Increase chance for merit aid

Paying for College
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My son is HS junior and has done well academically (4.6 GPA, 1570 SAT) and strong EC’s (soccer team captain, research experience…). He wants to study in the biomedical sciences field (eventually either MD or PhD). Here’s our dilemma…

Like so many, we’re in the financial aid gap - we don’t qualify for need-based aid (I’ve run the numbers on over a dozen college EFC calculators). While we could afford the high price tag of the top schools, it would be a stretch. We live in Virginia, so two obvious choices are UVA and W&M (great schools, very affordable in-state tuition). My son would be happy at either (if he were to get accepted, of course), but he really likes Duke, Vanderbilt, and UofChicago. All offer a small number of merit scholarships.

I think he has the credentials to be a strong contender for acceptance at any of these schools. I think we’ve made the decision that he’d only go to one of these schools if he were to get a significant merit award (at least 1/2 tuition). (He’ll apply to outside scholarships as well, but they’re long shots too).

So my question for the group… any advise on how to maximize the chance for merit aid at these schools? One friend suggested we be upfront in the application (that we could only consider attendance w/ merit aid), but another said to wait and ‘negotiate’ after acceptance. Another thought is to apply ED to his top choice, but stipulate in the application that merit aid would be necessary. Thoughts???

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I want to start by saying…your son is a very strong applicant…but merit aid is not guaranteed at his preferred choices.

Where on a college application is there a spot for “student can only attend if he gets a significant merit scholarship”? There isn’t any such spot.

If you can’t afford the cost to attend…I would suggest your student not apply ED. It’s not going to give him an edge in terms of merit aid.

Some folks think that applying ED actually decreases your merit aid potential because you are indicating you plan to attend if accepted. What incentive does the school have to offer merit aid in this situation. I’m not sure I totally believe that, but it is surely possible at some schools.

You are so fortunate to have instate options like UVA and WM. What about Virginia Tech?

Your son’s stats would also garner him significant merit aid at University of Alabama…the STEM programs are very good.

Places like Duke, Vandy and Chicago do give merit aid awards…but keep in mind, your son will be competing with similarly strong students for these awards. I would say…apply and see…nothing wrong with that as he is in the ballpark but not guaranteed a merit award at these schools.

Some schools do have merit aid potential in their net price calculators. These will ask for stats…do any of these schools have this on their NPCs?

Are you asking for suggestions of other colleges where he oiled have merit aid potential and the schools would be at your price point…whatever that is?

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You don’t get to set the rules of ED applications and say you will only attend if awarded merit aid. In fact, the ED contract states you will attend if accepted, and the ‘out’ is if FA is not sufficient. Often the merit scholarships (the competitive ones at the schools you listed) aren’t awarded until long after the ED admit is required to be confirmed with a deposit (and you are required to withdraw other applications).

Most schools don’t negotiate merit aid - you either get a merit award or you don’t. Need based FA is what is flexible, and you say you don’t qualify for it. Those schools are need blind for admissions, so the admissions office will not know your financial situation.

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We’re in the same boat. Full pay at top schools but not financially realistic so S20 will probably go to good public school with merit and honors program or go to private school in the T40-100 range with significant merit. That’s just the reality of being a donut hole unless you want debt or to push out retirement.

What about Va Tech? It doesn’t matter where you start if you’re thinking PhD. Our friend’s son is at VT and likes it. Our neighbor’s son is working on his PhD at Georgia Tech in CS. He went to NC State for undergrad.

If he’s thinking MD then cheapest undergraduate route he can tolerate. Medical school is very expensive and they don’t really care where you went for undergrad, just GPA and MCAT score.

Read more posts on CC but I don’t think the T20 schools offer very many if any merit scholarships. If they do it’s super competitive so wouldn’t count on it. Mostly need.

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Check out the University of Richmond. It is a great choice for premed/bioscience student, with small classes, excellent professors, research and study abroad opportunities. They also offer 25 full ride merit scholarships to incoming freshman, as well as number of 1/3 tuition merit scholarships. Your son’s stats are in range for scholarship consideration, but it is a holistic review process, so no guarantees.

