university with fewer students and for less money.

The  knock  against  community  colleges  is  that  they’ve  always  been  the  Bermuda  Triangle of higher education. Most students who enroll get lost in the system and never emerge with a degree. Motivated students, however, can do well at community colleges.

One  reason  why  it’s  difficult  to  successfully  emerge  from  community  college  is  because  so many students must start by taking remedial classes. An excellent way to avoid or minimize remedial classes is for students to study for the placement tests in English and mathematics.

I’d  recommend  ACCUPLACER (a product of the College Board that will help students study  for  these  tests.  ACCUPLACER  is  used  to  identify  students’  strengths  and  weaknesses in each subject area and to help them improve their skills through interactive online learning tools.

Students can use the online version of ACCUPLACER or download the app ($2.99).

Learn More:

Why YOU Should Care About College Graduation Rates

Schools That Meet 100% of Financial Need

While there are nearly 2,800 four-year colleges and universities in the United States, there  are  only  about  five  dozen  that  claim  that  they  meet  100%  of  their  students’  financial need.

The  list  below  includes  the  names  of  those  schools.  I’ve  also  included  schools  on  the  list  that say that they meet at least 94% of financial need or higher. Those are the boldfaced institutions.

Even though these schools say they meet 100% of need,  this  doesn’t  mean  that  the  financial aid packages will be identical for a student applying to these institutions. Far from it.

Most, if not all, of the schools on this list use the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, the aid application that allows schools to tweak their aid formulas in ways that can make awards significantly different.

Albright College (PA) Amherst College (MA) Barnard College (NY) Bates College (ME) Babson College (MA) Bentley University (MA) Berea College (KY) Boston College (MA) Brown University (RI) Bryn Mawr College (PA) Bowdoin College (ME) Bucknell University (PA) California Institute of Technology Carleton College (MN) Claremont McKenna College (CA) Colby College (ME) Colgate University (NY) College of the Atlantic (ME) College of the Holy Cross (MA) College of Wooster (OH) Colorado College (CO) Columbia University (NY) Connecticut College (CT) Cornell University (NY) Davidson College (NC) Denison University (OH) Dickinson College (PA)

Duke University (NC) Dartmouth College (NH) Earlham College (IN) Emory University (GA) Franklin and Marshall College (PA) Franklin W. Olin College Georgetown University (DC) Gettysburg College (PA) Grinnell College (IA) Hamilton College (NY) Harvey Mudd College (CA) Haverford College (PA) Harvard University (MA) Johns Hopkins University (MD) Kenyon College (OH) Lafayette College (PA) Lehigh University (PA) Macalester College (MN) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA) Middlebury College (VT) Mount Holyoke College (MA) Northwestern University (IL) Oberlin College (OH) Occidental College (CA) Pitzer College (CA) Pomona College (CA) Princeton University (NJ) Reed College (OR) Rice University (TX) Saint  John’s  College  (NM) Saint Olaf College (MN) Scripps College (CA) Sewanee: The University of the South (TN) Skidmore College (NY) Smith College (MA) Stanford University (CA) Swarthmore College (NY) Syracuse University (NY) Thomas Aquinas College (CA) Trinity College (CT) Tufts University (MA) Tulane University (LA) Union College (NY) University of Chicago (IL) University of Notre Dame (IN) University of Pennsylvania (PA)

University of Richmond (VA) University of Rochester (NY) University of Southern California University of Virginia Vanderbilt University (TN) Vassar College (NY) Wabash College (IN) Wake Forest University (NC) Washington and Lee University (VA) Washington University, St. Louis, (MO) Wellesley College (MA) Wesleyan University (MA) Williams College (MA) Wheaton College (MA) Yale University (CT) A closer look at the numbers

While the most generous schools on this list will meet the full financial need for all its students,  some  of  the  institutions  listed  above  won’t  provide  all  its  students  with  the  best  deals.

