<p>I was wondering which colleges have merit scholarship opportunities for transfer students. I might transfer next year because the cost of the college I am enrolling in for Fall 2013 was more expensive than my family and I had anticipated; we didn't quite get as much financial aid/scholarship awards as we thought I would. So I would be applying as a sophomore transfer. </p>
<p>I would also like to know which colleges offer great financial aid for transfer students. I know that selective private colleges are usually need blind and/or meet 100% need for freshmen, but I'm not sure which colleges maintain this policy for transfers. </p>
<p>Currently, I am thinking about colleges such as:
Williams, Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Duke, Bowdoin, Amherst, Swarthmore, Washington University St. Louis, and maybe even some Ivies (it's worth a try, right?).</p>
<p>Any info on the colleges above or other school suggestions that have great merit scholarships, FA, or combination of the two?</p>
<p>I think you should do a gap year and reapply as a frosh. </p>
<p>Most schools do NOT give great aid to transfers. Your chances of getting better aid is as a FRESHMAN, not a transfer.</p>
<p>Which school didn’t give you as much aid as you thought you’d get? Why didn’t you get as much aid?</p>
<p>edited to add:</p>
<p>*New Student/Family Orientation</p>
<p>I am going to be a freshman at UCLA in the fall and signed up for new student orientation several weeks ago. I also saw there was an option for my parents to also attend an orientation that lines up…*</p>
<p>UCLA costs about $32k. How much aid were you expecting? What did you get? What is your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>Currently, I am thinking about colleges such as:
Williams, Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Duke, Bowdoin, Amherst, Swarthmore, Washington University St. Louis, and maybe even some Ivies (it’s worth a try, right?).</p>
<p>Some of these don’t give any merit to students. Some are highly selective for merit for some frosh. I don’t know if any give merit to transfers.</p>
<p>I think you’re going about this wrong. How much will your parents pay? For that info, we can see how much merit you need. It sounds like you need HUGE merit to get costs down to below what you’d be paying at UCLA. Very doubtful you’d get the merit you need with your current list…especially since some don’t give any merit.</p>
<p>Well, you can go to a CC, then transfer to a UC as a junior, perhaps using the savings from going to CC versus UCLA to fund your last two years at a UC. Or do very well at CC and try for a Regents’ Scholarship at the various UCs (they do give those to transfers as well as frosh; it basically replaces the $8,500 student contribution with additional grant / scholarship).</p>
<p>But merit for transfers is generally not as easy to get as merit for frosh.</p>
<p>That or take a gap year and reapply as a frosh to full tuition or full ride scholarship schools (both the automatic and competitive scholarships).</p>
<p>Regents’ Scholarship at the various UCs (they do give those to transfers as well as frosh; it basically replaces the $8,500 student contribution with additional grant / scholarship</p>
<p>UCB…I know that’s true for some of the lower UCs, but don’t you have to have demonstrated need to get the larger Regents at the top UCs? I’ve heard that if you don’t have much/any need then Regents is only $1k at the top UCs. But, maybe I’m wrong.</p>
<p>If this student doesn’t want to do the TAG CC to UC route, then he should do a gap year. Otherwise he may not end up with any affordable options.</p>
<p>I got about 16,000 in aid from Cal Grant A and some small additional merit scholarships. I’m also applying for their various scholarships that will bring the cost down a bit. We were expecting my housing to be around 12,000 but the arrangement they gave me was about 18,000. It’s doable but I just felt guilty that my parents would have to pay more than they planned initially. I mean its not like they gave me little to no aid. The total cost was basically cut in half, but the actual amount was less than I received from other colleges (Santa Clara covered essentially all costs, and NYU was surprisingly generous this year but still more expensive than UCLA). </p>
<p>Maybe I overreacted to this whole financial situation. I mean its not like we’re gonna go broke if I continue on at UCLA. I’d rather just save as much money as possible for graduate school, and minimize the stress on my parents to pay. I’m just looking for any possible alternatives but the slight extra amount we’d have to pay isn’t a total dealbreaker. And plus, housing costs will most likely be cheaper after the first year if I can rent an apartment off campus with 3-4 friends, right?</p>
<p>I got about 16,000 in aid from Cal Grant A and some small additional merit scholarships.</p>
<p>You actually got a very good pkg. UCLA doesn’t give all grants; you probably also got loans and work study, which is normal for a UC.</p>
<p>Whatever little savings you get going elsewhere, you’d end up paying in airfare, shuttles, travel costs, etc. </p>
<p>R&B at UCLA and Cal has been running about $15k per year. $18k seems high ($12k was too low of an expectation). Why is it $18k? Are you choosing a pricey meal plan? How much is the dorm alone? Can you get a triple? If you request a triple, you may get it because there are kids who have triples that don’t want them.</p>
<p>I picked the mid-level meal plan (14) but opted for the “premium” version because that allows meal credits not used during the week to roll over instead of losing the meal credit altogether. It was more flexible this way because there are some days I won’t be able to go back to the dining halls to eat and might have to grab something quick near class. </p>
