Junior parent ?

Paying for College
1

<p>My daughter is a Junior- she made a 32(ACT) and has a 3.5- what is the best way to find scholarship money? she will be applying to Rhodes, Rollins, Furman and some others- about how much are schools giving this year</p>

2

<p>The best way to find merit aid is to look at schools where your D is in the top 25% of applicants–schools will award merit aid (discount tuition) in an effort to attract students who might not otherwise go there. With your daughter’s stats, she has an excellent chance of getting merit aid at those schools–I would estimate in the range of $13000-$16000/yr.</p>

3

<p>Have you run any of the FAFSA or CSS calculators to see what your family will be expected to pay (EFC)? Can you pay that? If you can’t, you need to look for places that will offer merit scholarships, not just need-based financial aid.</p>

<p>If you do find out that you have a low EFC, and could qualify for significant need-based aid, then you need to verify that the institutions your daughter is interested in will meet that need. Find out how much of the aid is in scholarships/grants, how much is in work-study, and how much is in loans. </p>

<p>Some places to start your research are:</p>

<p>[FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org)
[College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your College Costs – BigFuture | College Board)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks- yes I can pay my EFC- do they still give scholarship $$$ if you CAN pay??</p>

5

<p>Yes, that’s the whole point of merit aid–it’s not need based. However, the problem that a lot of people run into is that even if they can pay their EFC, and even with a merit aid award, sometimes that STILL isn’t enough to cover the cost of attendance. You really do have to run the numbers so you don’t get a nasty surprise the spring of your D’s senior year.</p>

6

<p>Thanks John -I’ve been trying so hard to understand all of this!! I hope that she will get enough merit aid b/c she does not want to go to state university.</p>