Does merit reduce aid?

<p>My bad; I was using a calc from 1998. Thanks for the correction.</p>

<p>That is still higher than my initial understanding, but I think the 4-5% that I heard was pertaining to the raise in tuition, not the overall COA. If I can soon I will get some clarification and post.</p>

<p>At least they’ll be renovating Danforth this summer for the money. (That’s the dining hall in SueB, where 1/2 or so of the freshmen live.)</p>

<p>They renovated The Commons last summer. (Which is one of the 3 main dining halls on campus. Danforth and Douglass are the other two.)</p>

<p>And the rumor is (at least according The Campus Times) is that the much disparaged ‘club meals’ will be disappearing next year too.</p>

<p>Whatisit, I’m sorry you felt you had such a bad experience. My D attends UR and even though we as parents got nothing for financial aid, and she got some merit aid, I still feel the money is worth the education she is receiving. The financial aid she got from UR was not that much, but it was better than other colleges where she was accepted and it is merit vs. financial aid. In addition, UR sent her acceptance and financial aid letter in March vs. April 1st so it gave us time to decide how to handle paying the tuition. One other college gave her nothing, and the other gave a temporary financial aid number which they would not confirm until she accepted and send in her deposit. The merit lasts all 4 years, the financial aid can change yearly. UR was the only college to give her merit aid. Good luck in your college selection.</p>

<p>My financial aid package consists of merit aid, grants, and a $5,500 loan. Would the Renaissance scholarship eliminate the loans, or would it simply reduce my grant $?</p>

<p>stanfordaspire… I think that is a question best asked of a financial aid counselor! Unfortunately I’m not too familiar with the details of the financial aid process and because financial aid policy changes so frequently and there are many different types of grants/loans, you want to be sure that you have accurate information.</p>

<p>Hey Stanfordaspire, </p>

<p>that depends. If one of the amazing thing about u being choosen as R-scholar because of overcoming financial hardship?Then there are other “discretionary funding” that u may be able to get. Just keep asking because R-scholars get pretty much everything</p>

<p>As for the other comments that say to take my posts with a grain of salt. I understand your reservation. But let me ask you this… Are you a student here? No. Everything u hear is from parents whose children go to U of R. And who knows how many of them are U of R admission plants. Oh you think I am paranoid? Trust me, schools do that. Ever wonder how some “parent” have thousands of postings on here? Don’t they have a job? Oh wait, maybe it is their job…</p>

<p>And also, I will never make a statement without proof. Just ask away and I will provide proof.</p>

<p>Although whatisit clearly had a very negative experience at UR and seems to have a personal vendetta against the school, I can add some credence to his/her claims about financial aid at UR. Before I accepted my admission offer from UR my financial aid package total upwards of $36,000 in grants/scholarships from UR. After I made my decision to attend UR and informed them about the outside scholarships I received, they reduced my need-based institutional aid (the Rochester National Grant) by the same amount as my outside scholarships. Consequently, those outside awards became practically worthless since I would have received that same aid from the University. Fortunately, the financial aid office changed their policy regarding outside awards a year or two ago. The new policy is for the outside awards to reduce the loan portion of your aid package first and then to reduce your institutional need-based grants, so prospective students do not need to worry about their outside awards negatively affecting their UR grants or scholarships. </p>

<p>When the financial aid office calculated my need for my second year they assumed that I would be receiving the same amount of outside scholarships as I did my first year. Many of the scholarship were a one-and-done deal, so they did not carry over to my sophomore year. Not surprisingly, there was a significant gap between what outside scholarships I did receive and what UR assumed I would receive that year. If my memory serves me correctly, I talked to the financial aid office about what happened and they did adjust my institutional need-based aid, but not enough to cover the entire difference. This forced me to take out more loans than I had my first year. I should point out that I am a first generation college student and had absolutely no idea how the financial aid system worked at the time. If I had been more informed my situation may have turned out better. That being said, I do believe that the financial aid office should not assume students will receive the same amount of outside scholarships as they did the prior year when determining a student’s award package.</p>

<p>While I did have some issues with the financial aid system at UR during my four years, I know that coming out with $25,000 of student loan debt from a school that costs over $50,000 a year isn’t that bad of a deal. I do wish that the University did not consider loans a part of their need-based aid package, but UR is not currently in a position to make that a reality.</p>