<p>I also somehow got a single room - wait listed then accepted to UCLA. I basically got whatever was leftover from the people who already picked their housing. This makes sense since students wanted double/triple rooms more because they’re cheaper. Doubles are rare, though. I guess if I have to live on campus for only one year, the cost is okay. Older students I know are able to rent a place close by with friends for 700-800 a month. That, along with not being required to be on the meal plan, would make the subsequent years cheaper for housing.</p>
<p>Don’t know how hard it is to get into the UCHA cooperatives, but they can be a way to get room and board near UCLA at a much lower price than the financial aid budgets:</p>
<p>I understand that the colleges I listed, along with virtually all top colleges, don’t offer merit for transfers (or even frosh, for some). I think I could have separated that initial post into 2 different threads for clarity. </p>
<p>So I guess the two questions become:
Which colleges offer good merit scholarships for transfers? (I know there will be very few)
and
Of the highly selective colleges, do they change their financial aid policies for meeting full need for transfers? I know some change from need-blind to need-aware (i.e. Brown) so I was just wondering what the deal was on their policy for full need.</p>
<p>You can try the various schools net price calculators on their web sites to see if any of them have a chance of providing a lower net price than UCLA is giving you.</p>
<p>I am skeptical about using the NPC because it will also take into account some sort of financial contribution from a non-custodial parent. If I put in the information for just my mom (the custodial parent), will the predicted net price be less than what the schools actually calculate it to be if they factor in my dad?</p>
<p>I also somehow got a single room - wait listed then accepted to UCLA</p>
<p>I would keep calling UCLA about this. Chances are, over the summer, someone will decide that they want a single room for health issues or whatever. Let UCLA know that you’d prefer a double or triple for cost reason and that you want to be able to trade rooms with someone who would prefer a single.</p>
<p>Thanks mom2collegekids! I will definitely call and try to get a double/triple. And regarding the gap year, I just don’t think that’s an option for me. Mostly because I have a great school like UCLA in hand, and I consider myself lucky to have gotten in this year. I would hate to take the chance of taking a year off then reapplying because of the risk of ending up in a worse situation.</p>
<p>Well, if the school uses non-custodial parent income (which they would if they use something other then federal methodology to calculate EFC) and the non-custodial parent has significant income or is unwilling to provide information, that will likely make the need-based financial aid offer worse than at a federal methodology school that meets need (like the UCs for in-state). But you want to know this beforehand to see if your options for other schools on need-based financial aid are realistic.</p>
<p>Apply now for the cooperative houses. Even if you don’t get into them this year, you may be able to get into them for subsequent years to save money.</p>
?? Of course it will be. Why would you put in wrong numbers to make it SEEM you would get more aid. Use the correct numbers to get an idea of whether or not you can Actually afford a school.</p>
<p>"?? Of course it will be. Why would you put in wrong numbers to make it SEEM you would get more aid. Use the correct numbers to get an idea of whether or not you can Actually afford a school."</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be putting in the “wrong” numbers per se. My parents are divorced and I live with my mom, and my dad isn’t going to contribute at all to pay for my schooling. THAT’S why I asked if the amount would be different. Because if the schools give an EFC that assumes 2 parents’ contribution, my mom would not be able to pay it all by herself.</p>
<p>It looks like you are already committed to UCLA for your frosh year (versus other options of gap year to apply to big merit schools, or starting at CC). But it also looks like the circumstances which cause it to be more expensive than anticipated (got an expensive single room as a last choice of housing) could be eliminated next year if you can get into cheaper housing.</p>
<p>You can still apply to transfer, but be aware that only a few schools will do better than UCLA on need-based aid (basically, they need to use federal methodology EFC so that your father’s income will not raise your EFC, and have a lower ESC assumption than UCLA), and merit scholarships for transfer students are rare (and many private schools accept very few transfers anyway). So do not assume that you will be successful at lowering your costs by the transfer route – try to figure out ways to lower costs at UCLA, or reconsider the gap-year-to-apply-to-big-merit schools and start-at-CC options.</p>
If the school uses the NPC info there’s nothing you can do about your father not contributing. The school will still expect that contribution from somewhere within your family. Here is the list of schools that use the NPC portion from the CSS Profile. <a href=“CSS Profile Home – CSS Profile | College Board”>CSS Profile Home – CSS Profile | College Board; There may be others that use their own forms instead.</p>
<p>Other schools that give great aid are going to require BOTH parents’ income…typically.</p>
<p>Right now, you have more than “free tuition”, so looking for merit elsewhere is not likely going to yield a better situation. At most, elsewhere, you’d get free tuition, and have a similar situation.</p>
<p>Keep calling UCLA about not wanting a single room. Explain that you have a single parent who can’t afford this.</p>
<p>Also…call the FA office and tell them that you’ve been put in a single room (not by choice) and see if they can give you more aid since your COA is higher because of that.</p>