<p>Hello !! </p>
<p>I am a US/Palestinian citizen residing in Turkey.
I applied this year to the American University(AU) in DC to study International Relations. I also applied to the Global Scholars program offered at the School of International Service.</p>
<p>Yesterday, I received my FAFSA SAR and the expected family contribution (EFC) was 0 US dollar. As far as know AU doesn't guarantee to meet the full need of the student, but I am wondering if AU has ever offered/or would be willing to offer a full tuition scholarship for an incoming freshman (merit-based). In addition, in financial aid, how much do you think I would be eligible for ? excluding the Federal Pell Grant which is 5,550 as the email has informed me. </p>
<p>I know I should have addressed those questions to AU. But the financial aid office never answered my questions as clearly as I hoped. </p>
<p>As for merits, I am applying with a 4.0/4 GPA , 97.9 % Diploma , and lots of international honors and internships. No SAT required for US citizens educated abroad. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I think that even though the SAT is not required for you, that is a crucial element in awarding merit based aid to most students and also in assessing them as Primo, Fair/Middling, and Borderline in terms of how much financial aid to give a student. Schools pay for them top test scores. My son applied through Fairtest to a number of schools with good grades, but not a dime of merit did he get offered from them whereas the other with not so hot grades but high test scores got merit money from the same schools.</p>
<p>While the SAT or ACT may not be req’d for admissions, it is likely very much needed for big merit consideration. AU gets too many apps from kids with 4.0 GPAs. The high test scores is what they want because that’s what helps with rankings.</p>
<p>Since AU doesn’t promise to meet need, and you don’t have a test score, I’m guessing that you’re going to be gapped. It’s very hard for a school to “meet need” with a 0 EFC when it doesn’t have the big endowment to fund full aid. </p>
<p>Look at it this way…You’re expecting a “not wealthy” school to provide $200k+ for your education based only on a GPA. That’s not likely going to happen. </p>
<p>You probably may need to take the SAT and ACT, take a gap year, and apply to where you would get big merit.</p>