Assistance or feedback appreciated: Our EFC is around 50K (based on an atypical income for look back year) but we need merit aid, as much as possible. (A little thing called the recession happened a few years ago and resulting job loss cleaned out our savings and equity.)
Daughter has 3.9 weighted/3.6 unweighted and 34 ACT (waiting for results of her 2nd try on ACT.) Tons of Leadership and class officer stuff.
I did the NPC on Rutgers site and we would not get ANY merit aid. Our price would be $32K room and board.
Is this typical? Thank you.
Does the Rutgers NPC ask for stats? IIRC, their merit aid is not guaranteed, so perhaps that is why you donât see it.
Have you considered any of the other NJ publics where she would be likely to get merit aid?
How much can you pay annually? I think your daughter would get excellent merit aid guaranteed at University of Alabama.
@LitterofOne She would probably get some merit$ from Rowan U, which may be good financial safety. There has been a lot of investment in the campus and programs over the last several years, with new academic buildings, dorms, etc.
We were pleasantly surprised when we visited with my D several years ago. She applied and was accepted, although she ended up elsewhere.
As you saw it is not difficult to reach an EFC of 50K in NJ, and with such EFC, Rutgers will indeed expect you to pay the full price of around 32K/year (before factoring in merit).
Now you did not mention what your daughter wants to study and what your budget is. I donât think the Rutgers NPC will necessarily reflect potential merit.
If your daughter is interested by a STEM major, this thread should be informative:
As @thumper1 mentioned, for a good NJ student, going out of state to Alabama or Arizona might actually end up being cheaper than staying in state.
Note that the NPC is typically for need-abased aid. Are you sure it determined merit scholarships? Rutgers requires the student to apply by December 1 to be considered for merit scholarships. Where do her grades place her relative to the overall class? Typically, merit scholarships (at least those that offer enough money to make a difference) are very competitive.
To get merit money, you have to look at schools where her stats put her near the top of the applicant pool. It is frustrating to feel like you canât afford to pay what the schools think you can. Good luck.
Agree the NPC calculator is probably only showing need-based. Rutgers does give merit. As with everything, itâs gotten more competitive over the years. If itâs not clearly outlined on the website, then you just apply and see. I think Stockton is one of the only state schools that still has clearly defined merit posted based on GPA and test scores.
We found NJ public schools to be pricey in comparison to other colleges even out of state. My daughter applied to Rutgers Camden nursing and it was considerable more expensive than where she ended up at an out of state private (York). She didnât have as good a stats as your daughter but stillâŠ
My other daughter had similar stats to yours and she also did better out of state â the key to great merit is being a top student for that school, so my girls ended up going to schools that many would consider âbelowâ them â and they all went out of state.
My D had higher weighted/unweighted GPA, but slightly lower test score (she did SAT, but would be a 33 ACT, almost 34) and got nothing from Rutgers. EFC of 19k. Got into all the honors âprogramsâ, but not the honors âcollegeâ which is where you get some merit generally.
Got a lot of merit at a lot of other schools (and also didnât really like Rutgers anyway).
I would think with a 34 ACT she might be eligible for some of the honors programs, which often come with a few thousand dollars. (Honors COLLEGE is a different storyâŠ) But it really depends on which schools she is looking at. Business and Engineering will be much tougher than Arts and Sciences.
I would expect somebody accepted into Honors Program at a given school to be offered between 3.5K and 8K in merit scholarship at that given school, but I am not sure if a 34 ACT is sufficient to be accepted into Honors Program at all schools.
It also depends on her major. You can apply to 3 colleges at Rutgers and each will give you merit (or not) separately. I know kids with higher stats than your D who got money from one school (sciences) and nothing from engineering (both gave her admissions into Honors College). Close friends have also told me that you canât take your scholarship with you if you change majors and end up leaving your college. Their kid attended Rutgers, mine didnât, so I would definitely double check that.
@MuggleMom You are right that each school at Rutgers (e.g. SAS, SOE, etc) gives (or not) its own Honors invitation and/or merit package that cannot be transferred to another school, but this is the first time I hear of somebody being invited at the Honors College by a school without an associated merit scholarship. Did you get that information from a trusted source? Could it have been rather that they only got invited to the Honors College by SAS and got different merit scholarships from the schools?
