<p>Have been lurking around this forum for quite some time and I figured it is time to ask you guys a question. Do you believe/know for sure that top scholars get free rides to some really big/top/famous universities? I have ben checking US PHYSICS TEAM web page latey and noticed that almost all of the finalists (twenty something of them) list as their future schools colleges like Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Cal Tech etc. Can't believe that all can afford it, must be some major aid involved.
When I say Top Scholar I mean someone who is known in their state for winning something big, like ending up on US Physics Team or geting the top score on State Math Contest or something similar in addition to great GPA and SAT.</p>
<p>At the very best colleges (if you believe and buy into the rankings) HYP etc do not give much/any merit aid. Free rides are for the top kids who have FINANCIAL need. That is because evey kid at these school is a "top student". At second and third tier schools, they will give top kids a free ride and some.</p>
<p>The very top schools give no merit aid, but are generous with need-based aid.</p>
<p>Caltech give some merit scholarships. I believe the others you listed do not.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago gives 1/3 tuition and full tuition merit scholarships. </p>
<p>The Ivy League is prohibited from giving merit aid.</p>
<p>So how little can you make in order to get a need based aid?</p>
<p>It's not just how little you make, it's what your family has in assets, savings, stocks, real estate, etc. At least as far as CSS is concerned, which is what most private colleges use. Also, the number of kids in the family attending college at the same time is also taken into account.</p>
<p>Sometimes the top kids at super-selective schools receive BIG scholarships from outside sources that allow them to attend expensive schools. Some of these scholarships are national (Coca-cola); some regional.</p>
<p>Even outside sources are looking at financial need more than merit. Of course there are exceptions.</p>
<p>But what about those really TOP students? If you are good enough to make US Physics Team, US Math Team, if you are one of those kids that qualified for SET (Study of Exceptional Talent)? Who helps them?</p>
<p>There are a lot of those top students on this board, and there are a lot of parents of those students here, too. They get the same deal as everyone else. There is merit aid at a couple of top schools and a lot of lower-tier schools. There are scholarship corporations--some of these take need into account, and some don't. If you want merit-based aid for sure, your son is going to have to apply to lower-tier schools.</p>
<p>Bare with me guys as I am new to all of the scholarships issues :-)
How is then the need based aid calculated? Are there any calculators available? LurkNessMonster wrote that they look at all your assets.</p>
<p>Older Ds best friend was a superlative student.
She skipped high school completely after attending a year or two of middle school in a extremely competitive Seattle prepschool.
Entered the University of Washington at 14 through a special program and graduated with degrees in Physics/Astronomy and Russian at 20.
She could have attended MIT, Harvard or Caltech, Im sure, but she wouldn't have received merit aid, which would have limited her options after university.</p>
<p>Students who qualify for admittance to Ivy league schools who have parents who have enough financial resources that they don't qualify for aid, have many options open to them( unless of course parents refuse to contribute anything)</p>
<p>THey can recieve outside scholarships and participate in honors colleges at state universities- these options are often limited to very bright students.
They also can earn merit awards at schools that offer them, sometimes combined with need based awards from schools that really want them and can tweak their financial data so they can justify offering need based aid.</p>
<p>those options are also more available to the students who have been able to show their potential before college.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/finaid/financial_aid/myth_2_merit_is_better_than_ne.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/finaid/financial_aid/myth_2_merit_is_better_than_ne.shtml</a>
calculators
<a href="http://www.finaid.org/calculators/%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/calculators/</a></p>
<p>Most schools make you fill out something called the FAFSA. Many have their own supplements. They use the numbers from these forms to calculate what your contribution should be. As it turns out, they assumed we did not need to eat, buy clothing or put gas in our cars............</p>
<p>D's tuition was to be $36,000 per year, and they thought we could pay that, room and board and more. </p>
<p>sigh...............</p>
<p>Large state schools will use $ to attract top scholars. UVirgina gives the Echols and Jefferson. UNC gives the Morehead scholarship. These are great incentives but you will be at the top looking down re student peers.</p>
<p>Top tier schools dont need to buy scholars but can give generous financial aid.</p>
<p>^ Unless it has changed in the past 2 years, there is no $ associated with Echols. It is an honor, but no $.</p>
<p>financial aid is money given so that students who cannot pay full price can still attend a college. It isn't an all or nothing deal -- a student may be able to afford 50% of the cost and need assistance for the remainder.</p>
<p>Money should not be considered an insurmountable obstacle when a student (especially a top student) applies for college. It does need to be taken into account -- but a good understanding of how the system works will help tremendously when figuring out a college application strategy.</p>
<p>I suggest purchasing the book "Paying for College Without Going Broke" it is updated each year, so you might wait for the 2008 edition.</p>
<p>Princeton is one of the most generous schools with need-based FA. I believe they have an aid calculator somewhere on their admissions site which allows you to estimate how much money you could expect from them, if you were admitted. Assume that all the other schools will offer less.</p>
<p>Caltech definitely does offer merit scholarships. One of the other CC posters has a child attending next year, offered one of the prestigious Axline scholarships. They offer several (@20) for entering freshmen, and spend about $1M on upperclass merit award winners. You don't necessarily need to be in top 5%; contribution to ECs helps.</p>
<p>Grinnell is one of the "top twenty" LACs that gives substantial merit money (my son is getting half tuition) for top students. Oberlin also offered him a merit scholarship, a little less.</p>