<p>Most of the schools you listed…Ithaca, NYU, Pace, UCLA do not meet full need for all accepted students. USC, and Yale do, and Carnegie Mellon is sometimes generous…sometimes not.</p>
<p>If your kiddo is auditioning as a drama major, it is likely that any merit awards will be based on the strength of his audition relative to the OTHERS who are auditioning for admission.</p>
<p>Unless a merit award is GUARANTEED for students with your son’s stats, there is NO WAY to predict whether he will get the award or not. As far as I know…the only guaranteed merit award from any of colleges on your list is a half tuition scholarship that USC gives to NMSF who,are accepted there. None of those other colleges have guaranteed merit awards. </p>
<p>Yale drama is one of the toughest admits in the country but it is a grad program, not undergrad. Yale gives NO merit awards. Yale does have generous need based aid if you qualify.</p>
<p>Are you instate for UCLA? If not, it will be quite costly. Folks from CA report that UCLA is a tough admit even for strong candidates. Add to that the audition requirement for acting, and it could be even tougher.</p>
<p>You say you lost a six figure job. I’m sorry to hear that. Are you currently working? Your need based aid will be determined by your income in 2013 and your assets as of the date of filing your financial aid application forms.</p>
<p>If your income is low at this point, does your son qualify for a Calgrant if you are instate for CA?</p>
<p>Also, remember that most colleges,do not allow stacking of need and merit,aid,awards. In other words, if your son gets a merit award, it will actually reduce his financial need and therefore reduce his need based financial aid.</p>