<p>Hi, I am trying to figure out safeties where I can get good merit aid and am interested to know which university, Northeastern or American, gives more merit aid. </p>
<p>If stats are helpful I have a 3.85 GPA, rank top 3% in a top public school in new england, and have a 1550/1600 SAT and 2290/2400 SAT. I have already been accepted to UConn Honors. </p>
<p>Also, are there any other safeties/targets with good merit aid that anyone might suggest? Thanks a lot in advance!</p>
<p>Are you looking for schools where you’d get assured merit aid? Or are you looking for schools with competitive merit aid? </p>
<p>I would think that since you’re looking for financial safeties that you would want “assured” merit aid - meaning that if you have the stats, you’ll get the scholarships.</p>
<p>American doesn’t list any specifics for their merit scholarships…therefore, there’s no way to know what stats are needed, how many are awarded, how much is awarded, or anything. So, nothing is assured. [AU</a> Freshman Merit Scholarships | Financial Aid | American University, Washington, DC](<a href=“http://www.american.edu/financialaid/freshmanscholarships.cfm]AU”>Freshman Scholarships and Merit Awards | American University, Washington, DC)</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t like vague scholarships. To me if a school offers many numerous scholarships, it would give more details.</p>
<p>Northeastern U
[Northeastern</a> University Undergraduate Admissions > Costs & Financial Aid > Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html]Northeastern”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html)</p>
<p>Trustee Scholarship
The Trustee Scholarship is our most prestigious and competitive full tuition, room and
board scholarship and awards high achieving freshman applicants who demonstrate
extraordinary accomplishments/skills in leadership, innovation, creativity, community
service or entrepreneurship in their home or school communities. The most competitive
students will have outstanding grades and test scores and are in the top one percent of
our admitted freshman applicant pool. Approximately 100 students will receive either the National Merit Finalist or Trustee Scholarship.</p>
<p>Achievement, Excellence and Dean’s Scholarships
The top 25 percent of admitted freshman applicants may be considered for these
competitive merit scholarships. These awards range from $5000–$16000 for the first
year. In future years amounts are awarded on a per semester basis, ranging from
$2500–$8000 per full semester.</p>
<p>How much merit money are you looking for? Assuming that the COAs of these schools is about $50k, how much merit do you want?</p>
<p>My family only makes about 40K a year so I would need a large amount of need based aid as well. I know that the ivies and other top universities and liberal arts colleges offer great need based aid, but if I don’t get into my reaches and targets, I think I need a couple safeties that my family will be able to afford. Honestly, I don’t know much about schools that could offer me good merit/need based aid lol. If you could throw out any college names you think are suitable that would be great! thanks for the response, by the way.</p>
<p>Denison U offers good merit and need based aid.</p>
<p>With your stats and income, I’dd focus on need based schools. Many are much less competitive than ivies.</p>
<p>In addition to merit aid, which can be taken away btw, you might do well to look at colleges that promise to meet need with low/no loans. Here’s a list with details:</p>
<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php)</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by…“merit aid, which can be taken away.” Yes, a student can lose his merit aid if he lets his grades drop below a req’d GPA (usually something like a 3.0), but I doubt a kid with the OP stats would do that. I’ve only known a few kids to lose their merit scholarships and they were mostly the ones that went off to school and partied so much that they flunked out. Such a kid would lose merit or FA in such a case. I also know of one case where a kid made the mistake of taking all VERY HARD classes his first semester in college, was completely overwhelmed, and his GPA ended up being below a 3.0. His family had advised him not to take all hard classes his first semester, but he wouldn’t listen. 
Just something to keep in mind when accepting a merit scholarship - don’t sabotage yourself. </p>
<p>However, once you’ve been offered a 4 year merit scholarship, the school can’t take it away from you even if the school later drops the offer for later incoming freshmen classes. Once you’ve been offered and have accepted, it is a contract that the school must honor. A school can’t “change the scholarship” in a negative way to a recipient once it’s accepted.</p>
<hr>
<p>In addition to the ivies and elite LACs, I agree that with your stats that you need to include some non-ivies that will meet 100% of need without loans (like Vandy), but you should also include some financial safeties that will likely offer you a huge merit scholarship.</p>
<p>the problem is that you’ve missed the deadlines for some of the big merit scholarships at various schools - many were Dec 1.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’ve missed the deadline for USC’s (Calif) big merit scholarships. They would likely offer you a full-ride in a combination of scholarships and FA.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s exactly what I mean…we’ve seen posts by kids who dropped slightly below their gpa requirement and lost their merit aid at some point. I don’t know if it was due to drawing a couple of bad courses or an overly robust social life! I’ve seen gpa requirements as high as 3.5, so it’s not always easy to keep those scholarships. The point is, the OP would likely qualify for a large amount of need based aid and no/low loan schools may be a good option.</p>
<p>anon, as posted above the most you will see from Northeastern is 8K per semester. They are not particularly generous with need based aid. My guess is you would be looking at a lot of loans. Please consider carefully. My son is a senior at Northeastern. I will also point out briefly that their coop program has suffered with the economy. Go to the Northeastern thread and read the posts…it is difficult to use coop salary to fund tuition for later semesters because most coops are going to be in Boston so you will be paying room and board plus usually a T pass.
