Does the amount of merit vary depending on the school?

My son applied to the school of engineering early action and was accepted. He did receive merit, but probably not enough for him to be able to attend. Shortly after he applied, he began to rethink his decision to major in engineering. Does anyone know if the merit aid might be greater in another school, say in the Business School or the Media and Communications School? Just wondering if he is leaning towards another major if it would be worth it to contact admissions to see if additional money would be granted in a different school with a different major. Thanks!

It is not by school.

Hi ShepMom, my son was admitted EA, was accepted into honors but we are very disappointed in the scholarship award…I know last year they gave out too many rich awards and I think the Provost got fired over it. I understand that they are taking a more conservative approach but I don’t understand how he could get into honors (pretty selective) but only get 9K/yr OOS scholarship. Not enough as fortunately he has much better offers from other good schools.

Anyone else receive lower than expected scholarship?

@Mac001 Heya, I applied to Temple’s Fox and was only given a 3k a year in state scholarship. If the Provost wasn’t fired, I would have gotten 10k in-state no doubt, and your son would have gotten more. (This is from a PDF of auto-scholarships that have since been removed) I have to bank on FAFSA and other schools giving more, sadly.

Yes I was all over the scholarships they gave last year (would have been 1/2 to full tuition + stipend)… big change and disappointed. His best merit scholarships now are from Bama -full tuition, U South Carolina ~20K, Miami U almost 20K, WVU 18K and a number of others. Temple was the lowest OOS scholarship…too bad because he was interested if he got into Honors (which he did). Very happy to have affordable options though… not really complaining…just disappointed

Hi Shepmom,

The awards are usually standard. It is important to note that tuition does differ between colleges at Temple University (e.g. Engineering vs Business vs College of Science and Technology (lab courses also increase tuition with lab fees).

I’m in the same boat as your son. I got accepted into the college of engineering with hopes of decent financial aid but was rewarded with far less than what other schools gave me. With Temple being my top choice it was a little disappointing to receive such little aid.

You’ll get the same amount of merit scholarship money no matter which school you’re in. Tuition rates vary a little, as people have mentioned, so it will go farther in some than in others*, but it’s all the same.

@Mac001 - Glad to hear that your son got into Honors! If he’s at that level, then I’m sure he received a decent aid package anyway, so if you’re looking to learn more about Temple Honors, I’d be happy to tell you what it’s like from my own perspective. The perks are definitely nice, and still worth looking into even if other schools have a small cost advantage.

*Pro tip: If you’re undeclared, you may be able to beat the system by staying in a certain school for a year or two and then transferring in later,. If you’re a business minor with a CLA major, for example, then I believe you’ll pay about $13,000 per year in tuition while taking the Fox lower levels, compared to the $20,000 per year that Fox majors pay. Don’t quote me on that, but it’s definitely worth looking into!

Thanks to all who answered. He’s still undecided but definitely has better offers at other schools. It’s a shame because I think he would have chosen Temple if he’d received what he thought he would have received when he first started looking in his junior year, but those figures were based on the guaranteed numbers posted last year. Good luck to all!