I am not assuming anything, I received an email that states it. In fact it states the following: “Offers are based on a careful and thorough review of information provided in the application, a student’s academic strengths and performance, and financial need.” There should be no “financial need” determined when awarding a merit scholarship–period. With that said, Rutgers can basically take a walk–my son received tens of thousands in scholarships from other colleges.
That’s just a generic statement as there are also scholarships that have a need-based component. But Rutgers does offer pure merit that is super hard to get.
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4.0 based on what? Weighted, unweighted? DId the student take honors/AP classes, etc… Our high school does not rank students and the GPA is unweighted. But, I am sure they also take into consideration the high school itself, and where it is rated. I mean there are some HS wherein there are only 100 kids graduating and being 3rd in a class of such a small graduating classes means what compared to being in the 10th percentile of a class of over 800 students. All I know is my son has a 3.971 unweighted GPA; he is currently taking AP Physics, AP Calculus and Honors English; he scored a 1450 on the SAT (750 in Math-nearly perfect) and he received $0 from Rutgers. Meanwhile my other son scored a 1230 on his SAT’s and had a 3.4 GPA and Rowan gave him nearly $10k a year in merit scholarship money. These are State schools–they should operate in the same manner, don’t you think?
One is higher ranked and more competitive than the other.
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Why should they? A merit award is based on how much a school wants a particular student. Rutgers is more competitive than Rowan.
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@Debnbill You are comparing apples and oranges to try to compare the offer one son got at your state flagship university this year versus the offer your other son got at a non-flagship state school, I am assuming not this year as many people this year have talked on this board about how much less money Rowan is offering.
Your son with the 3.971 uw GPA and 1450 SAT certainly has impressive stats/scores. However (and this is a big however), there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of kids in the NY/NJ/PA area who have more impressive stats. And plenty of them aren’t getting any merit money from Rutgers either.
There are lots of high school students (raw numbers here, not percentages) that are taking multi-variable calc by senior year in high school, who have scored a perfect 800 on the math portion on the SAT, who have 5s for all the AP tests they have taken, and who have equally good uw GPAs. They are all gunning for that sweet merit money.
It is hard to understand truly how many incredibly impressive students there are competing not only for admission to name schools, but also for ever-dwindling merit money being offered.
I am happy to hear your son has much better merit offers from other schools, it is always good to know that even students who are disappointed from one result still have other affordable choices available to them.
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With that said, Rutgers can basically take a walk–my son received tens of thousands in scholarships from other colleges.
There’s your answer - you have gotten too emotional. It’s understandable kids get emotional. As parents, we can’t control what the schools will do - so we have to be a strong face.
My daughter got zero merit at Pitt, Maryland, and Florida. At our home school we would have gotten merit - but it’s based on a published formula.
You need to come to terms and move on. Rutgers doesn’t guarantee a scholarships and few probably get. Typically the stronger majors or those with better job prospects (engineering) will offer even less than say a major that few will pursue. Your son is great I’m sure - but to them, he’s a dime a dozen. It’s just how it is.
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I am assuming it is–because they won’t even tell me what the criteria is unlike other State schools who lay it all out
where is the “published formula?” For Rutgers, there is no formula.
The funny thing, Rutgers Engineering was a “safe” school for him; I think I am more upset over the $0 offer than he is because it is not his first choice school. We are awaiting decision from Northeastern and George Washington University–I believe Northeastern would be his choice if he gets in.
Are you expecting merit aid at Northeastern or George Washington?
Automatic scholarships have formulas - they try to attract students with specific scores in order to have more high achievers attend (usually a smaller college or a directional).
Rutgers doesn’t need to attract high achieving students because most of those who apply have high stats; as a result, they use merit scholarships to entice students they need more of (girl in engineering, for instance), which varies depending on the year or their current institutional priorities.
Rowan is competing with Rutgers but Rutgers Engineering is not competing with Rowan, nor with Princeton, perhaps with UMD, Penn State, and RPI.
Does he have an affordable choice or two right now?
Did you run the npc on Northeastern and GWU? (If not, type the college’s name+NPC in your search engine.)
For most schools there is no formula. How much a student gets is totally dependent upon how much the school wants that student - and there can be different priorities different years. This happens for most schools with both merit aid (if they offer it) and need based aid. Schools that guarantee X amount for Y stats or EFC are the rare ones.
It’s why it’s important to shop around for those with financial concerns. Look for schools that are likely to offer money, but don’t depend upon any one school actually offering it.
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I am going to take your advice and do that today. I will let you know their reply. I mean he did not even apply to Rowan and they are all over him like white on rice trying to get him to apply–it’s crazy. I tried to convince him to apply, but he does not like the area at all. However, once he sees the living facilities at Rutgers compared to the beautiful new dorms at Rowan he may wish he applied to Rowan (LOL). I will let you know what happens.
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Most colleges, public and private, are like Rutgers and award merit holistically. Charts are not the norm.
Do take him - hopefully he’ll like the dorms and have him apply ASAP if scholarships are still available (he’d likely get a big scholarship there, honors college, honors dorm). This way, he’ll have at least one affordable safety (he hopefully has another one already but having a real choice is important.)
Did he get into the honors college at Rutgers?
Where else did he get into that is affordable for you?
Competitive merit awards are not formula based per se. These are awarded using a more holistic evaluation of the application strength…not just stats. There is no way to quantify the holistic parts especially since the colleges are building a freshman class, and the needs vary from year to year. These awards are used to encourage students to attend these colleges.
Is it too late to apply to Rowan?
Deb-- what are you expecting to get from Northeastern? That’s a school that has become increasingly unaffordable for many in my area over the last few years. Folks remember the very generous merit awards-- but that was 7-8 years ago… the school is much more competitive now.
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Merit tied to need isn’t unusual. Colleges have a limited amount of money to spread around, and their mission to serve the entire population (which includes low income students) matters. If they don’t account for differences in financial circumstances they won’t be able to adequately serve low income students. They could decouple merit from need though. The way colleges do that is to not offer merit at all.
The funny thing, Rutgers Engineering was a “safe” school for him; I think I am more upset over the $0 offer than he is because it is not his first choice school.
Residential college is a luxury and your son seems to have several affordable options. It’s a waste of time to resent a college for providing a student from a lower income family with the same opportunity, especially when it’s your son’s last choice school. Focus on the colleges he’d actually prefer to attend.
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Agree. Northeastern has transitioned primarily to need based aid.
And GW is one of the most expensive colleges in the country at well over $70,000 a year. Their merit aid is very competitive.
It’s a wait and see for him, I would guess.