Well…
Yes. The most common reasons why your financial aid package could change include:
I stand corrected 
I very much wish you had been correct. I personally think it’s pretty crappy for schools to do that.
Having to report other scholarships when applying for a scholarship is pretty scummy too. Whats the point of limiting the merit in merit-based aid??
As I said above, our family EFC is over $70K; my son got into 2 private schools this year that expected him to pay ~65K (BU) and ~55K (WPI). Our family budget was 35K from parents plus whatever my son could come up with from loans/savings. We had very specific reasons with documentation for the lower amount available (2 children with permanent disabilities). Each school reviewed the documentation and gave about $3K more aid. 
So, if you have documentation of specific, acceptable reasons for the amount you can pay, the schools might give you a little more aid.
ETA: The point is, find schools you can love that have NPCs in the range of what you can afford or that offer merit that can get you close.
Carnegie Mellon DOES allow scholarship stacking. They will not reduce your financial aid within reason. Financial aid is only affected if the outside scholarships exceed the amount of tuition. (I am. It saying that correctly. I will find the verbiage.)
That’s a relief. CMU is one of those reaches whose program really interests me in a way few others do.
Coca-Cola awards 150 scholarships and often gets over 90,000 applications. The chance of winning is less than .1%. It’s worth trying, but not a viable plan to cover tuition.
Outside scholarships are used to meet unmet financial need and, if necessary, are used to offset/reduce loans and/or work-study. Institutional grants and scholarships will not be reduced due to the receipt of outside scholarships unless one of the following occurs:
- If the student receives federal grants or loans, these funds, in combination with any other grants/scholarships, cannot exceed the student’s financial need.
- All outside scholarships, in combination with all aid received, cannot exceed the student’s cost of attendance.
I wasnt referring to Coca Cola specifically, just casting a wide net when it comes to scholarships.
Although CMU allows scholarship and financial aid stacking, the point remains that many schools do not. The extent to which outside scholarships will reduce you cost if attendance will be school-dependent.
The federal student loans are limited to $5500 first year, $6500 second year, $7500 years three and four.
The challenge, of course, is that what the school’s are calculating as your need is not lining up with what your family can pay. And the federal student loans cannot bridge that gap. It is generally recommended to avoid any additional loans over the student allowed amounts.
You will need at least a full tuition option. It sounds like you have safeties in FL that can meet your budget with Bright Futures (although I understand that is not where you would like to be). Your next best bet financially is one of the auto-merit or NMSF schools (if you get the distinction)… those will require compromises in location and prestige.
There are very good schools that can meet your budget, but you will have to cast a wide net. The schools are a better source of funding than outside scholarships like Coca Cola. Once you identify some likely/match schools, it is worth going for competitive scholarships, such as the Stamps at GTech. But first, figure out the safety/likely/match schools before diving too deep into the reaches/extreme reaches.
I get that it was only one example, but any example of an outside scholarship that offers a lot of money will have steep odds. I am not trying to discourage you from applying, but it is not something you can plan on so you need to make a college list assuming that you won’t receive them.
Also, if you were to receive Coca-Cola, as an example, it’s $20,000 spread over 4 years. Even if you are able to stack at a school, $5K/year often doesn’t make a dent.
With your limited budget, you will need to be looking at college-based scholarship programs for which you automatically qualify or for which you have a very good chance.
(I was posting at the same time as @DramaMama2021 and basically said the same…look for schools that offer scholarships.)
Noted! Thank you and @DramaMama2021 for the advice. Taking into account some of the schools mentioned in this thread I think I have a list solid enough to begin looking for scholarships.
Outside scholarships? Or competitive scholarships at schools (like the Stamps, Robertson, Jefferson, etc)?
Both. I dont think either will cut it by themselves.
You’ve got great schools in Florida so it’s ok to have dreams.
You can check each school’s NPC to see where you would come out and decide. But if you worst case is a Florida State school - and you might add another such as USF - nothing wrong with that. You can also do an Alabama and others - and still hit budget.
As long as you have those assured - chasing the dream - if you know it will be affordable, is a fine strategy as long as you realize - it’s not assured.
In terms of admissions, is an ED to CMU a good idea? (Assuming enough financial aid).
I’m doubting whether im strong enough to get into my reaches in EA and id much prefer CMU over a state school.
The competitive scholarships I mentioned are full ride or full tuition. So those will “cut it by themselves”. They are extremely competitive but you have the stats to make it worth a try.
Do some more research on those. Such as…
Robertson - Duke and UNC
Jefferson - UVA
Stamps - multiple schools such as GTech and UMiami and others
Banneker Key - UMD
There are others if you want more suggestions.
This list might be helpful as you think about where you might find a full ride (though check the scholarship details carefully…some of these “full rides” are tuition only, whereas others are the full tuition, room, and board: