Full Rides for National Merit Finalists/Scholars

<p>Yes, we did do what we could to keep college as affordable as possible by having S apply to and accept a school that gave generous merit aid (he actually applied to & got several very generous merit offers). D ended up at CC because it was the best of the options available after her junior year of HS; it was not a decision made because of economics (though it did end up giving all of us more breathing room in coursework and finances). D did transfer after 3 semesters and will get her degree at her dream U, in her dream school within that U, which should help her with jobs. Full freight at dream U IS expensive and we will be glad when we pay that last tuition check!</p>

<p>I cringe when I read about people who are cobbling everything together just to pay for the first year of tuition and hoping & praying that their finances will work out for the full years that it will take for the child to graduate–it tends to force crushing debt or untimely transfers and a lot of tears. </p>

<p>People really need to be more realistic about their resources AND their retirement assets. NO ONE wants to run out of funds in retirement–our kids don’t want it and we don’t want it. NO ONE wants to start out life with crushing debt–even if it is shared between parents & student, it will still be crushing and limit options for everyone involved. If the student is looking to grad/professional school, it’s even more important to keep things affordable so there will be resources and interest won’t build. Most employers look at where the degree is from – where there are multiple degrees, where the highest degree was earned.</p>

<p>Families should also recognize that college can end up being longer than 4 years. We are fortunate that S was only 4 years but D and many others are longer than that. H took 7 years & I know others who have taken much longer than 4 years (& a few shorter). It’s good to be realistic and realize that it might 4.5, 5, or some other number of years before the student gets a degree. A friend is in industrial design engineering at a CSU and can’t get the courses in his sequence so has no idea when he’ll be able to graduate, but way beyond 4 years. :(</p>

<p>Motherbear and HImom, </p>

<p>It sounds like you will make the financial sacrifices necessary to help fund your children’s education at prestigious colleges. Good for you. We are among those who believe that spending up to $50,000 per year per son by blowing through our savings and taking on huge debt in order for our 2 sons to attend their first choice colleges is not wise stewardship. There is always grad school! Instead, we opted for full ride scholarships for both sons at a fine (though not top) school, Auburn University. By taking advantage of all the great opportunites afforded through the Honors College, we do not feel they are disadvantaged in any way and, in fact, may have a superior experience. Mom2Collegekids would probably much the same for hers at Alabama.</p>

<p>My opinion only, of course, but the pricetag for the top tier schools is too high for the supposed benefit of having an undergrad education and degree from them.</p>

<p>I am with you, Rick and HIMom.</p>

<p>DD has been offered full tuition (a Regent’s scholarship) at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and there is no doubt in our minds that a big factor in her receiving it is her NMSF status (hopefully finalist status soon). With SHU’s Honors program, proximity to NYC with its many internships and contacts, and classes taught by professors (rather than TAs), we are completely comfortable with her not going to the “first tier” schools that have romanced her since she got her PSAT scores. We also believe that she will get into a good if not great grad school, and the money we have saved for her college education will be used for that. </p>

<p>We all approach things differently, and some friends and acquaintances have come right out and told us that we are doing a great disservice to our DD. But, for our family anyway, it is the right decision.</p>

<p>It’s great that there are many great options, especially for top students that can leave families without significant financial burdens. I agree that the education expenses are much too expensive for many, especially when there are other fine choices available. We did carefully consider what would work best for OUR family among the choices that were available to each student.</p>

<p>Honors colleges are great in many places and allow for an excellent education & experience for many. I think we’re all on the same page that one must realistically assess the available options and prioritize what makes sense for the student AND family in light of all factors and resources.</p>

<p>This reminds me of way back when our S was in preschool & many were appalled and upset when we calmly told them we were sending S to public school (he was one of the few kids from his entire preschool who was going to public school). My BIL told us that was horribly unfair to our S & said he’d pay tuition for our S to attend the private prep school he graduated from but we politely refused. S & D agree that both learned a lot that was valuable and not taught in books from attending public schools through 8th grade. </p>

