<p>I received an acceptance letter from my "fall-back" college stating if I enroll I'll be given $3,000 a year. I don't mean to be arrogant, but that seemed a bit low to me. Could it be because I didn't apply as early admission?
A few months ago, there was another college that claimed that I'll get $12,000 a year, but I never applied nor did I express interest in it. As a result, I wasn't sure if that claim was true or just a technique to lure me in.</p>
<p>I am not asking this as a decision maker. I have no interest in either of the schools as I've already received an acceptance letter from my dream college. I was just a bit curious if I could have received more money if I applied early.</p>
<p>If it helps to answer:
I have a 3.6 GPA and I'm a class officer for Future Business Leaders of America.</p>
<p>The amount to the scholarship may be irrelevant if the tuition costs are much different.</p>
<p>IF an instate school has tuition of $6k per year and they give you $3k, then that’s half the tuition and your remaining costs will be low.</p>
<p>And if a school has tuition of $35k per year and they give you $15k, then while it may seem like a lot, it’s not half tuition and you still have a lot to pay.</p>
<p>Your merit award was likely due to your TEST scores…not GPA or ECs. What were your test scores? </p>
<p>How much is the remaining costs at your fall back school?</p>
<p>edited to add… I am going to either Virginia Commonwealth University or George Mason University.
GMU already accepted me, but I have no reply from VCU yet.</p>
<p>So, GMU instate offered you $3k. Is that almost half tuition?</p>
<p>No way to answer your question without knowing the cost of the college. If this college costs $5000 a year to attend, $3000 is a terrific award. If it costs $60,000 a year, $3000 won’t go very far.</p>
<p>Also, scholarships very often are tied to specific GPA and SAT/ACT scores. This will vary from college to college. You could very well have received a great award for your stats (that $3000) at THIS school, but would get less or more at another school…or nothing at all.</p>
<p>Xposted with Mom2…with virtually the same info!</p>
<p>Yes, you probably are being a bit arrogant. You feel that the school is beneath you, so you may well feel that they should be bribing you to attend by offering you more money. Why feel insulted if you never had any intention of attending anyway?</p>
<p>What merit scholarships are available at that school? Many schools have specific dollar amounts awarded for specific combinations of GPA’s and test scores. So the school isn’t making a decision at a personal level, and it is not insulting to be offered a specific amount - get a specific GPA, get a specific scholarship.</p>
<p>Unless a school has certain guaranteed criterion for awards, along with certain deadlines, there is no way one can say what would have been an award had something been done differently. </p>
<p>I was thrilled when my son got a $3500 annual award to our state school. That was more than half the tuition. Heck, I was happy with any award. My kids were applying to hundred dollar scholarships. </p>
<p>But if you are not even considering the school, what difference does it make? Woulda, coulda, shoulda means nothing.</p>
If you want to know if you might have gotten more $ then you’ll need to ask the school. It’s water under the bridge now. You got into your dream college. I hope they make a good FA offer to you.</p>