My son’s first choice was UF as well. But with the FSU OOS waiver, there’s no way to justify the cost differential. Hard for me to be sad about that! But the difference is between about a net of $14K for FSU versus $42K for UF. Not even a close analysis here.
I’m a die hard member of the Gator Nation, and I would have gone with FSU :)>-
Somebody I know received a presidential scholarship via email today, so they are still coming out.
@FLAtoMICH Really?
@allthingsamanda Yes
I thought all notifications were given out the 18th, but good to know!
Yes it seems more presidential scholarships trickled out on the 28th. Maybe for the kids they are trying to woo over or possibly some kids have already rejected UF despite the offers and this leaves funds over for others?
@saismom,
Just wanted to answer one of your questions. My son is a NMF and has not received any scholarship from UF. He has excellent stats (35 ACT, 4.0 uw/4.5 w GPA, has a very well-rounded set of ECs). I must say I am a little surprised. Every other state school offered him a very nice scholarship. Since we can’t really depend on the FIS, I really wish he had gotten a more reliable scholarship directly from UF. I am fretting over this FIS thing!! (I’m sure you can relate!)
Just spoke with UF. All of their merit scholarships from admissions ( not financial aid) have been offered but they will reevaluate based on whether students accept or decline. Ivy day is today at 5:00 and I know of at least 1 kid this year from our school who will decline the UF offer if they get into an Ivy. We had two last year who declined their scholarships as well and UF claims they will disburse those scholarships to others. Rick Scott has no funding appropriated in his current proposed budget but the Florida Senate loves the law and just voted to rename it after the Fort Myers Senator, Lizbeth Beneacquisto who proposed it so I do not see it dying in the senate. Not sure about the house , though.
The house budget also included the scholarships, so it’s likely to be in the final budget.
@ Mobie 101- I know that saismom has already talked about this in a different thread, but I did speak with Max Mauney in the UF financial aid office yesterday and he confirmed that as of right now all NMF who do not receive a corporate or NMSC $2500 scholarship will receive a University of Florida scholarship to qualify them for the Florida Incentive Scholarship if they select UF as their first choice school on NMSC website. MY son is also a NMF with similar stats to your son and has not received any scholarships from UF. After speaking with him I was very hopeful that he will be able to use the FIS at UF.
Hey guys! I just wanted to say that my dad spoke to the financial office as well as the admissions office and explained to him how the merit scholarships were given out and she stated that that mainly look at the students’ essay, not 100% on academics!
Thanks for the info @caspiancat! I called Max Mauney last week and received similar info, but he did recommend that I call Krista Scott in admissions as she is the one handling the NM/FIS scholarship. I haven’t called yet because we had a death in the family and then were out of town. I wonder if Mr. Mauney knows he is a sort of celebrity on this forum!
My son did not receive a corporate or NMSC scholarship, so the college-sponsored is the only thing left to qualify for FIS. All of this stress is making me wish he was more excited about UCF, because that guaranteed 4-year free ride would be so nice!! He currently has UF as his first choice on NMSC site, so I am assuming everything else should fall into place without any more action on our part, correct?
Thank you for posting, @itstamara. Too bad they focus so much on the essay–that is probably my son’s weakest part of his application. I also think that too much emphasis is put on the essay during the application process, because there is no way of knowing if the student applying even wrote the essay him/herself! I wonder if there are parents who write the essays or hire professionals to do it. Seems unfair to put emphasis on the only non-verifiable part of the application.
@Mobie101 No problem. My dad was concerned because as I stated before, my sister did not receive a scholarship from UF, while I did even though she had higher stats than me. But hearing this confirms my idea that UF merit scholarships are not completely based on your GPA, SAT & ACT scores, etc, but rather your essay and information about the student in general. Which is misleading because most applicants think that merit is mainly on your academics. I guess when UF says they use a holistic approach to their application process, they really mean it.