Focus on Merit Aid vs. Need Based?

Paying for College
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<p>" has 221 PSAT, 2250 SAT (760/760/730) Top 20% of class, 3.60 GPA.
He really wants to stay in New England though…</p>

<p>If he gets all but $15K taking care of by full tuition at NEU, I was thinking some of the rest could be made up from our in-state teacher grants and the national TEACH grants and then a Stafford Loan. Or am I totally confused and those things would not have an impact on our EFC?"</p>

<p>his GPA will likely keep him out of elite schools like MIT. They tend to admit kids who are ranked well-within the top 10% and have perfect/near perfect GPAs…especially from NE states. </p>

<p>The TEACH grants are up to 4k and you must teach in an underserved area. The problem for your son is that they’re only given to those who have need according to FAFSA. Will you have “need” after the NEU NMF award is given? If the other son isn’t in college, then he won’t have any need.</p>

<p>look to see if your state’s teacher grants are available for frosh. Some of these kinds of grants are only awarded once a student is firmly entrenched in the major, so as not to give them to kids who may change their majors later. </p>

<p>Yes, he can take out Stafford loans but if they’re going towards EFC, then they won’t be subsidized. He can borrow $5500 his frosh year.</p>

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<p>I am a shameless Pitt promoter, but he might take a look. It gives a few merit scholarships, five percent according to one report. It does, however, offer engineering, math, lots of languages, and education.</p>

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<p>Ok, phew… For a minute there I thought I had it all confused. I’m glad some of these loans can help with EFC after other aid and scholarships are awarded.</p>

<p>I also checked out state’s teacher certification qualifications and if someone is already certified in another state they just need a copy of their transcripts and exams.</p>

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<p>some schools include stafford (now called direct) loans in their financial aid packages, so in these cases they would not be available to meet EFC.</p>

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<p>“Ok, phew… For a minute there I thought I had it all confused. I’m glad some of these loans can help with EFC after other aid and scholarships are awarded.”</p>

<p>To clarify…when you say “after other aid is awarded”…if that aid includes loans (which most schools do), then NO, you couldn’t use fed student loans to go towards EFC…because they’d already be in the FA pkg to meet need.</p>

<p>For instance…</p>

<p>COA = $50k
EFC = $11k (or $22k if other child doesn’t go/finish college).
Need = $39k (or 28k " " " )</p>

<p>So, if you get a full tuition merit scholarship, and the remaining costs are $16k, and your EFC is $11k then the school will likely award a student loan to meet that $5k shortfall of “need”…so…since a frosh can only borrow $5500, then you could only use the leftover $500 towards EFC.</p>

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<p>He could get a full ride at New Jersey Institute of Technology. I don’t know if that counts as New England or not!</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.njit.edu/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/meritbasedawards.php#out-of-state[/url]”>http://www.njit.edu/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/meritbasedawards.php#out-of-state&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks BobWallace!</p>

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<p>Bethorama… I just wanted to add that I was a co-op student at Georgia Tech many, many, many years ago. Yes, it did take five years to get through school, but throughout my life I have praised the co-op program. There are so many reasons for co-op, but here are a few:

[ul][<em>] Money. This is always the first reason people look at the program and it did give me a chance to even get a college degree in the first place. My parents gave me $0 for school (we were poor by most standards) and scholarships combined with co-op income got me through, I did have a small loan debt that I quickly paid off.
[</em>] Work Experience. You graduate with wirk experience in your related field. In these days when jobs are scarce, that is extremely valuable.
[<em>] Life Experience. You learn so much in finding a place to live, getting the electricity turned on, dealing with getting to work every day, and living on your own. This is invaluable, especially when you do it over and over again for each co-op period.
[</em>] Validation of your own career goals. Nothing sucks like spending four years in college preparing for a career you find out you hate. I found out early that I did NOT want to be an engineer, but more of a scientist-type. They gave me a new co-op assignment in an environmental field and I loved it!
[/ul]
As a matter of fact, I would highly recommend co-op even if one didn’t need the money.</p>

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<p>With Northeastern a reasonable match with a full tuition paid option a strong possibility, the OP’s son is in a very good place.</p>

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<p>Actually, if your son wanted to go to Northeastern, he would be doing the combined ba/bs-mat. SInce he is looking at secondary education, which is a content speciality, as long as he gets certified in massachussets, he probably will have no problems with reciprocity or initial certification where ever he does end up working (especially since math is a shortage area). I would ask if the BA/BS-MAT would be covered under the 5 year tuition sholarship, since it is a 5 year program at Northeastern.</p>

<p>

[quote]
Undergraduate</p>

<p>Most majors in the College of Arts and Sciences may choose to minor in education. The minor includes courses that carry fieldwork so that students may gain a genuine appreciation for the dynamics of K12 classrooms and the actual implementation of curriculum and assessment. Students choose either elementary education or secondary education in a particular discipline, usually the major field they are studying. </p>

<p>Programs » Undergraduate</p>

<p>Students seeking a teaching license must also complete a student teaching practicum. The Director of Field Placement works with students to identify an appropriate placement for their 4 month student teaching experience in one of the several partnering Boston public schools. During student teaching, each student works directly with a Boston teacher and a university supervisor and enrolls in a reflective seminar.</p>

