IMPORTANT: Links to AUTOMATIC/GUARANTEED Merit Scholarships

Paying for College
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<p>[Eckerd</a> College | Types of Aid](<a href=“http://www.eckerd.edu/admissions/finaid/aid.php]Eckerd”>http://www.eckerd.edu/admissions/finaid/aid.php) Eckerd (FL) </p>

<p>For students entering the residential program in the Fall of 2010, we will award the following academic achievement scholarships.</p>

<p>Scholarship Amount Average GPA-internally calculated Average SAT (CR+M)/ ACT </p>

<p>Trustee: $14,500 3.77 1230/28</p>

<p>Presidential: $13,500 3.5 1170/25</p>

<p>Dean: $12,000 3.2 1110/23</p>

<p>Academic Achievement: $9,000 2.97 1050/22</p>

<p>Note that they will recalculate your GPA, although most schools do, anyway.</p>

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<p>I have learnt that Columbia College provides full tuition scholarship for all students with 1300+ in SAT. It is, however, a women college.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>True…but you need a 1320+ SAT. </p>

<p>[Columbia</a> College SC - Welcome to Columbia College](<a href=“http://www.columbiasc.edu/admissions/factsheet_fresh_oc.asp]Columbia”>http://www.columbiasc.edu/admissions/factsheet_fresh_oc.asp)</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t quite understand this. Can someone explain?</p>

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<p>John, need-based aid is awarded up to the full cost of attendance MINUS the EFC and other aid, including scholarships. Scholarships reduce the student’s need. So, if a student has a $40K COA, a $15K EFC, and a $20K scholarship, their calculated need is $5K (40-15-20). The school will package their need-based awards based on the $5K of remaining need…not the $5K plus $15K EFC, which is what the student actually has to have in order to attend. However, if the scholarship total was increased to $30K, the student would have 0 remaining need and the scholarships would cover $5K of the EFC (40-15-30= -5). </p>

<p>This generally only presents a problem if the family cannot afford their EFC and the student is eligible for significant need based aid and then they typically find that outside scholarships are just replacing aid that they would have received from need-based sources (other than the Pell grant, which is an entitlement). Many students anticipate that outside scholarships will be applied to the EFC and their need-based grants will remain intact, but it just doesn’t work that way. Only when the scholarships exceed the initial need calculation (COA-EFC) do they effectively reduce the amount of the family contribution.</p>

<p>Hope that helps…(clear as mud, huh?)</p>

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<p>*Also, if your scholarship is not larger than your “need” (COA minus EFC = “need”), then a scholarship may only reduce your aid. For a scholarship to effectively reduce EFC, then the scholarship must be larger than “need” so it can cut into EFC.</p>

<p>I don’t quite understand this. Can someone explain? *</p>

<p>If…</p>

<p>Cost is $50k</p>

<p>EFC is $5k</p>

<p>Then need is $45k</p>

<p>But…if your merit scholarship is for $5k, then that scholarship only goes towards that $45k need…it doesn’t make your EFC 0. </p>

<p>You can’t apply a merit scholarship towards your EFC when there is “need” that needs to be covered first.</p>

<p>However,</p>

<p>If Cost is $30k</p>

<p>And EFC is $20k</p>

<p>Then need is $10k</p>

<p>And…if you get a scholarship for $25k, then the first $10k goes towards need, and the other $15k reduces your EFC down to $5k. </p>

<p>Does that make sense??</p>

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<p>^^ How “outside scholarships” are used in a FA package is totally dependent on the institution. For example: Washington University at St. Louis credits outside scholarships to your account, and so reduces your EFC FIRST.</p>

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<p>All schools credit outside scholarships to the student’s account, as long as the check is submitted (and afaik all schools require outside scholarships to be reported, regardless of how the check is made out). That doesn’t mean that they won’t adjust the need-based portion of aid if the student has a package with 100% need met. WUSTL is no exception to this…as their website states:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Many schools give the student the option of reducing loans or work study before other grant aid though.</p>

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<p>^ My package from last year clearly stated that my outside scholarship would in no way affect the Washington U scholarship(named, need based). They simply added them together. I suppose they could have changed this policy. Times are bad …</p>

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<p>Wash U is one of the few colleges that allows you to keep outside scholarships on top of the institutional scholarship. From their website:</p>

<p>It is the policy of the University that your receipt of an outside scholarship will not result in a reduction of your Washington University scholarship.</p>

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<p>But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a reduction of need-based aid, which was the topic of discussion. Scholarships are given for merit, although there may be a need-based qualification…grants are given for need. Federal and state grants, except Pell, generally stipulate that they cannot be awarded in excess of COA. I seriously doubt that any college is going to award both scholarships and their own grant money in excess of COA.</p>

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<p>any more? there’s bound to be some!</p>

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<p>This is a fantastic thread! As a very busy family, we simply don’t have the time to run around all over the place for “scholarship weekends” at which DS must jump through a ton of extra hoops in order to compete for very limited $$$. We did that in mid-Novgember; we’ll do it again in Feb and March 2011…but that’s it. Enough is enough! </p>

<p>Now we’re focusing on institutions that automatically give out merit aid to kids with good stats and/or National Merit Finalist status. MUCH less stressful for everyone concerned!</p>

<p>DS has applied to Bama (yay, all the info got in on time!), UNC-CH, UNC-Asheville, Appalachian State, and several others that award merit aid without making the kids (and parents) go through an arduous dog-and-pony show. </p>

