Some college advice and encouragement, private liberal arts colleges

[Paz]

I wanted to encourage those looking into private, liberal arts colleges. There is a lot of $$ out there for scholarships at most liberal arts colleges for above average students. My ds is a good student but does not test well. He did attend public school from grades 9 through 12. He applied to 5 liberal arts colleges. All of them offered him academic scholarships. It seems like they used a formula to calcuate the grant because they all came in about the same amount. We did have 3 schools contact him and offer the same scholarship over the phone by verifying his GPA and ACT score. These are schools that he didn't apply to but had emailed the baseball coach for information about the baseball programs. One of my favorite schools for him gave him the initial scholarship and then invited him to come to the school and compete for additional scholarship money. This involved filling out a questionaire and then going for an interview with faculty and peers. (He didn't actually go because he had already decided on an in state school.) One of the questions asked him to list 5 books he read outside of school this year. Not to stereotype, but the kinds of questions asked looked like a homeschooling student would have an edge on this scholarship because of the academic and extra-curricular experiences they tend to have. I helped him choose these schools because of their moral traditions, their conservative nature, and their small learning communities. I was pleased that even though the stated tuition looked so high, money was available to those who wanted to attend and had applied themselves in high school.

[Michelle in MO]

Often, small private liberal arts colleges get overlooked in the quest for bigger schools. Many of them offer a superior education. I wish I myself had gone to a small liberal arts college instead of the university that I chose to attend. I believe also the student gets more individualized attention than he or she would receive at a larger school.

[Gwen in VA]

Yes, yes, yes.

 

Dd is attending a top-20 LAC on full-tuition scholarship. If she went to a VA state school like William and Mary or UVA, we would be paying considerably more!

 

Ds just received his second full-tuition scholarship offer the other day......I never dreamed of the amount of money that is floating around for scholarships. (Ds did apply to UVA, but he almost definitely won't go there -- because we can't afford it!)

 

The scholarship money may not be for your top-choice school, but it is there.

[mcconnellboys]

You just don't know what a relief it is to me to hear this. My son does not test that well, either, but he does have decent grades and this is exactly the type of school we're looking at! We have been very dejected after visiting Vandy in the fall. They offer virtually nothing and what one might get there wouldn't offset the total costs enough to even make a real difference at the end of four years. We were afraid it was going to be like that everywhere and really feeling crunched. Thanks so much!

 

Regena

[Kelli in TN]

Oh, I agree. My daughter is at a small liberal arts university on a full scholarship. I don't know if she could have received this package at a larger school, she never tried. The college she is at has a lovely, intimate atmosphere. The professors know the students well, it is just a great setting. She is an English major and the English dept is really tight.

 

My other daughter is looking at the same college mostly because her sister has told her about the great poli-sci dept. The poli-sci kids almost have their own club on campus! They are constantly taking off for field trips to the Nashville and just generally having fun like only a bunch of politic-heads can have.:rolleyes:

 

Another thing that we noticed at my daughter's school is that much of the faculty graduated from the school. They went off, got their doctorates and then came home to spend the rest of the professional careers. They love what they do, they love where they are. It helps that one of my best friends is the swim coach there, she fills me in on the insider's view of campus life.

 

And I don't know about other schools, but as parents we have MUCH more access to the faculty at this school then we ever had at my son's state school. We can call them and they will talk to us and help us help her.

 

So, all that to say, YES, look at those small schools. They can be great!

[Claire]

There is a lot of $$ out there for scholarships at most liberal arts colleges for above average students.

 

How above average? Like a 3.5 GPA?

[Kelli in TN]

How above average? Like a 3.5 GPA?

 

 

My daughter had a 3.5 and an ACT of 30. Or maybe it was 31. Now I cannot remember.

 

The sticky part is that she must maintain a 3.25 and that has been hard on her. She has to bust her bu** for the remainder of the school year to avoid losing the whole thing. And if she survives this semester she knows to start out strong next year.

 

She is finally learning that the scholarship was not granted to her for her superior social skills and that the college does not really care about how much time she gets to spend with her sorority sisters. :rolleyes:

[Staci in CT]

They have reams of information on the parents forum about obtaining big money MERIT scholarships. Need-based is something totally different.

[Paz]

My ds had a 4.25 average. He was able to mostly take honors classes at high school that were based on a 5.0. His unweighted average was 3.7 and his ACT's were 24. We do still have to come up with some $$, but I was pleased at what was offered. I think that if he had chosen the out of state college he could've gotten a full scholarship, if not come close. We did not explore any of the needs based awards. He did get 2 other awards- a state program run through our lottery, and a $3000 grant that provides money for all students who are residents in our state and attend private schools in state. This may be done away with after this year.

[NancyL]

Kelli- Would you mind disclosing that wonderful small school? Thanks.

[Paz]

The school I love is Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina. He also got interest from Tusculum College in TN (They have a very interesting schedule in which you only take on course at a time.)

[Kelli in TN]

Kelli- Would you mind disclosing that wonderful small school? Thanks.

 

I started to PM you with it and then thought why bother? The college was named on these forums after our tornadoes last month so I guess people on the internet already know where she goes to school!

 

Lambuth University. It is small, very small. Very intimate. Even the president goes out of his way to know his students. http://www.lambuth.edu/

 

As a conservative Christian, I wish the college were more....well....conservative. But my daughter is far from conservative on many issues, so it is a good fit for her. My next daughter would be staunchly conservative no matter where she went, so it could be a good fit for her too!! She would probably spend more time arguing in her head with the profs, but that might be good for her anyway!;)

[ereks mom]

Often, small private liberal arts colleges get overlooked in the quest for bigger schools. Many of them offer a superior education. I wish I myself had gone to a small liberal arts college instead of the university that I chose to attend. I believe also the student gets more individualized attention than he or she would receive at a larger school.

 

class sizes are quite small. Individualized attention is one of the school's "selling points".

 

While we don't have ER's final financial aid package yet, so far he has been awarded institutional merit-based scholarships, including a $7000-per-year institutional scholarship based solely on his ACT score (30). He is likely to get music scholarship(s) as well (he will be a music major).

 

He also qualifies for need-based aid: federal Pell Grant & Academic Competitiveness Grant (a merit award for those who qualify for the need-based Pell grant) as well as institutional need-based grants.

 

He will also receive the Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant (state aid for those who attend private colleges, regardless of need or academic merit) and state of Georgia HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) Scholarship -- to be awarded retroactively, after he completes 30 hours with at least a 3.0 average, since he is coming from an unaccredited homeschool.

 

With all of these, plus "outside" scholarships from our denomination and from music organizations and other sources, it looks like almost EVERYTHING (about $22,000 per year) will be taken care of.

[Gwen in VA]

And an increasing number of top schools are eliminating tuition for those earning below a certain amount. I just heard today that MIT is now tuition-free for those kids from families earning below $75K.

 

(MIT isn't exactly a small LAC, but it's only about 1000 students per class, and it provide a LOT of support.)

 

ALSO, Washington & Lee had a scholarship competition last week. There were originally 44 full-ride scholrships -- now they are giving away 77. And ALL students who were invited to the scholarship competition and who applied for financial aid will receive at least half-tuition scholarships!

 

So money is available!