A Cautionary Tale: Looking for Money

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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.

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.