<p>[Undergraduate](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/doe/teacher_preparation_programs/undergraduate/index.html]Undergraduate[/url][/quote”>http://www.northeastern.edu/doe/teacher_preparation_programs/undergraduate/index.html)
[/quote</a>]
</p>

<p>From their FAQs</p>

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<p>Great info! I guess there’s a lot of information if you dig enough! I didn’t understand your comment croft henhouse about op’s son? What is op?</p>

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<p>The OP is the Original Poster of the thread.</p>

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<p>Well NEU is by far your best bet in New England. But I’m not sure full tuition is automatic for being NMF… even if it is this year it may not be next. I would think they’d get hundreds upon hundreds of NMF kids applying if it was automatic, and then there’s no way NEW could cover that type of cost.</p>

<p>IMO it is an over the top award for just being NMF. My S had a PSAT 222, but we’re in mass so that doesn’t make the cutoff (223 his year)… any other state he would be NMF.</p>

<p>Assuming NEU gives you full tuition it’s by far the best deal you’ll get in New England. Merit awards are generally pretty poor at new england schools. Big merit money is out of new england. </p>

<p>Anyway with his stats NEU is is best option, just don’t assume it’s guaranteed. His stats probably aren’t going to be good enough to get full tuition at any other top 100 school in the US. NMF path will give him the best deals.</p>

<p>BTW, there’s nothing “national” about NMF, it’s all state by state. I really think the colleges don’t realize how it’s setup. Someone from like Mississippi with a 205 PSAT can get NMF but a 222 from Mass can’t even make the cut? Also, huge merit awards for a PSAT test generally taken early Junior year doesn’t make sense, the awards should have based on SAT or ACT scores which are Senior year. Also, if you take PSAT sophmore year, no matter what the score it doesn’t count. It’s just in my opinion completely out of balance the awards for this whole NMF program. But it is what it is so take advantage of it if you make the cut.</p>

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<p>

Isn’t that the point, though? If they just took the top X scores across the country, it would be lopsided in favor of certain places/schools and a lot of kids especially from poorer states would never stand a chance. Agree that it’s a rather strange metric to base such large awards on.</p>

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<p>^^^ I’m not sure that’s the “point”, it’s not something you see explicitly stated on NMF websites. The different cutoffs aren’t necessarily due to “poorer” state. It’s also a function of the number of students taking PSAT. Some state (like mid-west) are ACT-centric so they don’t take PSAT (they take whatever the ACT version is). So you may have a state where only 20% of students take PSAT, but the cutoff is set so 1% of the entire student population makes the cutoff. So with only 20% actually taking test, as many as 5% of the test takers make NMF cutoff. </p>

<p>Some states like MA have virtually ALL students take PSAT.</p>

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<p>The Northeastern full tuition scholarship for NMF is quite real - they report awarding around 100 per year. </p>

<p>[Scholarships</a> | Admissions](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html]Scholarships”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html)</p>

<p>This student’s stats are certainly good enough to get full tuition at other quality schools. I’m not sure where your notion that he wouldn’t be able to comes from. A 1520 SAT and NMF status will either one earn full scholarships at many good schools, just not that many in New England.</p>

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<p>I said top 100 schools, NEU is one. Yes there are other good smaller or lower ranked schools where the stats will be good enough. But as it is not many top 100 offer merit, so of those that do offer large merit it’s extremely competitive. Full tuition merit would require high SAT (probably higher than 2250) AND top 5% or higher in class rank.</p>

<p>Of course the “NMF” schools won’t be a problem, but there’s not too many of those that offer full tuition… I’d bet well under 10</p>

<p>I didn’t say NEU full tuition isn’t real, the question is whether or not it’s automatic if you’re NMF (and of course get admitted). Do ALL NMF enrolled students at NEU get full tuition? 100 is quite large, maybe it in fact is all.</p>

<p>My only point to OP, let NEU be 1st option, but keep searching for alternatives just in case they don’t come through for whatever reason.</p>

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<p>I did confirm with NEU that the NMF full-tuition scholarship was guaranteed, at least for kids entering in 2011. </p>

<p>I agree with FonMonChew that the overemphasis on the Junior-year PSAT is a bit odd. NMF is one of very few ways to get merit based on stats alone, and pretty much the only way to get big merit for stats in the northeast. And no, it’s not “fair” that a 222 in MA doesn’t make the cut while a much lower score will in other states. But… a kid in a state where “virtually everyone” takes the PSAT also has advantages regarding preparation and even information. In our rural VT HS they don’t particularly encourage kids to take it, and never tell that big scholarships are riding on the results, and prep classes don’t exist. I’m not making any statement about FooMon’s child, but just observing that in general, some schools/areas make a bigger deal of it which can advantage their students.</p>

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<p>College rankings are malarkey, and it always saddens me to encounter those who take them seriously. Nevertheless, since it matters to you, he would get full tuition at many “top 100” (sic) schools, such as Fordham, Texas A&M, Baylor, Alabama, Tulsa, and Drexel, and those are just the automatic awards.</p>

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<p>As a NMF, he should be getting a number of colleges interested in him, and some nice merit awards as well. Full tuition though is pretty danged good, especially at a school as desirable as NE and near to the OP’s home as well.</p>

<p>I think he’ll do well in having some good choices in terms of schools and prices.</p>