Looking for Full Tuition/Full Ride Scholarship

I don’t know about the best pathway.

UNM SOM’s class size is relatively small–only 105 students/year and 15 of those seats are reserved for BA/MD students.

UNM SOM interviews ~90% of in-state applicants, but only about 1/3 of those interviewed get an A (acceptance). Our in-state acceptance rate is only around 35%. There are a number of states with much higher in-state acceptance/matriculation rates–like West Virginia (51%), Kentucky (46%), Arkansas (44%) and Vermont (44%).

However, the COA for UNM SOM is pretty sweet: tuition & all fees are only $19K/year.
Plus NM offers full tuition scholarships to students who commit to working in medically underserved areas of the state.

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Yeah, I should have said “one of the best” pathways.

Most states make it very tough to become a resident while enrolled in undergrad, but NM is one of the few that are accommodating.

NM is one of the few that are accommodating.

https://registrar.unm.edu/residency/FAQS.html

While NM will allow full time students to become state residents, they need to be at least 23 years old.

19 year olds can petition for in-state status if they can prove they are 100% financially independent of their parents. (Note that being covered on your parents’ healthcare insurance or car insurance policies will disqualify a student from being considered financially independent.) Students must submit evidence that shows how they are paying for their tuition and living expenses --such a W2s, pay stubs, letters from employers on official company letterhead.

I would think very hard before signing up for ROTC. If she’s willing to incur the service obligations, it might be wiser to have her apply for a military scholarship to med school rather than undergrad.

I also have a bad taste in my mouth about Prairie View, based on Charles Hines’ tenure. Yes, it was 20 years ago, but…

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I don’t want to derail the thread, but this isn’t what we were told. She needed to change her voting and driver’s license to NM, and we could not claim her as a dependant on our taxes. We asked about W2s because she would not be working, and they said that wasn’t necessary. I did not ask about health insurance. We asked a lot of questions because it seemed too easy.

The student has to file state income taxes the year prior to petitioning for financial independent status. If their state tax return doesn’t show they have income sufficient to cover tuition, room & board, they are asked to produce evidence of where their support is coming from.

Also FAFSA requires the reporting of parental gifts that go toward support of the student, whether it’s direct monetary gift or gifts-in-kind–like living rent-free in a property owned by the parent, or the parents paying bills that are in the student’s name. The registrar’s office does cross-check with FA office when a residency petition is filed.

It’s complicated. And I know about the health insurance thing because D2’s BF-at-the-time got disqualified because he was still carried on his parents’ policies.

Even if NM allows the student to apply for independent status at age 19, FAFSA will still require the student to provide the parental information and will most likely consider the 19 year old to be a dependent for federal aid purposes (if not married, in the military, etc). FAFSA doesn’t consider parental gifts from the “fafsa” parent (if parents aren’t married), but does ask for gift amounts from others like grandparents.

It’s messy as FAFSA rules aren’t the same as IRS rules which aren’t the same as NM’s rules for instate tuition. Being independent for one doesn’t make you independent for all.

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Ole Miss is a fantastic school for Pre-meds with wonderful pre-med advising; Relative went as out of state student because of the scholarship and is now in her first choice med school; The Honors College is fantastic!; All science departments there really want their students to succeed; You are not a number there…it really is a community!

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That’s great to hear! Ole Miss is one of her top choices at the moment.

Dd has been accepted to 7 out of 11 schools so far and already has some honors college admissions. Still waiting to hear from Baylor, TCU, UT, UNC Charlotte.

I can’t wait to see how her scholarship packages come out.

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Giving an update on dd’s journey as I always find them helpful when reading other threads.

Dd was accepted at 9 schools and is still waiting to hear from UT Austin and UNC Charlotte.

For private schools, she received:
Texas Christian - $25,000 merit, $40,500 net cost
Abilene Christian - $29,500 merit, $22,400 net cost

Still waiting for Baylor’s offer. She has a scholarship interview there in January.

For OOS:
Ole Miss - $24,300 merit, $12,600 net cost
U Alabama - $28,000 merit, $16,950 net cost
U Arkansas - $14,825 merit, $23,475 net cost

She’s in honors at Ole Miss and still waiting to hear about honors at Bama and U Ark. She should receive more from Ole Miss and U Ark. Not sure about Bama.

She received a letter saying she’s under consideration for UNC Charlotte’s big scholarship. Will see if she makes it to the interview round.

In State Public:
UTD - $6,000 merit, $22,400 net cost
U Houston -$6,000 merit, $16,000 net cost
UT San Antonio - $2,500 merit, $21,500 net cost

She did not apply to honors at UTD. She received honors biomedical sciences at UH and is in honors at UTSA. Waiting to hear if she makes it to interview round for UTSA’s big scholarship.

Our results with the private schools are similar to what we experienced when my oldest applied to SMU - substantial scholarship but no financial aid that brings the school within our price range. Not complaining as dh has a great income, but we will likely have 1 or 2 kids in college (and maybe grad school) for the next 2 decades, so we want to be conservative. Still waiting to hear from Baylor, but right now, I’m thinking private schools might not work out for my kids financially.

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Did u fill out the competitive scholarship app in my Bama? My daughter was at $24k and that moved her to $28k.

@jazzymomof7, is your daughter applying to any outside scholarships? It is still so early in the process. I have a feeling that more money is coming your daughter’s way, especially for the schools who really want her to attend.

Yes, she filled out the competitive app and also applied for an alumni scholarship (grandma) and a couple of honors programs, so there may be more coming.

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I sure hope you’re right!

Yes, dd is finished with all of the school specific apps and is going to start looking for outside scholarships. If you know of any places to find good ones, please let me know.

The best ones from outside may come from your employer - mine gave one kid $2K and one kid $1K. Big companies have them.

Then local ones you can find that are like $500…ones off the grid, not on scholarship search engines which everyone applies to.

Some neighborhood HOAs have them believe it or not.

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Did you hear back on the Tier One at UH? I’m a finalist!

Here are a few that might fit your daughter with her community service:

GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship
This award is for students who show leadership, drive, and good citizenship. There are around 20 awards of $10,000, which are renewable each year of college for up to $40,000. Applications typically open in December and have a February deadline.

Scholarship Programs | The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute (reaganfoundation.org)

Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes:
This scholarship is for students aged 8-18 who have made a significant positive difference to people or the environment. There are 25 awards of $5,000. The application opens in January and has a mid-April deadline.

Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes

The University of Houston and Ole Miss look like they are participating schools in the Bonners Scholars Program which is one of my favorite community service programs (I knew a lot of very good people in that program at Morehouse and Spelman back in the day). If you are interested in becoming a Bonner Scholar, you must apply directly one of their campus partners. Each campus has their own application and selection process. They suggest contacting both the Admissions Office and Bonner Program office at the school(s) you’re interested in.

http://www.bonner.org/

Here is a website full of scholarships for homeschooled students. Some are specific to a particular area, but I saw some that may fit your daughter on the list.

25 Great Scholarships for Home-Schooled Students – Top Ten Online Colleges (top10onlinecolleges.org)

My kids also received local scholarships through our church and through fraternity/sorority scholarships in our area which were nice to have and you may want to look in your area. Good luck to your amazing daughter and family on the hunt for more scholarships.

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@ChangeTheGame Thank you!

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Congrats and good luck!!!

Dd did not advance for Tier One, but may be awarded an additional scholarship through honors.

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They did send out AES. Its 6 grand. Its not a lot but does somewhat help! Gold luck!!

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