<p>can we give some example of "alot of aid" please? the school might give 100 scholarships,which might seem alot, but there is like 10,000 students or 50 scholarship but only 1000 students. There a different.</p>
<p>Also, a lot of schools offer a certain number of scholarships, but sometimes it is common for students to win more than one. if fifty scholarships are offered, do they go to fifty different students, or to a handful of high achievers? For instance, many win college merit awards as well as national merit awards administered by the college.</p>
<p>Check the websites of the schools I mentioned for more details, but I was offered $5000-$6000/year at Lawrence and IWU. My stats: 3.6 UW (mostly honors, 3 APs), top 15% at large public , 32 ACT, ECs mainly Mock Trail and jazz guitar.</p>
<p>At IWU I was told that people who are in the top 25% and have a 28+ ACT will get merit aid.</p>
<p>Lawrence also has guidelines for their scholarships on their website.</p>
<p>Knox I didn't apply to, but I have a few friends there and from what I've heard a large chunk of the people there are receiving merit aid.</p>
<p>I got a free ride at the University of Texas at Dallas and at University of Texas Pan American. Also, UTD would pay for my books, personal expenses etc. One thing that is also good at UTD is that they would not deduct any scholarship from my financial aid package therefore I would have all the scholarships I won payable to me which so far is around $5000!!!
I also received scholarships from all the Universities I applied therefore I can't say how competitive the scholarship process is, but I believe that compared to some other financial aid offers, these two are the delicacies of the meal!!!</p>
<p>any school where u are top 1% of applicants... also LAC's seem to give nice amount</p>
<p>Do most students pay full tuition at private colleges? Nearly everyone I know attending private colleges has received some sort of aid, either merit or need-based. But few share the dollar amount. College pricing often resembles auto pricing, or airline tickets. I assume a small percentage may pay the "list price", but that most pay some sort of "street price" which is less, and varies considerably depending upon student, parental income, etc.</p>
<p>I'm a bit concerned about listing schools that supposedly give "a lot" of merit aid if it is typically less than 20% of the tuition. Granted, any amount is helpful, but i.m.h.o. "good" merit aid would bring the total tuition bill down to approximately equal what a state school would cost. Unfortunately, in most cases this would be at least half tuition at most private schools. "Great" merit aid, would of course be even more!!! (but in reality, those are typically reserved for a very small group of exceptional students). </p>
<p>"Token" merit aid, seems more a way to get the student in the door. </p>
<p>One local highschool claims that a huge percentage of their students receive scholarships to private colleges. Sounds great. I then found out that many do indeed receive merit scholarships, but only about $ 500-2000. That barely touches the surface at most private colleges!</p>
<p>I don't mean to offend anyone who has received merit scholarships. That is the only way my family will be able to attend colleges outside our state system. But I'm nervous when I hear the list of colleges that give good merit aid, only to find out the percentage of the total tuition bill is indeed very small.</p>
<p>Baylor University gives full tuition, about $20,000 for National Merit Finalists, and up to $11,000 in guaranteed scholarships according to class rank and SAT scores if you are not a National Merit Finalist. The amounts given are posted on the website and no other application is needed.</p>
<p>D was offered:</p>
<p>Rice -- $18,000 / year (about 1/2 ride)
Mt Holyoke -- $25,000 / year (about 3/4 ride)
Scripps -- full ride
Smith -- can't remember, but ~ $10K
UChicago -- ~$10K
The rest were need based grants/loans.</p>
<p>Most privates also do need based aid. Many only do need based. Family income is the biggest driver, although assets like businesses and farms also affect it. There are calculators on many of the university websites to give you an estimate of your family contribution. Unless you have a simple family situation (straight income, intact family, etc), then assume it will be somewhat higher than predicted. Also, it gets re-figured every year, so if income goes up, you will pay more. Out of that need, schools package your aid as grants, workstudy, or loans. There can be a lot of variation from school to school for the same student, so look carefully at the package. We saw a range from no loans to up to $15K loans.</p>
<p>College of Wooster has good merit opportunities. Go to their website. Bard College has good merit in the field of science and mathematics.</p>
<p>Bandit-TX, since you posted it on the Parents' Forum (or someone did), I hope you don't mind my mentioning here that your D will be attending Harvard. It is important for people to realize that these generous merit offers were made to a really outstanding student in hopes of wooing her to the various schools. When looking for merit money, it's important to be towards the top of a school's applicant pool.</p>
