<p>they gave me a 3500 loan and a 2.4k merit scholarship. my efc is 6000 and the gap is 16k (22k total). This was supposed to be my financial safety, now its more expensive than oos schools that are better academically. Why is OSU being cheap? I understand its public, but other publics have given me much better offers than this crap. How am i supposed to pay 22k with a 3500 loan? Screw osu</p>
<p>esmitty, I'm curious. If you are in state, where are you getting the 22,000 total?</p>
<p>It's the official Ohio State in-state Cost of Education.</p>
<p>OSU (like most public universities) doesn't claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need (COA minus EFC). Privates sometimes have more money to throw around, although often that is in the form of subsidized and unsubsidized loans rather than grants or other "free" money. The "gap" is where parents (and sometimes creative financing) usually get involved. I admit it's a pretty rude awakening. Good luck.</p>
<p>I understand that. but other public's have made better offers than this. and yes i'm instate and the total coa, including room and board, average food/other cost is like 24k.</p>
<p>Wow, I had no idea that universities figured in all of those other costs. I figured my cost at close to 17,000 for tuition, room and board. We spent maybe another thousand for books. So I figure our costs are about `$18,000 (less scholarships). We are in state, so we don't have travel costs. The scholarships she received aren't huge, but the cost is less than any where else she applied except for one school, where she received a full tuition scholarship. (They didn't have the major she ended up deciding on.)</p>
<p>What OOS schools are you looking at that will cost you less? If you think you will be happy there, I would definitely go for it.</p>
<p>Oh, and to answer the question you asked--yes, we were disappointed with the FA from OSU. But we were just as disappointed with the FA from the other schools--except for the one that offered a full tuition scholarship. Sometimes life doesn't seem fair, especially after you've worked hard and done well. :(</p>
<p>Be happy you got a lot of money from other schools. There are probably people reading this who didn't get money from ANY schools, let alone $2500 from OSU.</p>
<p>I agree with kelseyg. My son got $8250 in merit scholarships. Since we are OOS (from PA), this makes OSU about the same cost as Penn State with in-state tuition. Penn State is offering him zero scholarship money (only loans). At least he can choose between OSU and Penn State, without cost being a factor. There just aren't many schools out there offering big scholarship dollars unless you are an athlete, a super-genius, or are exceptional in some other way.</p>
<p>BIG Buckeye fan here. DD is graduating from OSU this spring with honors, but sadly DS won't be following in her foot steps. While the OSU FA was decent, full tuition & books, leaving a huge gap(room, board, fees, other expenses) other schools including UVa FA offers were obscene in comparison. I guardedly expected as much from the privates, well endowed and seeking to diversify, but was really surprised at the OOS offer. I still love my Bucks and I am a Buckeye for Life, but economically it would be foolish to turn down the far more lucrative offers from the elite LAC's and OOS universities that are higher ranked.</p>
<p>IMHO, full tuition & books is more than "decent". But if you can get a better deal someplace else, go for it! Coming from PA, I have been conditioned to expect nothing in terms of scholarship $$$. It seems that Pitt and Penn State have an "all or nothing" mentality. They offer full rides to a select few, but most students get very little or nothing. I'm pleased with the aid package my son got -- without it, he wouldn't be going to Ohio State. But he chose OSU and is proud to be a Buckeye!</p>
<p>To answer the original question....... Why is OSU being cheap?</p>
<p>Because they can. Supply and Demand.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how the actual numbers might work, but I was just reflecting that with 50,000 students, if you assume that each student received a minimum of $1,000 per year in financial aid from OSU, that is $50 Million each year. I don't know what reality is, but regardless, I would suggest that OSU is providing a significant amount of aid and educational subsidies, particularly when you consider that OSU is a public university funded by Ohio taxpayers (you can thank me later). :)</p>
<p>I wouldn't call that being cheap.</p>
<p>I would say the $$ from OSU is very good. Our EFC is >25K and DD did get a full tuition because her NMF status. With some outside scholarship, DD would pay about 10K a year for a top tier honor program. There will be no loan nor work study. With her AP credits, she could possibly graduate within 3 or 3.5 years from OSU.</p>
<p>I think that we happen to be in that "lucky gap" where OSU has committed lots of money and resources in a decision to raise their standings in the Big10. Both Michigan and Wisconsin have decided to stop giving out these high merit awards because their rankings are already quite high, and already OSU is starting to scale back--we've already discussed how their NMF scholarship money decreased this past year because so many applied--and in the future, as their rankings continue to increase, they will probably be able to cut these merit scholarships more and more. Anyway, as a side note, I read that if a student has a full tuition scholarship for four years, and graduates after three (which many can do because of generous AP credits) the student can continue to use that tuition money if they enroll in a grad program at OSU.</p>
<p>rcefn - I agree that timing is everything in the recent generosity of OSU in merit aid. We were fortunate to get in on last year's "full tuition plus" NMF distinguished scholarship before it went away. It will probably continue to scale back as OSU succeeds in boosting the academic standards of its enrolled students.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the the typical full tuition scholarship is good for 12 quarters of study at undergraduate tuition. You can use the scholarship proceeds for graduate coursework if you graduate in less than 12 quarters, but they count at the undergraduate tuition level, not the graduate (so there would be some tuition "gap" remaining). But it is still a pretty good deal. My son is considering such a strategy since he will probably be able to graduate in about 8 quarters (if he chooses to).</p>
<p>To the person who PMed me about NMF. It is National Merit Finalist. I am sorry I deleted your PM before answering that. Hope you see this one. </p>
<p>OSU used to give full tuition + $4700 to qualifying NMF. They reduced that to only full tuition starting from this year. As you could see from these posts here. As OSU is moving up on the ranking, they are not buying NMF as agressively as before.</p>
<p>does anyone know if you can use your NMF full tuition scholarship to study abroad?</p>
<p>I believe that as long as you are enrolled for the quarter at OSU (which would be the case for OSU study abroad opportunities) your scholarship would apply.</p>
<p>Even with my mother's being an OSU employee and my getting 1/2 price tuition, plus my outside 5k scholarship, I'd still have to pay another 5k to go to OSU. Whereas a private school here in Ohio has offered me an almost full ride that becomes paid for with my outside scholarship. Pretty lame, OSU, pretty lame.</p>