<p>Many very good schools have major scholarships available for kids with much lower stats. One example:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>annasdad is correct. Some variables to consider are your family’s EFC, and the cost of your instate public’s cost to attend (ie: NC’s instate costs might be tough to beat for many students), and the sticker price of the private school (getting a 20 thousand dollar merit award at a school that costs 50k + without additional financial aid might not be that great for one family, but could be doable for another family), and stats in relation to that school.</p>
<p>Here are other sample scholarships for good, but not over the top stats:</p>
<p>[Hiram</a> College - Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.hiram.edu/admission/apply/scholarshippolicy.html]Hiram”>http://www.hiram.edu/admission/apply/scholarshippolicy.html)</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Tampa - Financial Aid - UT Scholarships and Grants](<a href=“http://www.ut.edu/financialaid/scholarshipsandgrants/]The”>Scholarships and Grants | University of Tampa)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.queens.edu/Documents/Admissions/Scholarships%20and%20Financial%20Aid/UniversityScholarsGrid.pdf[/url]”>http://www.queens.edu/Documents/Admissions/Scholarships%20and%20Financial%20Aid/UniversityScholarsGrid.pdf</a></p>
<p>When considering schools that offer merit aid over state schools, one does also need to consider the GPA needed to keep that award.</p>
<p>Here are two more examples. There are many more out there:</p>
<p>[Eckerd</a> College | Types of Aid](<a href=“http://www.eckerd.edu/admissions/finaid/aid.php#tablink.scholarship.academic]Eckerd”>http://www.eckerd.edu/admissions/finaid/aid.php#tablink.scholarship.academic)</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.juniata.edu/admission/finplan/scholarships_academic.html[/url]”>https://www.juniata.edu/admission/finplan/scholarships_academic.html</a></p>
<p>*Quote:
For kids in the gray area (good stats, but not high stats), they also end up paying full or near full freight because their stats aren’t high enough for the schools that give great financial aid or big merit scholarships.</p>
<p>==============================
Since notions of “good stats but not high stats” will vary all over the lot, this statement is by definition too general to be of much use. </p>
<p>==============================</p>
<p>It is useful – good enough to get in, but not above the pack. Such as being in the top 25%ile, but not the top 10%ile, range will be a match but not merit money status most likely. *</p>
<p>==============================</p>
<p>Thank you Wis75. :)</p>
<p>Yes…those with good but not high stats for a particular “not full need” school often have to pay full price or near-full price because that student isn’t given merit and/or isn’t given a preferential FA package. It often depends on the range of the school. </p>
<p>A student can be high for one school, but not for another…so if looking for merit or a preferential FA package, pick some schools where your stats are high. :)</p>
<p>Of course there are always exceptions, and some award money to expand their ethnic or regional diversity…or to get more males (or females) on campus.</p>
<p>Specifying a percentile provides useful information. “Good stats but high stats” does not.</p>
<p>
Here’s what bugs me about the UMass pricing system: Mass offers “John and Abigail Adams Scholarships” to students who score in the top 20% of their hs on the MCAS (Mass Comprehensive Assessment Tests). They make a big deal about sending these kids letters telling them they qualify for free tuition at any state college or university. A lot of families - especially those whose kids may be the first to attend college - read that letter and think that means that they can attend college for free! Or even if they understand that room & board isn’t included, many don’t realize that Mass tuition is only about 10% of the cost of attending UMass. </p>
<p>If I’m told I’m getting “free tuition,” I don’t expect that means that I’m actually getting a 10% discount on college. I would think I’m only paying room & board and maybe a couple hundred in fees. Instead, I’m getting a scholarship worth at most $2k, and still paying $12k in fees in order to attend classes - even if I’m commuting from home! Frankly I think this is false advertising.</p>
<p>The reason for this insane pricing formula is political, of course. Tuition is set by the legislature, the university system trustees only control the cost of fees. The legislature won’t vote an increase in tuition, so the trustees have no choice but to raise fees in order to operate. So now tuition is only a small fraction of the cost of attending a Mass college.</p>
<p>That is really appalling! If a retailer tried to pull something along those lines - you would think the FTC would be all over it. Amazing that a university system can get away with it. Deceptive advertising at the very least.</p>
<p>Laf - I have a MA friend sending son to UMASS, on a “full tuition” scholarship. I was going to mention the misleading setup on that… but you had even more info. </p>
<p>CO is interesting. Your “in state” tuition needs to be augmented by COF (Colorado Opportunity Fund registration) to get full resident benefits. It’s all a game regarding state budget buckets. Some CO state school brochures show pre-COF amounts, others post-COF. All very confusing, for no reason. And of course there are tons of fees.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My S has the Koplik which is awarded to kids who did well on the MCAS but didn’t place in the top 20% of their class on the test. When we went on the UMASS tour I asked about this and was told flat out that it only covered about 2K of the total cost of 20K. I was also told that just about all students only received need-based aid. I didn’t see any deception on the part of UMASS.</p>
