<p>Got accepted and received their Community Engagement Scholarship which is $5,000 per year. Excited but disappointed in the merit aid.</p>
<p>LU has always been very tight with their merit money. I suspect LU is not as well endowed as other LA schools out there, and is also keen on building their “East Coast in the Midwest” cachet by looking for full pay candidates. Our D, now a college sophomore elsewhere, was offered $15K by LU and $18-19K by other, comparable schools whose sticker price was also $3-4 K lower. But hey, its their money so they can dispense as they wish.</p>
<p>LU can offer a lot of merit aid, but it depends on what they want/need/are looking for. We didn’t get near as much from LU (less than 10K merit) as another college that was throwing up to 25K of merit at our feet, and the tuition was fairly comparable, but the other college didn’t compare in terms of education/what daughter felt comfortable with, and we ‘made it work’ at LU since LU was my daughter’s favorite of all she applied/got accepted to. My daughter would have stuck out as very unique at the other school, and I suspect that is why they offered so much merit aid. LU did give her some work study and fairly generous need-based aid to help in addition to the merit, too, so don’t give up, yet, early<em>college. One of daughter’s buddies pays very little to go there…it just depends. Definitely fill out the FAFSA and see what they offer for the need-based aid. You are right, Waterford, about schools getting to do what they wish with their $$. It’s true that paying for college takes a big bite out of the coffer! Congrats on the acceptance, early</em>college.</p>
<p>Thanks. Honestly, in my situation, it’s going to depend on the financial aid packages. I have gotten accepted to 10 schools now and most of the schools have given me around 10k per year in scholarships. The need based aid will either make a school or break it. If Lawrence doesn’t give me enough aid, I can’t go. My father also rather me go to the northeast. Lawrence is one of my top choices though. Holy Cross meets full need though, so I may go there if I get in and if the $$$ is right. Also, I’m from Georgia so I think that has helped me a little with admissions. I will say that my admission counselor was the BEST out of all of the counselors I talked to. I just had a connection with her and we can relate. Our 30 minute interview lasted over an hour.</p>
<p>Ten schools is awesome, early_college, and it sounds like you’re waiting on more. Wow! Definitely, if a school is going to meet full need and you feel good about the school/felt ‘at home’ when you visited, then that is the place for you. I read that all the time last year: you end up where you are supposed to end up, and I didn’t believe it, but I do now. I wish I’d had so many choices when I was young. If your dad wants you northeast and you feel comfortable northeast, then that is probably where you will go. Best of luck to you! P.S.: maybe winter won’t be as harsh northeast, either! 
We aren’t really having a winter in parts of the Midwest, but my daughter says it is a shocker for the kids who come from warmer climates. Again, best of luck to you. You have lots of schools to choose from.</p>
<p>Waterford, how do you know that LU has “always been very tight” with merit aid? “Always?” “Very?” and “Tight” compared to? (“comparable schools” isn’t very helpful.) As far as LU’s endowment goes, I believe, but I checked only Wikipedia, that it’s significantly more than other Wisconsin LACs.</p>
<p>Thanks lawrencemom. I’ve also been accepted to: Clark, Wheaton (MA), Allegheny, Ursinus, Juniata, Wooster, Knox, Hiram, and Lenoir-Rhyne. I’m still waiting on Earlham, Flagler, Hobart, and Holy Cross. Earlham and Flagler’s decision should be coming this week. </p>
<p>I really feel like wherever I go, it will be meant to be. I actually got rejected (only rejection yet) at the one instate school I applied to. I see it as a sign from God saying it’s not meant for me to stay in Georgia. I’m from South Florida and Georgia is A LOT colder then South Florida. I never even had to wear long sleeves or jeans in Florida. The winter will be hard to adjust anywhere I go to, well except if I go to Flagler in St. Augustine.</p>
<p>early_college: you have an impressive group of colleges to choose from. I wager it is going to be tough to figure out where to go if you get some financial aid packages that are similar. Good luck with your choice(s) and as I always say here in Minnesota: ‘stay warm’… Congrats…you have a very good attitude/sense of maturity about making the choice.</p>
