Did you look at Pitt? They rankings for engineering are comparable with Auburn and generous with OOS merit. Or what about UT Austin?
Austin and Pittsburgh are not the âRIGHTâ atmosphere. If you know what I mean. Our son was also accepted to Penn State yesterday which is OOS big dollars. We are waiting on 2 more schools with the âDREAM REACHâ coming in Dec 15.
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I donât know.
Pitt is no longer as generous with OOS (or instate) merit aid as it was in the past. Pitt is now focusing more on need-based aid for lower income students (probably mostly instate).
Agreed. And very frustrating that Auburn didnât have it listed ârightâ initially.
Yes, I would like to see all the âback pedalingâ they must do on this one.
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The following wording has always been on the site around the merit scholarships:
" * Scholarships are awarded competitively. Consideration does not guarantee an award. Each entering class competes with itself. Actual awards are determined based on the number of qualified admitted students, the credentials of those applicants, and available funding."
The school has a pool of funds to allocate and depending on the qualifications of the kids that fit into the metrics on the table is going to mean that sometimes they need to adjust the awards. IMO this is a still a better approach than most schools that give varying awards with no understanding on the part of the parent/student as to why they got what they did.
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Agreed. Iâm fine if they need to reduce the awards because of competitiveness of the applicants. However, in this case they sent an awards letter to these kids telling them they were getting the higher amount but theyâre actually getting the lower amount. It truly just makes Auburn look like they donât have their act together.
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yeah, but they have always followed the categories to the letter in the past for EA1 and they know people are counting on it. They really should take that information down from their website going forward. My son was expecting $15K and if we knew they were going to cut all the awards, he would have signed up to take the ACT again in order to go from a 31 to a 33 so he could get the higher level. Itâs just a real bummer. Heâs been offered $25K at Alabama but he would much prefer Auburn. But itâs hard to justify the additional expense.
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Got it. Wasnât aware the actual award letter stated the higher amount. Agreed, not a great look for them.
I think if they took that info down, theyâd have parents and students driving them crazy with questions about how much the awards are. The language on the website seems pretty clear to me. They explicitly say the amounts are guidelines only and there are no guarantees.
I do agree that it looks bad to name one award amount in the letter and a lower amount in the portal. Mistakes happen, but that one is unfortunate. It may be worth calling the financial aid office and asking if theyâll honor the extra $2k. Canât hurt, could help.
Also, if you arenât aware, your kiddo has until January 10 to submit a higher ACT score for more merit.
FYI, the below is under FAQs > Fall 2024 First-Year Student Scholarships. I hope theyâll post this on the Competitive Merit page or somewhere else itâs easy to find.
Who was awarded a competitive merit scholarship?
âDue to a continued increase in the number of admission applications, acceptances for admission, and students eligible for consideration of a competitive merit scholarship, only Spirit of Auburn Presidential and Founders Scholarships were awarded to Alabama residents and only Academic Presidential Scholarships were awarded to non-residents. Some award amounts may differ from the estimated amounts in the published charts, and students awarded the same scholarship may have received different amounts. The published charts are a guide and are not a guarantee of future awards. Each entering class competes with itself. Actual awards are determined based on the number of qualified admitted students, the credentials of those applicants, and available funding. Additional qualified students not awarded in November will continue to receive consideration for first-year student scholarships mid-December and mid-February.â
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My son was accepted and we found the email with the time slot to apply for housing. It is the day and time to fill out the application.
What is in the application so we can be ready?
I know you donât pick your housing until March. Do they ask for preferences in this application?
Thanks
yes, agreed they have that caveat on the website, but never before have they not followed those levels for EA1 admits. So they have to realize this is going to cause disappointment. It doesnât make me feel that great about Auburn right now.
make sure you have his student ID number. I didnât realize I needed that and it took us a while to find it. Itâs in the original acceptance letter
Yes, have his ID number ready it starts with â90â. If he is under 18, the first they will do is have him add you as his parent, and they will send you an email to confirm he is signing up for the housing waitlist. You have to accept that before he can continue. So you need to be basically ready to do it at the same time as he is online. Once you do that he is then going to put each of the seven housing options in order of preference. That is all you need to do.
My twins both applied second-round and received notifications today. It was tricky to find, but if you click on AUSOM and tap the red circle on the âmy applicationsâ tab and scroll down you will see the amount 
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From the Auburn website under FAQs. SO angry right now
Due to a continued increase in the number of admission applications, acceptances for admission, and students eligible for consideration of a competitive merit scholarship, only Spirit of Auburn Presidential and Founders Scholarships were awarded to Alabama residents and only Academic Presidential Scholarships were awarded to non-residents. Some award amounts may differ from the estimated amounts in the published charts, and students awarded the same scholarship may have received different amounts. The published charts are a guide and are not a guarantee of future awards. Each entering class competes with itself. Actual awards are determined based on the number of qualified admitted students, the credentials of those applicants, and available funding. Additional qualified students not awarded in November will continue to receive consideration for first-year student scholarships mid-December and mid-February.
Yes, I posted that text in my above reply. I understand the anger and disappointment, I really do. My heart goes out to parents and students who were expecting one amount and will be receiving much less or nothing at all. Itâs a crushing blow for many. There are factors in all this beyond Auburnâs control, and they state the âno guaranteesâ caveat pretty explicitly, but I do think they could have communicated the change in awards this year in a clearer and more efficient way.
Did you also see the note that your child can submit updated ACT scores in January, if they decide to try again in hopes of moving into a higher bracket? Whether or not that is worth it is obviously up to you and your family, itâs just an option to consider if your childâs heart is set on Auburn.
Wishing you luck - the admissions process can feel so stressful and emotional.
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itâs too late to register for the ACT!! If I had known they were going to do this he would have signed up to take it again. The worst part is I got his hopes up. I let him believe he could attend Auburn. Iâm just devastated and so angry.
Thanks for finding that FAQ answer. I was reading through these posts really quickly and I thought people were saying the website says 17k for Academic Presidential Scholarship but the portal was saying 15k, and it was some sort of website data error they needed to fix. But now I see they are overhauling the awards.
Auburn is becoming more selective each year and they donât need to offer the same scholarships to entice students anymore, so Iâm not entirely surprised. Itâs unfortunate for things to change in the midst of application season though.
I asked my son to log into the portal and he did get 17k. He hit accept to see if it changed, but it was still 17k to the end. Just wanted to put that data point out there so people can try to figure out what the cut offs are. His ACT was 36, weighted GPA 4.2.
At the rate things are going, next yearâs applicants will likely see more changes - maybe more required for the app and maybe scholarship money being awarded completely behind the scenes, like schools higher up on selectivity.