<p>SCU does deal with need based financial aid. They also have merit aid. They do not meet full need. Their endowment is growing and hopefully someday they will be able to do so. The schools that meet the highest level of financial need are those with the largest per capita endowment. Also, SCU has terrific facilities (not saying that other schools don’t…but they do) and perhaps some donations that might otherwise have gone towards their endowment and financial aid have gone towards their new (and fabulous) library/learning commons, business school building, and aquatic center. </p>
<p>Re: housing at SCU…on campus housing is just over $10K for room and board which is much less than some of the UC’s.</p>
<p>Many of the catholic schools I know do not guarantee to meet full need, nor do they for everyone, but they do have merit money to attract the type of students they want. That makes it a good avenue for a good student with high stats and from a middle class family to check out. We did not qualify for financial aid, but our son did get some nice scholarship offers from the CAtholic colleges where he applied.</p>
<p>A little OT here…our daughter is a junior at SCU. She applied to two Jesuit schools and one Catholic college. The Jesuit colleges, in particular, had the right size student body, and the right curriculum for her. And yes, they do use their merit money to attract students. And in the case of SCU…they have fabulous facilities and great teaching staff as well.</p>
<p>SCU uses both FAFSA and Profile. USD uses only the FAFSA. Siena uses only the FAFSA. Salve Regina uses both. Aid varied WILDLY amongst the schools regardless of the forms they required.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse, do you think the merit money is for the very high end of the SAT/ACT scores with Catholic colleges? I remember using the old SAT numbers when my son went to college most of the very high merit money was for over 1400, full tuition at times for 1500-up. I remember a student asking someone with very high stats “Why Fordham” when he could go anywhere, and he said “the cost”.
It varies but I also remember some pretty high GPA’s for the scholarships to stay. That is something else to look into…I’ve seen 2.8-3.4.</p>
<p>I think that the merit money is for the higher SATs. I do not know what the break points are, nor do I know if they use the 1600 or the 2400 scale. My son had a B average but high test scores. Though his merit awards were about half the cost at some schools, it still left a lot to pay with Fordham and Fairfield both going over $50K for COAs. </p>
<p>I do know that some Catholic schools also take geographics strongly into consideration as they want to be more national. So someone with less strong stats but desired because they bring geographic diversity would have that figured into the equation. Most catholic schools also give out athletic scholarships, and many also give catholics and locals some sort of a discount. Some high school kids I know with high stats are at Fordham now for the same reason as the someone you knew. The cost is an issue. I know a couple of young men who turned down Colgate, Holy Cross, BC for cost reasons to go to Fordham. One has a dad who works at Fordham so he can go there tuition free. The other two got very nice awards whereas they got nothing for the other schools as they give out very little for merit, only for need. Many I know fall into that chasm where they do not qualify for much if any financial aid but they don’t feel it is a wise financial choice to pay for a $50K+ per year school with the way things are with the economy.</p>
<p>I agree with that. It’s scary out there.
My son got more from Holy Cross, than Fordham, but not a lot more. The year he went to school, it seemed that although aid was all over the place for students there, the starting point for high merit aid there was 1400. I think that the honors college started there too. Although as you stated, one student from Texas or near there, got money with 1300’s, probably in part for the geographic edge. Sometimes they will write, “Come to NYC” or things like that.
I will check into any perks or scholarships that some Catholic colleges might have. Sometimes you have to dig!</p>