<p>1moremom, I agree with your post, but if it is true merit, then should it not be for the really outstanding students. Every school uses a tool to attract the best possible students. Some do it with history or reputation and others with merit aid. I see nothing wrong with that. From what I have seen, most of the top or outstanding students that have received sizeable merit aid have worked hard for it during 4 years of high school. With participation in sports, EC's and #1 in academics - there were many many late nights and often a trade off in social life. But it all seemed balanced and would not change a thing if I had it to do over. Was fortunate enough to be one of these desired students and feel it to be a just reward. Accepted at 7 schools with a total of almost 700,000 in merit scholarships (school & outside) and almost 100,000 in grants. Obviously can only use a portion of that, but the final choice school will end up costing less than 1,000 per year. Without being specific it is a top rated private university. So yes, the last line of your post is absolutely valid - you have to choose your pool so you are at the top of the chosen pool.</p>
<p>This has been a most instructive thread! </p>
<p>I think after reading all the posts here, the answer to the question, which are the "Best schools that give the most merit based aid", the answer appears to be those colleges where your student is in the top 1 percent of the applicant pool. </p>
<p>Search out those schools where your students stats are on the top of the heap and you will find the most possible merit scholarship for your student.</p>
<p>Of course, Ivy excluded.</p>
<p>Others that I don't think were mentioned: </p>
<p>Emory University awards I think around 50 2/3 tuitions, 50 full tuitions, and 25 full rides as part of their Emory Scholars program. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt offers a very large number of half tuitions, about 40-50 3/4 tuitions, and 15 full tuitions for their arts and sciences school. I believe they give a lot more for music and engineering too. </p>
<p>Rice offers up to full tuition for a few engineering majors while other majors can max out at 18k a year. </p>
<p>Rochester offers 10 full tuition scholarships a year for all majors.</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve offers many full tuitions for students with high stats. </p>
<p>Wake Forest offers in the neighborhood of ten full rides and a few other full tuitions.</p>
<p>Other major scholarship programs like the Morehead/Robertson/Jeffersons already mentioned:
Indiana University's Wells Scholar program provides a full ride plus a lot of nice extras but only one student per high school can be nominated. I think it invovles a lot of community service kinda stuff too. </p>
<p>University of Georgia's Foundation Fellowship offers the full ride plus tons of travel and research stipends along with weekly seminars, mentoring, etc. About 25 students each year are awarded this after extensive interviews and a large supplemental application. My personal favorite. </p>
<p>William and Mary offers I think 5 or 6 full ride scholarships for their college scholars program which sounds immensely difficult to get into. These are the only merit scholarships offered. </p>
<p>Boston Univeristy's Trustee Scholar program has around 20 full rides with a special house for trustee scholars that features close interaction with professors.</p>
<p>gnusasoras- Trust me you should not exclude the Ivy's in regard to merit aid. By the way vig180 hit 3 of the schools that were on my list. There is considerable merit aid available. Bur you have to isentify where you fit in and then go for it. Aim too high and you eill be disapointed. Aim to low and you may also be disapointed where you end up. Its about being happy where you end up, because four years is a long time not to be happy.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that none of the ivies offer merit aid. Anyone?</p>
<p>Merit aid of the sort we've been talking about on this thread is not to be found at the Ivies. Cornell has a few small scholarship programs, but they give only "book" money (<$1,000/yr). Some Ivies will bump finaid awards for applicants they really want, but others (Harvard I know for sure) refuse to do this. But all in all, you're not going to get a significant merit award to a school in the Ivy League; it's prohibited by the League's admissions standards.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I know some "not poor" students whose Ivy finaid rivaled their merit aid + finaid at other private schools.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/%5B/url%5D">www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/</a> discussion/2005/05/27/DI2005052700956.html </p>
<p>"The Ivy league schools give financial aid only on the basis of need ... "</p>
<p><a href="http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/</a></p>
<p>Supposedly, Penn has a similar program to grab HYP admits.</p>
<p>1moremom - Yes in thory you are right. In real life that is not the case. Merit aid is availaable thru alumni and various other organizations. Although not officialy from the school, one wonders how these organizations know whiuch applicants are the "worthy" recipients of such funds.</p>
<p>schooltime-Can you give more specific examples? Are you saying that if you get accepted to Brown, some alum is going to call you and offer you thousands of dollars to go there? </p>
<p>Surely people who can get into the top schools are going to do well with private scholarships, but I think that's because of their overall achievements, not because they got into a specific Ivy.</p>