My son says this too
Hey y’all! Congrats on your admissions. From my experience last year, financial aid packages include both merit awards and FAFSA stuff. I hope this helps and go tigers!
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Did anyone who received their acceptance on Feb 15th have merit aid mentioned in their acceptance? Looks like it was only people who go an early acceptance, wondering if I got that right.
I saw one or two who said they got merit on this thread from the 2/15 wave, so I think kids did get merit in this wave as well.
Agree it’s disappointing.
I do not doubt your theory, but the issue with that approach is if they are doing that in some cases the students/families feel they cannot pick “the one” given large information gaps (FA/merit) from some of the options on the table and until they pick “the one” they are not going to decline the other X possible options.
My D has six (2 in-state for us, 4 OOS) viable options on the table, none of which is a clear stand out at this point (each has its pluses and minuses). For the OOS options final merit is a significant consideration. So, until we know all the merit numbers 5 declines are being held up. At one point Clemson was a clear favorite but there’s been the affordability ? cloud over it for some time now.
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Also, from my own experience with Clemson FA, they’re stingy with money. I was offered tens of thousands per year at other schools, at Clemson I qualified for significantly less (and my merit award was on the higher side of mine and my friends’). If you are between UofSC and Clemson, UofSC will almost definitely offer more.
I was not an OOS student, but I believe the highest OOS award alleviates the OOS fees and brings cost of attendance down to in-state.
@cgemaj - Agreed! This process drags out the decision making and makes it hard to tell a school “no” which of course hurts other kids hoping for a spot. We are fortunate that D already received OOS waiver from UofSC, and D liked Columbia when we visited pre-Covid. We are waiting to hear from FSU and UF this month, and if admitted, we’ll make quick visit(s), but as of now, still not ready to tell Clemson no.
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Did it say “as a scholarship recipient” in the email sent out today?
Haha same… they do really just like to get your hopes up and then crush them
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Guaranteed UofSC’s will be better!
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No mention of scholarship in ours. So I’m guessing that means no merit? It would be so nice if they just told us, either way.
My daughters letter today did say “as a scholarship recipient” and that scholarships would be included in the mid-March financial aid package.
Amen!!
Also waiting for FSU here!
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So is it worth submitting an updated transcript to Clemson if my dd weighted gpa went from a 4.67 to a 4.71 and rank from top 15% to 13% or is it not that big of a jump to matter?
If we received admission on the 15th, does that mean we aren’t in consideration for Honors College, since Honors decisions release today? Or is it a separate process?
Honors was a separate application and due date was Dec 8.
I would assume no. I’m sure you will be offered something somewhere!
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Basically, it’s a supply and demand economic issue. Clemson is a hot destination lately, so they don’t “have” to offer more money in general. UofSC is great too, but they are offering lots of money to OOS with high stats to help boost their profile (increase average SAT, ACT, GPA ranges). The more popular the school, the less they have to offer merit to entice people to attend or get their parents to shell out full price for a dream school.
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I received my decision in December with mention of an academic scholarship and the first two paragraphs of my email today were slightly different from yours:
“We are pleased to welcome you to Clemson University and hope you will become Tigertown Bound. As a scholarship recipient, we want to congratulate you on your hard work thus far.
We realize that one of your next steps is learning about the financial aid awards you will receive because this is an important part of your decision to attend. Your award package will include any scholarships and grants for which you are eligible.“