<p>My son received a nice merit aid package, but not the highest that the school is known for and it is a school that is known for good merit aid. He has had an excellent first semester--straight A's, 4.0 average, Dean's List, 99th percentile of his class. I'm wondering if it is possible that the school would consider increasing his aid in the second year. Does anyone know if this is ever done? How would one go about approaching this with the school? Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>He could start by looking for scholarships that are available to upperclassmen.</p>
<p>He could look for departmental scholarships.</p>
<p>He could consider applying for a RA position. If he goes to a school that gives free room or free room and board for RA’s it could be a real cost savings.</p>
<p>Our S has gotten increased merit aid in his 3rd & 4th years in his university. Every year, he has to re-apply for merit aid by completing a very simple form. The university just decided to increase it. We & he didn’t do anything beyond completing the form (& doing well in courses & summer internships).</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Wow…that’s nice. Is that USC’s NMF scholarship? Is USC increasing the 50% scholarship to an amount greater than 50% tuition? Or are they increasing the amount to stay “current” with 50% tuition?</p>
<p>Anything is possible, especially if the school is known to give merit scholarship to current students. However, if the school doesn’t give scholarships to current students, it’s unlikely that your son would get more. </p>
<p>Merit scholarships are “incentives” to get smart freshmen on campus, so a school can boost its “incoming freshmen class stats.” Once a student is there, the incentive is gone.</p>
<p>However, look on the school’s website…especially the webpage for his major and college. See if there are any links for scholarships for current students.</p>
<p>Lastly, it never hurts to ask. The worst they can do is turn you down.</p>
<p>USC’s NMF scholarship is written to provide 50% tuition all 4 years, as long as student makes satisfactory progress toward degree. In addition, individual schools/departments can provide additional funding. Our S initially got two additional renewable merit scholarships with his NMF for USC. Recently, he also got a research position, where he is paid & does some research over the past two years–we consider it a merit award, since he doesn’t have any work study & it is his understanding that it is a merit award (tho he does put in some hours at the research lab–needs to anyway to be competitive for job applications). </p>
<p>More recently, he also got a small additional merit award for being an eagle scout from his college of engineering. </p>
<p>We have never completed any financial aid paperwork. The only form S completes is the renewing scholarship form that NM sends him & the short one doubkle-sided page his college of engineering has him complete to continue receiving his scholarship (and get any additional merit awards they decide to award). Perhaps he put more effort into filling out the form after his sophomore year & that lead to more funding? We have no idea.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that at least some schools DO have some merit money available that faculty/staff do have some discretion to award as they see fit (at least that appears to be the case in our limited experience).</p>
<p>We have a friend whose child attended Notre Dame. In the first year, he got a lot of loans and limited amount of grant funding. As he became a more integral part of the school, his award package shifted significantly until it was nearly all grants and scholarships with very little loan.</p>
<p>Sorry, only have these annecdotes. It never hurts for your child to ask around his/her department–the sooner the better, as funding does get disbursed and once it’s gone, it’s gone for the period. I know that public schools are having a tough time making ends meet, so believe trying to get merit funding now would be very tough.</p>
<p>Ahhh… :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the update.</p>
<p>Congrats to your son!! :)</p>
<p>Just want to add that it obviously varies from school to school. Both mine are on merit aid and it never increased even when tuition increased. You absolutely need to check with the school’s financial aid office (not admissions).<br>
Don’t stretch your money for the first year hoping the aid will increase in year two. If it doesn’t you will face a very diffiicult decision. Those posts appear on CC from time to time and they are never happy posts.</p>
<p>My son was in the same position as the OP’s son. We wrote a very nice letter to the financial aid office, but got nothing. They suggested contacting the dept. chair, but she only directed us to a generic list of outside scholarships, and nothing panned out.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very good point about merit sometimes not increasing even when tuition increases. That is very true when the merit is a set amount - like $15k per year. </p>
<p>This can be very shocking for many. Firstly, because when an award is given (say $15k/yr), the tuition on the website is usually for the current year - say $32k - so you think you’re only going to have to pay $17k (plus R&B, etc). However, when your child starts at that college, likely there will be a tuition increase, and there will likely be more increases every year after that. So, instead of only having to pay $17 in tuition, you may end up paying $19k, $21k, $23, $25k (plus R&B and increases for those, too), for the 4 years. If your budget was tight to begin with, paying for those increases might be unbearable.</p>
<p>Conversely, if the merit award is stated as “full tuition” or “half tuition,” then it likely will increase as tuition increases. (Always get that in writing before acceptance! 
Also, get in writing if the school limits the number of credits the full tuition scholarship will cover each semester.)</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>This is very true. DD has eliminated one of her schools for this very reason. At first, she was thrilled to be receiving the merit that brought this particular school in line with in-state flagship. Then, we realized it was a case of diminishing returns.</p>
<p>I found a chart on TCNJ’s website that shows how costs are predicted to rise at TCNJ as well as at other schools that seem to compete with TCNJ. You can check off various schools listed and COA sticker prices are listed for this year as well as what they anticipate the increases will be for the next few years. You can look COA for TCNJ’s OOS or instate rates and compare it to these other private colleges. It is a nice easy way of finding COAs of their competitors on one page.</p>
<p>I forgot the most important part, the link:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tcnj.edu/~admiss/value/index.html[/url]”>The College of New Jersey | Undergraduate Admissions;
<p>as an aside note:</p>
<p>daughter is on a fixed $$ scholarship at a school where tuition increases every year; way around that is to put 529 $$ in the prepaid Independent 529 which protects against tuition increases at least for junor and senior year…(not soph because it needs to be in there for three years min before the tuition is guaranteed)</p>
<p>I agree that it’s VERY important to confirm the exact terms of any awards you/your child are considering. They DO vary considerably and if they are not specifically WRITTEN to increase with tuition, they DO NOT. It is up to the student/family to check to be sure they understand the exact terms of the award, including what is required for renewal (some folks lose their award after the 1st term for not meeting grade or other requirements). :(</p>
<p>Wishing and hoping for increased merit or FAid is NOT a plan. You need to plan that there will be no increased awards, only increased tuition & other costs, just to be safe. If the family doesn’t have enough for the entire 4 years (& sometimes longer), it’s important to have a long talk and exploration about options. Some folks choose to go to less expensive schools, some choose to take on more debt. You don’t want to be forced to leave school to go to cheaper school for degree after spending first few years at dream school, as some have sadly had to do because they didn’t get $$$ they had hoped might somehow materialize. The degree and upper-division courses were not from the school they had anticipated :(</p>
<p>The FAid and/or admissions office should be able to help clarify the exact award terms and provide them in writing for careful consideration.</p>
<p>Some schools offer very little merit aid to incoming freshmen but current students can apply for various merit awards from many sources. The student needs to check for awards he/she may be eligible for and apply for them, sometimes doing many applications. UW finally made it easier for students by listing all university merit awards available on one site. A search at your son’s school may yield awards he isn’t aware of now. Schools and departments often will not spend much time or effort getting the word out about opportunities.</p>