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Thanks for the advice everyone! I should have mentioned… my husband and I are both VT alum (undergrad and grad), but we live in Blacksburg. He’d rather not be so close to home! :slight_smile:

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Some of the CTCL.org schools would be worth a look, with many offering merit aid.

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Getting good advice here. Though I disagree that one cannot “negotiate” merit awards, it is doubtful that the schools in OPs son’s sights will be amenable to any deals. If OP’s son wants to place that stipulation on the schools, he,can, if course, but I donor believe vin that would be looked upon favorably. JMO, here.

Aks, the rules of ED are clearly specified it’s not something up to negotiation. If it comes down to lack of merit aid being the deal breaker for ED, the school and/or your sons GC, May come down hard on your son.

I suggest your son apply for financial aid even if you know you won’t get any. That gives you an out if accepted, and you do not want to pay the price. You certainly can bring back up merit aid and funding issues at that point.

I believe ED students have some advantage overall in discussing funding as the schools do want as.close to 100% yield on ED, there is still money in the coffers and the Fin Aid directors have a more time than they will have at year end.

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Plan on spending about $300K on med school. You need to save as much as you can if he’s targeting med school.

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You are very fortunate to live in Virginia. There is no harm in applying for merit at schools such as Duke, Vandy etc…but keep your expectations in check. Admission to these schools is tough even for outstanding students like your S…merit is even more competitive. I do not recommend ED.

How much can you spend on college each year? You might want to look at honors colleges at schools such as Pitt and the University of Maryland. Schools such as Alabama would also give him merit. Some other schools include Lafayette, Lehigh and the U of Miami (I know equally strong students at all three of these schools who received merit…I would investigate). Your son would need to show interest at Lehigh, but they are looking to increase geographic diversity.

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My sons started out the same way but have realized that being far away isn’t as glamorous as they thought. It’s nice to have a support system close by if needed. My parents were less than an hour away for undergrad. I saw them at holidays and a few times if I was sick or needed a home cooked meal but not often.

Pitt, Ohio State, and Case Western would be obvious choices for pre med. Pitt has a guaranteed med school admission program. He would probably be eligible for some top scholarships.

https://oafa.pitt.edu/explore/guaranteed-admissions-programs/medicine-gap/

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I’ve know a lot of kids who grew up in a flagship town and they still had the full college experience going to that flagship. My friend lives in Madison and her son went to UW-Madison (and her daughter for grad school). They saw him for football games and on Sundays he came home to do laundry and watch the Packers with his dad. Brought his cousin too. Quite a few friends from Boulder went to CU. Lived in the dorms or sorority house if they wanted to.

It’s not like the parents can just show up and find the kid among 30,000 kids. My daughter who attended a school 2+ hours away came home much more often than I ever did and I lived about 45 minutes away.

If VT is the best school for him, don’t let distance (or closeness) become an issue because it really isn’t.

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You asked how to increase merit chances at schools such as Duke and Vandy. I will discuss two students who I know.

Student #1 is a Robertson Scholar. Her objective stats were high, but not as high as your sons. She started a club at her HS and the club increased to the national level. It is now in schools throughout the country and she remains involved with all of them.

Student #2 received huge merit to Vandy… She also had high stats, but nothing like your son. Your son’s stats are higher. She had leadership positions with several high profile, national volunteer organizations She took her leadership to one of the morning talk shows, This girl turned down Vandy to attend a higher ranked school.

It seems to me that the big merit to these schools is very often based on things other than stats (my guess is that stats get you an initial look). I don’t know the specifics of your son’s ECs and how they compare to those who received big merit. As noted above…it doesn’t hurt to try. You indicated that your son has research experience. Has he been published? Has he presented his research anywhere…maybe at a conference? I actually know a student who presented his very personal research to Congress (he wanted to increase funding for a specific disorder).

My D applied to some schools that are of interest to your son. My experience is that the vast majority of people who don’t qualify for FA should expect to be full pay.

The good news here is that you live in a state with amazing schools, and there are a whole bunch of schools out there that would offer your son merit. Congrats and best wishes!

