<p>My D is likely going to miss the cutoff in Ohio for finalist by one or two points (boy would momnipotent love to be wrong for once) for the 2006 year. Do any students in a similar situation for this year have any promising $$$ stories to tell given their "almost" situation???? Her vitae is loaded with ECs and GPA is excellent.</p>
<p>There are some scholarships given through NMS for Commended Students. I think that the site says there are about 1,200 such scholarships.</p>
<p>There also are some colleges that offer merit scholarships to Commended students. St. Olaf's, for instance, offers them scholarships of about $1,200 a year. Use a search engine to find out more such colleges. Most are small liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>There also are plenty of colleges that give scholarships to students with high SAT scores. Based on her PSAT score, your D's SAT scores should be high enough for her to qualify for merit aid at some colleges.</p>
<p>Here's a link to some colleges giving score-based merit aid: <a href="http://www.guaranteed-scholarships.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.guaranteed-scholarships.com/</a></p>
<p>Very helpful! One or two points sure would change her situation!!!! Oh well!
We will keep looking for scholarships.</p>
<p>My son was a Commended Student, missing semifinalist by just a few points. However, we were actually thrilled, because I did not expect him to do THAT well. One of the schools which he may attend gives an extra $1000 a year for Commended Students (Lawrence). That is above the other merit scholarship ($10,000) they offered him. Another (University of Northern Colorado) gives out-of-state students an automatic $5000 a year if their GPA and SAT/ACT scores are at a certain level. (He easily made that.) And it still looks good on scholarship applications... So there are some good deals out there even if you don't quite make semifinalist.</p>
<p>Thanks Susantm. You must be very proud of your son. Our family is one of those in the unfortunate situation of ex-spouse who will not be offering any $$$ support for my 3 kids college yet they will all be tied to his income for the duration of their college years. My income will likely be too much to get PELL money while we are barely getting by at present. Despite this, my D has a fantastic attitude and is determined to earn a "ticket" to school somewhere.</p>
<p>By the way- my site name- "momnipotent" is a joke between the kids and I. They are all afraid that people will think it is serious:) !!!</p>
<p>I LIKE that screen name. I think I may suggest that my son refer to me in that manner. Of course, he would just give me one of those looks and say, "Mom, you're weird." Oh, well.</p>
<p>Susantm-thanks- I made my kids read your post cause they thought no one would get it- or would take it seriously--and they all refer to me as momnipotent but I don't always think they mean it:)</p>
<p>momnipotent, I think your screen name is hilarious!</p>
<p>Thanks- good sense of humor in this house is key to survival:)</p>