You’ll  find  the  relevant  numbers  by  checking  out  a  school’s  profile  on  the  College Board’s  website. Here is an example from Lafayette College in Easton, PA:

Lafayette  says  that  it  meets  98%  of  the  typical  student’s  financial  need,  but  as  you  can  see from the chart below, only 81% of students got their full financial need met.

The 81% figure is still a much better percentage than the majority of schools can muster.  I’ve  seen  schools  where  the  percentage  of  students  of  who  have  their  full  need  met is under 10%!

You’ll  learn  more  about  how  to  use  the  College  Board  to  evaluate  a  school’s  generosity,  as well as other tools in this class.

High-Income Students and Merit Scholarships

The Guardian newspaper in London published an article in the spring of 2013 that suggests that children of upper-middle-class families are having to attend public universities because they are too affluent to receive need-based  aid  and  they  aren’t  getting scholarships from private institutions.

What the reporter, who happens to be the wife of Bill Keller, the former executive editor of The New York Times,  didn’t  seem  to  realize  is  that  outside  the  East  Coast  bubble,  there are plenty of colleges and universities that provide merit scholarships to students who  don’t  qualify  for  need-based financial aid.

However, the most elite  schools  on  the  East  Coast,  such  as  the  Ivies,  don’t  give  merit  scholarships  because  they  don’t  have  to.  They  enjoy  high  positions  in  U.S. News & World  Report’s rankings so wealthy students will flock to them without price breaks.

No Merit Scholarship Schools

I  only  know  of  the  following  24  colleges  and  universities  that  don’t  award  any  merit  scholarships. If you know of any others, please let me know.

Amherst College (MA) Bates College (ME) Brown University (RI) California Institute of Technology Colgate University (NY) Columbia University (NY) Dartmouth College (NH)

Georgetown University (DC) Hamilton College (NY) Harvard University (MA) Haverford College (PA) Middlebury College (VT) Pomona College (CA) Princeton University (NJ) Reed College (OR) Stanford University (CA) Swarthmore College (PA) Tufts University (MA) University of Pennsylvania Vassar College (NY) Wellesley College (MA) Williams College (MA) Yale University (CT) Modest Merit Scholarship Awards

It’s  more  usual  for  the  most  elite  schools  to provide modest scholarships to wealthy students and severely limit those they award.

Pitzer College, one of the prestigious Claremont (CA) schools, recently offered 20 high-income students scholarships worth an average of just $5,000 a piece. At Johns Hopkins University and Boston College, only 1% of the freshmen classes recently received merit scholarships.

Wesleyan University offers a different approach. The liberal arts college in Middletown, CTs, offered just five students out of a freshmen class of 744 a huge merit scholarship worth nearly $46,000 a year.

Other Elite Schools Offering Small Merit Scholarships and Average Amount

Bowdoin (ME) $1,000 Colby College (ME) $500 Carleton College (MN) $2,000 Franklin and Marshall College $2,500 Northwestern University $2,014 Merit Aid at Southern Schools

The most highly ranked school in the South and Texas, however, are more likely to give larger merit scholarships than elsewhere in the  country.  I  don’t  have  a  definitive  explanation for this, but I suspect a couple of reasons.

No.1: It can be harder to convince wealthy students from elsewhere in the country to attend  schools  in  the  South.  A  brand  name  school  in  Boston  isn’t  going  to  experience trouble attracting bright students from other regions, but it could be a harder sell for Vanderbilt, which is located in Nashville.

In  alphabetical  order,  you’ll  see  the  most  highly  ranked  colleges  and  universities  (according to U.S. News) in the  South.  I’ve  included  the  number  of  merit  scholarships  each school recently offered its freshman, who have no financial aid, and the average scholarship award.

