Anyone know how to estimate a merit scholarship for Duquesne? I have a 3.5 uw 4.2 w, 1700 old sat, 1210 new sat, and 24 act.
It used to be that every accepted student got minimum $10k merit. Not sure if that is still the case.
The top amount was $20k when my D applied two years ago.
Is your EFC low? Duquesne also gives need based aid.
According to their common data set of 2015/16 your SAT score puts you in the 75% percentile.
I don’t know if they look at unweighted or weighted GPA, but they list rigor of academic record and GPA as very important and test scores as important.
I would apply soon and write a compelling essay, so hopefully you will get more than $10k of merit.
Thank you very much @mommdc I applied in July and I am waiting to here. Hopefully you were right with the $20k!
Hi! 3.7 unweighted, (school doesn’t weigh), 1220 new sat, early assurance pharmacy, 17k tuition, 4k room and board 
It appears they are giving an extra award for room and board now
^ Yes, my son got $4,000 specifically for room and board (plus the “regular” merit). The award letter mentions that the R&B award only applies to those living on-campus and will be removed if/when students move off campus. I guess it’s a good way to provide a little extra for 2 years, but not necessarily for Years 3 and 4. I wonder how this might impact demand for on-campus housing?
Well the admissions counselor at Duquesne swore there was no more merit available. Letter in the mail today …low and behold they found 2k more. That is still 8k higher than other prominent schools that accepted him. Tarheels here we come!
@ironcity50 I am puzzled. In another thread you write, “I told my son when he received DU letter that 20k merit was an insult.” $20,000 is the maximum merit offered at Duquesne (with an additional $3,000-4,000 sometimes offered for the years living on campus). Their Financial Aid Guide doesn’t specifically state this; but when we visited, that was what we were told, and posts on this site seem to agree.
Another $2,000 just came in, so he has $22,000/year total in awards.Was that $2,000 a need-based grant? Were you hoping for additional need-based aid? If the NPC indicated that he would get $30,000 (through a combination of merit and need-based), and he actually received $22,000, then I could understand your anger.
But why are you so peeved that Duquesne didn’t throw their merit structure out the window for your kid and award him $30,000 in pure merit? Their maximum is what it is, and expecting more because he has nice stats and two alumni parents seems unreasonable to me.
As I mentioned on another thread where you were bemoaning his merit amount: I don’t think Duquesne is trying to compete, price-wise, with what OOS kids would pay at their public universities, but they do want to stay in line with (or less than) other private, urban, (often Catholic) colleges with good business schools. Could your S attend Dayton or Xavier or Scranton or Loyola or St. Joe’s or Providence for $25,000 (after merit), which is what it looks like your cost (tuition, fees, room, board) would be after Duquesne’s $22,000/year offer?
You are fortunate to be in NC where a terrific public education is available at a very reasonable price. I hope you are proud of your son for being admitted to UNC and that he will be happy and successful there.
Yes I am very proud of him. He worked hard for his achievements. I am not ungrateful for DU offer. I do not qualify for need based merit (don’t get me started on the FAFSA). I know that DU has raised their tuition astronomically each year yet their merit has not kept up. Non DU alumni are getting same package and their kids are not even submitting an ACT or SAT score. He has a chance at a presidential scholarship at another prominent university in Pittsburgh. They are also private and are doing backflips to get him. Just saying not feeling the love from my old school. Not being unreasonable, just comparing apples to apples.
I disagree, I do think Duquesne has upped their merit offerings in recent years.
U Maine offers a flagship-match program.
Do some research on CC and you will see what I mean.
What evidence do you have of this?
I have 1410 in new SAT and 1280 in OLD SAT (RD + MATH). My weighted GPA is 102.02 and I got only 18K Merit Award. Is there any official criteria for 20K award?
Duquesne’s Financial Aid guide says that:
Award is based exclusively on academic achievement; amount varies based on program of study, cumulative high
school GPA and standardized test scores.
Your stats are really good; but likely that’s the case with many of the students accepted to the PA program. So your choice of major may be the reason that you got $18,000 when some other similar-looking applicants received larger awards.
I was pleasantly surprised by the overall level of FA. It is a better price for us than Penn State at this point! She was accepted in nursing, honors. It is between Duquesne, Penn State, and Nazareth at this point. Still waiting on Case Western.
At the 11th hour Duquesne stepped up. Very shocked when I opened the mail. This puts them dead even with unc chapel hill for tuition room and board for in state! Glad to see they do compete for OOS bright kids. Now it is my sons decision to make. I was within 3 days of sending my deposit to unc.
@ironcity50 congrats - so what did you end up getting and for what stats? D18 may be applying next year.
Believe it or not they put in LARGE red letters confidential, on the letter. Sharing the information could jeopardize his scholarship. You could probably do the math by looking at unc chapel hill in state tuition r& b. He had 1300 SAT and 29 ACT. His class rank was five out of 165. GPA weighted was 4.5 and unweighted 3.8, many AP classes. Plays varsity baseball and many more club activities. I believe we are sending a deposit to UNC this week unless he changes his mind. Funny thing is if DU would have made this offer right out of the gate he would not have applied to unc. That’s life.
My student just accepted offer at Duquesne. There were not any red letter saying not to share… He is very involved, captain of sports team, plenty of community service, 4.10 and 33 on ACT. He was offered 20,000 in academic scholarship.