<p>Our daughter has been accepted to an OOS university as her first choice. We'd like to tie the knot and move ahead, but wonder -- does merit aid typically come after you accept? We've seen nothing indicating she's getting anything up to this point. EFC is too high, so that's not an option.</p>
<p>did you fill out fafsa anyway?</p>
<p>yes - filled it out just in case. They’ve already replied with a ‘sorry you don’t qualify’ letter (completely expected).</p>
<p>Our schools let us know as part of the decision but they were LACs. If your DD applied to OOS public Us don’t expect much. Many don’t offer much to OOS students (not withstanding the NMF special scholarships).</p>
<p>Our D (our eldest, so this is new to us too) was accepted to her dream school early in March. We called the Financial Aid Office immediatley and were told Financial Aid letters were being mailed out the first week of April. So there is more waiting & anticipation. Meanwhile, we analyse it every which way from Sunday.</p>
<p>So, you might want to call the school and see if your sit is similar.</p>
<p>You’re not alone in the waiting game. Our EFC is projected as too high too. Our S got accepted long ago to his first choice and his second choice even before that. Yet we haven’t seen any merit…from the school or other sources even though he’s applied to many many scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s bugging me I typed “analyze” wrong. I just reread and cringed :)</p>
<p>Hi XC09.
Several of my son’s colleges included scholarships with their acceptance letters. Others did not notify him of scholarships until some time after acceptance. They didn’t tell us to expect something later … the something just came.</p>
<p>The interesting thing is … even those that included scholarship letters with the initial acceptances had some very exciting news for him later on. Apparently some of the colleges give nice scholarships upon notification, and then put their best applicants in a pool for further scrutiny for the very top scholarships at the school. And the college’s son applied to didn’t tell him that he was in the running for anything else. So it was a big surprise when the notifications came along!</p>
<p>For instance, at one school, he heard with his acceptance letter that he got the (let’s just call it) X Scholarship for <10k a year. (Privacy issues! Don’t want to reveal stuff that’s too personal.) Then a few weeks later, we heard that he got the Y Scholarship for <5k a year. THEN, about 3 months later, we heard he got an enormous scholarship that is just under full-tuition because he was named a Z Scholar! We didn’t even know that he was in the running for anything else!</p>
<p>At another school, we heard about his F Merit Scholarship for <20k a year; then months later, his G talent scholarship for <10k a year; then a few days later, that he was chosen for the rare H Scholarship for full-tuition! We were stunned. Again, we had no idea he was in the running for anything else.</p>
<p>One private school sent along a >35k/year award (part talent, part academic merit) with notification of acceptance. That was one of his later notifications for acceptance, but his first notification of an enormous scholarship. We were amazed!</p>
<p>Some of the schools were OOS and some were IS.</p>
<p>It’s a mystery for this first-time parent of a college applicant. I am, as you can imagine, very pleasantly surprised!</p>
<p>There are other examples that are all over the board for us as to when notification of scholarships comes along.</p>
<p>I don’t see why you or your daughter couldn’t call or email the school to see if all scholarship notifications are complete. If your daughter applied within two different departments of the school, like the school of music, dance, theater, etc, in addition to the main campus, then be sure to call the people affiliated with both departments.</p>
<p>I think that eventually all colleges forward a final outline of your costs after taking into consideration all scholarships, grants, and financial aid. But I’m not even sure of this.</p>
<p>we had two promises of aid reduced (there had been a disclaimer that it had been an estimate) as the states reduced funds to the schools. However one made up for it by granting S a math scholarship, which made up the difference the original merit award had been reduced by
my point being that - even if you get something saying you got aid - read carefully - until they send a letter asking you to sign that you accept the award - it might not be what you finally get. You may get less - or you may get more.
At one LAC he had originally been awarded a $9000 per year merit package - and after his mid-term grades and ACT test scores went out, they upped it to $11,000 a year - an additional award of $8000!!
I would say though, that if you are to hear anything it should be soon, and if you don’t, by all means contact the FA dept. so you can make a decidion with all the info available.</p>
<p>simplelife, did you have financial need or minority status which allowed for all these wonderful surprise scholarships? we need these kind of surprises as well!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your replies! As a first-timer, I’ll admit, this is been a frustrating few months. I’ve called the university, visited the university and still no one can tell me whether she’s being considered for any merit aid. So, do you think we’re safe ‘accepting’ and sending in our deposit and hoping for the best? I know my husband and I are as anxious as DD to get this rolling. Again, thanks all of you for the replies!</p>
<p>Hi Momasita.
Nope. No minority status. No financial need status. (Well, like many people, we have had circumstances in our lives over the past 5 years that have made us feel like we are currently living with considerable financial need. We could not imagine where our college dollars would come from. But, as far as EFC’s go … no financial need so far from anybody.)</p>
<p>These scholarships were certainly wonderful surprises! Wishing them on everybody!</p>
<p>XC09, I wouldn’t send it in yet. But I will remind you that I know nothing! (smile) I am just a parent going through this for the first time. Still, if it were me, I’d rest easy that my daughter made her decision; it’s behind you; and wait for a few more weeks before notifying. It seems like if she earned any scholarship money, the college wouldn’t withhold notifciation of the money if she accepted before she knew about it … but you just don’t know. I would probably wait. What’s to lose?</p>
<p>Okay. Sorry for this triple post … I realize it’s not polite …
But I forgot to say …</p>
<p>If you’re worried about housing and you don’t want to lose out, a lot of colleges will accept a housing deposit without a final decision. You might consider making the deposit for housing now, and holding off on the final notification for the college.</p>
<p>Simple, WOW! How great is that! Did you accept at the school then get the scholarships or did you just sit back & wait, then accept?
XC09, I wonder if fin aid folks would offer as much merit aid if they know you were already committed? Anyone have thoughts on that?</p>
<p>To Doame: Your initial spelling of “analyze”(post 5) is not so wrong; that is the correct English spelling as used by the British, but not of the American. However your spelling of “immediately” a couple sentences before was wrong. But no harm done; I think of this as a rather informal forum. <em>wink</em></p>
<p>Momasita, he hasn’t accepted anywhere yet. We’re waiting for word from two more colleges that haven’t made notifications yet. We know for a fact that one of the colleges sent their letters on March 25th. We don’t think the other college has even sent anything yet!</p>