<p>I'm looking at colleges right now and I'm wondering how much financial aid/scholarship money I can get, and how far off my cost will be from the posted price. I'm junior with top GPA and test scores and decent ECs. Any advice?</p>
<p>Go to each college’s finaid webpage and find the net price calculator(NPC). Fill in the info accurately and see what estimate it gives you. If your parents are self-employed, own a business or have rental properties etc., they will be less accurate. There are threads stickied at the top of this forum listing schools with guaranteed and competitive large merit scholarships. Start at the end and work back to get the latest listings, then double check at the college websites as these things change. Are you NMF?</p>
<p>What is your family’s financial situation and the biggest question to ask your parents is how much they are able and willing to contribute each year. For merit aid, you are likely to get more if you are in the top 25% test score/gpa wise but for big merit you need to be near the top. Give us an idea of the types of schools you are interested in and what you’re interested in studying. Home state would help too.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your help! I’m almost positive I will be NMF, and my home state is MI. The problem I have is that my family’s income is too high for any need-based financial aid as far as I know (Dad did multiple calculators), but too low to afford the 60k/yr costs at many OOS schools. My goal is to graduate debt-free and my parents will be paying for pretty much all of the costs. I’m trying to help as much as I can with a job and scholarships. I’m looking at upper tier colleges including Ivies, UChicago, UC Berkeley, and Georgetown.</p>
<p>You can look at the automatic and competitive merit aid threads pinned to the top of this forum. There should be one for NMF too.</p>
<p>The Ivies do not give merit aid. But they will give need based aid for some pretty high incomes, so it is worth it to run the NPC. But if you are full pay, then you might want to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Do not expect any aid from most OOS state colleges, only a few give some. UC’s don’t give any for OOS, iirc, so you will be full pay.</p>
<p>Chicago gives some large merit but there aren’t very many, so you would have to be one of the very top applicants. For colleges like this you will just have to take your chances. So you really need so more sure bets, meaning automatics, or less selective where you will be more likely to get merit aid or you state schools that you can afford.</p>
<p>How much can your family afford to contribute each year? That will tell us how much merit you need, half-tuition, full-tuition, full-ride. Did you look at the stickied threads? What do you plan to study?</p>
<p>You are lucky to have a top tier public in-state for you. Ivies only give need-based aid so they aren’t probably going to work out but you can give a couple a try. UC Berkley and other top OOS publics aren’t likely to work out either if your parents can’t afford to pay the high cost. There are other top privates that may give you large merit, though it will likely be competitive, but again it comes down to how much merit you need.</p>
<p>The Ivies and Georgetown give need based aid only. U of Chicago gives a smattering of merit aid to very high achieving applicants. Berkeley gives very little merit aid to OOS students and usually does not cover the $24,000 a year differential between instate and OOS costs.</p>
<p>If your family does NOT qualify for need based aid due to income, you need to add some schools to your list where you would garner significant merit aid. It is likely that you could be a full pay student at these schools…especially of that is what the net price calculators are telling you.</p>
<p>Look at the stickie at the top of this forum for guaranteed merit awards for high stats. If you are really a competitive applicant for the schools you listed, you could garner merit aid elsewhere.</p>
<p>Good that you are beginning this process now. There are many wonderful colleges out there where merit aid could make this affordable for your family. Sure…apply to some financial reach schools when the time comes…just be prepared to walk away if the money isn’t there.</p>
<p>Michigan is your home state? I sure hope University of Michigan is on your list!</p>
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<p>Their NPCs indicate that they do, but with no coverage of the $23,000 additional out-of-state tuition. Adding the $9,000 expected student contribution gives a minimum net price of about $32,000 for an out-of-state student with maximum need.</p>
<p>If the NPCs of schools such as Georgetown, the Ivies and other schools that give only need based aid and guarantee to meet full need are coming out to be more than your parents are willing/able to pay, then you are pretty much out of the category of getting financial aid. If your parents are not able to pay what the NPCs are coming out as their contributions, then you need to look at schools that have good merit scholarships that can bring the cost down, and schools with low enough sticker prices.</p>
<p>If the NPCs, for instance, are coming out at $60k and your parents are willing to come up with about half of that, then you can afford your instate schools, other schools with sticker prices as such, maybe some privates to which ou can commute, and those with merit awards that you have a shot getting.</p>
<p>These lists may be of interest:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-56.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-56.html</a></p>