<p>We have been pleasantly surprised at many schools so far. Son has 1750 SATs, 3.6 uw GPA, but only 4-5 honors classes, average Ec's, no hooks.</p>
<p>received $11k from UVM
$10k from Fairfield
$13k from Emmanual</p>
<p>I realize these are not top schools, but UVM for example states on their website that 1800 SATs is the cut off for the scholarship my son received. Fairfield states only 30% of last year's class received merit aid. My son has average stats, so the merit aids really came as a shock...and as a full pay, will certainly help ease the pain.</p>
<p>We were pleasantly surprised by the two merit awards we’ve received so far, from University of Evansville and St. Louis University. DD has test scores that are impressive but goes to a challenging magnet HS with severe grade deflation, so we were skeptical about her getting significant merit.</p>
<p>My son received a $100,000 from Tulane over 4 years. Rutgers gave him $13,000/year. He won’t be taking advantage of them, as he will be going to a full pay school that better meets his needs. However, I think he feels honored to have gotten them.</p>
<p>*It’s the economy. These schools have a hard time getting full pays now, so essentially, the colleges at this level are on sale. *</p>
<p>Yes, some schools are on sale, but some are engaging in some games.</p>
<p>Similar reports occured last year. It seems some schools, especially the privates, have raised their tuition costs to match other privates and then offer some merit so people think they’re getting a deal.</p>
<p>The same thing is happening with summer programs. My friend’s D has been going to this summer program at Sewanee and the price had been X. For the last two years it’s been “X+$1000”…and guess what…friend’s D was “awarded” a $1k “scholarship” for those 2 years. Those who weren’t familiar with the old price would think they were getting some special honor. </p>
<p>Obviously some merit awards are very genuine. But some are just smoke and mirrors…raised tuition followed by merit awards.</p>
<p>No bargains here to speak of, and keeping merit aid is always a problem: kids have mental health issues, get mono, eating disorders etc, all kinds of things can happen!</p>
<p>The thing with merit aid is could you afford the school if your student loses the merit aid?
If not, then maybe an in-state public is a better option with merit aid: if child loses the merit aid, school may still be affordable for the family. JMHO :)</p>
<p>I agree with post posts 6 and 7. When B+ students with an SAT of 1800-2000 are getting $10k-18k in merit scholarships at almost all private schools applied to that tells me something (this happened at our house). Oh, and the reach schools also offered 7-8,000 per year. IMO, this is tuition discounting. In fact, 5 years ago, one reach school (son was deferred in EA round) offered 14,000 after accepting him in the RD round.</p>
<p>Also, my son’s friend will be transferring next year because he cannot meet the 3.5 gpa to keep his full tuition scholarship next year (he still pays the room and board). Believe me, in order to land this award one needs to be an exceptional HS student, as very few of these awards are given in the first place at this school. He would still be offered the next level down in merit money if he stayed, but it probably is not enough for his family to make it happen.</p>
<p>I cross posted with SLUMOM. I also agree with her post. I will say that instate pricing without any grant/scholarship $$ in our state (NJ), is not a bargain either.</p>
<p>Geeps … we had a similar experience last year … our 3.3 GPA 1850 SAT son was offered merit aid from UVM, Ithaca College, Roger Williams, and Delaware … not enough to match the cost of our in-state option but enough to make the OOS options interesting … (he eventually picked UVM and loves it)</p>
<p>I think that something just as important in merit aid, IS THE GPA REQUIRED TO KEEP IT. You might want to research this, and it is not all that easy to do!</p>
<p>UVM is 3.0 cumulative, with 1 semester probation. So, the key would be to get off to a good start and have some cushion. A bad start would mean, 1 year scholarship only.</p>
<p>geeps, and that is where you need to know your child, and be willing to the roll the dice (or not). After all, as SLUMOM points out illnesses (physical, mental), situations, major and hard vs. easy classes, organization or lack there of, etc., all factor in. Some things are within the student’s control and others might not be in their control. At the end of the day, there is still the college bill that needs to be paid for the student to attend.</p>