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<p>Pure piffle.</p>
<p>@INmom2d Thanks so much for the information regarding Purdue. Even though DS15 seems to be engineering through and through, I would never bet money on it. And he would really be disappointed if he went somewhere thinking he could add a music minor and then finding it so difficult. I think you just saved him the time and effort of applying (on top of what seems to be a very small chance that he would get a significant enough award anyway).</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are real and they do really exist! :D</p>
<p>^ Agree, My D added up all the scholarship offers from admitted schools for 4 years and the total is more than all my assets and saving total. Too bad that you can only pick one school and you don’t really pocket any money at the end. ;)</p>
<p>^ Hah! That’s the way they presented scholarship info at my D’s school at graduation - adding up all the scholarship $ offered to students instead of just the one’s selected. It’s much more impressive that way.</p>
<p>^ LOL. But how would the high school know the amount. Do they notify the school as well?</p>
<p>Many high school, my kids’ included, do ask for award letters and info. Not required, but they do nicely ask so that info is in their data list (and brag lists) for future students’ use. Many kids do comply. I’m sure not all do. </p>
<p>^ Same for our school.</p>
<p>which is really just silly b/c it is mostly a reflection on the number of schools applied to vs. having any real meaning.</p>
<p>^ Even more so, the number of low match and safety schools.</p>
<p>I got a nice hefty amount in merit scholarships my senior year; however, when it was time for the awards ceremony, I was surprised by the number of students who included every offer from the schools they applied to! I only submitted the offer from the university I was attending. Additionally, many of these students applied to these closes just so they could see how much money they would get with no intent of attending. It was an interesting awards ceremony, but in the end you could really see whose efforts were genuine. </p>
<p>BobWallace:</p>
<p>Would you care to expand on that thought?</p>
<p>MidwestSalmon:</p>
<p>Why is it confusing? I have a source of income. Those who do not and are assigned an EFC that is high or exceeds tuition, should look for outside scholarships. Seems reasonable to me.</p>
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<p>I think the point is rather simple. Know the schools your kids are applying to. If they only offer need-based merit aid and you have a high EFC, your student will not get merit offers. Schools that say they have merit scholarships (the only schools our ds applied to bc our EFC is high) do offer merit scholarships. They are often competitive, but they do exist. And, typically, those scholarships are high value. A lot of outside scholarships are low $$ amts. It seems like a lot of the good outside scholarships are also need-merit based.</p>
<p>Many privates are very generous with merit $. My S2 is benefitting from a private school merit award that brought his COA to a very comfortable price for us (equivalent to an in-state public).</p>
<p>Mom2:</p>
<p>I have found that most schools providing merit without need are over priced to begin with. With merit, tuition is reduced to what I might pay at a public institution. Been accepted to both public and private schools. In the end, total cost for all school varies by only a few thousand dollars. </p>
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<p>There are competitive full-ride scholarships like GA Tech’s Presidential Scholarship, NCSU’s Parks Scholarship, CWRU has a few, etc. There are lower ranked schools that offer NMF full-tuition+. My ds will be attending a lower ranked school on an essentially full-ride due to multiple stacking scholarships. The advantage to the school is that they also have great honors program opportunities. Honors programs at lower ranked schools can really be a good path for students that can’t afford other schools. We have a high EFC, but we also have a very large family and can’t afford our EFC. So honors and free has to trump higher rank with higher cost.</p>
<p>This link might be helpful for those wanting to navigate public honors programs. <a href=“http://publicuniversityhonors.com/”>http://publicuniversityhonors.com/</a></p>
<p>Again, most prestigious private schools do not offer merit aid but need based aids. So I really don’t know what you are talking about. Nevertheless, it is totally feasible to bring down the cost for a need met private school (e.g. NU, Stanford, etc) to below oos public schools or close to in state public by need based aids.</p>
<p>Mom2:</p>
<p>The scholarships that you mentioned are the exception, not the rule.</p>
<p>Both of my kids are going to schools that provide merit, based entirely on gpa and scores.</p>
<p>At the public school D1 is going to, there is a chart that you find your gpa and then look for your ACT score and whichever box the two land in is how much you get, $3000-6000. There are other awards for need, talent, department scholarships, etc.</p>
<p>D2 is going to a private school where there are 3 levels of merit scholarships, and gpa, class rank, and scores determine the merit award. A student can also qualify for the first level automatically with other achievements like eagle/gold scout, robotics team, STEM high school. Again, there are other awards for need, siblings attending, parent alum but the merit one is a biggie.</p>
<p>The public school is not overpriced to begin with, but I agree the private one probably is and the lowest merit award, about $14k, brings the tuition into the reasonable range (although there are a lot of full pays). Getting one of the two higher level awards really feels like ‘merit’ money.</p>