All honors COLLEGE students receive merit money. Not all honors PROGRAM students do. Itâs confusing and Rutgers should really change the name of one of them. It is harder to get into the honors COLLEGE than the honors PROGRAM.
You should look at Miami University (Ohio) with those stats it should be cheaper than Rutgers.
Avg Merit is about 12k
A o) Average dollar amount of institutional non-need-based
scholarship and grant aid awarded to students in line n$ 11,734
https://oirap.rutgers.edu/CDS/2018/New%20Brunswick%20CDS_2018-2019.pdf
Have you run the Net Price Calculator for Rutgers with your income for a normal year?
Your daughter can apply to Rutgers, get her initial aid package, and then ask for her aid package to be reconsidered using your current income as the EFC was based on a one-time special event.
Keep in mind that only 390 students out of ~7k got merit aid, which averaged 12k.
I have a friend in NJ whose son goes to Rutgers and she pays $15,000 a year for his tuition. He doesnât live on campus, but has a shared apartment nearby (which is very common for Rutgers). Donât know what his rent is, but you can probably save some money by not living on campus.
Regarding the CDS, âline nâ is defined as âNumber of students in line a who had no financial need and who were awarded institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid (exclude those who were awarded athletic awards and tuition benefits)â.
So, my reading is that while only 390 students out of 6266 got exclusively awarded a merit scholarship, it seems possible that some other students got awarded a combination of need-based help and merit isnât it (or a greater need-based help than if their scores had been lower)?
Going back to the NPC⊠it actually reports that one may be eligible for a merit scholarship for top stats.
For example (for student with EFC above COA, i.e. no financial need):
- if you enter a weighted GPA of 4.5 and a ACT score of 36, it reports âCongratulations! You may be eligible for $28,000 in grants and/or scholarships.â
- if you enter a weighted GPA of 4.5 and a ACT score of 35, it reports "Congratulations! You may be eligible for $3,500 in grants and/or scholarships.
- if you enter a weighted GPA of 4.5 and a ACT score of 34, nothing
Other examples (for student with EFC of zero, i.e. most financial need):
- if you enter a weighted GPA of 4.5 and a ACT score of 36, it reports âCongratulations! You may be eligible for $34,706 in grants and/or scholarships.â
- if you enter a weighted GPA of 4.5 and a ACT score of 35, it reports âCongratulations! You may be eligible for $19,543 in grants and/or scholarships.â
- if you enter a weighted GPA of 4.5 and a ACT score of 34, it reports âCongratulations! You may be eligible for $19,000 in grants and/or scholarships.â
The 3.5K and 28K numbers match the range of merit scholarships listed on Rutgersâ website, and as I wrote in the other thread mentioned in post #3, at least for students with an EFC above COA, access to the Honors College seems to be linked to a 10K minimum scholarship. And a 8K scholarship is apparently possible for those who do quite make it to the Honors College via their preferred school but are very close to (e.g. that make it to the Honors College via another school)
With this in mind, regardless of the targeted school, I would suggest aiming at least at ACT 35 to maximize the chance of getting a merit scholarship. For SOE, even try to get a perfect 36.
An extra piece of information is that the mean SAT score for the incoming class (September 2019) was 1318 (equivalent to 28 ACT) which is quite high.
https://news.rutgers.edu/rutgers-universityânew-brunswick-welcomes-record-breaking-freshman-class/20190826#.XY0q4G5Fx9M
(copy and paste full link in browser because it contains a non-ASCII character)
A belated thank you to everyone for your valuable input. D accepted at Rutgers (she is interested in Public Policy) but we await our financial âwhat it will costâ letter.
Visited Rutgers and went to info. session-not thrilled with the area and diffuse campus, butâŠitâs NJâs flagship state school.
U of Arizona gave a very generous award: $36K and she would enter Honors College there. Brings yearly to $23K a year (not incl. airfare and hotel to visit and drop-off).
Fordham gave her $36K too (bringing yearly cost to $39K.)
We await the others.
(D did not want to go too far south U of Alabama, but agree, yes they are known for OOS merit.)
THANK YOU AGAIN for the support.