I understand this is a fairly broad question, but could anyone post a list (or just a suggestion) of good schools that give out higher amounts of merit based aid? I have a 33 ACT, 3.86 unweighted GPA (4.43 weighted) with 8 AP classes and 8 honors. I play varsity and club volleyball with two years of soccer, and am in my school’s orchestra. What schools could I receive considerable amounts of merit based aid at, without giving up on a decent quality of education? The most promising scholarship right now appears to be Alabama’s full tuition scholarship, but I can’t find any other decent schools that offer anything close to that. Any responses or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Alabama is rather unique, so you’re not going to find a lot of well-known schools with similar merit. Temple has some.
To find more, you’re going to have to go down the ladder.
What is your major and career goal?
Are you going to apply to Alabama? visit?
Did you read through this list?
Check this out: http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
What do you wish to study? Parameters on size of school, geographic preference, urban/suburban/rural environment?
What is your home state? Instate publics may have large merit awards for residents.
I matter more how competitive you are at a particular school than how many large merit scholarships a school offer.
Thanks for all the input. I’m thinking of majoring in engineering as of right now, and am considering the University of Illinois for in state tuition, although they said that they give nearly no merit based aid, and the in state tuition is still relatively high ($17,000 at the school of engineering). As of right now, I’m looking at really any school with above a 25 ACT average that will provide merit based aid, and has a decent engineering program. I have visited Alabama, and loved it there, and especially the fact that I would not have to pay tuition, but would like to consider other options as well, maybe at better schools, even if I have to pay a little more (without paying the full price of a college education). The only other things I look for in a college is that it is not too small, and that it is not in the middle of nowhere. Again, thanks for all the input on the question, but are there any other quality schools that are known for providing higher amounts of aid? Thanks.
@red2016 Ohio State is a great school and is highly ranked overall-#52 in the country in USN&WR and #36 in Niche. Also it is highly ranked in undergraduate engineering and business as well as other majors. You would qualify for $17,100 per year—the National Buckeye ($11,400) plus maximus ($5,700). Checkout the Ohio State website under Money Matters and scholarships.
Here: http://best-engineering-colleges.com/
and here: https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/scholarships/ (go about halfway down to the section styled “Merit Aid Scholarships Offered by Colleges” and you can go state by state to different colleges)
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I have visited Alabama, and loved it there, and especially the fact that I would not have to pay tuition, but would like to consider other options as well, maybe at better schools, even if I have to pay a little more (without paying the full price of a college education).
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As an eng’g major, you’d get more than free tuition, you’ll also get $2500 per year, so your remaining costs would be quite modest.
What are your parents saying about how much they’ll spend per year? …when you say “even if I have to pay a little more”…you mean your parents, right? they’d be the ones paying more…right?
How much will they pay?
Many of the northwestern state universities would offer a lot of merit aid - Montana, Utah, ND, SD, NM. At Wyoming, you’d pay about $7000 in tuition, but may get extra money from the school of engineering. R&B is cheap at about $9k per year. NM has a lot of merit too.
This is my list of schools “that give a decent amount of merit aid to a decent number of students”. I am not including schools that give possibly large aid to a miniscule number of students (Duke, Vanderbilt, BC etc), and I am not including schools that give only very small ($10Kish) amounts (Carnegie Mellon, Lehigh, Bryn Mawr, etc)
USC (Southern Cal)
Case Western
U of Rochester
RPI
Northeastern
BU
Pitt
UMD College Park
Tulane
U of Miami
Pepperdine
U of Richmond
Lafayette
Villanova
My experience has been that USC did not give a decent amount of merit aid.
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My experience has been that USC did not give a decent amount of merit aid.
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I completely agree.
My friend’s DD was Val of her class, perfect grades, ACT 35, outstanding ECs and awards (Intel ISEF, etc), engineering major, and USC offered her NOTHING. She ended up going to MIT. Her parents figured…heck, if we’re going to have to pay all costs, she might as well go to a tippy top school.
USC isn’t likely going to give merit to an unhooked or nonNMF student with an ACT 33. That’s average for that school.
And for UPitt…typically a higher ACT is needed…35-36
They used to be generous for NMFs but have backed off that some.
My list is a generic list, it was not meant to be for this particular student/stats. Of course, USC’s criteria for getting merit aid is VERY high. However, they DO give a decent amount of merit aid to a decent amount of people, which is what my list is meant to be.
Same for Pitt. The criteria for getting merit aid is very high (and getting higher), but they do give merit aid to a decent number of students (although it seems to be shrinking somewhat recently).
So, both of these schools were rightfully included in the list I posted. I never implied they were likely a good fit for this particular student.
I know of a lot of people with very good stats who turned down Northeastern because the aid just wasn’t there. No one around here thinks of them as a generous school, and they’re selective enough that people who get in frequently have much better options.
I don’t really see much correlation of your categories/schools to reality. Here are the numbers for all the schools you mentioned (school, % freshmen receiving merit, average amount):
Villanova, 5.1%, average $10,145
USC, 20.5%, average $20,752
Case Western, 24.8%, average $22,601
Rochester, 30.2%, average $12,134
RPI, 20.9%, average $14,902
Northeastern, 27.0%, average $20,784
Boston U, 8.1%, average $15,832
Pitt, 5.3%, average $12,278
Maryland, 19.9%, average $6,451
Tulane, 37.0%, average $22,360
U of Miami, 22.5%, average $20,300
Pepperdine, 13.7%, average $17,882
Richmond, 6.5%, average $39,785
Lafayette, 7.7%, average $20,512
Duke, 14.0%, average $10,892
Vandy, 10.0%, average $18,797
BC, 1.1%, average $17,288
Carnegie M, 7.0%, average $7,053
Bryn Mawr, 7.1%, average $10,750
Lehigh, 4.9%, average $13,876
I would suggest students look at the actual numbers for colleges of interest.
Probably back in the years when they were trying to “upgrade” their image. Now that they are seen as a “top 25” or so school, they do not need to offer as attractive scholarships to NMF and high stat students as they used to.
@ BobWallace, except maybe a one or two cases (Villanova), the data you provide actually agree with my list. Pitt and UMD were included because although their merit amounts are smaller, they are relatively worth more because their tuition is less (even for oos) than the privates. So Villanova should probably be removed from the list (I recall their merit aid being much more just 5 or so years ago), but aside from that, my list looks good.