Hello everyone,
Just thought it would be good, to get a discussion going for Fordham NMF/NMSF merit award recipients. Specifically as we make the decision over the next several months on what factors made you decide to go to Fordham or to not enroll. Fordham award is pretty generous for East coast schools and would be good to exchange information or answer any questions that come up.
Best.
Does Fordham allow stacking merit aid and financial aid? Probably not, right?
Yes they do.
I just got accepted into Fordham LC (EA) and I received a 50k aid + merit scholarship.
So I decide to go to Fordham right away xD
My daughter was accepted with the NMF scholarship. We haven’t visited yet but are planning to go in March. I am just not sure about the fit. She has another comparable offer (as far as total Cost of Attendance goes), but I am interested in learning more about the academic and social culture at Fordham. I am familiar with other Jesuit universities.
@ryanle Congrats. That is a great offer.
@realmmom We are also visiting the campus during one of the admitted student days in Feb to visit the campus. Looking forward to it.
Congratulations on receiving this life changing award. Life changing in the fact you are at top private college in New York City where opportunities are around if you pursue them. If you are at Lincoln Center or Rosehill you are part of the RAM family. My daughter received this full tuition honor in 2016 and graduates this May with a Dual Major Political Science, American Studies (Honors) and a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. On to Law School in the fall.
Fordham officers a top education and opportunities for many internships at top businesses, Government and Non-profits. Daughter interned at the US attorney office and the US senator NYC office (Kirsten Gillibrand). Great experience hard to find in other schools.
Rosehill is a gated campus is in the Bronx and the school and grounds are beautiful. The area around Rosehill is near Little Italy (Author Avenue). Fordham also has offsite school apartments in this area.
Enjoy the 4 year program it is over in blink of the eye
Thanks for the valuable perspective. Definitely thrilled with this wonderful award from Fordham. Being close to or in NY City and internship opportunities is a huge plus.
My nmsf daughter applied regular decision. I still have to do the fafsa. There seems to be a couple of deadlines. Feb 1 priority, and a later feb date. Does anyone know what they signify? We won’t qualify for need aid. I believe we just are required to do fafsa asa condition to getting the nmsf tuition award.
We only filled out FAFSA and received the NMSF scholarship.
Our daughter is a NMSF and received the Fordham Natl Merit scholarship that covers tuition. Does that mean she is out of contention for the Presidential Scholarship that covers room/board? Have the Presidential Scholarship recipients been notified yet?
@cschippers I have seen one other poster who mentioned they got full tuition + room in the forum. Not sure if it was the Presidential scholarship or not. But from Fordham website it says the below:
"Cunniffe Presidential Scholarship: Award covers tuition, room, board, and fees and is renewable for four years. Recipients are also eligible for a maximum of $20,000 over four years to use for academic enrichment experiences. Awarded to the top admitted students each year (typically within the top 1% of the admitted pool). Cunniffe Presidential Scholars are generally ranked in the top 1-2% of their high school class and demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, test scores, and personal characteristics. April 1 notification. "
So April 1st notification date. Hope that helps.
Ok, so we did the fafsa, and fordham emails us that they received it. The email also said they are awaiting our css. Maybe that is a standard email they send to everyone? When i called months ago, fordham verbally told me we just need to do fafsa for national merit scholarship. I know @matt2024 said they got merit award just with fafsa submission (and not css). Anyone else get it and not do css? I am loathe to do css.
Thanks @Matt2024! My D is hoping (against hope!) for the Presidential. As a NMF with stellar stats, I feel pretty optimistic about the tuition scholarship, but room and board alone is still more than we can pay. Does anyone know how they determine what’s the top 1%? Are they more stats-focused (grades, test scores) or are they looking for the community leaders/change agents that many scholarships gravitate toward?
D applied to Honors Global Business at Lincoln. Fordham feels so out of our comfort zone…okay, it’s out of MY comfort zone as a mom. And April 1 seems SO far away!
@Fordhamdad2020 thank you for your positive reply: I really appreciated all the points you made about Fordham’s benefits. Our d received the NMF full tuition scholarship and is considering Fordham along with three other schools. I’ll share your points with her. Thanks again.
@TrendaLeigh perhaps there is a way to look up past Pres Scholarship recipients to see their backgrounds. It seems to me that these type of scholarships go to students who have extensive community service or outside interests that are on top of their immense academic skills. They are truly hard to get. That being said: it’s great that your D received the full tuition for NMF. Ours did too and it made all the difference. Could you ask for more support through the financial aid office? I know how you feel about waiting, btw. What a stressful process. Good luck to your girl. I hope she beats the odds with the PS:)
We just visited the Fordham campus on their admitted student day on Feb 21st. The campus is definitely beautiful and very safe/self-contained. That was one concern we had and now we have no concerns in attending. Few additional nuggets that helped us from the visit.
Fordham has specialized residential communities around science, community service etc. Especially for Science they have tutors available for help. This is something really valuable. It is called Science Integrated Learning Communities (SILC).
Ram shuttles are available to go to other campuses but also to Manhattan. It is $3.75 per trip but you get free passes for internships, classes at other campuses and approved extra-curricular activities. That seems a great value and safe as even metro north fare is $2.75 to get to Manhattan.
Really liked the library and the brand new dorms for seniors and the renovation underway for campus center. 60% of first year students are residential and rest commuter from local New York area.
I believe they at least consider val/sal status when looking for top 1-2% of hs class. But that’s just one factor out of many they probably consider.
Just writing back to let you know that my daughter got accepted and got the national merit semi finalist tuition award. Does anyone know the answer to this question? If she takes a gap year will Fordham still give her the merit scholarship yet enter fall of 2021 as a first year student?
Congrats. Scholarship is not guaranteed and one has to reapply as per their website. Details below:
Gap Year Students
Students are welcome to defer their enrollment or take a “gap year” for up to one year for service, work, travel, or other planned activities. Students may not defer for financial reasons and may not enroll in any college courses during their deferral.
To formally request a deferral, please submit a detailed plan of your activities for the upcoming year to be evaluated by the admission committee. In this email, please provide web links to the specific program or opportunity you are pursuing, where applicable. Please also confirm in writing that you will not be pursuing any form of academic credits during your gap year.
If your deferral is approved, you will then need to sign a contract confirming the terms of your deferral.You will also need to submit your tuition and housing deposit by May 1st to secure your place at Fordham.
Please note that if you choose to defer your enrollment, you will need to reapply for financial aid by submitting an updated FAFSA and CSS Profile. We do not guarantee that all scholarships and/or financial aid will carry over to the following year.
Should you have any questions related to any of these steps, please contact the deferral/gap year coordinator:
Jeanne Renner
Associate Director of Admission
holzmann@fordham.edu