High Dollar Scholarships (Don't Qualify for Financial Aid)

Paying for College
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I’m looking at universities with large price tags ($40,000+ a year), and hope to go on to medical school. My parents said they will help pay for medschool if I attend a college that is less than $10,000 a year. Therefore, I need a way to cut down on the cost of attendance. We won’t qualify for any financial aid (I’ve already looked), and I really don’t want to get any loans if I can prevent it.

Junior.
Roman Catholic.
Hispanic, Italian, Polish, and German.

4.0 uw GPA.

ACT of 33, SAT (Reading and Math) of 1250.

Expected National Hispanic Scholar.
250+ volunteer hours.

Any suggestions of high dollar scholarships that I am a good candidate for? I don’t mind writing an essay or two. Also, I’m looking into STEM majors (i.e. engineering or biochemistry).

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http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

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What is the matter with YOU looking at less exoensive undergrad schools? Esoecially if you are considering medical school, you do not need undergrad debt.

Your parents offer to pay $200,000 plus for medical school is extremely generous, should you actually go that route. In my opinion, that is more than sufficient trade off for looking for a less exoensive undergrad school.

With your stats, you could attend University of Alabama with a full tuition award and if you are an engineering major, I believe you would get an additional $2500. Room and board would be within reach of their $10.000 price tag.

@mom2collegekids‌

Hope she sees this thread!

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Temple gives full tuition also for 3.8 gpa and 32 ACT I believe.

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With your ACT of 33, Alabama would give you free tuition.

if you major in eng’g, Alabama would give you $2500 per year additional.

Your remaining costs would be about $12k per year…depending on dorm selection.

My son was a ChemEng’g major at Bama and is now a second year med student. Alabama has very good premed advising and also writes Committee Letters.

Alabama also has a Catholic Church right on UA property, and it has a very active youth group. The church, St Francis, has a brand new beautiful building…and if you go to 9am Mass, you can sit near Coach Saban…and the Honors College Dean takes students out for breakfast after :wink: (just added bonuses to Sunday Mass attendance :wink: ) But, actually the Sunday evening Mass is the “student Mass”.

What was your PSAT? What is your home state?

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There are a number of universities / colleges where you could potentially get a “full-ride” (generally tuition) Your statts would probably put you in the running. Some require extra essays. Others just require you to apply to the school. Suggest you check out: Boston University, Fordham, University of Richmond, and Tulane. Alabama and Temple have already been mentioned. I am sure there are more. Good luck.

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@thumper1 It’s not that I haven’t looked at less expensive schools for undergrad; I’ve been looking at colleges since 8th grade. The fact is that the ones that I would actually enjoy myself going to and feel at home at are on the pricier end. There are a few colleges that I really like that have a smaller price tag (U of Houston and University of St. Thomas), but my heart is set on Rice University. I know that going there isn’t very reasonable because of the price, but it’s been my dream. If I can find a way to go there without going into debt, then I’ll go there. If not, then I’ll probably go with one of the others I mentioned.

@mommdc @4Gulls Thank you for your responses! I have looked at Temple and Fordham but can’t see myself attending there.

@mom2collegekids Thank you for the info! My PSAT score was 213. And ultimately, I’d like to stay in Texas. I will be applying to some out of state schools, but I’ll most likely stay in state.

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You would likely get some merit aid at Trinity in San Antonio.

And don’t dismiss UT-A. It’s a fine school, and while larger than what you have mentioned, it has good programs.

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@thumper1 UT-A has been on my for some time. I will most likely apply but don’t know about actually attending. It would be difficult going from doing school online to a college that size without knowing anyone. That’s why TAMU is also on my list to apply but I probably won’t go.

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Dream…unless you plan to do college online, you will need to meet folks regardless of where you attend college.

And remember, you don’t have to meet 25,000 people. You meet YOUR circle of friends.

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@thumper1 I understand that. I just don’t believe large state schools are the best fit for me. I’ve toured them and sat in on a few classes. It’s just not my type of environment.

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If you will only have undergraduate debt, and your parents can afford to pay 200K for medical school, you should look at realistic levels of debt for yourself.

Do you think 10K per year of student loans would be acceptable to you? In that case, would your parents agree to pay 10K per year for undergrad and you take out 10K of loans per year?

If not, remember that many schools that might offer free tuition won’t offer room and board, and your costs will likely be at least 10K per year.

Have you looked here? I’m not sure if you would qualify, but there are a lot of them.

http://www.finaid.txstate.edu/scholarships/freshman.html

I’m also wondering if the OP’s parents realize how few colleges are less than 10K per year, especially considering only a few offer full rides including housing and books. And you also need a college that has pre-med courses available - if you can’t take organic chemistry at a college, the low cost doesn’t help.

My take on this is that the parents want to have control over the OP, but without a contract that says the parents will pay for medical school, they are not obligated to do so.

I’d rather say this to my kid: I can pay up to 200K for your undergrad and grad school, but past that point, you have to take out loans for the difference. So if it is 80K total for undergrad, you’ll have 120K left to pay for medical school.

