<p>For those of you who have experience with college financial aid already, would you say it is more likely for a public school or private school to give more merit based scholarships? I'm worried about the expense of college, but all of the schools that offer the major I want are private schools, so they obviously are more expensive. If I have a QPA of 4.1, around a 1700 in my SAT scores and highly involved with volunteering, clubs, ect.. do you think I'm more likely to get a merit scholarship through a public or private school?</p>
<p>Re merit aid: You might want to start with <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=AUTOMATIC[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=AUTOMATIC</a> as well as <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Re need-based FA: You need to start by filling out a FA Estimator to find out what your estimated FAFSA EFC is, what your estimated CSS Profile EFC is, and whether you and your parents can afford your EFC. Also keep in mind that the FAFSA EFC is the minimum amount of money most colleges will expect your parents to pay out of pocket each year for you education. Most colleges don’t meet full need. Most colleges, including those that meet full need, throw in full Stafford loans and workstudy in to the FA package as ways of meeting need. So you can’t use that money to pay your EFC.</p>
<p>*would you say it is more likely for a public school or private school to give more merit based scholarships? I’m worried about the expense of college, but all of the schools that offer the major I want are private schools, so they obviously are more expensive. </p>
<p>If I have a GPA of 4.1, around a 1700 in my SAT scores and highly involved with volunteering, clubs, ect… do you think I’m more likely to get a merit scholarship through a public or private school?*</p>
<p>This is how I see it. Privates often cost more money than even OOS publics. </p>
<p>In-state publics often have the lowest cost (unless an OOS public or private gives you a very large scholarship).</p>
<p>Some privates and some publics offer merit scholarships, but since they cost different amounts, a bigger scholarship from a private may still mean that the private is more expensive to attend.</p>
<p>For instance…a private that costs $50k per year (tuition, room, board, books, etc) that gives you a scholarship of $20k per year, will still cost you $30k per year.</p>
<p>But…an in-state public that costs $20k per year, that only gives you a scholarship of $5k per year, will only cost you $15k per year. So, even though the public scholarship is much smaller, you still pay less.</p>
<p>Frankly, your SAT is not high enough for good sized merit at many schools. Will you be testing again? Also take the ACT, some kids do much better on that.</p>
<p>What is your SAT breakdown scores? Math, Critical Reading, Writing.</p>
<p>What is your likely major?</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year for college?</p>