How to Rank Schools Based on How Much Money They'll Offer You
A few early draft pages from the first chapters. Thanks so much for any feedback, questions, comments!
The first step to getting top scholarships is getting a solid sense of which schools will give you the most money based on their financial aid policies i.e. “meeting all of a student’s demonstrated need for all families under $75,000 income.”
If you’re still in high school, ask your parents for their income tax papers from the last year. If you’re a senior, filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form will give you a more exact estimate of what schools might calculate as your “demonstrated need” amount or the amount your family cannot afford. You should fill out the FAFSA form even if you think your family income is too high for federal grants directly from the government (typically called Pell Grants).
There are many different collections of “full need met schools” which promise to meet all of student’s demonstrated need for some family incomes. My favorite so far has been Savvy College Planning’s list of 75 schools that promise 100% of full need met (page 6 of this PDF by Savvy College Planning).
You’ll notice there are also schools that promise 95% of aid - which is also pretty great.
Check for an updated version of this list each year; these promises change every year. Usually, they raise the allowable income, but some programs have also disappeared. You’ll have to research to make your list of “dream schools”.
Of the 50-75 schools listed, Google the schools that sound most exciting to you. Perhaps you like the location, the name, have a family member nearby, or like the dorms or Greek life. Spend time looking at these schools first. Good search terms to try: “University X full need met” “University X financial aid promise” “university X financial aid guarantee”.
Make a spreadsheet of the university, its cost (tuition + room and board), percentage of need met (usually 100%), income at which they do it, and acceptance rate. If this school meets all of your desires (you qualify for its promise, you like the location, it has your general topic of interest (as in, it’s not a STEM-only school and you plan to study a non-STEM), then also add early application and normal application deadlines.
If you’re intending to do 2-4 semesters at another cheaper college, confirm transfer application deadlines and whether the promise also extends to transfers (this may require a phone call to the school’s financial aid office).
Continue looking through schools until you have 8-14 schools (depending on your level of worry or enjoyment of the process). This is not unusual - the average number of universities a U.S. student applies to is 6. Because you’re aiming for selective schools, I would apply for over 6. Aim to have as many schools that have 15-30% acceptance rate.
At the end, cross-check your final list with a list of need-blind schools. Start an additional column named “Need Blind” and add yes/no. Schools that are not need blind will be harder to get into than their general acceptance rate because these schools consider your financial aid needs at the time of admission. In sum, your financial aid needs can be held against you and keep you from getting admitted to the university when you otherwise would have. Need-blind schools keep the financial aid paperwork separate from admission. (Example list: https://blog.prepscholar.com/need-blind-colleges-list).
Check whether the universities nearest you have similar promises. Sometimes, the promises at local universities allow higher incomes because the promises are limited geographically to only students from that public school system or that city. For example, University of Rochester’s Rochester Promise Scholarship Program promised a full tuition scholarship to students from the local public school system as long as their family income was less than twice the area average ($137,400; twice the $68,700 area average). The University of Rochester has a 40% acceptance rate. University of Texas at El Paso promises local students with family incomes less than $75,000 full tuition. UT El Paso’s acceptance rate: 100%.
Note that these schools don’t include room and board in the scholarship because these promises are for local students.
These are your lists of schools to aim for. As long as you get admitted to these, you’ll get automatic large scholarships and won’t have ridiculous student loans.
I applied to 16 schools because I wasn’t sure whether I would get into any of them (I made up this system on my own and didn’t have any proof that it would work). I didn’t realize some schools were not need-blind and some didn’t apply their promises to transfers. You should be fine with 8-12 schools because you’re not repeating my mistakes.
Immediate Free/Cheap Colleges if You’re Already a Senior or Second Semester Junior
If you’re already a senior or a second-semester junior, your best bet is to go to a local community college near you. If you are just now starting to devote yourself to being a competitive applicant, you won’t have enough semesters to show growth and a track record of excellent extracurriculars and grades before you apply for colleges in the middle of your senior year.
I recommend community colleges over public universities to start because community colleges tend to be very cheap (around $3,000 per year) and tend to have a lot of power vacuums, making leadership positions easier to get with limited time. Universities might also be more excited about you because these selective schools (unfortunately) get limited applications from community college students making you more unusual. Lastly, community colleges tend to have counselors or offices devoted to helping community college students transfer to four-year universities since community colleges do not offer four-year degrees. Universities tend to not have these since the assumption is that you’ll get a four-year degree there.
A second choice would be going to a local public university. Some public universities offer local students some promises so may be as affordable as community colleges. Leadership positions may be harder to get because most students expect to be there all four years - so best leadership positions likely go to those who have been around longer. Also, be careful of inertia with public universities: you could continue at this university until you graduate never taking the scary dive into applying for far away selective schools. At a two-year college like a community college, there’s a clear need to transfer to a dream school.
If you’re undecided between the university or community college near you, opt for whichever option does not use plus/minus grading. It is much easier to maintain a 4.0 when the only grades available are A, B, C. The only time I would personally consider a public university over a community college is if the community college used A-, B-, and C-. With an A- scoring system, you’ll spend more time in achieving an A because you’ll have to get over a 94 in class rather than just getting over a 90 grade. You’ll have less time for extracurriculars and working part-time jobs.