I heard if the first child turns down merit money at University of Maryland then the second child will not be offered merit money later on. Is this true? If it is true, if my first child (just got into U of Md) withdraws his application now (before merit interviews) will my second child get merit opportunity at U of Md few years later?
Two of my sons were accepted to UMCP, one in 2013 and other 2015. Neither choose to enroll. Both were offered merit, less for second son who had higher GPA but lower test scores.
What would be the rationale on their part? It’s not like your first child stole the money. They’re not spiteful that their offer of love was unrequited. I wouldn’t worry about this for a nanosecond.
Thank you! Perfect! Will not withdraw 1st child’s application to UMD. He is saying he will not go there even with full ride but it may change when we know how much merit money he receives from each school.
Are you in-state for UMD? Lots of MD students dislike it just because it is in-state. Bur plenty do end up attending when their families find out what the final aid packages are like. So I wouldn’t worry just yet. 
Happykid refused to even look at UMD. Too big. Too many high school classmates there. She did look at UMBC, but didn’t like it much (too hilly, too many stairs, if I recall correctly). She went to Towson, and loved it.
Yes we are in state. My son is currently saying he rather go to the other two schools he has been admitted to so far. BUT UMD makes so much sense financially. He has very high stats, AP’s, EC, etc. most likely he will get good merit money. Emotions are high right now. Maybe after we get the results of all the schools and merit money it will change. This is so different than when I applied to colleges. I applied to two. Denied to one, admitted to the other. End of story.
For those of us who are OOS, UMD is a very good university.
I know two fathers, one from MA and one from VT. The one from MA has a daughter who did not want to go to U.Mass Amherst because it was in-state and boring and UVM is better. The one from VT has a daughter who did not want to go to UVM because it was in-state and boring and U.Mass Amherst is better. They are both paying about an extra $20k per year (both daughters got good merit aid which makes the difference in cost slightly less than it might have been). Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, regardless of which side of the fence you are on.
Returning to your original question: My oldest was offered decent merit aid at the top ranked small primarily undergraduate university in Canada but turned it down. My youngest applied to the same school and got a similar or slightly larger merit award. I don’t think that they hold grudges.
Sometimes the amount of scholarship is related to which major you are studying…sometimes it has to do with applicant pool at the time and award money available. Honestly would not stress that one child’s decision would affect a sibling.
I don’t see how any school could have this policy, let alone one as big as Maryland. They receive thousands of applications each year and give out thousands of acceptances, with hundreds of merit aid awards. They’d have to have quite the computer program to match up an applicant from 2015 who was offered a merit scholarship but turned it down with an applicant from 2018. How would they do that matching up? Using confidential information from a file? How would they know that John Brown from 2015 was related to Jim Brown from 2018 without using PII, without linking a SSN through a parent?
I don’t think they can do it.
I know, right? My son doesn’t want to go to Rutgers because it is in state and boring. It’s a great school, but NJ students take it for granted.
hi @danielle6849 I stumbled across your post looking for Rutgers Mason Gross Audition info and wanted to say that your Sons ideology is universal. We’re in Chicago, 10 min from downtown, the water, amazing architecture and schools yet my son wants to go to the East Coast for College and would be delighted to be accepted into Rutgers Mason Gross
@actingdreams I guess it’s just the nature of kids. They want to get away. I want him to go away, too, but I really think that Rutgers is his best school of those he’s been accepted to (UMD, UDel, USF, FSU) for his program. We haven’t heard from UF yet, but that might change things if he gets in. =) I kinda feel like you go to UF if you get into UF.
I went to school an hour away. My nephew (and most of his high school friends) go to school 45 minute away. Many of my friends at school lived on campus or in the sorority house and their parents were 15 minutes away. They blended in just fine. Their parents didn’t just stop by, and in fact I never remember any stopping by except for one girl’s little sister who sold us girl scout cookies.
If these kids grew up in Boston or Princeton, do you think they’d have the same need to get away?