Congratulations swimmom2020 and jpinelands!
@swimmom2020 - Most schools do not stack merit and FA. Merit usually replaces all or some portion of FA, and only gets applied to EFC to the extent that merit exceeds need. I’m not sure of Sewanee’s policy (D has merit only). I’d call the FA office and ask.
Sad day here in our household. Lowest merit aid of ANY school our D applied to (close to 20 colleges, embarrassed to admit), and highest COA of all. And that includes California LACs she was admitted to.
In what world is it cheaper to go to an LAC in LA than Tennessee?
So much for “demonstrated interest.” We could not have demonstrated more. To the tune of thousands of dollars just to visit. Sewanee was our D’s top choice, though she has near full- tuition offers at several schools.
30 ACT, 3.75 UW, 4 years of 2 varsity sports, huge volunteer work, etc. And, even a real live, active, confirmed Episcopal! No matter.
$10k per year merit offer. Compared to at least 10 comparable LACs each offering ~$20k plus.
True, we decided to play this merit game.
But, I can’t help thinking, Sewanee aspires to be like most Northeastern LACs: Rich and poor welcome; never mind the rest of y’all.
No thank you. No, Sewanee’s not right. For us.
Stunned, sad, annoyed, and bitter. Rant over, and apologies to all.
No need to apologize, 4kids. Otey scholarship for D, leaving COA $15,000 per year higher than her next lowest college acceptance COA.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re grateful for any aid. But I do have to wonder why Sewanee is so far off everyone else. So we are going to be reassessing in coming weeks as to whether Sewanee is worth a $60K premium over similarly excellent schools. We fall into the slot of slightly too much AGI for need, substantial college savings, and yet a COA at this university that will still be a substantial reach for us. Every other LAC D applied too recognized our situation–just not Sewanee. Kind of a lonely place to be in, a donut hole for college families maybe?
Not bitter. Just really puzzled. D is the prototypical Sewanee kid. She occasionally reads these posts so I will refrain from gushing too much. But she would contribute a lot in so many areas. Met twice with the coaches in her sport. Submitted an amazing portfolio. Statewide recognition multiple times in her EC. Excellent grades from a top h.s. that hasn’t sent a kid to Sewanee for several years. Just really don’t get their thinking. D is obviously outside their target demographic.
I now regret that she responded to their Jan 2 email asking to clarify if “Sewanee is one of your top choices.” Given that Sewanee awarded a Wilkins this year to a student who applied to 28 different colleges, I’m wondering whether D’s honest and enthusiastic response lessened any incentive the university had to consider her for higher merit.
@4kids4college - I am so sorry to hear the sad news. I was hoping your D would get the Wilkins. The downside of increasing FA and striving for “meets full need” to attract more lower income students, is that, with limited funds, it reduces merit awards. You are right that it hurts the upper middle class kids who are dependent on merit. I understand the concept of wanting to shift funds toward needy students as opposed to handing out merit to folks who can easily pay, but the donut hole is real. Unless a school has a Harvard size endowment, it seems to end up with a student population at the opposite ends of the spectrum.
With peer institutions handing out large merit awards, I too question the soundness of Sewanee’s policy. Also, I sometimes wonder when handing out merit, if they try to guess how committed a student is to attending and assess the size of the carrot accordingly.
Sewanee has a policy of not negotiating merit. When I initially called the school after D had all offers on the table, I didn’t get very far. However, after my D attended an accepted student event in Spring where she was asked why she had not yet committed to Sewanee and sincerely responded that cost was an issue (she got a lot more money from Rhodes), her scholarship was increased. I doubt there would be enough of a difference to make a dent relative to a school with a lower COA and a nearly full tuition award. In our case, however, it was enough to make a difference between Sewanee and a school with a slightly higher COA and no tuition/R&B freeze. It may be worth a shot to contact your D’s admissions officer and/or FA office.
Hugs to you and your D.
As a note, we applied for FA last year even though our EFC exceeded the COA. They could see that we were in the donut hole as opposed to just shopping for merit money. Perhaps that helped?
Thank you all, I wish I could delete that post! Now that the dust has settled we understand - it’s nothing personal, just their FA policy. Sorry to go on like that. @overtheedge, thanks so much for the info. And @MidwestDad3, your D does sound perfect for Sewanee. I hope it works out for you somehow.
@4kids4college - No need to apologize. I totally understand your frustration and it saddens me to know Sewanee will lose an excellent student for financial reasons. With the record increase in applications this year, it will be interesting to see how everything pans out. They may rethink the manner in which they hand out merit awards in the future. Who knows?
I wish your D much success and happiness wherever she lands! Please keep us posted.
Sorry about any disappointment. I just found out I received the Quintard Award and I’m really excited! I truely didn’t expect anything. If everything goes smooth with need based aid I think Sewanee might be an affordable option.
@Jmbakh how much is the Quintard Award?
12K! I feel super lucky. I need to get my tax returns in ASAP though. It was kind of strange. They only showed up as a requirement on the Sewanee account after I had the CSS profile up. It probably mentioned them on their website though.
@Jmbakh, congratulations! I know Sewanee is very good with need-based aid, so you should be in great shape.
@4kids4colleges thanks a lot! I’m keeping my fingers crossed but I wish I would have gotten the tax returns and W-2s in by the first. Honestly I’m not sure I could have though. W-2s got here last week for my mom, but maybe there was a way to rush them.
Congratulations @Jmbakh! Hoping all the pieces fall into place!
@MidwestDad3 How can you tell how many schools various scholarship award winners applied to in total? Do you have an in with the Financial Aid Office?
More generally, does anyone know when Sewanee announces its non-merit FA awards?
Nope, don’t have an in with Sewanee financial aid @MrSamford2014 (that should be obvious!!!).
If you click on a poster’s name, you can see their other posts. For example by clicking on your name, one can see that you are aware of 8238college’s scholarship to Rollins.
I don’t know when Sewanee announces need-based decisions.
@MidwestDad3 Got it. Thanks for the heads-up.
Congratulations Jmbakh! I too hope it works out for you!
Hi everyone,
I am an international student and Sewanee is my top college. (you can understand it is my dream college alongside with Bates)
I applied EA to Sewanee, but I think my application isn’t strong enough. I sent my common app on dec 1. I was preparing for SAT that time and everything I did was in a hurry. But deep inside of me tells that I won’t be accepted.
MY EFC is zero. Has any international student received full aid?
I send my SAT and Subject Tests but it is not quite good enough. But I have sent my art supplement in Sewanee’s portal (sketching). I am waiting for my decision. I think I will get my decision in a day or two. I have only a little hope left in me.
Even if I am not accepted in Sewanee, I want to thank Sewanee for giving me a chance to show my talents and potential (not sure I said it right or not).
Anyway Congratulations to all of you who got accepted. 
And sorry if my English is bad
@MidwestDad3 @Overtheedge thank you! I’m really glad Sewanee was able to overlook my bad semester. I do feel I have worked really hard in high school and I guess my class difficulty and SATs helped.
@ShinraTensei Good luck! I bet you’re a strong applicant. I don’t know much about how competitive the international pool is or aid for internationals. I don’t think the percent of internationals is very high but that could just mean not many apply.
@ShinraTensei Ni hon jin de tsu ka? どうぞ、お幸せに。