Davidson College, 24 merit scholarships, $21,747 Vanderbilt University Duke University 60 merit scholarships, $54,947 Emory University, 49 merit scholarships, $17,850 Rice University, 149 merit scholarships, $12,033 Tulane University, 596 merit scholarships, $22,360 Sewanee-University of the South, 93 merit scholarships, $20,968 Vanderbilt University, 161 merit scholarships, $18,797 University of Richmond, 52 merit scholarships, $39,785 Striking Out on Merit Aid

A physician emailed me this spring who was quite upset that her daughter, who was a National  Merit  Finalist,  hadn’t  received merit scholarships at any of the schools that she applied to including Washington University in St. Louis, Duke and the University of Chicago. The woman and her husband, who is also a physician, had saved $168,000 for college and had expected help with  merit  money.  They  didn’t  appreciate  just  how  difficult it can be for a high-income student to receive merit scholarships if they conduct a narrow college search.

You can read her heated email in this post below:

An Angry Mom Rails Against Elite Colleges

I would also urge you to read the dozens and dozens of comments that the post about the mom generated. Some of the parents are upset about the merit-aid shut-out for rich students and others have learned how to obtain scholarships by looking at a wider set of schools:

I  included  my  own  reactions  to  the  family’s  situation  in  this  post:

Different Scholarship Results for National Merit Finalists

Below are snippets of some of the comments from parents who felt compelled to share their  thoughts  after  reading  the  mom’s  comments.

The first comment came from a mom, who owns a marketing firm in Del Mar, CA:

We see this again and again in our community. Truly spectacular teens, like this mother’s  daughter,  apply  to  10-15 name-brand schools, get into 3-5  and  don’t  get  a  nickel in aid. Sadly the fix is very simple: Apply to a different set of schools.

Both of our sons were accepted to every school they applied to and only our current high school senior had one school offer nothing: Kenyon College, which had a record year for applicants.

Every other school offered from $10,500 to $44,000 per year in merit scholarships. In fact, that really high, outlier number came from Denison University (part of Colleges that Change Lives), which gives 20 National Merit Finalists that sum every year. If only this mom had considered having her daughter apply there! If he commits there this month, he can save most of his funds for graduate school.

Here’s  what  “K,”  another  parent  of  a  National  Merit  Finalist,  who  also  didn’t  qualify  for  need-based aid, had to say in her comment:

Families must conduct some serious due diligence in the college application and admissions  process.  The  more  research  done  by  families  before  it’s  time  to  submit  applications, the better the admissions outcome and financial aid packages should be. A few campus visits and reading college brochures is not enough research. Families need to be tearing apart the Common Data Set info for each college, seeing how their student’s  profile  matches  a  college  and  how  likely  the  college  would  offer  them  merit  aid, and digging into plenty of other public details online to create a good college search strategy.

My National Merit Finalist kid received annual merit aid offers in the range of $15-22k from at least 12 colleges because we strategized on the best approach to this process. All of them offered her merit aid, not just a couple of them. The merit money really is out there but you have to do some work and purposely seek it out.

She  didn’t  bother  applying  to  colleges  known  for  giving  little  to  no  merit  aid.  From  our  

research,  we  knew  that  as  a  National  Merit  Finalist,  she  could’ve  attended  Alabama,  Arizona State University (Barrett Honors College), University of Oklahoma and a couple other places totally for free or for very minimal cost. Instead, she opted for a private Midwestern  liberal  arts  college  1,000  miles  from  home  where  she’s  thriving  in  an  incredibly strong program for her major.

Bottom Line:

If  your  families  won’t  qualify for need-based aid and they want their children to obtain merit scholarships, they should experience greater luck if they expand your search beyond the schools at the top of U.S. News  &  World  Report’s college rankings.

Learn More:

Here are some provocative articles that provides food for thought for parents who are focused on just a tiny number of school:

Ivy League Schools Are Overrated: Send Your Kids Elsewhere

Are Elite Colleges Bad for the Soul?

Ivy League Schools Are Overrated: Send Your Kids Elsewhere

College Diversity Opportunities

I conducted this interview with Veronica Longstreth, who has some excellent ideas on how to get additional scholarship money for underrepresented students.