<p>I’d prefer not to pay the high fees, but as others have posted, you have to make sure that you look at the the total COA for your kid at the schools he/she are accepted to. Doesn’t matter whether they call it tuition or fees, it’s all money being spent.</p>
<p>BTW, both the Adams and Koplik awards require minimum GPAs to renew each year (3.0 and 3.3).</p>
<p>Just yesterday I went through the list of colleges for my son to put the costs in for attending. I did not include fees at all. I suppose I should go through and check. Interesting article, OP.</p>
<p>Hammer, congrats to your son! I have no issue with the state offering Adams and Koplik awards, or even with the total cost of attending UMass. What I take issue with is telling kids they get “free tuition,” when in fact they are getting an amount that doesn’t come anywhere close to covering even half the cost of attending classes. </p>
<p>To me, tuition is what it costs to enroll in a class. A “full tuition” scholarship shouldn’t be less than 1/6th of the cost of attending classes.</p>
<p>Interesting… total fees are significant, but it’s still a bargain at UNC Charlotte instate. </p>
<p>tuition $1,621.00
Ed & Tech Fee $188.00
General Fee $897.50
ID Fee $6.00
UNC System Assoc Fee $0.50
Transportation Services Fee $7.00</p>
<p>Total tuition and fees $2,720.00</p>
<p>*Specifying a percentile provides useful information. “Good stats but high stats” does not. *</p>
<p>Good stats for the school suggests being in the 2 middle quartiles. High stats for the school suggests being in the top 25%</p>
<p>the info was useful for many. maybe not you, but I could give a rat’s patootie about that.</p>
<p>BTW…what % was my statement not “useful” ? 50%? 100%? Without a % your criticism is not useful to me. ROTFLMAO</p>
<p>:sigh:</p>
<p>If I had put a percentage - say top 10% gets large merit - you would have come back with an example where the the top 20% or some other percentage got large merit. </p>
<p>:sigh:</p>
<p>The bottom line is that some schools give big merit to the top 10%…some to the top 25%…some only to the top 2-5%. There is no strict % rule. </p>
<p>I often suggest being in the top 5-10% for getting large merit…such as full tuition…at the schools that give those scholarships. Of course, the words “large merit” or “big merit” can mean different things to different people. Some thinking getting 30% off tuition is great. Some think that they need at least 1/2 tuition scholarship for it to be good. Some want more. </p>
<p>:sigh:
:sigh:
:sigh:</p>
<p>Everyone stop complaining about your state universities’ fees…come to California and attend a UC where you probably won’t get any aid unless you make less than 50K (even then, you will still have to pay a good 20%-40% or so of tuition)…that + a good 5K to 10K or so of additional fees = ~35K-45K, then you can complain :D</p>
<p>Cheese-Mu DD is in the same boat, with some aid going to a Private versus a UC could be close in cost…especially with the recent increase just announced due to more budget cuts. </p>
<p>Now that I read NJres post about the cost to attend a state school in NC, I should have moved out to NC just to get my kid residency!</p>
<p>We moved from CA to NC, about 7 years ago with 5 high schoolers. Best “grant” ever.</p>
<p>NJres- those tuition/fees prices are great aren’t they!</p>
<p>With 16 UNC campuses, the tuition is exceptional. And the choices are so varied for campuses. UNC Chapel Hill is the most expensive, around 5K(tuition) per year and the rest all fall under that. NCState is large with numerous colleges and programs. As is Charlotte, but UNC Asheville, Wilmington, Greensboro, are all smaller. My very favorite NC A&T is an HBCU with a fantastic engineering school and a student body of 4K, Asheville is a great LAC, Wilmington’s Marine biology program is one of the best, ECU has a brand new dental school, Chapel Hill’s public health program is right behind Harvard’s and that is just the start…</p>
<p>Their grad school programs are an even better tuition break for in-state.</p>
<p>Some are located in the most picturesque areas Western Carolina, Asheville, App State, Wilmington…and several are HBCU’s Central, NC A &T and there are more.</p>
<p>So tuition and fees(includes health insurance) at A&T engineering program in nano engineering and mech e runs about $2785 per semester. Unlimited meals is $1300 for the best food ever!</p>
<p>Again, there are many campuses and each has a very different feel and specialize in a large variety of subjects.</p>
<p>Moving here was the best financial decision for our family, hands down.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>The fact is nobody knows the cost before they apply. It is much more true for state schools than privates. You will not know cost before you get your Merit award package which is very significant for top applicants going to in-state state schools and even some in-state private schools. They might even get some Merit awards at OOS public/private. You will not know until you apply though. You can only estimate based on anecdotal data (if you have any listenning to others to have applied in a past).</p>
<p>Hi Kat (waves across the state). Just wrote the check for S2’s tuition at East Carolina University for fall semester.
Tuition and fees came to $2682.</p>
<p>katwkittens - we moved to NC from MA 5 years ago and the university system was a major factor in our decision!</p>