<p>Check out Sewanee, The University of the South.</p>
<p>NMF won’t get you much at top 20 schools. However at lower ranked schools, looking to build their stats, you can get merit money.</p>
<p>College is much harder and more competitive than high school. Fortunately a 234 on the PSAT indicates there are fewer than 16,000 people smarter than you in your graduating class. Unfortunately many of them are clustered at schools and in pre-professional programs in which you have an interest.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Grinnell… really? On U.S. News it says their “average” aid package is $31,000… </p>
<p>Plus, the money they have is RIDICULOUS. 1.7 billion dollars to a student body of 1700. </p>
<p>But if you can convince me to drop it, I would LOVE to drop it! Their frikkin common application supplement makes you write not one, but TWO supplement essays.</p>
<p>That’s need based. Look at average merit award. It’s $15K max I believe. There is/was a move afoot to do away with merit completely at Grinnell.</p>
<p>Here ya go.
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<p>As to essays , wait till you get to scholarship essays for the big competitions at some schools. They are a joy. That plus panel interviews, one on one interviews, extemporaneous writing at a few, oh joy. ;)</p>
<p>Oh… is there anyway to get the average aid package there? I’d be happy with $31,000 at Grinnell… beyond happy… I assume need based and merit based does not stack? Or is there anyway that can happen. </p>
<p>I mean, we make $120,000, but only around 60-$70,000 is taxable, I think.</p>
<p>Merit almost never stacks with need. It replaces loans and work study in a need based aid package often, but it does not usually lower Estimated Family Contribution (and it won’t at Grinnell). Again, the $31K number is average NEED based aid . There is no merit aid in that number.</p>
<p>Grinnell is a Profile school. Not a Fafsa only school. Have Dad go to finaid website and do the need based calculators. Collegeboard has a decent one, too. Do both institutional methodology (IM) and federal methodology (FM). See what the number shows.</p>
<p>EFC based on the College Board calculator is 18-21,000… That’s not very good, too pricey. Though I suppose National Merit would cover another 2,000… </p>
<p>So basically if I applied to Grinnell I would HAVE to pay 20,000 no matter what? That’s strange, because my dad told me he has a friend, who makes 200k a year, who’s D went to Grinnell only paying 7,000 a year. And he said she had lower stats and qualifications than mine.</p>
<p>OP, you’ll learn that you can hear a lot of things. Merit scholarships to Harvard. Athletic full-rides to D3 schools. </p>
<p>There IS a thing we call “preferential packaging” that some (maybe all) need based colleges use to entice particularly desired candidates. At school A my D had need of $25K leaving us $23K to pay + $5K of need was self-help (loans and work-study). So really $28K out of my family’s pocket. At school B she had need calculated at $35K leaving us $11K to pay but since she was named a “so and so scholar” she had no loans, no work-study, all grants and a summer stipend for travel and projects to boot. $11K out of pocket. Remember, loans and work-study are considered “need-based aid”. Not just the grants. </p>
<p>Check out Penn Vagelos. Cornell has a similar one, as does Brown. Some call this merit-within-need. Nut-shelled, the more some school wants you, the more need they calculate. Some don’t believe it happens but I think I can find the sheets around here somewhere. It sure seemed to happen. ;)</p>