I apologize for the poor quality of this video! The information within the video, however, is definitely worth checking out.

Unfortunately, colleges and universities have been pouring more and more money into merit aid for affluent students (like those in Princeton) and giving less to low-income teens.

There were two important studies that document this phenomenon that Stephen Burd of the New America Foundation wrote in 2013 and this year. He is a highly respected higher-ed journalist who used to write for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here are the two studies:

Undermining Pell: How Colleges Compete for Wealthy Students and Leave the Low-Income Behind

Undermining  Pell  Vol.  II:  How  Colleges’  Pursuit  of  Prestige  and  Revenue  is  Hurting Low-Income Students

Here are some thoughts off the top of my head and in no particular order on low-income kids:

1. They absolutely need to file the FAFSA and if applicable, the PROFILE.

2. Check out my lesson – 7 Ways to Get Help with the FAFSA – with resources to help them with these aid documents, including who should file in nontraditional households such as when an aunt or grandmother is raising a child.

3. Low-income students should be filing the FAFSA on Jan. 1, if at all possible. Parents would obviously have to estimate their taxes. Getting the FAFSA filed promptly will increase  a  kid’s  chance  of  getting  a  FSEOG  grant.  Look  in  my  lesson  on  Federal  College Aid to learn more about this federal grant for Pell Grant eligible students.

4. At the very least, make sure that students  don’t  miss  the  FAFSA  deadline  for  state  aid.  In  some  states,  it’s  first-come, first-served with state aid.

5. If students end up at community colleges, make sure they study for the placement tests so they can skip all or some remedial courses. Tell them to study for the test through Accuplacer, which the College Board created.

6. Look for summer college programs for first-gen and minority students. Please look at the video above, who has been a whiz at finding summer opportunities and scholarships for these students.

7. Be leery of low-income students applying to state universities as nonresidents. Except in very rare cases, such as the University of Virginia which takes hardly any low-income nonresidents, these state schools will not provide need-based aid. Their only hope will typically be to get merit aid, but state schools routinely give it based on test scores and GPAs.

8. See if a student qualifies for a reduced tuition if a parent is a disabled veteran. In California, I think every veteran has been classified as disabled. Just being a tiny percentage disabled in California, entitles a student to free tuition at a state university.

9. Look at private schools that meet a high percentage of need. I have a list of these in the lesson entitled, Schools that Meet 100% of Need. Of course, these are going to be the toughest schools to get into.

10. Look for schools that meet as high a percentage of need possible that students can get into. Two of my favorites for low-income  students  that  don’t  reject  the  majority  of  

students are College of Wooster and St. Olaf College.

11. Ask school admission reps what their admission requirements are for minority students.  A  school  isn’t  going  to  advertise  this,  but  some  will hold these applicants to lower admission standards in recognition that test scores, in particular, are HIGHLY correlated with income.

11. Find out what the policy of particular schools are in terms of how they handle private scholarships. Some schools will reduce the grant portion of an aid package if a student wins a private scholarship. See my lesson entitled, Private Scholarships.

12. Connect students to local college-bound organizations. Also look for national opportunities such as the Gates Foundation scholarships for first-gen students, Posse Foundation and the Questbridge program.

13. Look for fly-in programs that are primarily for first-generation students. You can find some of these fly-in programs at GetMeToCollege.  Here’s  another  fly-in resource – College Greenlight.

14. Tell parents to be extremely careful with Parent PLUS Loans. Unsophisticated borrowers are more likely to get into trouble and borrow more than they should since the federal  underwriting  doesn’t  prevent  low-income parents from borrowing way too much. You can learn more about the hazards of PLUS Loans in the lesson entitled, Exploring Other Loan Options.

15. If students you are helping plan to start out at a community college, here is a blog post from TransferBootcamp.com that lists scholarships for transfer students.

I  hope  that  gives  you  some  idea.  I’d  love  for  others  to  weigh  in  on  this  too.  I’m  sure  I  missed many ideas.