<p>We know many parents who extended themselves financially so their kids could to to private school from K-12 and sometimes they didn’t have enough money to give them many options for college & beyond; it’s all a matter of resources and priorities.</p>

<p>We also know some parents who are extending themselves dangerously financially to help their kids go to dream U and hope that things work out OK for everyone involved. Crushing debt is NOT good for anyone–parents or students. HOPE is not a financial plan. </p>

<p>The kids are looking to their parents, who in turn look to counselors, advisors & lenders. Parents often do NOT realize that there are inherent conflicts in the interests they & their kids have vs. those of the counselors, advisors & lenders. HS, advisors & counselors want to be able brag about the great Us their kids attend (they’re not paying the tuitions). Lenders are just happy to get big loans and know they’ll be protected from bankruptcy.</p>

<p>The kids are looking to their parents, who in turn look to counselors, advisors & lenders. Parents often do NOT realize that there are inherent conflicts in the interests they & their kids have vs. those of the counselors, advisors & lenders. HS, advisors & counselors want to be able brag about the great Us their kids attend (they’re not paying the tuitions). Lenders are just happy to get big loans and know they’ll be protected from bankruptcy.</p>

<p>Very true. Many GCs pay very little attention to whether a student/family can afford various schools, whether the school “meets need,” whether the parents can pay their EFC, etc. Too many just assume that it will “all work out” and the money will come.</p>

<p>Our son is a NMF and we too have been looking at the scholarship schools for him (although he is still hoping for a nice fin aid package to “top” schools). He has only applied to one NMF-Scholarship school so far – Baylor – primarily because he is reluctant to attend a large state university. But I am wondering if the Honors Colleges at Alabama and Auburn (and maybe Oklahoma) make the students feel like they are at a smaller school. Can anyone with experience comment on this? And does anyone on this board have experience with the Honors Program at Baylor? Thanks.</p>

<p>My sons are in the honors program at Bama, and they love it. Bama has a very developed honors college and does give that small college within a large college feel.</p>

<p>It’s not too late to get the NMF scholarship at Bama.</p>

<p>A few years ago, my NMF S (who was not at all interested in “big football schools”) was all set to attend U. of Oklahoma–when he got off a waiting list for his first choice school. He and H (who was skeptical) were very favorably impressed with what they saw at OU. You’d have to visit to see if it “feels right.”</p>

<p>Greetings and Congrats on your NMF. I will share that our NMF son was focused on Baylor because it seemed a reasonable size quality school w/ good engineering program and an automatic full tuition scholarship As we planned a road trip to visit Baylor, we decided to stop by Tulsa University on the way down because they were also a top 100 school with good engineering program who offer about 40 full ride + many other full tuition scholarships. While Baylor is beautiful, my son LOVED Tulsa’s size ( about 4000), great campus, top quality students: avg fresh. act = 29, many ministry options that interested him, great eng. & cs dept. with new building under construction now, and opportunities to do research work very early: even an offer summer before freshman yr which he couldn’t accept due to visiting an uncle in Europe for 2 wks. So, if you are interested in something smaller than a state U , yes, check out Baylor, but you may find Tulsa University worthy of your time. We did & my son is a successful freshman and loving Tulsa University. Good luck!</p>

<p>Like RickUW, we sent our NMF child to Auburn. Not only did my husband and I not want to give up a free ride, our daughter wanted to take the opportunity to pay her own way through undergrad. We do provide her a car and pay for gas and insurance, but she covers her own school costs, including sorority expenses, from her scholarships. (In addition to the NMF award she received a generous annual departmental award and a few one-time outside scholarships.) She loves not having to ask for money or to dip into her college fund, which gathers interest while waiting for grad school. It has also been a double blessing as my husband’s business has taken a real hit in the economy and this will be a financially rough year. One thing I have learned is that finances can change fast, even when people are careful, so guaranteed money for a child’s college is true blessing.</p>

