<p>I have been reading a few of the threads regarding merit and financial aid and the accuracy of the NPC's. I am interested in hearing from parents who received a discount from list price but did not apply for FA or if they did apply for FA thought their income and assets made them ineligible for FA. I would like to exclude those whose child was a recruited athlete or received a competitive scholarship from the college that they explicitly applied for. If you could list the college and discounted amount that would be great. </p>
<p>Kmr…do you want to know about MERIT aid awards? Is that what you are asking about?</p>
<p>If so, my DD received in 2006 a McKissick scholarship from U of South Carolina. It was based solely on the strength of her application. She had no idea she was in the running for this until the award letter came. It was a reduction to instate tuition plus a stipend per year. She received this BEFORE we submitted our FAFSA.</p>
<p>I am asking for the total discount, however it was packaged, from those who did not apply for FA or who did apply but thought they would be ineligble for any FA.</p>
<p>In my area I have spoken to a number of wealthy parents who were surprised they received a discount from list. It made me wonder how common it was and what schools were doing it.</p>
<p>I think you may want to start a new thread entitled “How much merit aid did your child receive?” or something to that effect. The current title is confusing and a more clear title will elicit more useful replies.</p>
<p>A “discount” from list? What do you mean? When they got their bill did they receive one for LESS than the tuition/room/board/fees costs posted by the university without notification by the college of a merit award?</p>
<p>If THAT is what you are hearing…don’t believe everything you hear!</p>
<p>You’ll never hear a college calling anything a ‘discount’. The only thing I can think of is merit aid. You can look on college websites to see which give merit independent of financial aid application. Many of the highest ranked liberal arts schools don’t give merit. My D did receive a presidential scholar offer from one which offered paid research job and a grant for summer research, but no merit aid.</p>
<p>I can see how the language I chose to describe what I am looking for is confusing. I tried to not use the term “merit aid” as it would include those who explicitly applied for and possibly received a discount due to that process which I do not want to include in the sample.</p>
<p>@thumper1 - The parents I spoke to were notified by the college of the discount from list (call it a scholarship, merit aid, etc…) prior to their kid selecting a college.</p>
<p>So is the example I gave in my first reply what you are looking for? A merit award that was based on the application only with no FAFSA or Profile…or application needed?</p>
<p>If so, there are a number of guaranteed scholarships based on student stats at a variety of colleges. I believe there is a thread in the financial aid section of this site that lists these (remembering that they change from year to year). E.g. We know that U of Alabama offers tuition scholarships of varying amounts…guaranteed based on GPA/SAT scores.</p>
<p>@thumper1 - Your example is what I am looking for. Thanks for being patient. The more I speak to parents of college age children the more it becomes apparent that who gets a discount and how much is all over the map.</p>
<p>We fit your description. My kids’ “discounts” were anywhere from 5-33% off full tuition. The offers came in the mail with the acceptances or shortly, thereafter. They were all called scholarships, of various names, and often contained the word “leadership”. Don’t be surprised to find there are no “discounts” at top schools.</p>
<p>Kmr…in virtually ALL cases like the one I noted (and I’m guessing Toledo as well), these are MERIT scholarships for something that the college gives merit awards for. They are not “discounts” to the cost of attendance. They are something the school offers and the student has EARNED. Hopefully someone can link the thread about these merit awards that is in the financial aid section someplace! Many schools are listed there.</p>
<p>Almost all private colleges and univerities discount off list price. As Toledo said, it is only the very top that do not. The general rule of thumb is that if you are in the top 25% of the applicant pool, then you stand a good shot at a discount. At lower ranked schools, pretty much everybody gets a discount.</p>
<p>As an example… at a lower ranking among LACs, Central College in Iowa, everyone with an ACT score above 20 gets at least a $11,000 discount.</p>
<p>At a higher ranking LAC, Centre College (KY), the average discount is somehwere around $18,000 or so (I think). </p>
<p>The list of places giving discounts is huge.</p>
<p>All of my kids received “discounts” from schools. None of them were called discounts but were scholarships and awards of such but no separate applications were done for them. My one son who did apply to specific merit awards did not get any, but did get some of these with or at about the time when he got accepted or at the RD time for a number of schools where he was accepted EA. </p>
<p>You want to look at a list of schools that give merit awards. If they do not, then there are no discounts without a financial aid applications. Those school that give out the most number of merit awards and with high average merit dollar amounts usually have the best potential. Though about half the top 25 national schools on the US News rankings do give out merit money, getting substantial awards from most of those schools is not easy and there are not many awards given. Yes, Duke, UC, CIT, JhU UVA all give out merit money, but getting any of those awards is more difficult than getting into HPY, and those awards do take kids who are accepted to HPY at full price away from those top schools where they may have to pay full freight. I know a number of kids who turned down full price Yale for a substantial merit awards at top school, like for a UNC Morehead.</p>
<p>We targeted schools with merit awards geared toward my Ds stats and schools with her major. We received the merit award with her acceptance letters before submitting the FAFSA. I found the list of possible merit scholarships on another site and went from there. D received top merit award from almost all the schools and even invites for full tuition scholarship competitions. Be ready to send your applications in early fall to be considered for these as there was not a separate application necessary. We did very well, because as expected, we received zero FA.</p>
<p>Here is a list of those schools that “discount” and some stats regarding those discounts. Some top schools are not listed as the awards go to less than 1% of the students.</p>
<p>@thumper1 - I understand that. If “merit aid” is the accepted term that is what I should have put in the title. I am only interested in scenarios where the cost of attendance is less than the college website stated “list price” (however that is arrived at) and the applicant did not apply for FA or would be commonly considered to be ineligible for FA.</p>
<p>I have already read the threads you reference dedicated to merit aid and full-rides. Those threads contain a wealth of information but there are still some colleges that may be more flexible with their financial offers that are not exposed on their website.</p>
<p>Kiplingers’ list of Best Value colleges also includes a column for Non need based aid.
Some of the schools on that list include:
Case Western
U. Rochester
Northeastern</p>
<p>You still need to be in the upper third at some schools, or in the upper 10% at other schools.
If your student is in the middle of the pack for a school that gives merit aid, he/she might not get any merit money.
Elon discounts by offering lower tuition than other comparable schools.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse - Thanks for the link but those stats include applicants who may have applied for FA and received a combination of FA and merit aid. I want to reduce the sample to those who have no chance of receiving any FA either because they did not apply or did apply but are too wealthy.</p>