<p>I just had a few questions about Financial Aid and Scholarships. Now I am an IB student with about a 36 predicted grade, I have an 1820 SAT, I will retake soon. Now being a Texas resident, how much financial aid could I get, my dad would really like my yearly tuition to be below 5000 dollars. I plan on applying to Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and maybe Rice if my SAT grade improves when I redo it. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>It is impossible to say based on the information given. There is a huge difference between need based financial aid and merit based scholarships.</p>
<p>Need based aid will depend on your financial situation. So the important thing here would be your parents and your own income and assets. </p>
<p>Merit based aid is affected by your stats (GPA, SAT etc). To be eligible for high merit aid you need to have high stats for the school you are going to. AN 1820 SAT is probably not going to get you much in the way of merit aid at the schools you are talking about.</p>
<p>In order to understand how much financial aid might be given, you really need to know your EFC and how the schools you’re applying to determine need for institutional aid (if they give any). Are you a junior? If so, you can use one of the online calculators (college board has one) to get an estimated EFC.</p>
<p>That’s what I’m saying, I am retaking the SAT soon and hope to achieve within the top 5th percentile. Considering my IB grades is important as well isn’t it? A 36 is straight A’s and this doesn’t include the 3 points at the end of the year so could I expect decent merit aid based on IB more than SAT’s?</p>
<p>It’s really hard to say. Different schools may look at it differently. My guess is, that if one is given more weight than the other, it might be test scores. Although since your grades are IB grades that helps balance it out a bit.</p>
<p>But we’d all be guessing here. Schools that publish thresholds for merit-based aid seem to highlight test scores more often than grades because grades are so different from school to school and course to course. Test scores are equalizers… sort of.</p>
<p>Just do your best to bring up the test scores… cover your bases! Good Luck!</p>
<p>I dont’ know of schools that give merit based on high IB scores. Merit is generally based on high test scores with high GPA to back it up. The high test scores are the big thing…again with a high GPA.</p>
<p>I am retaking the SAT soon and hope to achieve within the top 5th percentile.</p>
<p>do you mean the top 5th percentile for SAT scores or the top 5th percent for the school itself?</p>
<p>I really doubt that you’ll be able to get your costs down to $5k per year and this is why… That would require getting more than a full tuition scholarship, since room, board, and books (and misc) all cost more than $5k per year. </p>
<p>How late of scores do these schools accept for merit?</p>
<p>What SAT score are you expecting for your next exam?</p>
<p>Well I can generally convert my IB grade into a GPA, unfortunately my GPA would decrease and it’s sad that many Universities don’t appreciate the effort students put to try and maintain high IB grades. I’m hoping to get into the top 5th percentile for ALL SAT test takers. If I can manage a 2100 no the next test I think I should be fine. I mean UT Austin has an approximate final price of 23000 a year. Now with a Pell Grant and some school scholarships I can guarantee below 12000 with my current grades. I just need to get a higher SAT score. To be honest I just didn’t have the best practice my first test, I practiced with the Kaplan 12 tests book and I couldn’t figure out the CR section, not to mention the writing was amazingly tough compared to the Kaplan questions. I believe if I can work using the Blue Book and my new technique with the reading I can achieve my scores. Any more suggestions?</p>
<p>As mom2 said, most institutional scholarships seem to look at a combination of high ACT/SAT score first with a minimum GPA requirement. </p>
<p>Are you very low income? To be eligible for the Pell grant requires a very low FAFSA EFC (meaning very low income). The maximum Pell is $5550 and requires a 0 EFC. As the EFC increases, the amount of pell eligibility decreases inversely until, with an EFC over around 5274, there is no pell.</p>
<p>Presumably you are not applying this year.</p>
<p>* I’m hoping to get into the top 5th percentile for ALL SAT test takers. If I can manage a 2100 no the next test I think I should be fine. I mean UT Austin has an approximate final price of 23000 a year. Now with a Pell Grant and some school scholarships I can guarantee below 12000 with my current grades. I just need to get a higher SAT score. *</p>
<p>Are you a junior in high school?</p>
<p>* I’m hoping to get into the top 5th percentile for ALL SAT test takers. If I can manage a 2100 no the next test I think I should be fine. I mean UT Austin has an approximate final price of 23000 a year.** Now with a Pell Grant and some school scholarships I can guarantee below 12000 with my current grades. **I just need to get a higher SAT score. *</p>
<p>Do you KNOW if you’ll qualify for Pell? Pell recipients have rather lowish incomes. Are you low income?</p>
<p>You need to use an EFC calculator to find out what your EFC is.</p>
<p>How can you “guarantee” some school scholarships? UT doesn’t have assured merit scholarships.</p>