<p>Tuition Exchange is a competitive scholarship program. It is by no means a given. Just ask the children of university staff members all over the country who did NOT get a TE scholarship at their school/s of choice. :)</p>
<p>The pool of applicants is indeed limited to children of employees of member universities.</p>
<p>Beyond that, it is either highly or moderately competitive, depending on the school in question. </p>
<p>For Pepp, it’s pretty stiff competition.</p>
<p>Does anyone know about Pepperdine Grant? I got almost 25k for my first year.</p>
<p>I’m hoping that if I do a stellar job, academically, in my freshman year, I can increase that Pepperdine grant for the next year.</p>
<p>I want to post a note on our college search for others looking next year as I found the info on these boards very helpful and was scouring through last years posts during our d’s college application process. Fyi, d attends private college prep hs, uw gpa 3.89, sat scores ? can’t remember exactly but I think it was 1860, some college classes in h.s., rigorus course schedule, some honors and ap classes, very active in sports, drama, volunteer and church throughout hs. </p>
<p>If I can recommend anything it would be to visit colleges in your junior year vs. waiting till senior year. We visited a couple junior year but did not get to all of them and as a result d applied to 8 universities, which was stressful. Visiting all colleges was not an option for us so she did apply to some colleges without a visit and we told her if they offered an incredible aid pkg we would visit but would have to wait till after aid was awarded.</p>
<p>I would also recommend taking a SAT prep course. D did not. Sat does not recommend taking test back to back as they say score won’t increase. D had no choice as she waited too long to take. First time around score was lower. She took the next scheduled test, I think it was a couple weeks after the first test, and score increased by 400pts without study. Not sure about the validity of this test but it is what it is and the SAT test score are not only a determining factor for admission but even more importantly financial awards. </p>
<p>I think it is very important to be realistic as to what colleges your family can afford and be up front with your kids about the whole process. I told my daughter there was no way we could pay $250k for an undergraduate degree. She was welcome to apply to private universities however unless they offered substantial awards they would not be an option. </p>
<p>The first part of the process… visitation. It’s hard not to fall in love with a particular college. D fell in love with Pepperdine. It’s also hard to cross schools off a list based on one visit or the COA because you really don’t know what a school will cost until aid is awarded. </p>
<p>I still don’t know how schools determine aid. In the end, awards were somewhat random for compareable schools. I know the more desireable the student the better aid package offered but it seems as if there are other factors. D applied to one public in state university and the remainder private catholic and Pepperdine.</p>
<p>Of the 8 universities applied to, d was accepted to all with an intended major of biology. She has since changed her major. D’s friend at same hs school with exact sat scores, gpa, intended major, ec’s was accepted to Pepperdine and waitlisted at LMU. </p>
<p>At first it’s very exciting when the acceptance letters start arriving and hard not to have hopes set for one school. The wait afterwards for award package was hard. I had airfare for school breaks, study abroad costs, hotel room for parent visits all graphed out for the top schools and knew exactly what $ were needed for attendance. </p>
<p>Pepperdine does give aid to the most desireable applicants. Our d was not one of them. When the awards are posted some schools such as Pepperdine offer the parent plus loan as part of the “award” package, so first glance you may think you were awarded 58k but after looking it is not an award at all. Other schools, such as LMU and Gonzaga don’t list the parent plus as an “award” offer so don’t get overly excited or dismayed at first glance. </p>
<p>In the end some schools offered incredible award packages. LMU offered D $28k/year award in grant and academic scholarship and a total of $33,500/yr award if she took out the stafford loan of $5500/yr. Pepperdine offered a package entirely of loans and not one dime of grant or academic scholarship. I did appeal decision but appeal was denied and appeal decision was not given until May 1. We could not justify an undergrad degree costing $250k nor are we willing to take out a parent plus loan. </p>
<p>There were some other schools that while offered some aid it was not enough. Santa Clara offered $5600/yr scholarship but no grant $. The in state university offered d 3k academic award/yr. Fordham and USD offered 11k/year grant but no academic scholarship. </p>
<p>Our d could have attended LMU for less than the in state public university. This was factoring flights home for breaks and study abroad, which was very important to her and a large part of the alure of Pepperdine.</p>
<p>D ended up choosing Gonzaga. She had four colleges to pick from that were in our affordability range after the awards were given out and all were within $1-2k price range with all costs figured in including study abroad and actual transportation costs. </p>
<p>She got over the fact that Pepperdine was not an option pretty quick. Of the colleges we could afford she had her choice narrowed down between Gonzaga and LMU. She liked Gonzaga campus vibe, engineering program… and just the overall fit for her better than LMU but I think it was a toss up between the two until she attended Gonzaga’s Gel weekend. </p>
<p>I wish everyone the best of luck in their college search and financing of school. It was a long process for us but now that the decision is made my d could not be happier. She is busy figuring out much less intense things such as prom dress, dorm decor, enjoying the rest of her senior yr. and getting excited for the start of college</p>
<p>I found the financial aid information posted by and made available on different sites to be ridiculously misleading. In fact, I think some governing body ought to step in and rectify it. It’s terrible.</p>
<p>How so, Dls?</p>