Hi,
I’m a highschool senior in Florida and I’m looking for full tuition or full ride scholarships. My parents make around 85,000 a year, so I don’t think I’ll qualify for much need based aid (correct me if I’m wrong about that). However, they’re not going to be contributing any money towards a college degree. I do have a college fund from my grandfather of about 12000 dollars and with that I’m hoping to get through college without taking out any student loans, if possible.
I want to get a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and since I’ve already dual enrolled at a local college and will be graduating with an AA, I only need two more years at a university.
My stats are:
34 ACT
3.9 GPA
69 credits of dual enrolled courses
no class ranking because I’m homeschooled (so technically I guess I’m 1/1 in my year)
My brother commutes to UF for about 4000-6000 dollars a year after the Florida Bright Futures scholarship, which is probably what I’ll do if I can’t find a better offer.
In all honesty, I’d prefer not to go to UF even though it is a very good school because I don’t want commute to college (no offense to anyone who does commute, but I think I would be much happier and have a better relationship with my parents if I wasn’t living in their house).
So, I’m looking for universities that are likely to give me a better offer, including housing, than UF will. However, I also want a school that has a good Computer Science program.
Thank you for your help (and for reading this really long post).
There’s a link to automatic full tuition and full ride scholarships at the top of this section. There are many regulars here knowledgeable about this topic. Alabama may have some great options for you.
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so I don’t think I’ll qualify for much need based aid (correct me if I’m wrong about that). However, they’re not going to be contributing any money towards a college degree.
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at some schools you will qualify for aid, but the problem may be that your family won’t pay its “family contribution.”
Commuting to UF can be one of your safeties, but you should find some others. With your stats, you can get some big scholarships elsewhere.
Bama would give you a big award. You’d get free tuition plus 2500 per year for CS. Then if you only go to college for 2 years, then $6k of your college fund can supplement that. You’d still need some money from a summer job.
Apply also to UAH.
Since you’re looking for room and board as well, you should also look at Miss State. Another option would be some good, but “lower,” Florida schools where you can use BF and get large merit.
What would UCF, USF, FAU, and FIA give you for merit for your stats?
MoMoDesu: Congratulation on your excellent academic credentials and the fact that you have taken full advantage of the state’s dual enrollment system (free tuition/fees/books). You have essentially cut your total college cost in half… saving yourself/family more than $40K total over two years, but also allowing you to graduate two years earlier than your average college student.
Given your stats, FIU (Presidential Merit Scholarship), UCF, USF, FSU (among others) “should” offer you full tuition. If you do go out of state, make sure to select a school/scholarship that accepts at least 60 of those 60 college credits. You should apply to the University of Miami also. They accept SOF dual enrollment credits and could potentially offer a full ride.
In general, they will give about $4K a year in merit scholarships, simply based on stats. However, room and board will be around $9K to $10K a year. Taking into account Bright Futures, it’s an option.
All of these schools also offer more competitive scholarships, such as the Provost Scholarships at UCF. Unlike the more common merit scholarships (example would be the “Pegasus Program” at UCF that can give up to $4K a year), these scholarships can give $6K or more a year but are very limited in the number awarded each year. I would apply soon to these schools (UCF, etc.), so you can be considered for these awards, before they run out of funds. All Florida public universities, except UF and FSU are on rolling admissions and merit aid is assigned as long as they still have funds. Apply too late and they may not have the funds available for the merit scholarships.