<p>Congrats–yes good merit aid is a wonderful thing, as long as the student keeps grades up (which should happen anyway), and can leave a lot of options on the table for the student and family for the future.</p>

<p>These are scary economic times and it’s hard to know when the next blow will fall–in business, pensions (for those who have or are planning to soon retire), and other costs keep rising. We are grateful that S chose a substantial merit award (50% tuition at USoCal + a few small renewing merit awards) that really helped lower his cost of attending a great private U where he earned his EE & got a great job which he will be starting in a few months.</p>

<p>* It has also been a double blessing as my husband’s business has taken a real hit in the economy and this will be a financially rough year. One thing I have learned is that finances can change fast, even when people are careful, so guaranteed money for a child’s college is true blessing. *</p>

<p>This is a very good point. And changes in circumstances can happen so quickly. There have been kids who have posted who thought that they had their finances covered last fall, but their parents have either lost jobs or have split up within the last couple of months and now paying for their college costs is now very questionable or impossible. </p>

<p>Our kids took the NMF and Presidential Scholarships from Bama. They both were also awarded additional scholarships that stacked on top. It’s been such a blessing since both have education plans beyond their BS degrees…so we’ll be able to help them with that. :)</p>

<p>Yes, it’s always painful to read about kids & families who cobbled things together as best they could so kid could attend dream school only to have to completely revise when finances took a huge hit and the kid had to reluctantly transfer AND/OR incur massive debt. Very tough to get merit scholarships as an impoverished transfer or upperclassman & much easier to weigh attractive options as an incoming freshman being courted by Us.</p>

<p>ffql: Thanks for sharing your experience with Tulsa. We will look into it as an option!</p>

<p>ProudMom-- I’m so glad to hear of your daughters choice to take the Auburn full ride scholarship. I just got off the Skype call from our Freshman son at Auburn, and he absolutely LOVES it there! He’s #2 on the planning team for a Spring Break Mission trip to Miami, and also going with the Wesley Campus Ministry group to Costa Rica in May–$500 total! They have very good support for their mission work. What is your daughter planning to study?</p>

<p>As of last week, son #2 is on board at Auburn in the Honors College as a NMF. It sure helps to have both sons in the same place wearing the same colors and on the same school schedule. Most importantly of all, they are very much at home as transplanted Madisonians. It’s been a little crazy in Madison Wisconsin these days. Lot’s of tension with the union folk, teachers and state workers–which is pretty much all of Madison (except us!)</p>

<p>ffql: We are very much interested in TU for our S#2, now a junior. Hope to visit soon. My concern is that the full ride isn’t automatic for NMFs–do you know which NMFs get the full rides as opposed to full tuition? (What factors are considered besides SAT scores/gpa?) I would worry about designating a top choice and then not receiving the big scholarship and having to choose another school at the last minute (Though I suppose OU and UTD would still have room. . .)</p>

<p>FYI,</p>

<p>If any NMF has not been admitted with sufficient merit aid,to their dream school or neglected to apply to a “full ride” school, it’s not too late. I just received an unsolicited letter from the University of Texas at Dallas that offers a “Full tuition + $3K/yr for on campus housing + $5k/yr cash + $2K one time award”, to ANY NMF who indicates UTD as their first choice. The letter says it’s “guaranteed”, and that it’s not too late to apply. Not exactly a “full ride”, but close enough :)</p>

<p>It listed a contact as: Ms. Ingrid London @ 972-883-4022</p>

<p>^^^</p>

<p>True… And, Bama’s big NMF scholarship is still available for any NMF that applies now.</p>

<p>To anyone who’s interested:
Submit an app (very easy app, no essays, no teacher recs req’d)…and send an email to <a href=“mailto:betsy.escher@ua.edu”>betsy.escher@ua.edu</a> mention your NMF status</p>