<p>My parents have promised to pay 10,000 a year for my undergrad and we do not qualify for any need-based financial aid so I need to come up with the rest on my own.
I am a rising senior in high school from Florida and have been contacted by several swimming recruiters for various colleges. Northwestern University has contacted me and has offered me a spot on their division 1 team with a 50% scholarship but I must apply ED. Duke University has contacted me and would love for me to be on their division 1 team but they do not offer athletic scholarships. The University does have merit scholarships (which provide a free education as well as a free study abroad) that I feel I am a competitive candidate for. Also UNC Chapel Hill has offered me to be on their division 3 team and they also do not have athletic scholarships but do have a merit scholarship (that provides a free education as well as a free study abroad) that I feel I am competitive candidate for.</p>
<p>Should I apply ED to Northwestern or should I decline the offer and apply to Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, and several other school regular decision?</p>
<p>Contact Northwestern and see if they can increase the scholarship. Do you truly want to attend Northwestern; have you visited and and feel you fit in? Tuition, room and board at Northwestern is about $56,000, so with that scholarship your parents will need to come up with about $28,000-$30,000 a year. Have you talked to them about it? What have they said about that cost?</p>
<p>50% of NU’s cost is about $30k. Your parents will pay $10k. How would you come up with the other $20k per year?</p>
<p>Not sure if Duke would be affordable either. They offer very few very large scholarships. </p>
<p>Sounds like you should apply to Duke and UNC…but since neither of those schools may be affordable, you need to also apply to a few schools that you KNOW FOR SURE that you’d get enough merit money to be affordable.</p>
<p>What are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>I don’t think you should apply for ED if that’s all they can offer. Tell your contact at Northwestern that you’d like to apply for the school, but a 50% scholarship isn’t enough because your parents can only pay $10K per year and the 50% would leave you out $20K. Then see what they say. If you can get a solid offer that they will offer the difference, apply ED; if not, then just apply RD to Northwestern, Duke, and UNC-Chapel Hill. The scholarships at Duke and UNC are VERY competitive - it’s already competitive enough to get into the schools, so the scholarships are really for tippy-top candidates.</p>
<p>Also, if you are a Florida resident, apply to some Florida state schools. You have an excellent in-state choice with UF. There are also several other campuses of Florida - Florida State, UCF, University of North Florida. $10,000 a year would cover about half of the cost of living at UF. You may also be eligible for Bright Futures; if you get the top award, that’s $101 per credit hour, or $3,030 if you take 30 credits a year. That’s more than half of tuition.</p>
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<p>Don’t apply ED to Northwestern…but if it were me, I would call and explain why. You can simply say that you would love to be on their swim team, but that finances are a consideration and that you need to be able to compare offers from other schools and cannot commit to an ED decision that many not be financially the best option. Maybe they will up the ante.</p>
<p>I agree you should look into some schools where you can use that Bright Futures money.</p>
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<p>I think the 50% scholarship will only apply to tuition and not the entire cost of attendance. Tuition at Northwestern is $43,380. A half scholarship would be $21,690. </p>
<p>[Tuition</a>, Fees, and Expenses: Office of Undergraduate Admission - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/financial-aid/tuition-fees-and-expenses.html]Tuition”>http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/financial-aid/tuition-fees-and-expenses.html)</p>
<p>Your family would still have to come up with over 35k. Since you say that they are only willing to pay 10, Northwestern is not a financially feasible option for you and you should not be applying there ED. Even if they gave you a full tuition scholarship with your parent’s 10K contribution, how will you make up the ends?</p>
<p>It’s important to realize that schools that give virtually only need-based aid (with few exceptions), that they’re not going to care that your affluent family will only pay $10k per year. Maybe if you’re a world champion/Olympic quality swimmer, then maybe you might be able to finagle a little bit more (not a lot) from these schools. Right now, it’s probably the coaches that want you, and they don’t have extra money to throw around. </p>
<p>Do not apply ED to NU; that will only lead to missed opps elsewhere.</p>
