@ArizonaParent @bandmom98 @twicemama @oreomollykona Hi - just getting back to a few of you as most decisions are in and this is a bit quiet, but some other info I have received just recently and over last couple of months. BU and Northeastern a bit disappointing in NHRP. I am beginning to think that this is a little bit of bait and switch or at a minimum just slick marketing/near-false advertising. I will say that increased enrollment/competition is definitely playing a role, but either be a little more transparent on your advertising or pony up more $$! Here is what I have:
BU - my daughter got into the business school, but got $0 from NHRP (despite their up to $20,000 advertisement). I spoke with admissions person. This year they received over 62,000 applicants, making it an 18% acceptance rate, which is insane. Having said that, this is fewer applications than 2018 which was 64,470. In 2017 it was 60,701. What is odd is that average SAT last year was only 1350 for such a high acceptance rate. Last year almost 21% were international. In 2019, their ED applications increased by 11% to 2,300 applicants. I think they love the international students and ED as it is pretty much a non-discounted tuition. Getting back to NHRP, I was told for 2019 only 3% of the class were given NHRP, National Merit and President’s Scholarships. For a $2.2B endowment this seems low. I know a lot of that goes to financial aid awards, but it almost triples Northeastern’s endowment at $795m (2017) and they were more generous. At $72,052 for room and board in 2019 with nothing but a crappy $5,500 unsub loan, my daughter is definitely not going to BU.
Northeastern - my daughter got into their business school and got $15,000/year from NHRP. Certainly much better than BU but a bit disappointing considering about 10 different admissions people that spoke to me and my daughter told me $30k was a lock. Not to mention everyone on CC saying the same. I didn’t at any point ever hear any other number than $30k. I was able to appeal the decision as I even documented and named names of admissions people and their promises. But I have a better chance of being struck by lightning than getting an award from the appeal. And even if an a positive appeal is granted it may only be a small bump for just the first year. Also decision comes after May 1, nice! I was told that Honors students received NHRP awards closer to $30k. Not sure if that is new but I guess with expenses going up and applicants increasing this just gets tighter each year. I recommended better training for the admissions people and perhaps something like $15-$30k as potential awards listed for NHRP. My daughter will confirm her attendance there after we get the Ivy rejections this week ;-). But this will be more challenging for her as we had earmarked $40k for 3 years and then her covering year 4. Luckily she can make up some of this windfall via high school money saved through work and potentially co-op and working at school.
Good luck to all and would like to hear from all of you as to what you saw related to NHRP and in general. I have added this to Northeastern thread as well.