Wait and compare all your offers but UConn honors might be your best bet. (I come from that area and I know that CT kids don’t always want to choose UConn but do yourself a huge favor and don’t end your undergraduate career saddled with huge debt).</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very good advice! </p>
<p>I know that there can be a temptation to go OOS, but if you have good choices in your own state without big loans, then that will be your best option. Hopefully, you can get accepted to a top school that meets 100% of need without loans (like Ivies, and some others). Vandy is one that you should apply to.</p>
<p>I wish you had started this thread earlier, because many **assured **full tuition scholarships would have been available to you if you had applied before Dec 1st. Some schools have “priority Dec 1st” deadlines that would likely still award you a big scholarship. If you’re interested, please PM me.</p>
<p>Do look at the requirements to maintain the merit scholarships. Yes, some might require a 3.5 GPA, but many only require a 3.0 or 3.3. Many colleges weigh A+ grades which can help offset a lower grade.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help! You guys have been great. I was not aware I was missing any december 1 deadlines! I guess that’s what happens when you’re the first child in the family applying to college and are overwhelmed by the process… </p>
<p>so I guess I won’t apply to Northeastern. The new safety schools I am considering are: American, George Washington, and Tulane. Any info about merit/financial aid at the two new colleges listed?? And I’m totally open to applying to schools across the country like the UC schools. I’ll do some research about that. I applied to Brown early decision and was deferred, and am now planning on applying to schools like Northwestern, Williams, Swarthmore, Wash U in St. Louis, Davidson, etc. Any suggestions/advice?? THANKS AGAIN!</p>
<p>Don’t apply to Tulane. Their deadline for big scholarships was yesterday. :(</p>
<p>I think you need to concentrate on schools that give full need w/o loans. Such as…</p>
<p>Vandy
USC (a good source for merit if the deadline hasn’t passed)
more ivies
Amhearst
UVirginia
Duke</p>
<p>I’m still trying to think of some match & safeties whose deadlines haven’t passed… hmmmmm</p>
<p>U Miami
U Rochester</p>
<p>For your family’s income…</p>
<p>Lafayette College - no loans
Lehigh - no loans
Pomona college - no loans
Washington and Lee</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Answering Your Questions | No Loans for Low Income Students](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid) Scroll down for some school recommendations.</p>
<p>The UCs don’t generally give money to out of state, particularly as California is in a budget crisis (to put it mildly). I didn’t mean to discourage you from applying to Northeastern, it is a great school and you won’t know what they will give till you do but I am telling you what I have seen and others have seen for merit aid.<br>
My son was accepted at George Washington with no merit aid and slightly better stats than yours…that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply.
What I am trying to say is have some financial safeties and don’t set your heart on a school you may not be able to afford.</p>
<p>Northwestern, Swarthmore, and WashU will not likely give you merit aid with your stats. Swarthmore is a top LAC, Northwestern and WashU are ranked above Cornell, and Hopkins so I think your chances of getting in these schools are not even a sure thing (look at prior year’s forums and see all the deferred candidates with stats that are similar to yours). If you are hoping to get considerable merit money, you need to look at schools lower in the rankings than top 20. Sorry for the harsh reality.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone was suggesting that he apply to UC’s</p>
<p>Try some of the midwestern schools such as Kalamazoo, Grinnell, Kenyon, Carleton, and St Olaf.</p>
<p>Mom2CK, the OP stated
</p>
<p>Other possible midwestern schools are Denison, Earlham, College of Wooster.</p>
<p>krug, clearly i wouldnt be applying to swarthmore, northwestern, etc to get merit money… i would hopefully be able to get need based aid at top LACs and universities like those (IF i got into them…) Clearly the reason I’m trying to find safeties like American and stuff to apply to where i can get good merit aid is because it’s unsure whether or not I’ll get into top schools like swarthmore.</p>