<p>what does a full ride exactly mean? Because when school's say "No parental contribution," that doesn't mean that everything is ABSOLUTELY free. They can say, oh, 25% of the student's personal savings, and give work-study and ask the student to get a summer job to contribute. At least that's what it says for Questbridge which offers "full scholarships."<br>
Like for yale's scholarship, it still asks the student to give 3800 and 25% of his/her personal savings. I know that it's not a lot compared to 50k of tuition, but it's not ENTIRELY free either is it? Is this normal?
Partner</a> School: Yale University - 2009 College Match Scholarship Package</p>
<p>Yes, for need based aid. There are merit scholarships that require no contribution by the student.</p>
<p>When I was in high school a “full ride” meant a need- or merit-based scholarship/grant from an institution that covered the entire cost of attendance - tuition, fees, room, and board.</p>
<p>What it didn’t mean (to us) was cobbling together outside awards to cover the entire cost (that was just “not paying for school”). It also definitely didn’t meant anything involving non-repayable aid.</p>
<p>If you have loans in your package, that’s not a full ride. A “full ride” doesn’t mean that you’re able to cover the full cost of attendance at your school (congratulations, so are the other 20 million or whatever American college students). A “full ride” means that you are covering the entire cost of attendance at your school with non-repyable aid and will graduate with little to no debt.</p>
<p>Agree with Juillet. If you have loans then you are not full ride. Full ride is all scholarships/grants.</p>
<p>The schools that guarantee to meet need aren’t calling it a “full ride”. They usually term it something like “guarantee to meet the full demonstrated need…”. They calculate what your need is and often do require students to do work-study and contribute from summer earnings, which can be hard as some of the contributions are pretty high for kids to make, especially in this economy. Full rides, with no required student contribution, are generally given as merit awards.</p>
<p>Both of the full rides my son was offered covered entirely the cost of attendence with grants. They included grants to cover the things usually included in “meeting 100% of need” – summer money, work study, and the minimum subsidized loan. At the beginning of each semester he gets a check to cover books, travel, incidentals, etc. So, as Juillet said, he will graduate with no loans or other debt. </p>
<p>PS: Both were that strange mix of need-merit – scholarships offered to the top need-based students, or something. Does that make sense? In order to qualify for the full ride, he had to have financial need, but to win them, he had to be a strong merit candidate, or something.</p>
<p>When I think of “full ride”, I think of a complete scholarship package that covers tuition, fees, room & board, books without having loans, work study and doesn’t require “financial need” to qualify. Some examples would be the Chancellor at Pitt, the DuPont at Delaware or the Robertson at UNC/Duke.</p>
<p>MTnest: So if it’s only a full ride if there’s no need, what do you call the exact same package when it’s a scholarship available with need basis? Examples would be UC Regents Scholarships, numerous LAC President’s or Dean’s Scholarships.</p>
<p>When I think of “full ride” – I don’t think of “need basis” scholarships – just “merit only” scholarships. I am sure you disagree with me but I just don’t think of “need basis” scholarships in the same vein. For “need basis” scholarships, only those students who qualify and show financial need would get them thus excluding students with similar or better stats. And the OP was asking about the definition of a full ride and that is my definition.</p>
<p>MTnest: So, still same question. What do you call a full ride for an EFC=0 student? My understanding is that my son was offered them <em>because</em> of his exemplary stats, and was not excluding students with better ones, but we’ll never know. Certainly the language of the awards was that they were only offered to the very top students.</p>
<p>I mean, the thing is, “full ride” is a slang term anyway. It’s not an official term by any means, and you likely won’t find it on any college website. You can use it however you want – I know some people do use it for scholarships that have both a need and a merit component, and that covered all expenses.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s still just as prestigious. Most people understand “full ride” to mean “I don’t have to take out any loans or pay back any of this money!”</p>
<p>juillet: Oh, exactly! Schools never use that term. It’s funny, though, several times in CC threads people have said that they think that even full rides have loans or student contribution. :-)</p>