<p>I was hoping to get some confirmation as to whether or not I am understanding full ride granted scholarships so far.</p>
<p>Scholarships (and other forms of aid) can be received from two different places. </p>
<p>a) Internally through the University you've been accepted to (typically private Universities, which also have a more vigorous selection process).
b) External sources not affiliated with the University.</p>
<p>It is then usually broken down into these qualifying factors: </p>
<p>a) Universities granted aid- Usually either merit based or need based
b) External sources - Merit based, need based, major based, gender based, minority based, age based...etc.</p>
<p>Any input would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Scholarships from anywhere but the university you attend are very rare; I won’t say it’s not worth trying to get them, but don’t expect that they will meaningfully affect your educational costs.</p>
<p>Only the very best universities will give you need-based grant money, and you need a pretty low income to qualify for federal need-based grant money. So unless your state has a good program, you should expect any need-based financial aid you get to be in loans.</p>
<p>Merit-based grants are more common, although you won’t be able to get them at the best schools you get in to. However, the amount you get is then dependent only on merit; you’ll need to be very good to get a full ride.</p>
<p>a) Internally through the University you’ve been accepted to (typically private Universities, which also have a more vigorous selection process).</p>
<p>Not really.</p>
<p>The schools with the vigorous selection process usually do not give merit scholarships, much less full-ride scholarships. These schools are filled with top students and therefore don’t award these scholarships since all their students would qualify.</p>
<p>A number of mid-tier publics and privates and offer full-tuition or more scholarships for students with top stats. </p>
<p>There are very few “full ride scholarships” except a small number for NMF students.</p>
<p>If you’re an int’l, there are almost no full ride scholarships. A few schools offer full tuition scholarships for int’ls.</p>
<p>External scholarships are usually for VERY small amounts of money and ONLY for freshman year. There are very, very few entities that fund full ride scholarships to any school you attend. Very few…and the few that do have strict req’ts…like URM status, low income, etc.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about “need-based aid” that is mostly thru the colleges and only a small number will meet need…and you have to fully demonstrate that need.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I think I’m just going to post a thread for my direct question to limit my confusion! :)</p>
<p>I hear the term “full ride scholarships” a lot. Getting one is rare and difficult. There are merit awards that colleges will sponsor that could cover all of a students college expenses. The most selective and well known schools like Harvard, Princeton Yale, MIT, do not have any such thing. However, they will and do provide financial aid to the extent that 100% a student’s need, as they define it is covered, and that could be the full tab if the student’s family finances so dictate. THere are some highly competitive scholarships that schools like Duke, Emory, Pitt have that will pay for most all expenses. but getting one of them is truly a lottery ticket process. The competition is fierce.</p>
<p>There are also a number of schools that do have full ride, partial ride but generous awards that are given out to those student they want the most. If one digs up the old thread that MomfromTexas started on what she learned about full ride scholarships, she give a good methodology on locating these awards. </p>
<p>If you are a student from a family with very little financial means, and whose EFC and Profile contribution comes out to a zero. those schools that guarantee to meet your need will likely come up with the money to pay your full costs or close to it, if you are accepted to any of them. Other schools that do not make such a guarantee might come up with a generous package doing the same, if they want you badly enough, The more desireable you are to a school, the more likely you will be in getting money from them to reduce your costs, is a general rule. Schools like HPY, don’t have to buy top notch students as they get enough of them, and have made it their outright policy not to give out money unless there is financial need as they define it involved. </p>
<p>My sons all received offers of full ride scholarships from a local state college that is a commuter school, and it included summer study, some abroad benefits, transportation stipend, a computer, an allowance . Very nice. The total cost for them to have gone to this school without this offer would have been about $5K plus maybe a few thousand more the year of the abroad study though that was vaguely worded. Admissions to the school is not competitive. There are other such progams around, I am sure, but these schools lack name recognition and one has to search to find them and what they have to offer. The more name recognition a school has, as a rule, the more competitive the process in getting such awards and even getting into the school itself, as more people are aware of the school and its offers and will apply.</p>
<p>*Thanks for the replies! I think I’m just going to post a thread for my direct question to limit my confusion!
*</p>
<p>??</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to start a new thread.</p>
<p>What is your question? </p>
<p>Are you a domestic student or int’l?</p>
<p>What is your situation?</p>
<p>What is your GPA and test scores?</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>Will your family pay anything for college? If so, how much?</p>