<p>As for applying RD and being able to “compare packages”…all your FA pkgs may end up being very inadequate if you only apply to schools that give few merit scholarships. </p>
<p>What are your financial safety schools???</p>
<p>We know a recruited athlete at Northwestern who received full tuition to attend. Her family is quite affluent. It was an athletic scholarship not related in any way to need.</p>
<p>What sport, thumper?</p>
<p>Swimming is a split-scholarship sport, and very often coaches choose to spread their limited scholarship budget further by using partial scholarships. If they’re not offering you a full ride now, it’s unlikely that the coach is suddenly going to come up with more money. Unfortunately, you cannot afford Northwestern.</p>
<p>polar is right.</p>
<p>NCAA decides which sports have “full head” and which ones have “partial head” scholarships. Since football takes a LOT of full head men’s scholarships, schools that field Div 1 football and basketball will offer many full head athletic scholarships to female sports…like volleyball, basketball, etc. </p>
<p>Not sure of the exact sports, but football and men’s b’ball may be the only full head athletic MENS scholarships for Div I schools. There may be another, but it’s not swimming. I know that swimming is a split scholarship sport for Div I.</p>
<p>A coach is highly unlikly going to award a full or near-full athletic scholarship for a split sport because that means really screwing another athlete…not exactly good for team morale.</p>
<p>I fully agree that the swimming coach at NU is not likely to award more money to this student. My point was that family affluence had no bearing on the kid’s sports scholarship award (the one we knew).</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very true…Family affluence doesn’t affect the awarding of athletic scholarships. We all just saw that P Diddy’s son got a full ride athletic scholly to UCLA. </p>
<p>My point was about need-based aid schools. They aren’t going to award this kid more need-based aid because his affluent family won’t pay more money. And, they aren’t likely going to give him one of their very limited merit scholarships JUST because his parents won’t pay…unless he’s so desirable because he’s a future Olympic gold medalist or something.</p>
<p>DC–In 2 days, you have started 6 threads asking the same questions. Seems the parent consensus is the same on all: that NU is unaffordable, Duke and UNC-CH the same. Time to get a new plan and expand your search.</p>
<p>To get a full athletic scholarship in swimming, you need junior cuts (or higher) in several events/strokes. Most swim scholarships are partial awards split among team members, some teammates will be walk-on, no money.</p>
<p>Start looking at other D1, D2, and D3 schools. These 3 aren’t going to be affordable for you since your parents are putting in $10K/yr and you aren’t eligible for FA.</p>
<p>What about UF, FSU, other instate schools with swim programs? You also need to be sure you like a school and can afford to stay should you quit swimming What are your financial safeties?</p>
<p>You may want to look at schools where you would be top academically and athletically in order to be very attractive to these schools and be awarded athletic and merit money. There are many, many for you to choose from. D2: Drury, Wayne State, Wingate, Tampa, GVSU, too many to mention. D3: Kenyon, Denison, Emory. You can find many more on NCAA rankings.</p>
<p>Fill out recruiting forms on a college’s web site, contact coaches, put yourself out there. Don’t wait for schools to find you—do the work to make them want YOU! Then make sure it is affordable and you would be thrilled to attend.</p>
<p>Since he’s likely going to get a partial swimming scholarship, then he should look at schools that will pair that with merit. That could make for a near full ride, so that parents $10k will pay for the rest.</p>
<p>If the OP has started 6 threads with virtually the same question, then he sounds like he’s desperately trying to find a solution to an unlikely situation. </p>
<p>If I were to guess, I’d say that this high stats affluent student just can’t fathom not going to a big-name prestigious school (like some/all of his friends will be doing), and he knows his parents $10k limitation is hog-tying him…so he’s hoping that his swimming skills will save the day. Unlikely since that isn’t a big revenue sport.</p>
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<p>Diddy’s son:</p>
<p>1.Plays D1 football, a sport where top recruits are offered full ride scholly’s. </p>
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<li>Even on the off chance, that he got no money, I think his dad would still pay for any college that he really wants to attend.<br></li>
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<p>3.Has a mother who has a child support order in NYS, which last until son turns 21 and could have had it modified to cover college if need be.</p>