First-Year Scholarships Vs Transfer Scholarships.

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello, I had a few questions regarding the difference in scholarship potential between First-year Students and Transfer Students.</p>

<p>Allow me to begin by noting that I just graduated High School this past June and I plan to apply to U-M for the Fall 2013 term (So I'll be taking a year off before attending). I was wondering if it would be detrimental or beneficial to attend a few community classes during this year off. It's worth noting that I don't intend to transfer my Community College credits to University of Michigan. I simply want to take a few classes to keep my brain accustomed to the school setting. If and when I do attend the U-M next Fall, I want my experience to be as equal as possible to as if I hadn't attended any community courses at all.</p>

<p>As I consider attending Community College, my biggest worry is the drop in scholarship potential versus if I were a First-Year Student. According to the U-M website, a transfer student is "any student who has attended any institution of higher education after High School graduation on any basis over any period of time". So, even though I don't want any of my CC credit to transfer over, I would still be considered a 'Transfer Student' instead of a First-Year Student. This worries me as I've heard from various sources that Transfer Students receive an extremely lesser amount of scholarships & grants than first-year transfers. I'm not sure how reliable those sources are, so that's why I'm here to ask you a few questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Is it true that Transfer Students do miss out on a lot of scholarships & grants compared to First-Year Students, even if they aren't transferring any credit over? If so, how large is the difference between Transfer Scholarships and First-Year Scholarships? Large? Small?</p></li>
<li><p>With the knowledge of my situation (I'm only attending CC to keep my brain accustomed to school. Nothing more), what is your personal advise for myself? Do you recommend I attend CC anyway, or would it be wiser to not take any classes so as to increase my scholarship potential as high as possible. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I am mainly concerned with how large the difference is between Transfer Scholarships and First-Year Scholarships. A lot of people have told me that Transfer Scholarships are lower, but I don't know by how much. If it's a very large difference, then I would most likely skip out on CC. If it's a tiny difference, then I'd probably attend CC anyway.</p>

<p>I've already contacted the school with my questions and now I'm waiting for a response. Until then, hopefully some students or advisers experienced in this area could give some helpful advice.</p>

<p>Thank you for your help</p>

2

<p>In most cases there is a very large difference between freshman and transfer scholarships. How large will depend on the individual school. As an example, the best freshman scholarship at my daughter’s university is a full tuition waiver for up to 5 years plus a fairly substantial cash scholarship for 4 years that covers most other expenses. There are also a couple of other full tuition scholarships with lower cash awards, plus many other smaller scholarships. The highest transfer scholarship is a partial tuition waiver that does not cover even half of full time tuition and it is only for 2 years. </p>

<p>Most schools do not give you the choice to transfer or not transfer credits. If you have them they get transferred. So your plan of doing CC classes and not transferring them probably won’t work.</p>

<p>If higher scholarships are important to you, and assuming you would qualify for a high scholarship in the first place, then your plan will probably not be a good one.</p>

3

<p>It depends on the colleges. For example:</p>

<p>RIT, NY: Freshman Merit Scholarships up to $16,000. Transfer (with an associate degree) Merit Scholarships up to $12,000.</p>

<p>However, if you just taking a few classes at community college and then apply to RIT; not only you lose out the freshman scholarships, you also won’t eligible for any transfer scholarships.</p>

4

<ol>
<li><p>Yes. It depends on the college, but in general there are fewer merit scholarships for transfers and they are for lesser amounts.</p></li>
<li><p>What does the UM website say about fr vs. transfer scholarships? Since you’re only looking at 1 school it seems like it should be pretty straightforward.</p></li>
</ol>

5

<p>Are you in-state for UM? If not it may not make a difference.</p>

6

<p>UM Freshman scholarships see
[Office</a> of Financial Aid: Types of Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/TypesofAid/ScholarshipsGrants/TypesofScholarships.aspx]Office”>http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/TypesofAid/ScholarshipsGrants/TypesofScholarships.aspx)</p>

<p>UM Transfer scholarships see
[Office</a> of Financial Aid: Transfer Students](<a href=“http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/HowtoApplyforAid/TransferStudents.aspx]Office”>http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/HowtoApplyforAid/TransferStudents.aspx)</p>