<p>We found out about Bama right here on this forum – thanks to mom2collegekids. Thanks again and again, mom2collegekids!</p>

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<p>^^^^</p>

<p>I agree. We also didn’t like those “Scholarship Weekends” where 100-300 kids are invited and only a small number are awarded anything (one school had 300 kids show up and only awarded 3 scholarships…pathetic!!). The whole think smacks of “We want to get a bunch of high stats kids on our campus to sell the school.” By only awarding a few scholarship after such a weekend appears to be a cheap way to get a bunch of smart kids on campus for a sell job. </p>

<p>these scholarship weekends take time and money, and are often fruitless. At least a few schools will give everyone who comes some small amount of merit, but some others don’t do that. Ugh!</p>

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<p>University of New Hampshire</p>

<p>Approximate costs:
Tuition: In-state: $10,730; OOS: $24,700;
Mandatory Fees: 2,942
Other costs(Room/Board/etc): $9,053</p>

<p>Details
Presidential Scholarship
NH Residents: $4,000
Non-Residents: $10,000 </p>

<p>•Rank in top 10% of graduating class (or equivalent level)
•Strong college preparatory curriculum and consistent achievement
•Standardized test scores of 1970+ SAT / 29+ ACT composite</p>

<hr>

<p>Dean’s Scholarship
NH Residents: $1,000
Non-Residents: $6,000</p>

<p>•Rank in top 15% of graduating class (or equivalent level)
•Strong college preparatory curriculum and consistent achievement
•Standardized test scores of 1760+ SAT / 26+ ACT composite</p>

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<p>I was wondering if anyone has any insider information into Ohio Northern’s scholarship day? Is it very difficult to get a scholarship to the school? DS will need a scholarship if he is to go there.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>You should probably make a new thread with this question in the subject title. Those who might know about this school may not be looking at this thread.</p>

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<p>ONU has both automatic and competitive awards. They seem to be fairly generous with scholarship aid, or they were when one of my kids was looking at ONU a few years ago. Here’s a link for more info:</p>

<p>[Scholarships</a> and Grants | Ohio Northern University](<a href=“http://www-new.onu.edu/admissions/scholarships_and_grants]Scholarships”>http://www-new.onu.edu/admissions/scholarships_and_grants)</p>

<p>There is an ONU forum under Colleges but it isn’t very active. You might send abasket a PM and ask her about it as her D was or is a student there. Here’s a thread about last year’s competition:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ohio-northern-university/834650-anyone-attending-scholarship-competition-day.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ohio-northern-university/834650-anyone-attending-scholarship-competition-day.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I didn’t see anyone post anything on Michigan State University before, so here goes!</p>

<p>Michigan State University:
In-state tuition/fees (year): $11,190
Out-of-state tuition/fees: $29,160
Room/Board: $7,770</p>

<p>See here for further information
[Scholarships</a> for Incoming Freshmen](<a href=“http://honorscollege.msu.edu/scholarships/incoming_freshmen.html]Scholarships”>http://honorscollege.msu.edu/scholarships/incoming_freshmen.html)</p>

<p>Automatic Scholarships for out-of-state students:</p>

<p>Requirements: 33+ ACT composite OR SAT total score of 1500+ (critical reading+math) OR semifinalist standing in National Merit program. MUST be within top 5% of class and must accept honors college invitation.
Receive: Tuition grant equalizes tuition and fees to the rate charged to a Michigan resident (renewed for 4 total years), worth $18,000 per year. Also receive a 2-year Professorial Assistantship - 8-10 hours/week automatic job with a professor in a chosen area of research, (worth ~$2300 the first year, ~$2600 the second year).<br>
To maintain scholarship: need a 3.2 cumulative GPA to stay in honors college </p>

<p>In addition, all out-of-state students with I believe above a 3.5 GPA receive a $5000 scholarship for a 9+ week study abroad program (or a $3000 scholarship for a study abroad program 8 weeks or less). </p>

<p>Automatic Scholarships for in-state students:</p>

<p>Requirements: 33+ ACT composite OR SAT total score of 1500+ (critical reading+math) OR semifinalist standing in National Merit program. MUST be within top 5% of class and must accept honors college invitation.</p>

<p>Receive: $2000 Michigan STATE scholarship as well as 2-year Professorial Assistantship - 8-10 hours/week automatic job with a professor in a chosen area of research, (worth ~$2300 the first year, ~$2600 the second year). </p>

<h2>To maintain scholarship: need a 3.2 cumulative GPA to stay in honors college</h2>

<p>There are also other automatic scholarships that you can qualify for but those statistics are not specified. Also, there is the “Alumni distinguished scholarship competition” that you could be invited to that allows you to compete for one of 20 full ride (everything paid for + stipend) scholarships (and several other smaller scholarships).</p>

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<p>I don’t know how old this thread is, I just found it googling. To answer somebeast’s question, check out Truman State University. They offer some good automatic scholarships to transfers as well as freshman and because of these scholarships even the total oos price tag can be comparable to a total instate price tag. Here’s the link for freshman:</p>

<p>[Truman</a> Scholarships - Office of Admission - Truman State University](<a href=“Admission | Truman State University”>Admission | Truman State University)</p>

<p>Here’s the link for transfer students:</p>

<p>[Transfer</a> to Truman](<a href=“Admission | Truman State University”>Admission | Truman State University)</p>