College Lists Should Have Affordable Safety Schools

A high school senior’s College List is a key element in the success of their college admissions campaign. It is the set of colleges to which the student plans to apply over the next few months. They are colleges that that student determine are exceptionally well-suited to their unique set of needs, goals, finances, talents, and preferences.

Most college admissions experts recommend that a student’s College List have eight-to-twelve schools on it, all of which are schools that the student would be happy to attend. The schools on the list are usually divided into three categories, as follows.

1. Reach or Dream: These are colleges that the student aspires to attend but at which they have only about a 25% chance of admission based on the academic records of admittees in the prior year.

2. Likely or Target: These are colleges to which the student will probably be admitted because their academic record is between 50% and 75% of the applicants admitted in the prior year, but admission is not assured.

3. Safety: These are colleges to which the applicant is almost certain to be admitted because their academic record is equal to the top academic records of applicants admitted in the prior year.

The third category of colleges, Safety colleges, is our focus. Simply put, just because admission to a particular college can safely be assumed by an applicant doesn’t mean that the student can afford it. Every student’s College List should include at least one Affordable Safety College (ASC). These are colleges at which the applicant is sure they will be admitted and equally sure they can afford.

Always Submit a FAFSA

 The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form completed by prospective and current college students to determine their eligibility for Federal, state, and private financial aid in the form of loans, scholarships, grants, and work-study programs. It’s vitally important that all students submit a FAFSA to the U.S. Education Department (ED). The FAFSA for academic year 2026-27 will be available online from the ED’s Studentaid.gov website on October 1, 2025.

Reasons for an ASC’s on a College List

 Imagine that a student gets admitted to five of the twelve schools to which he applied: one Reach school, two Likely schools, and two Safety schools. Unfortunately, they may all be unaffordable for the student unless at least one of them is an ASC.

Families who should include an ASC on the College List fit at least one of the profiles below:

• The student aspires to attend some colleges for which the family cannot afford the expected Net Cost Of Attendance (NCOA) with their available funds.

• The results of a college’s Net Price Calculator (NPC’s) are unclear regarding the ability of the family to afford a targeted school. At best, NPC’s only provide an estimate. There is no guarantee that the student will actually receive the amount of tuition discount indicated by the NPC. It could be less.

• The student has applied for competitive merit scholarships that are awarded to a small percentage of applicants. Winners aren’t notified until spring.

• The student is relying on colleges to award them at least the average amount in free financial aid (scholarships and grants), indicated in the Common Data Set. They may be offered significantly less than average.

• The family is not sure of their future ability to afford college because their annual income is variable or they expect to have more than one child in college.

Understanding What Constitutes an ASC

 An ASC is a school that the family can afford without relying on financial aid that may not be available or on borrowed funds that will overburden the student and family with debt. Families need to have a good handle on their financial circumstances in order to make the best decisions. They should know:

• What the family can afford to divert from monthly cash flow.

• What amount is available from Education Savings Accounts, Qualified Tuition Plans, investments, and savings.

• What will be contributed by grandparents, other relatives, and friends.

• What the student can contribute from savings and the income from summer and part-time jobs during the school year.

• The likelihood of raises, promotions, and bonuses for the parents.

To the yearly total from the sources above, families should add:

• Known free financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants.

• Known financial aid in the form of loans from the ED.

• Known financial aid in the form of the ED’s Work-Study Program.

Loans as a Source of Funds for College

Many students and families rely on borrowed funds to cover the costs of college. Taking out loans for college is advised only if it can be done without incurring excessive debt.

Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans have lower interest rates and better terms than loans from private sector sources such as banks. Subsidized Federal loans are better than Unsubsidized loans in the terms of repayment, but only families who demonstrate financial need on their FAFSA are entitled to them. Families are eligible for up to a fixed amount in Unsubsidized loans and Parent PLUS loans.

• Direct Subsidized Loans: These are available to undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need. The ED pays the interest on the loan while the borrower is in school at least half-time, during the grace period (six months after leaving school or dropping below half-time enrollment), and during authorized periods of deferment. Borrowers don’t pay or accrue interest during these periods. Loan limits are determined by the college and cannot exceed the student’s financial need as determined by the FAFSA.

• Unsubsidized Loans: These are available to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Eligibility for Direct Unsubsidized loans is not based on financial need. The borrower is responsible for paying all the interest that accrues on the loan while in school, during a grace period, and during periods of deferment or forbearance.

• Direct Parent PLUS Loans: The ED offers Parent PLUS loans to eligible parents of dependent undergraduate students to help cover education expense. To be eligible, an individual must be the biological, adoptive, or step-parent of a dependent undergraduate student enrolled at least half-time at an eligible college. The parent cannot have an adverse credit history. These loans have a fixed interest rate and a fee. Effective July 1, 2026, Parent PLUS loan limits will be capped at $20,000 annually per child and a total aggregate limit of $65,000 per child. This is a significant change from the current system, which allows parents to borrow up to the full COA minus any other financial aid.

The amount that a student can borrow from all Federal loan programs combined each year and the total aggregate limit for all undergraduate years are capped and vary based on the student’s year in college and dependency status. For example, the maximum total Subsidized loan amount for dependent undergraduates, excluding those whose parents are unable to obtain Direct PLUS Loans, is $23,000. For Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized loans disbursed between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, the fixed interest rate for undergraduate borrowers is 6.39%.

How to Find ASC’s for the College List

 To qualify as an ASC, a college must either make known in advance what its net cost of attendance will be or make that cost readily ascertainable by a prospective applicant. They may be schools that guarantee a tuition price that can be afforded by the family without relying on potential financial aid not yet awarded. This doesn’t mean the lowest COA wins. Far from it! An ASC is defined by having a total cost knowable in advance. This means that a family knows that their student can afford the ASC without waiting until spring to receive potential financial aid offers from the colleges that have admitted the student.

Below are a few places to look for colleges that may be suitable as an ASC:

• Public colleges in the student’s home state: This is especially true of campuses other than the flagship campus. The five states with the lowest tuition for in-state students are Florida, Wyoming, North Carolina, Montana, and Utah.

• Public colleges outside of the student’s home state: These may have tuition reciprocity agreements with the home state that reduce undergraduate out-of-state tuition. The Western Undergraduate Exchange is the largest reciprocity program. Ten states participate in it: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Nevada.

• Community colleges: CC’s have more affordable tuition rates than four-year colleges. For public community colleges, the average tuition in 2025 is $4,050 per year for in-state students and $8,776 for out-of-state students.

• Colleges that guarantee a scholarship: These may be partial or full scholarships guaranteed to students who’s academic records meet a certain threshold as measured by their academic records.

There are free financial aid search features on a number of websites. Some allow affordability parameters to be set by the user. Example include CollegeRaptor, U.S. News, EducationCorner, Niche, CollegeCost (a website maintained by the ED), BigFuture (a website maintained by the College Board), and CollegeConsensus.