<p>We are paying only portion of R&B - $4000 / year. Other half of R&B + tuition are covered by numerous (impossible to list, maybe 11 of them or so) Merit scholarships. Strongly recommend to check out state schools and listen to people (word of mouth) in regard to colleges that are known to give out good Merit $$.
D graduated at the top of her HS class from very well known tiny private school that always sends all graduates to 4 years colleges.</p>
<p>I think what parents of kids coming up in the next couple years are looking for, which generally is not included in the stickied thread, are the stats of the kids who have gotten good merit awards. With a lot of time spent poring through college websites one can figure out who gives merit aid; what’s tough is knowing what’s required to GET that merit aid.</p>
<p>Thank you for the offer, and I am proud of my Son, but no, that’s not my style.</p>
<p>PM me if you’re interested in smallish schools in Texas and Oklahoma and I’ll give you Son’s stats and what he was offered.</p>
<p>Use caution when extrapolating the awards of others onto your own. Kids with lower stats may get bigger awards, your kid may get less than expected, the economy will probably tighten the whole process. Cast a wide net.</p>
<p>2 points: 1st) Son received $25K per year merit to Tulane University (60% total cost); $15K per year for state university (100% total cost); Private Scholarship for 110% to Michigan State (Includes monthly stipend and transportation home in summer/xmas); accepted appointment to U.S. Air Force Academy - $380K over 4 years. (100% total cost).</p>
<p>2nd; For those that live in the Rocky/western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington or Wyoming. There is a program called WUE. The Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) is a program of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Students who are residents of WICHE states may enroll at participating two- and four-year college programs outside of their home state at a reduced tuition rate. Each state has their own individual requirements and discounts. Most state charge participating out of state students an amount that is close to In-State rates. Some schools require the participating student major in certain majors and maintain a certain GPA. Again, each state is different.This is a great program. A student from Boise Idaho can go to the University of Arizona at almost Arizona Residency rates. Or the student from New Mexico can go to the University of Hawaii. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT!!! Sorry, this is only for the western 15 states. [WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/)</p>
<p>The New England public unis have someting similar – enroll at oos public for in-state fee if the oos public offers a program your state school does not.</p>
<p>My daughter received $23K a year ($92K total) from Chapman University in So Cal. She also received $20K per year ($80K total) from Tulane and various other merit scholarships ranging from $10k per year to $18 per year. We cast a very wide net. My daughter applied to 15 schools in hope of receiving strong merit based scholarships…so far it has worked well. I think the trick is to apply to schools where your child’s stats are in the very top, then you have a better chance at some nice $$$ offers! Good Luck to all!</p>
<p>Thanks to all who have posted and congratulations on those awards!! I have spent hours (LOL) reading the “stickied” threads about merit aid and taken diligent notes accordingly. I believe my DD has checked out almost every school that was mentioned for ones she might be intersted in. We are going to cast a wide net which was advice mentioned many times. While my DD is a great student, when I review threads from colleges about who actually got the top awards it always seems somewhat of a crapshoot. Example: Univ. of Richmond gives out quite a few big awards but when I review stats of the kids that actually score the award there are kids with stats both above and below hers. I know there is no garuantee. I just find it helpful to read about the awards that kids did get.</p>
<p>I think one of the reasons you see a disparity in stats for some top awards is the strong essays that some of these students write. I believe that some of the slightly lower stat students are offered these higher merit awards because they can write an amazing essay showing something that the are truly passionate about.
Obviously the student must be a very well rounded applicant.</p>
<p>By the way…here’s a dumb question…what does DD mean?
I see that some people write DD and DH, I assume daughter? Husband?
