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<p>Unless you are an Arkansas resident. In Arkansas, National Merit finalists automatically qualify for the Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship, and Hendrix automatically covers the difference between the Governor’s and full tuition, room, and board, so that effectively National Merit finalist status gives you a full ride at Hendrix.</p>
<p>^Forgot that. I’m not an Arkansas resident, so I never really looked at the nitty-gritty of the Arkansas-only scholarships. That’s a good point to make though.</p>
<p>Lovestheheat – can you define what a financial safety is for your family? I ask because I know boys who were awarded scholarships to Case Western Reserve and U of Miami that got the cost of those schools to within a few thousand dollars of our in-state flagship ($20K). But if you are looking to spend $15K or less, for example, even those scholarships won’t work.</p>
<p>Both of these boys had unweighted GPA’s of about 3.8 with lots of AP and/or IB classes, and solid ECs.</p>
<p>As far as criteria to look for, consider the percentage of freshmen returning for sophomore year and the 4-year graduation rate.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Just learned that Auburn’s Presidential Scholarship is no longer automatic unless you are a NMF. I still think it is worth considering and your son might be awarded it if he is interested.</p>
<p>Since he wants a full ride or as close to it as possible, costs should be $3,000 per year or less.
Yes, we will look at Auburn. It looks like a good school with good merit aid. Thanks for the suggestion</p>
<p>I would suggest going to something like the College Board - Matchmaker site and searching on Recreation Studies. Pick the schools that are likely to have good programs in other areas…in case there’s a change of heart on the major ( I saw schools with recreation majors like Michigan State, Indiana, UNC Greensboro…and a number of the secondary state schools in a variety of states.) .</p>
<p>You can then go to the school sites and look at the financial aid section. At Michigan State, it is likely your son would qualify for the University Scholars program. A few of these schools have special programs for high-performing out of state students that allow them to qualify for in-state tuition and grants. There is often a separate application…so be sure to look for that.</p>
<p>What state do you live in, are there any reciprocal programs with other states?</p>
<p>OP - You asked, “CSU isn’t known for good merit? It looks like a good fit for my son.” </p>
<p>Actually, I’m not sure on CSU. I’ve been looking at the CU Boulder threads because my son applied there. I do know that CSU gives more scholarships to in-state kids than CU. Also they looked like one of the best schools for accepting AP and IB credit. So it would be worth investigating further. I think it is a nice campus, and Fort Collins is a nice town. </p>
<p>Be aware that at CSU (and many state schools in CO and other states), there is not a lot of dorm space. It seems like many kids move off campus after freshman year. That could be more of a hassle if you live far away. Certainly doable - just need to be in that mindset. The Peterson’s website is a good website when comparing campuses. Peterson’s includes % off students living on campus. (It shows CSU at 25%).</p>
<p>You might also want to look at the University of Alabama. 1400+ SAT will earn a full tuition scholarship. Both Auburn and UA are big sport schools and a recreation major might find sports related opportunities at a big sports school. Last, I know Auburn offers summer educational programs/camps for young kids and this could give your son extra experience toward his ultimate goal of being a camp director.</p>
<p>My son with high stats got awesome merit at Truman State in Missouri. He loves it. They have some automatic scholarships and some competitive ones, and they are stackable, so that turned out to be an awesome deal for him. It’s a nice size unless your son wants a bigger place. There are probably 5800-6000 students there.</p>
<p>HIghest merit at CSU is 1/2 tuition and then an additional honors scholarship for $2k, total of $11K a year. Puts the total in the low 20’s for out of state. I believe they do a rolling admissions - and you can apply early. One of first awards to come in. CU - who knows. My son received top merit awards at every school he applied to - and nothing from CU.</p>
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<p>South Carolina has an excellent Honors College where the average SAT is 1410 and GPA 4.5. They only accept 300 students per year. </p>
<p>100% of the students who are accepted receive some amount of merit aid. Son will attending in the Fall.</p>
<p>We will be paying less than we pay for his private school tuition. It feels like we won the lottery :)</p>
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<p>Pardon? I cannot believe I just read this. I want to correct this very wrong assumption. There are plenty of other threads on this if anyone is interested.</p>
<p>The schools that was interested in had zilch, nada, zip, zero, no NMF-based aid. Schools like U/Arizona and U/Oklahoma, both of which mailed her, were of zilch, nada, zip, zero, no interest to her.
A perfect negative match. A datum.</p>
<p>Michigan and Michigan State have a recreation major (as well as business) but are not “known” for great merit money for out of state. They do have generous scholarships, but its not clear what the profile is for students that receive them. University of Minnesota is known to be reasonable for out of state and has recreation (as well as business). My son just had a friend transfer to Missoula to finish his recreation major (not sure of the concentration).</p>
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<p>KG,
I’m looking at CSU for D2 because we would qualify for WUE. On their website, they list the university-wide merit scholarships and then state that if admitted, they also give merit aid through the various colleges. Do you know anything about these, are many given, how much $, etc.?? It’s really frustrating to know that there’s the possibility of additional merit, but not having enough facts to make a realistic decision.</p>
<p>WUE is good, and that certainly makes it more affordable. I did so much research on this - but I think I just zapped it all. A couple suggestions. Scour the website, I found a lot there. The counselors at CSU were also VERY helpful answering questions, might wait until they get through this sign up rush period. Very good about answering email - one of the best - and nicest. I believe that CSU superscores both the SAT and ACT for admission and scholarship so check on that - and then if so, take the test (s) more than once to try to get the highest score possible. I’m pretty sure she could qualify for merit from the university - such as Presidents (not chancellors) and honors. Once you are accepted and these awards are handed out - you can apply directly to the schools, departments, etc … for those awards. You can reach out to those departments, or look on the website. My son didn’t know what he would major in - so that wasn’t a big help for us. Also - another good thing about CSU - once admitted you can sign up for housing and get in line - and have a good first chance for housing. YOu don’t have to accept the admission - just pay the fee - which is almost all refundable - except for about $50. I’ll see if I can find my notes, etc and if I can I will PM you.</p>
<p>Thanks KG! I will pursue this both on the website and by contacting them. D2 is likely to be a Bio major, so I’ll try to focus on that and see what I can find out. We have friends who’s S is getting “almost a full ride” as he has merit from the school of Forestry; I always take these declarations with a grain of salt since “full ride” means different things to different people.</p>