<p>Once the financial aid packages come in it will make things easier because I can automatically say goodbye to some colleges. It will be hard if some of my top choices give similar packages, but I applied to a lot of schools because I know financial packages can vastly differ depending on the institution. BTW, I almost applied to St. Olaf at the last minute but decided against it. And U Minnesota- Morris was a safety school on my list for a long time. But I have no “dream” college currently. NYU was always my dream school, but it is known for having terrible financial aid. I tried not to attach myself to any school b/c it would then stink if I couldn’t go there.</p>
<p>My daughter only applied to five colleges/universities (she had a list much longer, but I said, ‘No, stop!’) and Lawrence was her favorite. She actually did get into the U of M Twin Cities, which is not easy to get into anymore, but it is far too big for her. Until the letter came from Lawrence, she was in a panic of ‘What if I don’t get in?’ and I was scouring for colleges with later deadlines after the EA decisions came out. She made me NUTS. Luckily it worked out okay. You have some awesome schools in there, including several from the nifty little book about colleges that can change lives, so UM Morris…who needs it when you’ve got all those other wonderful schools that can give you a great/challenging education. What an array to choose from. I hope you post on here some day as to which college you choose. I’ll have to keep a lookout for it.</p>
<p>watchthis: it’s true that LU does award a significant amount of merit/need-based from what I’ve seen/read/experienced. I think the alums also have a significant ‘give’ rate back to the school.</p>
<p>It’s OK Watchthis. Not meaning to get your undies in a bundle. My impressions are based on two of my own older kids, and the children of several family and friends over the years who applied and were accepted to Lawrence but opted for other schools, based on many things but including the merit scholarship offerings, which were indeed more often as not less than other schools. My intent is not to incite the kind of scorekeeping and message board litigation (Always? Very? Tight? Yes, your honor) so popular on College Confidential, which is why I opted not to mention other schools that are part of the broad aide award experience I am aware of. I stand by my statement, but no offense intended toward Lawrence or those that value that school. Follow your bliss.</p>
<p>In my son’s case, Lawrence’s merit aid offer was more generous than Beloit’s and Lewis & Clark’s, and less generous than Willamette’s. I consider all of these to be comparable schools. He’s also applying for need-based aid, and at the end of the day, we’re really more interested in comparing the final combined packages of merit plus need-based aid. We’ll see what happens.</p>
<p>Waterford, what you are saying, then, is that you have some anecdotal evidence, ranging over a certain period of time, that you interpret as indicating that Lawrence has always(?) been very(?) tight (compared to?) with its merit aid.</p>
<p>D1, a current Lawrence student, receives merit aid which amounts to about half of her tuition. D2, admitted this past week, received a similar award. So I would say that’s pretty generous.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind with Lawrence’s merit aid is that it can’t be applied to study abroad. Something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Watchthis, and others who are Lawrence fans, no disrespect to a university that has served you and yours well. We all fall in love with the schools that our kids love. Our youngest, currently a high school junior, may well wind up at Lawrence. I stand by my experience and my opinions expressed. For the empiricists among you this will not be suitable. But really, what do we have to offer other than our opinions? It is a large elephant, and we blind men all feel only a small part of it, so yes it is all anecdotal, but valid. All right, on to more invigorating things.</p>
<p>accepted with $5,000 merit for community service!</p>
<p>D Accepted with the largest merit amount possible (15,500 I think)and her essay will ne featured in a compilation of examples of good admission essays they will show other potential students. We were surprised. She has a 4.0 but just 28 act. </p>
<p>She loves this school but just received full tuition scholarship to Ohio State do we are in an interesting place…</p>
<p>Congratulations!! That’s the kind of problem everyone wishes they had. Best of luck with your decision. I’m a 74 LU grad with a junior now looking at LU. Couldn’t convince my oldest to even consider it when she was looking. I’m hoping my youngest and LU view each other more favorably.</p>
<p>The best student in my school in years LOVES LU. She is German. Fingers crossed.</p>