I really need a full ride...help me find one! :-)

Parents Forum
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<p>Personally, since you are low income, you woudl be better served looking at schools that would meet 100% of your demonstrated need (this would cover a larger portion of your cost of attendance) than looking at schools where you would be in line to get merit money. </p>

<p>However, If you want a real change of pace, where you would contribute to diversity on campus and get a free ride, try Howard in DC where your grades and scores would make you eligible for a capstone scholarship</p>

<p>Criteria:
SAT=1300 - 1390 or
ACT = 29 - 31
GPA ≥ 3.25 Award:
Tuition, Fees, Room Annual Renewal GPA: 3.00 </p>

<p><a href="http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/scholarships/freshmen.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/scholarships/freshmen.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>While yes, there are a number of schools where you would be in line for merit money (covering tuition), the number of schools that would offer you a full ride are fewer and there will be students with higher stats that will knock you out the box. </p>

<p>Also if you are in school on merit and a problem should arise you would lose your funding vs. going to a school that meets 100% of your demonstrated need, as long as you did not have a major shift in income and assets, your $$ would remain pretty consistent over hte next 4 years. At worse you would graduate with $20k in debt which is the recommended max amount of debt that students take on.</p>

<p>I know you posted your scenario quite a few places looking for answers. You have gotten good answers, now make a list.</p>

<p>THere are a number of schools the ivies: Penn, HYP, Brown, Dartmouth, Stanford, Amherst, Williams that have low income inititates in place that if admitted you would graduate with reduced or no loans. Look up each website.</p>

<p>You would be in line for great money from the women's colleges (mount holyoke, smith, bryn mawr, smith and barnard).</p>

<p>I would also suggest applying to programs like Questbridge and POSSE - <a href="http://www.questbridge.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.questbridge.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Since you are a NYS student; you should definitely see if you fit with in the paremeters of HEOP as there are a number of schools (NYU, Columbia, Barnard) that would give you close to a full ride.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.highered.nysed.gov/kiap/COLLEGIATE/HEOP/05Brochure.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.highered.nysed.gov/kiap/COLLEGIATE/HEOP/05Brochure.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Look at schools within NYS where you would be eligible for TAP in addition to PELL. example: Union which also has a HEOP. AOP program that will even give you a book allowance. <a href="http://aop.union.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://aop.union.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>You may want to consider Vassar, too. Worth a try. I know someone who received full tuition (including travel/books) based on need. Of course, grades, etc. played a part. Good Luck!</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/academicscholarships.phtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/academicscholarships.phtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>seem to have a good list of them .</p>

<p>Also look at Ohio University website .</p>

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<p>thank you, thank you, thank you for the link. What a wonderful resource! I wish it had a few more names, but hey-it's a start.</p>

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<p>Also check out NC State University. They have a program for low income students that covers all need through grants, work-study and loans(the loans are not to exceed $2500/yr.) Go to the NC State website and do a search for "the Pack Promise"</p>

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<p>My son with similar stats got a nice $16,000 per year merit from Northeastern. We didn't qualify for any need based aid but you might be able to get a combo of merit and need aid from Northeastern...</p>

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<p>A previous poster mentioned Grinnell. Although Grinnell does meet 100% of need and is generous with merit scholaships, a full ride is unlikely unless a student has a low Expected Family Contribution. Grinnell offers renewable non-need based Trustee Honor Scholarships of up to $15,000 per year ( $60,000 total ) and an additional National Merit Scholarship of $2,000 per year.</p>

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<p>Since your father has cancer, I would imagine that you're going to want to be relatively close to home so that you can see your family. Consequently, my suggestion is to apply to schools that are no more than a couple of hours away and are easy and relatively inexpensive to get there by bus.</p>

<p>I suggest that you take a close look at universities in your city and in places like Rochester. The state universities are likely to give you your best deals. Either get a college guide like US News' or pay the $15 or so to be able to fully access U.S. News' extremely informative college site. </p>

<p>I would imagine that there's a good chance that Buffalo's private and public colleges have excellent scholarships for stellar local students like you. Take the time to look up their information.</p>

<p>Here's info about Elmira College's excellent merit aid: <a href="http://www.elmira.edu/admissions/financial_aid/scholarships%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.elmira.edu/admissions/financial_aid/scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Also register with fastweb.com, an excellent free resource that provides scholarship information. Take the time, too, to review the merit scholarshiop information pinned at the top of this forum and posted here and in the financial aid board.</p>

<p>Scour your GC's office and the local newspaper to find out about local scholarships that you can apply for. Do careful applications for them. Don't turn your nose up at small ones because they add up.</p>

<p>Don't expect people here to hand feed you information. There is tons of info on this site, and you need to take the time to look that up including by searching the archives. People here tend to offer the most help to students who demonstrate the motivation to also help themselves in a major way.</p>

<p>While lots of people are suggesting colleges that are quite a distance away, I don't recommend that because the cost of transportation can be a big budget buster. Going far away to college would make it difficult to impossible for your family to do things like participate in orientation or the activities like parents weekends. It also would be difficult for you to get your belongings to the college and to come home for long weekends or holidays. Since you live in the snow belt, that would add to your difficulties doing things like getting home for winter vacation and Thanksgiving. I assume that since your dad is very ill, you would want to see your family more often than is the case with many college students.</p>