What are the best schools that I can get into by paying the least amount of money?

Obviously the best bang for the buck are the service academies - great education and $0 cost. You actually get paid a small monthly stipend while attending.

But who cares about cost? Biden is going to forgive $50,000 in loads, right? Go to the most expensive school you can find and make the American taxpayers cover the expense! Don't be stupid like me and go to a public university to keep your loans small and pay them back over a few years. I hear Biden is going to give everyone a free Volkswagen, too!

What is family income and net worth?

If you're from California, the UCs are hard to beat. Not sure how much they cost for out of state students though. I guess schools like UMich and UVA would be a good bet as well. With a 4:25 you might be able to get some money at a few D1 schools but I'd strongly recommend trying to find a good school in D2 for academics. The D1 schools that would give you money probably aren't worth it.

About 160,000

I am from Pennsylvania, and I was looking into some D2 schools, but they aren’t very high up on my list just because most aren’t as good academically, especially for the math/physics/engineering that I want to major in.

matttobrien wrote:

I am a good student (currently a sophomore) and have a 1510 SAT. I have a weighted GPA of 4.65 and unweighted of 4.0. I have a 16:29 5k (cross country) and a 4:38 1600m, but I believe I will be able to get down to a 4:25, 9:30, and 15:40 by the end of my senior year. I am trying to get into a very selective school while not paying much money out of pocket or through loans. By what means would be the best way to do so, and how can I get more academic/athletic aid? Also, what very academically-rigorous schools will I have the best chance of paying less for (D1 or D3)?

1) As of now, you are a D3 runner. 4:25, 9:30, and 15:40 are still not GOOD D1 program times, so, my advice, given your strong academic record is to continue to think about D3.

2) If you get down to 9:15 or 4:12 or so or 15:20 on a course that is not known to be short, then you can consider D1. Yes you can find guys on D1 teams slower than that, but most of them are there because they have a full ride academically or some other such thing. Coaches aren't really too happy about having lots of guys who have no chance to score. Besides, it's good to be wanted. You should go somewhere where the team needs you and you get top-rate attention from the coach.

3) So, where to go? If your family isn't overly wealthy, you can go to elite colleges for a reasonable amount of money. I know, because my daughter went to what would be called an "elite" private college, and we even do alright moneywise, and we STILL got great financial aid for her to go there.

4) You didn't tell us anything about what you want to study or where, but here are some very good D3 colleges (and one D1) that give great financial aid and would be happy to have you on their teams (meaning a coach might help you get admitted if that's necessary):

Amherst College (CC but not track)

Bowdoin College

Davidson College (D1, but if you run 9:30 they would be interested)

Emory University

Grinnell College

Haverford College

Johns Hopkins University

Kenyon College

Pomona College

Swarthmore College

University of Chicago

Vassar College

Washington University in St. Louis (super strong D3 team)

Wesleyan University

Williams College

Good luck!

matttobrien wrote:

I am from Pennsylvania, and I was looking into some D2 schools, but they aren’t very high up on my list just because most aren’t as good academically, especially for the math/physics/engineering that I want to major in.

Ah...new info. D2 schools almost without exception suck academically, so you are right to avoid those.

The list of D3 schools I gave you are still good starting points.

Carnegie Mellon is a good choice too in your neck of the woods, but they don't give the financial aid of the ones I listed.

The school of hard knocks

Coast Guard Academy

Thank you so much for your detailed posts! By looking at the times for D1, I have definitely seen that I would just barely make it onto the team. I really found your point helpful about going on a team that really wants me, and I think that may really sway me towards D3. And because of maybe just barely being on the edge of D1, I would probably get better aid from D3. Also, all of the schools you listed are on my list except for UChicago just because of the large city setting. I don’t know if you saw, but I said that I would be majoring in math, physics, or engineering.

You didn't answer about income and wealth. That is the main factor in determining cost at highly selective schools.

Another option: Look up North of the border. Canada has some very good academic schools, and with the USD to CAD exchange, your international tuition costs are cut down to almost domestic tuition rates. Academically you could receive quite a bit of money to cover most of those costs, and depending on what school, a mid-level university could offer you some athletic money.

I said about 160,000 (gross) per year

Wow I never thought about that, thanks!

What about assets? At $160k with no savings, you will get 1/2 off but if you have significant savings, it could be full price. I recommend going into any of the Ivies and plugging your info in. It takes only 5 minutes. Our income was similar but assets killed us. Ivies wanted us to pay full price of $75k. There are no academic discounts at the very top schools.

This is a good list, but it just isn’t true for a kid coming from a home that makes $180-200k plus. Those kids get very little, if any financial aid or scholarships, unless they can claim minority status. The athletics will help, particularly if this kid can drop his running times. But, believe it or not, 4.0 (unweighted) kids with multiple AP classes and perfect or near perfect SAT/ACT scores are a dime a dozen and aren’t just given merit money, particularly if they come from wealthier (not wealthy, just two full income earning households) families.

I mean, just look up the President’s scholarship at Montana State. Look at the profile of the kids who get it. All extremely high achievers in multiple facets of life. We are talking Montana State, not an Ivy League, though they do have a decent honors college.

OP, if you are married to engineering/STEM and want to run, look at Colorado School of Mines in CO. It has a very good reputation and is probably the top D2 school. Maybe also look at Trinity University in San Antonio as they actually do give pretty good “need-blind” merit money. Both excellent schools and places you could likely run.

Flagpole, I am not asking you to reveal your income while having a child in college, but I doubt it was north of $150k or maybe even $125k.

I’m the author of a book on selective college admissions and a parent who paid $270k for their child’s undergraduate education and I went to a service academy and do admissions work on their behalf. One question any college would want to understand is what courses you’ve taken and will take in high school. 6 to 8 APs is common with top students, more doesn’t buy you much unless you want to double major in college or graduate from a state school in 3 years or less which may not be possible anyway in a technical discipline. Your family income will be a huge factor in the cost of college. Better understand both how much your family can contribute and how their income and assets will impact financial aid. Sit down with whichever parent manages the money and Google the Net Price Calculator for a college you are interested. This will give you a good idea what financial aid will be available. Than look up the schools “common data set” which you can use to get some idea of merit money. Your running success will definitely make admissions easier but may not lead to money. Generally speaking the more selective a college is and the greater the endowment is per enrolled student the more generous the financial aid might be. This leads to goofy math where your $30k/year state school is more expensive than the $70k/year private in some cases. You definitely fit the profile that service academies are looking for if that is of interest

With your academics, you should be able to get pretty good academic/merit money from even mildly selective schools (acceptance rates in the 30% to 50% range).

As others have said, highly selective schools give no academic/merit money. A lot of middle class parents whose kids get "early decision" into an Ivy are put in a bad situation once they completely grasp that they have to pay full freight.

Go to your state university. Your undergrad really doesn't matter in my opinion. I was at my state school between 5-10 years ago paying about $9k in tuition per year for in-state tuition and I had classmates that went on to work for Microsoft, Google, NASA, some chose to go to medical or dental school, one chose to go to Harvard Law, many continued on to Ph.D. programs at various P5 schools.

It doesn't really matter what school you go to in undergrad. As long as it's not a complete bottom tier joke of a school.