Automatic Merit Scholarships?

I’m going into my senior year this year, and researching colleges for my future. I was looking for any information about large automatic merit scholarships that I might qualify for. My goal is to go to a school for as little money as possible while staying near the midwest (from Ohio). I scored a 35 on the ACT, have a 3.80 uGPA, and a 4.21 wGPA. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Some possibilities:
Your in-state public universities may have some for in-state students.
Alabama public universities (e.g. UA, UAH, AAMU)
Mississippi public universities
University of Arizona
Tuskegee
Prairie View A&M
Louisiana Tech

What major? Also, do you qualify for financial aid? Have your parents told you how much they can afford to contribute?

University of Kentucky gives full tuition and $10k/year for room and board for first two years to national merit finalists.

@txstella Currently I am undecided on what I want to major in. I know their income is around $150,000, but I’m not sure how that affects financial aid.

You and they should get together in front of a computer and run the net price calculators on the web sites of some colleges of interest.

Your parents’ income will hopefully provide some money for college. But please sit down with them and run the NPCs for Ohio public universities as well as some private schools like Case Western. OOS public universities in Kansas and Iowa have merit scholarships if you are interested in those.

On CC, Alabama gets the most attention. You qualify for Presidential, which is nearly full OOS tuition. Swanky dorms, too.

https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/

Miami and OSU would also give you something, and possibly something really good if you applied for competitive scholarships there.

https://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-guarantee/
http://undergrad.osu.edu/cost-and-aid/merit-based-scholarships

Anyone know how to get details on the OOS merit scholarships Univ. of AZ offers? I see they detail out the in-state merit scholarships but can’t get any specifics or ballpark figures on OOS merit scholarships.

Look past the money and consider the academics and college culture. Many students have your stats.

https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/freshman-transfer
Scroll about halfway down to find “Non-Resident Arizona Awards Based on GPA and Test Scores”.

You’re asking about auto-merit scholarships, so your parents’ $150k income doesn’t matter.

How much will they pay each year. If you don’t know, please ask them so you know what you’re dealing with.

BTW…many automatic scholarships have Nov or Dec deadlines (much earlier than admissions deadlines), so get those apps in ASAP. Some schools are opening their apps up (LIVE!) in July or August for convenience!

You could receive a full tuition + scholarship from UT Dallas. https://www.utdallas.edu/enroll/freshman/aes/
It is not an automatic scholarship but with your stats, it should happen. Depending on what you want to major in UTD might be a fit. If you apply in the early fall, you would know within a month what level of scholarship you would receive.

My daughter plays lacrosse at Tiffin University - she receives a decent merit scholarship and the amounts are published on their website.

@bbrady13
Not automatic-by-stats, but your stats are good, so consider making a run for full-merit scholarships:

Miami University, Presidential Fellowship Program, app deadline Nov 1;
Also consider that Miami is a generous school

Youngstown State, Leslie Cochran Scholarship
Ohio State, Eminence Fellows, app deadline Nov 1
Indiana - Bloomington, Wells Scholars Program
Michigan State, Alumni Distinguished Scholarship, app deadline Nov 1
U of Pittsburgh, Chancellor’s Scholarship
Carthage College, Lincoln Scholarship

Verify information on each college’s website

University of Toledo has auto merit awards in addition to some competitive awards
http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/

I know that you and your husband didn’t have to consider costs at all when your only child was considering college. That is not the case with many, if not most, families.

This student’s family income is an amount that wouldn’t get need-based aid at probably 95%+ of schools. And it’s also an income where it can be hard to suddenly come up with $70k per year for college (if there aren’t already college savings accounts). There may also be other children to put thru school.

The OP hasn’t been back to College Confidential in about a month. If he comes back, I hope he’s spoken to his parents and have asked how much they can contribute each year towards this student’s college costs.