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My entire four year expenses for university don’t even total up to $45,000! :eek:</p>
<p>My DD went to private HS also - but had a small scholarship - we ended up paying about $8K/yr - her goal was to go to college for less than high school - and she accomplished that with merit aid! </p>
<p>I am impressed with those of you saying your kids got “full rides” - my dd looked for merit and didn’t see any schools with “full ride” - she did get a full tuition + half of room and board but that was the most she got. I consider her to be a pretty strong student - 99% on standardized tests and top 5% at a competitive school with lots of EC’s - maybe we looked in the wrong places! Of course, she wanted big school honors college so maybe these “full rides” are at private or smaller schools?</p>
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<p>I think full tuition + half of room and board is pretty great. Most of the better schools with full rides are listed here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>And there are even automatic full rides at some lesser schools listed here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>I know some parents who call the full tuition scholarship a full ride. There are others who says they received a full ride but there is a financial need (so it is added to their merit scholarship). And there are those who are paying almost zero due to financial need and they call it a full ride. </p>
<p>True full rides based just on merit is very rare and extremely competitive.</p>
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<p>At the better schools even the full tuition scholarships are very competitive.</p>
<p>Our was offered one full tuition scholarship and several at >50% tuition. We felt all were very generous and felt fortunate to have the resources to pay the balance at any of his choices or full pay at state flagship. D was full pay–which was more of a struggle for us.</p>
<p>A small “aside” about the cost of study abroad. My son is studying abroad in the upcoming semester, and it’s actually less expensive than spending the semester at his college, even including the round-trip airfare. It’s worth looking into it if you/your child has an interest.</p>
<p>axw: that was our experience too!
A semester at Oxford was cheaper than Princeton</p>
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<p>Indeed. Many things worth earning require tough competition.</p>
<p>OP–If you can become a National Merit Scholar (start prepping now. . .), there are still many big scholarships (full tuition, near full-rides, full-rides) still out there. And many of them are automatic (non-competitive) once you become a NM finalist. Look in the financial aid forum under National Merit (thanks to Bob W for updating this!) and you will find lists of schools that still offer these scholarships.
2 of my sons have been finalists, and my third son is expecting to be a finalist this year. We are “making” the younger two take full-rides or near full-rides. They have no problem with it.
They know at the beginning that their choices are limited to these schools. Getting through college debt free will be a huge advantage. Prep hard!</p>
<p>^ I was about to say that, you beat me by 7 days :-)</p>
<p>Be sure to take the PSAT this year for practice and truly try to prepare for it.</p>
<p>If your parents make under about 70k, you will have better opportunities for no loan financial aid packages.</p>