Have your parents read this:
https://www.aamc.org/students/aspiring/paying/283080/pay-med-school.html

And - how about a 6 (3 + 3) or 7 year (3 + 4) med program? These can result in quite a bit of savings (one year of undergrad tuition generally).

http://www.utdallas.edu/pre-health/ut-pact

http://som.uthscsa.edu/Admissions/earlyMatriculationProgram.asp

Perhaps some negotiation with your parents is in order, or more creative thinking. If you are sure you want to go to medical school, a 7 year med program might be a good idea.

Texas A&M seems to allows juniors to enter medical school, but it is more iffy than a 7 year med program.
http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/admissions/faq.html

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@dreams4ever You’re going to have to make choices…a big university may not be your favorite but it might also be your only option for a full-ride…in any case, start drawing up your list now and cast a wide net!

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Only one problem with Rhandco’s suggestion. The student can’t take $10,000 a year in loans. That amount would require a cosigner. Will the parents cosign loans.

The student can take, in their name…these amounts per year in Direct Loans:

Freshman $5500
Sophomore $6500
junior $7500
Senior $7500

Any amounts above this would require a cosigner.

PLUS…what four year residential college can this kiddo attend where he will only have to spend $10,000…in Texas?

Since the family seems to not qualify for need based aid, then merit is what he/she needs to find.

So…the OP needs to start looking for schools where those stats will garner enough merit aid that he can afford to attend.

The other suggestions rhandco posted are worthy of consideration. Start researching other schools and other programs. Sure, apply to Rice. But if the money isn’t forthcoming, you will need to walk away from that school.

And an additional question…sort of like what Rhandco suggested…what about your parents paying for undergrad. Then YOU pay for medical school? Their $200,000 will just about fund an undergrad degree at Rice.

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What is your backup plan if you don’t win enough scholarships to cover tuition at your dream school?

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@rhandco @SouthernHope As I have previously said, I have been looking at colleges for a couple years. I know where I am comfortable going and where I’m not. As I live in Texas, I will try to stay within Texas unless I receive an offer elsewhere that I can’t refuse. The University of St. Thomas and University of Houston are within my price cap and fit my wants/needs. Even though UST’s tuition is $30,000, I believe that I will get enough scholarships from there in order to attend for $10,000 or less (maybe even for nothing). If I attend either of these schools (as well as Rice), I have the option of staying home, which gets rid of Room & Board costs.

@thumper1 It is something that I have considered. But my reason for this post is to find scholarships to help me with undergrad.

@dadoftwingirls My backup plan is to attend the University of St. Thomas. I exceed their requirements and have a good chance of getting a full tuition scholarship. It’s a good safety school and has a good pre-med program.

Can any of you blame a girl for trying to achieve her dream? I understand there are many good schools that fit what I’m looking for, but I have composed my own list and would like to stick to it. I have a backup plan to my backup plan to my backup plan. That’s not the issue. I’m just trying to find a way to make my dream a reality. If I can’t, that’s okay. I’m just asking for help with scholarships.

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So is your goal to have a NET COST of $10k per year? or is that idea out the window?

Have you looked at UT-Dallas?

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In your case, finding colleges which award good merit aid is your best bet.

The best scholarships are those awarded directly by the colleges.

You have great stats, but apparently you have no financial need. Most of the larger outside scholarships,have a need component.

Have you googled scholarships for National Hispanic Scholars? Maybe there is something there that does not have a need component.

Do either of your parents work for a business that awards merit scholarships to,employee kids? Some businesses do this.

Again, I’m going to suggest Trinity in San Antonio. It is a well rated, smaller private school. You might get sufficient merit aid to attend.

Another thought…you may find that your Hispanic background will provide diversity in states other than Texas, where there is a larger Hispanic population.

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@mom2collegekids A net cost of $10k would be awesome, but just tuition being $10k or less is okay as well. I’ve only really looked at UT-Austin. But I have heard some good things about UT-Dallas, as I have a friend who applied there this year. What can you tell me about the school?

@thumper1 That’s what I’ve figured. I have looked for those types of scholarships, but I think they depend on the schools you apply to. Please correct me if I’m wrong about that. Unfortunately, they don’t. I’ve already thought of that. That’s why I plan on applying to a few out of state schools to see what happens.

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I’m confused. I think perhaps people thought you meant that you are looking for any schools that give a full ride. Your OP was rather vague about the identities of your schools.

But now it seems you are only looking at schools in Texas, where you will be in-state, and hopefully can live at home.

That is not the same as looking for scholarships anywhere.

I think you’ll find that you’ll have to look at each institution individually, because there are very very few scholarships that can be used anywhere that do not require financial need. To be honest, most people, and that would include most people on CC, think parents should pay for their child’s college if they can afford it. URM or not.

Maybe what you really need is a scholarship search engine. The College Board has one, there is one called FastWeb, etc.