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I have thoughts about the donut hole. Your child will have many more options than those whose parents have more modest means. Yes, their EFC may be lower and they may be eligible for more need based aid but that probably will not improve their ability to afford elite schools and you will have far more affordable options than most of them. The majority of very low SES students do not get accepted to very elite schools and those that do may benefit more than most. Your child has tremendous grades and test scores and your financial situation will allow them many tremendous choices. So long as you know what you are willing to contribute, you and your child can be satisfied knowing they will have great options and that you can afford it financially. Count your blessings and don’t dwell on what is unattainable. Good luck.

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There are lots of good schools he could go to with merit for undergrad.

Places where he could get involved in research and other great opportunities.

One of the national merit scholars in our area applied to U Chicago a few years ago and got $5,000 in merit, a drop in the bucket since the family didn’t qualify for much need based aid.

They also got full tuition and housing at UA, only had to pay for meal plan and plane ticket. They graduated from there with a BS and MS in math and economics in four years.

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Agree - the big merit money is from schools that don’t have the huge prestige but still offer a great education. We are firmly in the donut hole, and our kids’ options are settle for a school without the big name, or go in state, or to a neighboring state with tuition reciprocity.

It can’t hurt to apply for the merit at the bigger name schools, but it’s a total crapshoot.

And I definitely agree don’t apply ED unless you are prepared to pay full price.

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The one thing that I would add is that you have to be 100% comfortable with walking away from a school if you don’t get the merit. The possible outcome from an application by likelihood are 1) rejected 2) accepted with no/little merit and 3) accepted with large merit. 1 and 3 are easily. #2 can cause an issue when you actually have the acceptance in hand. It is easy to say now that you will turn it down. If you actually have an acceptance letter in hand from U Chicago, one of the decision makers may start to waiver. The likelihood of #2 happening is probably 20x+ the likelihood of #3.
You may want to put it in writing that if accepted at school X and merit not greater than $Y then we will decline the offer. All parents and the student should sign it before an application is submitted.

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You didn’t ask this, but I feel I must chime in…

If your son wants MD, then he needs to avoid elite schools, and this is why…

As some here know, I help many premeds and their parents (I’m the parent of a newish physician …graduated from med school in 2017). Over the years, the most heartbreaking cases have been students like your son (perfect/near-perfect stats) who end up with GPAs that are borderline med-school worthy or worse.

Most recently, Duke, WashU and UChicago premeds (each with perfect stats from high school) are struggling in this med school app cycle. Why? Because each of them have a few “less than A’s” on their transcripts and their GPAs are in trouble. Each of them has BCPM (science) GPAs that are hovering around 3.3-3.5…which can be deadly for a traditional, unhooked applicant. So far, none of them have acceptances to med school…and it’s not looking good.

There’s a parent on College Confidential whose amazing stats child went to UChi as a premed. They had a very frustrating med school app year. Not one MD school interview because the GPA was around a 3.5. (Lower first year, higher final year…averaged to about a 3.5 with a strong upward trend).

Med schools do NOT give a student a “pass” for a lower GPA coming from a top school. Cum GPA and BCPM GPA needs to be about 3.75+ for an unhooked traditional applicant.

Your child may not have ever seen a B on a report card …and that can lead one to wrongly believe that college will be just the same.

Now your son is also considering PhD…again he doesn’t need a tippy top school for that, either. He needs a high GPA and high GRE scores and research opps.

So talk to your child about his goals. It’s easy for an 18 year old to get mesmerized by “big name” schools for undergrad. It’s fun to tell others that you’re going to EliteU. It’s not fun ending up with a GPA that will limit your ultimate goal.

My kid would have liked the fancy name undergrad, but he went to our state flagship and graduated with a 3.99 cum GPA and a 4.0 BCPM science GPA. That’s what mattered. He was accepted to half of the med schools he applied to. He’s now doing his residency at the #1 program for his specialty. That’s what will really matter.

Remind your child that their terminal degree/training is most important. And it’s important to choose a path that will get you there.

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