Hints about comparing merit scholarship offers

<p>I have been surprised at the difference between merit scholarships that are in fixed dollars and ones that are tuition, fees and maybe room and board. Some colleges offer tuition or half tuition scholarships but these may be frozen at the tuition for 2005-6, not even 2006-7 prices. </p>

<p>In analyzing my son's offers, I calculated that the tuition, fees and room and board at one public university rose $2,242 from 02 to 05, and $5,525 from 02-05 at one private university. So when I compare these offers to ones that provide tuition, fees, room and board that rise as the costs rise, the fixed dollar scholarships are not equal from a financial perspective.</p>

<p>One other thing to be aware of when comparing offers is to check on course fees. Many public universities charge fees associated with specific types of courses and these are in addition to the tuition and fees. For example, lab classes can have fees of $30-85 and art classes, kinesiology classes, and computer technology type classes can have substantial fees as well.</p>

<p>Other BIG considerations: </p>

<p>Does the scholarship have to be renewed each year or is it automatic? If renewable, what are the parameters?</p>

<p>Is there a GPA required to keep the scholarhsip? Will you kid DEFINITELY be able to maintain that GPA (a concern especially in majors like engineering, architecture, etc.)? What's the plan if s/he doesn't maintain the GPA?</p>

<p>Renewal requirements are a big deal, it's true. When I was in college, I was on need-based financial aid, and some of my friends were on merit-based aid. One of them had similar amounts of aid to me, but she had to maintain a 3.5 or better to keep it, no C's or below. She was <em>frequently</em> stressing our first year about it. It's not that she wasn't a great student, but she didn't want to take risks academically because any mistake could cost her the money, and attending college. </p>

<p>For students at schools that have very rigorous freshmen core classes, that would be <em>so</em> much pressure, and as the previous poster said, definitely something to think about.</p>

<p>Agree with Trin and weenie. As the parent of an Engineering student, I would gladly cede $5K or so in favor of reasonable renewal requirements. EG, DS merit award is a good one $$-wise and requires a 2.7 GPA for renewal. As an Engineering student, he had a 3.67 first term and is carrying a 3.34 mid-term right now. Would it be right for him to be sweating this (perfectly fine, imo) GPA if the renewal required a 3.5? Not in my book. I don't want him to have that pressure. This issue is quite real. For a kid who never had anything as low as a 3.3ish in hs, the courseload, vagaries of professor grading and, yes, distractions of college can mean altered expectations for GPA. The kid should have some breathing room.</p>

<p>I agree that minimum gpa requirements should be a factor in the final decisionmaking process. For our son it boiled down to a choice between Case and Rensselaer whose net costs were similar. One factor in his choice to attend RPI was the fact that there was not min gpa required to maintain his $25,000 in merit scholarships while Case required a min gpa of 3.2(?). It wasn't the only factor but it was a factor.</p>

<p>Yes, the OP is correct, with most merit awards a family's net cost will increase in the following years because of increases in tuition, fees and housing costs. At Rensselaer the cost have increased by $4535 in 3 yrs. However because RPI does not require sophs and above to live on campus, our son choice to live off campus has actually decrease our net cost by several thousand dollars this year and probably by about $3000 next.</p>

<p>Another thing to consider is scholarships offered to current students. Our son is in the running for 2 endowed scholarships, one offered by the compsci department and the other offered by the HSS School. They are not huge(less than $1200 each) but if he was fortunate enough to be awarded one it would help offset a part of the tuition increase.</p>

<p>I know at one time there were a few colleges who maintained a uniform tuition for matriculating students during their 4 years of attendence. Each year the tuition increased but was applicable to only that entering class. I am not sure if any colleges have this policy any more.</p>

<p>originaloog, there are still some colleges that have that uniform tuition. Check out <a href="http://www.independent529plan.com/colleges/by_state.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.independent529plan.com/colleges/by_state.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I would love to get more info from you. DD is in 10th grade and we are just beginning. DD is interested in journalism, music, and softball. She is considering North Texas. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Maybe we could email direct.</p>