<p>My daughter is a Junior at a public school in Florida. She scored a 2240 on the SAT; she is in the running for a National Merit Scholar based on her PSAT score; she has scored 5's on her APUSH, AP Art History and AP Bio exams; she is currently taking AP Chem, AP ENG COMPO; AP Latin Vergil; AP Calc AB; and AP US History. She has been on the Cross-Country team for three years and is currently the Captain. She is a member of the math and latin clubs. She has a 4.0 unweighted GPA and I think a 4.5+ unweighted GPA. </p>
<p>My question is, given her scores and stats, how much money, if any, should she hope to expect to receive in scholarships to defray the current, unaffordable amount associated with attending Princeton?</p>
<p>Hi ProudPappa! Princeton does not award merit scholarships. All financial aid is based on need, and Princeton is very generous. There is a financial aid estimator on their website (PM me if you want the link) that you can use to estimate the amount of aid your daughter would be likely to receive. Best of luck!</p>
<p>If you head over to the parent’s forum, you’ll see sticky posts at the top on schools that offer good merit aid for students with excellent stats.</p>
<p>At a place like Princeton (and other ivies and top-tier LACs), pretty much everyone has excellent stats. In fact, Princeton flat-out rejects many a student with superlative stats–check out the EA decision thread for proof. They get the cream of the crop without offering merit aid as an incentive. Many of these top schools have very strong endowments and, therefore, have some of the most generous need-based aid packages out there. If you’re going to qualify for need-based aid, you may see some very attractive packages offered to you.</p>
<p>If your finances are such that you’ll be expected to pay full-fare, and you have the good fortune to have a child who has done very well in school and on their standardized tests (test scores are a huge deal in merit-aid land), you’ll face a dilemma that many others have grappled with. Do you encourage your child to go to one of the very best schools in the land (since they’ve got the chops to get in) or to head to one of a wide range of other options, where your child will be offered anywhere from less than $10K/yr in merit money to a 100% free ride. That’s a tough call, and no one can make it for you.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in schools that are very high caliber, but do offer some merit money to outstanding students, there are some out there. Of course, the more selective the school, the more competitive it is to get one of their merit packages. Places like U. of Chicago and U. of Washington in St. Louis offer some merit aid, but it’s very competitive, because it’s pretty hard to get in in the first place. Then there are a lot of very nice LACs that aren’t in the very uppermost portion of the rankings that offer some merit money (Davidson and Claremont McKenna, for example). Once you head down the road of weighing quality vs merit packages, you’re going to have a lot of research and soul-searching to do. It’s a road well travelled by other parents that frequent this forum.</p>
<p>Oops-reading comprehension fail on my part. I missed the key word ‘unaffordable’, which makes my lengthy discussion of the pursuit of merit aid by folks who would otherwise receive no aid pretty much moot. Oh well, hopefully somebody found it useful.</p>
<p>Princeton is very generous and its need based if you go to their website and calculate the financial need estimator you can get a figure of what you will get I am 13 I attend school here in FL and I graduate High School next year all AP classes 4.2 GPA and Princeton Bound its my 1st choice school</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack, but does anyone know a little more detail about how the FinAid is given out?</p>
<p>Like, do they take the xxxx dollars that they promise you off in the admission letter off the tuition and the meal plan and so on, or do they actually give you the money somehow?</p>
<p>Also, regarding on-campus jobs, especially as part of FinAid, is it again just taken off your tuition or is the student actually paid as if it were a regular job?</p>
<p>Hi Henryyilupe! My understanding is that you are presented with a bill for the remaining amount of money owed to Princeton. In other words, if you are awarded $xxx then the total COA - $xxx = what you are billed. Idk know about the on-campus job. I would like to know that as well. Also, is it possible to work less then the 9 hours and just pay the remaining amount owed through savings?</p>
<p>The bill I receive every semester is the cost of tuition minus my aid award. (The aid award typically covers room/board too, they don’t really separate the costs.) You don’t actually get the money. Although I think if you’re on full aid, as an upperclassmen if you go independent (no meal plan, no eating club) they might give you the meal stipend in cash. Not sure.</p>
<p>I’m not work-study but I do have a job as part of my package – I get paid biweekly and it’s up to me to apply that amount to my bill. I have direct deposit into my bank set up. There are tons of jobs available, you just have to apply. :)</p>