There are a number of schools on the TE list that have merit scholarships of 1/2 tuition. I wonder if that works with TE. TE at Drexel has a limit of 33K or the amount of tuition. If it would work with a 1/2 tuition scholarship that would be fantastic.
We found that some schools would allow our kids to keep part of the merit scholarship, to a total equal to full tuition. Other schools were very clear - choose which option you want, TE or merit. Don’t have any experience with Drexel to know their policies.
We looked at Brown and Yale. They are both big city schools, especially Yale. At Brown there is a river between the campus and the city, so it doesn’t quite feel like the city. My daughter is not a city kid and I could not see her at these schools. We visited Sarah Lawrence, and something tells me you should visit. They have very small classes, I think almost all classes are 18 students to one teacher, and the students interview the teachers the first few days of school and list what teachers they want. It’s very unique, you can learn more from contacting them.
I tried to get her to look at SL but no go. There is a girl from her High School going there next year. I think she wants to avoid any one that knows her in college. I think she might try to reinvent herself in college or something. I told her a story before going to high school how she could re-invent herself and she’s probably making plans.
University of Oklahoma gives OOS National Merit Finalists $124,000.00, or more, over 4 or 5 years, which is almost a free ride. http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/recruitment/scholarships/NMpackage_2016_NonRes.pdf
Since your daughter will have a GPA over 3.5 and an SAT score over 2000 she should become an NMF.
Also,I want to note that the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism has been voted a Top 10 Journalism School by RTDNA (http://blogs.ou.edu/gaylord/2014/12/17/gaylord-college-voted-one-of-the-top-10-journalism-programs-in-nation/#.Vl3F5VWrSUl), in large part because of the wide range of experiential opportunities available (student-run PR agency, commercial production unit, newscast, etc).
Anyone have any thoughts on St. John’s College? The GC recommended to my D to look into it since she is such a voracious reader.
@Dolemite I don’t know if anyone mentioned USC (Southern California) and if your daughter would be a good fit, but from a financial point of view, you and your daughter should consider it. Even though USC is one of the most expensive colleges in the US, here’s why.
My S is a NMSF (hopefully a NMF soon) and he also qualifies for the Tuition Exchange Program (TEP) through me. He applied to USC before 12/1 deadline to be considered for their merit-based scholarships (full or half tuition), and even though he was not chosen as one of the finalists, he received an acceptance letter last week (RD decision is late March or 4/1). When he officially becomes a NMF and lists USC as his first choice, he would automatically get 1/2 tuition off (NMF Presidential scholarship). On top of that, USC will allow a portion of the merit scholarship $ to be stacked with the Tuition Exchange Program (in our case, 80% tuition). I emailed USC about this and this is what they said:
“Merit scholarships may be combined with tuition exchange. The full aid package may equal up to $8,000 over the tuition amount. This amount can be applied to living expenses.”
In sum, if your daughter becomes a NMF and gets accepted to USC AND gets approved for the TEP (not a guarantee since the exchanging schools has to match their kids 1:1), you are looking at less than $10,000 per year to attend USC. I think your daughter stands a good chance to get this. Good luck!
My son has a friend at St. John’s in Annapolis. (They also have a campus in Santa Fe.) Not sure what all the factors were in choosing the school, but she turned down Haverford for St. John’s “Great Books” curriculum.
I think it’s a pretty specific niche, but if it’s what the student is looking for, it can be a great experience. It’s a CTCL (Colleges That Change Lives). http://ctcl.org/st-johns-college/
The Fiske Guide describes its as, “Easy to get in, not so easy to get out.” (If you Google “Fiske Guide” and “St. John’s College,” and pull down their Books tab, you should be able to read their review from the 2014 edition of the guide.)
@Anamgol Thanks for the tip. We’ll definitely look into it. Nice Journalism School at USC.
My nephew graduated from St. Johns a couple of years ago and his sister is there now. He was at the Santa Fe campus. the girl started off at Annapolis but is trying out Santa Fe this year. If it’s what you want it’s great. It obviously doesn’t prepare you for anything specific. My nephew works at a Maritime Museum on boatbuilding. His wife does event stuff. My niece is thinking foreign service. It’s great preparation for law school.
I think your daughter is really limiting herself by eliminating all schools that others from her school are going to. Would she turn down Harvard because others are going there? What if she picks a school and then next year 3 kids from her school end up there? Would she leave? No, she’d just ignore them.
I’m pretty sure Drexel doesn’t allow stacking TE with merit.
I’m not sure Drexel would have anything to do with it, but the school that you attend.
Just to follow up the Policy on Drexel’s Website:
What happens to the other types of financial aid that I receive?
The complex nature of financial aid programs requires that many factors be taken into consideration. If the aid program is specific to tuition, the student may not obtain additional money (since Tuition Exchange Program covers full tuition). If however, the aid can be used for other educational expenses, it is at the discretion of the college to allow the additional aid to offset the Tuition Exchange Program benefit or to be in addition to the Tuition Exchange Program benefit.
So seems it’s basically up to the school my D would attend and apparently USC allows for both the NMF and TE benefits.
Dolemite is right. It seems (at least from the email that I received) that USC will allow the merit aid to stack with the TEP up to $8000 over the full tuition amount, which can be used for housing and meal plan. So the max amount will be roughly $49,500 + $8000 = $57,500. This is going to be the next best thing to getting a full ride (at least for my S and possibly for the OP’s D). By the way, Fordham also offers great scholarships to NMSF (full tuition with or without housing).
If it’s the student I’m thinking of, I would take everything she says with a large grain of salt.
I guess it depends on the wording in the scholarship as to whether it can be used for things other than tuition. TE is for tuition, and the Drexel merit aid awards are also for tuition.
and
This is for Drexel employee dependents using TE at other schools, but seems likely Drexel’s interpretation would be used for students coming to Drexel too.
Maybe the OP’s daughter can receive an award from Drexel that is allowed to be used for r&b like the USC national merit can. Drexel also limits its TE awards to $33k, so if it is sending a student to a school with higher tuition, maybe that student could get the $33k and then could take an institutional grant for tuition only for the remainder of tuition.
These are the ones that are urban and won’t feel like a let down.
American
George Washington
Tulane
USC
Richmond
Maybe Lawrence
Well this is me talking out of *** because I’m just guessing but I suppose that schools like USC that offer 1/2 tuition scholarships for NMF actually count the scholarship as a general merit aid scholarship that just happens to be worth 1/2 the current tuition. So if the student receives something else that reduces tuition then they can carry over the merit aid to other expenses. Other schools that offer 1/2 tuition aid, like Emerson College and it’s Honor’s Scholarship may stipulate that the aid is for tuition only and can’t be stacked with another tuition only scholarship like Tuition Exchange. It could be that the funds donated that created the scholarship might stipulate that it only be used for tuition. All that being said, your mileage may vary. And the Emerson thing is just an example I’m not sure if their Honors Scholarship can or cannot stack with Tuition Exchange.
@ClassicRockerDad I’m not sure what you mean by a “let down”. Academically or being urban?
I meant academically. She has a terrific record and if circumstances were different she’d be applying to the very top schools. Those Tuition Exchange schools I listed would all be reasonable safety or high match for students gunning for the top schools, except GWU which often rejects kids with top stats to protect their yield, and USC which is not a safety for anybody. Nonetheless, she would find academic peers at all of the schools I listed and after about a week, she would find peers who challenge her.
Some of the other suggestions I think might be a letdown.