Thanks for any enlightenment! :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>younghoss, I’d give you a merit award for having a lot of class. ;)</p>
<p>DD, DH = Dear (or Darling) Daughter, Dear Husband</p>
<p>When applying to college, keep in mind diversity. Yes; essays, grades, test scores, etc… are important. But something most people don’t realize is that ALL colleges/Universities practice some form or another of diversity. And we’re not talking about just race and/or sex. Any public institution that receives state or federal funding promotes diversity to justify their funding. Private institutions promote diversity to for marketing purposes.</p>
<p>The point is; the largest percentage of college bound students go to or apply to schools that are within a 100-200 mile distance from their house. 2 students with identical or even some disparaging differences in their application: One from New York and One from Idaho: Both apply to the same university- Harvard, Penn, U of Maryland, etc…: The school has 5000 students: They have 125 students from New York and 3 students from Idaho: The applicant from Idaho has an immediate better chance to get accepted to the school than the New York applicant. This is one area that many applicants don’t look at. Maybe it’s because they are hell bent on a particular school or staying somewhat close to home. BUT, if a student is willing to do a little research, and apply to schools that have very few students from their state, they can increase their odds immensely for getting accepted and for getting financial aid/scholarships. And while the Ivy’s and prestigious schools have a lot more people applying, you odds definitely go up if you come from a state without a large population there. So definitely apply. For those that live in the really populated states, look at the smaller name colleges. Look at their profile. Find out how your state matches up in student population. For those who will only consider a local school or a particular school, well, you’re on your own.</p>
<p>My son is a pretty compliant guy and didn’t have his heart set on any particular school. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, so we concluded that the school should be on the small side. He said he didn’t want to be more than 3-4 hours from home. We were willing to consider schools that were *affiliated *with a religious denominatation, but not those in the category of “conservative Christian college.” We didn’t consider schools that were extremely Greek because Son would never be part of that world.</p>
<p>So…the Universe had been narrowed. Son took the SAT in December and March of his junior year. Armed with all this info, I went on sites like College Board and Princeton Review and started looking at schools that met the size and distance requirements. I looked for places that were a bit selective, but where Son’s SAT scores were at or above the top 25% of applicants. I looked at the total price of the school and ruled out those above $35,000 per year (that was over a year ago and prices have gone up since then but I didn’t look at any of the $50,000 per year schools.) </p>
<p>I went on the web sites of the schools that made the first cut. Some (check out Baylor, for example) have very handy merit aid calculators, where you put in your scores and rank and it tells you the approximate amount of merit aid you can expect. It’s not exact, but it can give you a ballpark of what to expect. We visited schools. </p>
<p>Son applied to 8 schools; he was admitted to 8 with merit aid at all. There was a reach school for which I think he would have been well suited, that he perhaps could have gotten into with a great essay. But I knew he wouldn’t get merit aid there so I didn’t even have him visit. We could not pay full price out of pocket, so why have him fall in love with the school?</p>
<p>**If your child is willing to let you be as pragmatic as I have been, just find the schools where your child is at or near the top of the heap in one or more aspects. ** That is the path to merit aid.</p>
<p>Just about spit my water on the screen! LOL! Don’t know why those posts surprise me!!!</p>
<p>“If your child is willing to let you be as pragmatic as I have been, just find the schools where your child is at or near the top of the heap in one or more aspects. That is the path to merit aid.”</p>
<p>And therein lies the mixed blessing of merit aid. It can be a wonderful thing, but don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a reward for good performance. It’s a way of raising the overall student profile of a school by bringing in some students that the school couldn’t otherwise hope to get. A student on a full ride is not at the school to be stimulated by extraordinary peers - s/he is there to be extraordinary and provide stimulation for the other students.</p>
<p>Unless you’re in the twilight zone of having too high an income for need-based aid but too low an income to be price-insensitive, never rule out certain schools based on cost. Get admitted, get the aid package, and then see what’s what. At the very least, you’ll have a full range of options when it comes time to deciding on that merit offer. Would you turn down the full-ride somewhere else to take a once in a lifetime spot among a world-class peer group at top college or university if the top school was going to cost you $50,000 a year? Probably not. But what if the top school and once in a lifetime opportunity turns out to cost you only $5,000 a year? That’s a much different question.</p>
<p>A lot of Honors programs have Merit $$ associated with them. If a kid qualify to be in Honors, then it will be some merit $, there are a lot of other “perks” for Honors, well worth it.</p>
<p>I don’t feel comfortable sharing specific amounts until my senior D has made her final choice, but her three merit offers so far have been from CTCL (Colleges That Change Lives) schools, she will probably get a merit offer from the fourth that she applied to. I highly recommend the book and the list of schools, particularly in these hard times. There is going to be a CTCL college fair tour soon, check to see if they are coming to your city!</p>
<p>[CTCL</a> Events | Colleges That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/events/map]CTCL”>http://www.ctcl.org/events/map)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We are in precisely that zone and most of the people I work with are, too. Perhaps we could be price-insensitive if Son was an Only, but with two more kids coming behind him in fairly quick succession, we cannot pay full price for a private school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What about my post caused you to almost spit your water on the screen?</p>