<p>Hi all, I am a rising senior at a prestigious private school in NJ. My parents have struggled to put me through High School/grammar school and so have little to spend on my higher education. For this reason I am looking for schools that are generous for need based and merit aid. </p>
<p>My Stats:
- 2140 SAT (took it once...taking it one more time)
- 99% gpa
- top 5 in class of 250
Interests:
- Varsity Sport
- On Executive Board of State Organization
- various interesting volunteer experiences</p>
<p>I am interested in Pre-Med, but not totally set on that. All of the schools I am attracted to are so expensive! Just as background, I have 2 siblings in college currently in each of the two grades above me, so I will be the third in school at the same time.</p>
<p>Please help me find a challenging college that is known to be generous financially. </p>
<p>Thank You!</p>
<p>Will you be a NMSF? [ did you score above the PSAT cutoff score for NJ? ] If so there are a number of U’s that offer automatic full tuition scholarships to NMSF’s. </p>
<p>“Just as background, I have 2 siblings in college currently in each of the two grades above me, so I will be the third in school at the same time.”</p>
<p>Its time to have the money talk and find out EXACTLY how much your parents CAN afford.
If your family is currently getting FA for sending your siblings to college, your FAMILIES EFC should not change. That said, you need to go to the individual colleges FA calculators and plug in the numbers they ask for to see what they estimate it will cost you.
YOU first need to find financial safeties that you can afford and get into[ Rutgers? other public U’s/ colleges in your state?]</p>
<p>First off, thank you for spending the time to answer. I did score above the cutoff but my counselor from her experience does not think I will be a finalist. My parents are very open about their financial situation. Both of my siblings are taking out loans to finance their education. My parents can likely only afford about 10k due to their lack of savings.</p>
<p>How accurate are financial aid calculators? I have completed a few but they seem so inconsistent. Schools like Georgetown and ND show large awards so that the cost is <10K, but other smaller and less selective schools offer much less aid.</p>
<p>@hahacollege, Generally the NPC reflects what the school will give in terms of Need aid, but it is difficult to tell how much merit aid will be rewarded. The reason why there are less selective schools giving you less money is because they do not have as much money to give. For example, one of my safeties is my local state university. On College Board it says that it gives out about 70% loans, 30% scholarships, and it does NOT meet full financial need. One of the other more selective schools that I’m applying to that also has a higher endowment will give me a lot more money based off of the NPC and it says on CollegeBoard that it has about a 80% grant/scholarship, 20% loan rate, and it DOES meet full need. College Board is a great tool for determing what schools are more likely to give merit aid, and ones that don’t. Normally the less selective schools you’re talking about will give you more merit money if you are in the top of their admitted class. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you made NMSF then there is a 15/16 chance you’ll make NMF. Generally the students who don’t make it have behavioral issues, grade issues or just don’t fill out the paperwork. </p>
<p>As far as NPCs, the consensus on the boards is the more info they request the more accurate they are. You also have to realize that ND and GTown have pretty good endowments from which to pull grant $. Smaller schools don’t necessarily have that option.</p>
<p>"I did score above the cutoff but my counselor from her experience does not think I will be a finalist. "</p>
<p>WHY? Its a no brainer to become a Finalist if you have scored above the cutoff. YOU need to make SURE the counselor gives you the NMSF paperwork that is sent to HS’s in Sept. Fill it out, write the essay, and make SURE she does her part and sends in the recommendation letter she needs to write. These are all critical steps that must happen for you to advance to NMF status. </p>
<p>here are links to lists of colleges that give generous National Merit scholarships and other scholarships - some automatic full ride[ tuition and room and board, some full tuition only, and some 1/2 Tuition]
scroll to the bottom of the second to see the latest listing</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html</a></p>