Hello there! Just got my acceptance letter, together with my Financial Aid package. I’ve got at least $26.000(Light! More Light!) renewable for all five years, and will get more in a couple weeks with their Final Decision Letter.
However, that’s only half the cost, comparing to the 2017-18 Tuition. So, I’m wondering if what I received is great, good, average or maybe even below. Due to my family’s income(more than twice below the “legal minimum”), I will most likely end up going to a college that wont make me sell my kidneys.
Compared to another college I received a scholarship from(so far), this will come out at least 2 times as expensive. Lawrence made a great impression on me, and I really would love to go there.
TL:DR: Is my scholarship higher or lower than average, and should I consider it?
Thanks!
According to Lawrence’s website their merit scholarships, either academic or music max out at half tuition. So if the above award is purely merit it looks like you received the highest award possible. Have you run their Net Price Calculator? Did it indicate that you would be eligible for need based aid? If so you might receive additional need based aid that could be loans, grants, work study. Keep in mind that the need based aid will take into account how much you are getting in merit scholarships. Also keep in mind that not all schools will extend scholarships and aid for 5 years if you are intending to double major and take 5 years to get through.
Lawrence is a great school, you will have to see how it all shakes out and compares to your other admission offers once you have all information in hand about acceptances and all financial aid. You should consider it in relation to your other admissions and your own financial situation.
Best of luck to you!
As the other poster said, your merit is as good as you can get from Lawrence - they only do half tuition. Were there any grants in your financial aid package? This is how LU ended up making itself comparable in price to other institutions for my daughter.
After receiving all of her offers, she did end up using the financial aid/scholarships offered by a peer institution to get a slightly better grant package from LU. You may try this route. Email your admissions councilor and say you’d love to go to LU, but institution X would allow you to come out of school with less debt. They’ll then ask you to send them a copy of the offer from institution X.
I went to the financial aid presentation on audition day for the conservatory. Highest scholarship for 2019 incoming class is $30,000. They said people will be pleasantly surprised to find that. They said they were lowering the bottom end as well to provide a broader range of scholarships. I guess to offer more on the top end they have to take it from somewhere. But don’t be discouraged. They are claiming to cover 90% of financial need. Also their NPC does not take into account the higher scholarships so I don’t know if they have adjusted the formula on it for need to match next year’s numbers either. Wait for the full package.
@saharafrog, I am yet to receive my full Financial Aid Packet in a couple weeks. Thanks for the tip, I’ll try that if I wont receive enough after getting the Packet!
@cellomom2 Thank you for research(should have done myself, duh), I will try the NPC. I really enjoyed a campus tour at Lawrence and it is my favorite so far.