<p>The problem is the cost of the education at a good school. Even with a good financial aid package and the regents scholarship, my s would owe $40K after 4 years vs. $18K at Claremont McKenna. It's hard to justify the loans especially since he plans to go to graduate school. Both great schools...both very different. Good luck to everyone in making your decisions.</p>
<p>When speaking to financial aid, try to get past the student worker answering the phone, they do their best, but to get the most accurate picture, you need to get to a financial ai advisor. Check the website before calling for a contact name.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna is notorious for good aid packages;)</p>
<p>Why is their enrollment fee $750, that is an insane amount! Especially when most schools go with $100? I have to wait to get my paycheck just to enroll... otherwise I would have done it already. :p</p>
<p>Just curious, what exactly is the Pepperdine Grant... is it merit based or need based or a combination of both?</p>
<p>I thought $750 was insane indeed. But it was not as insane as Georgetown's $900 deposit fee!</p>
<p>What I found about the Pepperdine Grant with a quick search:</p>
<p>Pepperdine Grant funds are made available from University resources. This grant is based on the student's total need and overall strength as an applicant to the University. The Pepperdine Grant is awarded as a supplement to a student's financial assistance package.</p>
<p>Thanks so much ennaxor!! I feel very loved by Pepperdine now.</p>
<p>jackie are you confirmed for Pep? Where are you from? And HOW EXCITED ARE YOU!!!!! :D</p>
<p>No problem! Both my sisters received the grant as well, so I was curious myself.</p>
<p>Awesome! Are they twins?</p>
<p>Yup!</p>
<p>(10 char)</p>
<p>Yep! I've already confirmed it! I am from Shanghai and I am now preparing my visa.
Super Excited~~!</p>
<p>I feel everybody's financial pain. Pepperdine only gave me a small loan. Another of my top schools gave me the same loan and a small merit scholarship. However, 3 schools that I do really like gave me anywhere from $18K to $33K in scholarships---guess you can figure out what I'm going to do.</p>
<p>After reading this thread, I was surprised when a friend told me her D was awarded a very generous package, about $30K+/year. While I don't know the exact breakdown, scholarships, grants, etc, it brought the COA lower than our in-state flagship. Seems to be a very different outcome than many of the posters here. I know very little about Pepperdine other than from visiting with my S several years ago, but I do have to wonder what made the difference in the amount of her award. Her stats were excellent and perhaps they were looking for geographic diversity. I also wonder if religious affiliation played a part since they have been lifelong members of the Church of Christ.</p>
<p>From what I know, CoC'ers do get more help financially with grants and all that.</p>
<p>My experience is that my D's friends who are CoC do have great packages...my S is thinking of converting hahaha</p>
<p>From what I understand CoC'ers have a separate pool of where the scholarship money comes from so that's why they get more.
I'm not CoC, but together my grants and scholarships are more than 36k/year, the bulk of that being the Pepperdine Grant which is 30k+. My stats are good but nothing outstanding, I didn't get the Regents or Dean scholarships or anything like that. I am from the Midwest and also a minority so that could play a part. I am a very spiritual Christian and I think I wrote a very strong personal statement regarding that, I honestly think that's what my package came down to. But then again, everyone always thinks that their essays were strong so that could really mean nothing at all. All I know is that I am extremely thankful and ecstatic to be going to Pepperdine!</p>
<p>^^Interesting about separate/add'l scholarship $$ for CoC'ers. Is there a box to check on the app to indicate religious affiliation, a req'd rec by clergy, a specific essay, or some other way to indicate the CoC membership? Have to wonder if more prospies wouldn't switch over to a CoC church like JC mentioned if it meant a generous aid package.</p>
<p>I remember when I was filling out my application that there was a separate part for CoC'ers, I don't remember what it entailed, obviously, because it didn't concern me, but I'm pretty sure it at least required some sort of recommendation or letter from your pastor.
I actually just looked it up, and you can find it under the letters of recommendation section of the application.
Pepperdine</a> University - Seaver College - Admission - Information
I guess my memory is better than I thought.
Anyway, what exactly is different about Church of Christ that it needs to be categorized separately from being merely Christian?</p>
<p>^^I figured her award had to be tied into CoC somehow. Makes sense now. I don't know much about CoC other than what my friend has told me. I think they consider themselves non-denominational and strictly Bible-based. Probably not much different from other Christians other than the college teaches the same values of the CoC faith of its founder, George Pepperdine?</p>
<p>I think that is pretty accurate Goblue. There is a variety of faiths on campus. The largest single denomination is Catholic. The breakdown I believe is in the common data set or maybe I saw it in the facts on the website.</p>
<p>Hey, I'm a COC transfer student so maybe I can explain the preferential treatment some COC students receive in terms of aid. Haha I really didn't because I'm a transfer and applied really late in the process so there wasn't much left for me in terms of the COC pool but I do know that Pepperdine considers itself affiliated with the COC. One aspect I consider to be rather unique about the COC is that it has no organizational heirarchy as each congregation governs itself but all COC's hold to the same general rules started by the founders during the mid-1800's. Pepperdine gives out a lot of money to COC students because they don't have that large of a COC population to begin with, especially when compared to other COC schools. This is of course one of the things that goes along with being a national university. The money mostly comes from private COC organizations who want to see more qualified COC attend Pepperdine so it's not exactly like its coming from the institution itself. However, they do have a partnership with these organizations to help them figure out who to distribute the money to. So it's really meant to draw more COC students because it really is the flagship institution of the COC and there isn't really another college that compares to its quality. It may seem slightly unfair to people who are not COC but I hope that you will take some solace in the fact that the money doesn't come from the University itself for the most part with regards to dishing out COC money. I hope this explains it a little better.</p>