<p>My friend's D is a HS senior. She is an average student. She has a 3.0 GPA at a competitive public that sends 96% of its kids to 4 year colleges and doesn't rank (but I'm guessing she's in the bottom half - probably at the top end of the bottom third), a 22 ACT, few ECs (one year in each of two JV sports, some community service and a couple building trips to Mexico), no leadership positions, no awards, no work experience. She's taken a solid college prep curriculum but no honors or AP courses. On paper, and particularly by CC standards, she's not that impressive. On the other hand, she's really a great kid - works hard at school, doesn't get in trouble, is generous, kind and respectful. She interviews very well. She got a glowing recommendation from her GC and I think she wrote very good essays. She applied mostly to smaller LACs where she was at the bottom end of the middle 50% of ACT scores and GPA. So far, she's 2 for 2 on acceptances, and the first school (which she never visited) offered her $6K in merit scholarship (25% of tuition) and the second one (which she did visit) offered her $10K (33% of tuition). This is merit money - she doesn't qualify for any need-based aid. We're all thrilled, of course, but really surprised. Is this typical? Both of these schools are in the south and she's in the midwest - do schools offer money to kids from other regions in order to diversify? Or to kids they want for reasons other than athletics or academics? IMO this girl will be an asset to whatever school she chooses, but both her mother and I were really surprised by the scholarship offers. The high school's college counselor (different from her GC) wasn't even confident she'd get into these schools. Any insight?</p>
<p>Good for her!! These colleges saw something in her application that made her a student that they wanted to offer some scholarship money to. It's wonderful. Don't worry about why...or if it's even common. Congratulations to her.</p>
<p>That's excellent news, for your friend's d. Good for her. </p>
<p>It just goes to show that it's about the fit. And something about this wonderful girl is coming across to the college admins. She should run with it.</p>
<p>My daughter was VERY average grade wise by CC standards. Only had a 24 ACT. And took some advanced classes, but no AP. The college guidance person we hired (HUGE HS with overwhelmed counseling office) was a little dubious about where she had applied. She ended up being awarded a merit scholarship for her community service activity that was 1/2 of her tuition at a solid LAC in Ohio. I knew she needed to interview (she is probably one of the most charming people I know) and she wrote an incredibly honest essay, which I found wonderful. Bottom line, I think schools are looking to build a community and it takes all kinds.</p>
<p>No it's not unusual. Same thing happened to my kid. only DD went north not south</p>
<p>DS2 had a classmate last year who had been sent by family to rehab and then a boarding school for kids with behavior issues. He had mediocre grades and aboout a 1300 CR + M. He was given merit money by schools including Northeastern and BU. I just figured they discount for most. No?</p>
<p>mdoc: if it's not compromising privacy, could you please tell us which schools these were? We have a very similar student in our house and are just starting to formulate a list.....</p>
<p>It's not unusual for LAC's that are not in the top tier to offer good merit money to students who would not be normally regarded as top students in their classes. My daughter was a good but not great student and got a half tuition scholarship ($17,500/yr) to Ursinus (Collegeville, PA). It has been acknowledged by some of these schools that they raise their tuition rates to levels close or equal to top tier LAC's to seem more prestigious to students, and then discount those rates with (potentially) generous merit awards.</p>
<p>Rodney - there is a thread on this site that discusses schools that give generous merit awards...you should be able to find it without much trouble. I think it is in the Parent Cafe.</p>
<p>I think the list of schools on CC does not list too situations where a student with a 3.0 and a 22 ACT and few ECs was awarded a merit scholarship. No personal experience, but through word of mouth I have heard that Widener and Iona has given students $$ (and they were from the northeast, so no geographic diversity). In fact, I know of a student at Widener with lower scores than a 22 and I was told that this student was awarded a scholarship. If you have a child with similar stats and have some volunteer work, many schools offer merit awards for volunteer work and demonstrated leadership.</p>
<p>Very typical. Colleges use "merit money" for a different purpose, called "enrollment management" -they have very sophisticated market research algorithms in use to figure how much of a "scholarship" (i.e. discount) - they need to offer to attract certain students. I think that with the current tough financial times, we can expect to see an INCREASE in the number of modest merit awards offered -- it works the same as for a business marking down prices to move merchandise in tough times. </p>
<p>In other words, a college may figure no one is going to pay its $30K tuition next year - times are tough -- and maybe its a college that can't bank on name recognition or a geographic draw -- so they do some belt tightening and figure that to fill their class they need to reduce tuition to $22K on average -- but rather than actually reduced tuition, they just offer more scholarships in the range of $6-$12K to entice enrollees. </p>
<p>Be sure to have your friend ask if these scholarships are guaranteed renewable each year, and what level of academics need to be maintained to keep the scholarship. And congratulate her! - despite she monetary factors that I outlined above, it still is an honor and recognition for the students accomplishments to receive such offers. (whether you call it a "discount" or an "award" -- they are still only offered to strong students who the college wants to see in their incoming class).</p>
<p>Let me ask a hypothetical on mdoc's original question: If the 25% tuition school is the preferred school, is it bad form to share information with the 25% school that student has a 33% offer from another school - and that if the 25% school could move to 33% percent the numbers work for attending the preferred school?</p>