My son has asked me to post the following question to the College Confidential board. He is interested in graduating a year early from high school, and I have cautioned him that this may make merit aid harder to come by.
Background: My son is currently in the 10th grade and relatively bright. He’s among the oldest in his class, as they changed the law at some point and quit allowing 5-year-olds to start first grade if they turned 6 by the end of the year. He’s never had a “B” for the semester, although it seems he is working hard to have one or two this semester. He made a 30 on the ACT at the end of his 8th grade year. He’s taking the test again in a couple of weeks, and I expect that he will make a 32 or 33. I would guess with effort he might eventually make a 35.
My son has taken three college classes through dual enrollment and did have a “B+” in one of them. I will say that I’m sympathetic to the circumstances which cause him not to make an “A”: crappy class, lousy textbook written by a mediocre professor, etc.
Assuming diligent study I would give my son a good chance of being a National Merit Finalist. However, this obviously isn’t available if he decides to graduate early. He seems to view most of the “free ride” National Merit schools with a certain amount of disdain. Some of this is because he is interested in STEM and most of them are not really known for this.
Both of our children are capable of being National Merit scholars and attending a number of good schools for free. My attitude is that they should choose one of these schools, and I will give them enough money to live a life of absolute luxury on top of their full ride. I should note that I doubt very seriously that my children would qualify for any type of need-based aid.
I’ve told my children repeatedly that I plan to give both of them exactly the same amount of money to go to college. I haven’t committed to contributing anything to either of them, but if one somehow convinces me to contribute $20,000 per year to their education then the other gets it as well, even if they have a full-ride with a giant stipend. It’s quite possible that one child could graduate with a mound of debt while the other will have enough money left over to buy a big car or small house. But it will be their choice.
Back to my question. Is there much merit aid available for students who graduate early from high school? This question presumes a top grade-point-average and an ACT of between 33 and 35.
Thanks for any comments.
The biggest merit comes from the school, so if your son applies to a school that gives merit awards to applicants, he’ll get that merit money whether he’s applying in 2016 or 2017. There are some schools that have a cut off date for scores, so he might have to use his SAT or ACT score from the fall of 2015. For other scholarships, he’ll have to follow the deadlines and again, if they have early cut offs he’ll be using early gpa and scores. There also may be awards or scholarships that require senior status to apply, but will he be considering the next school year his senior year or junior year? To qualify for Nat. Merit, he’d have to be a junior in the fall. He could then switch to senior status if the school will allow it.
I think a better question for him to ask himself if he
is if he will gain admission to schools he doesn’t disdain if he graduates early. You do not state what the 3 DE classes are, nor the one with the B. If they are 3 post AP level math and science classes as a10th grader that scenario is far different than if they gen ed classes and he has not exceeded AP levels yet.
A couple of things…your son should not expect to get all A’s in college. He might…but he might not.
If he holds NMF schools in disdain, would he also hold schools that give LARGE merit to excellent applicants in disdain? You need to find this out.
Once your son gets to college, he will find that there are a ton of those fall birthdays who are in his freshman class. Most states have a deadline of September 1 to be five when enrolling for kindergarten.
But back to your question…the best awards come from the colleges as noted above. Schools that award merit aid based on his stats will at least put him in the running for this aid.
From NMSC website:
“Students who plan to leave high school a year (or more) early to enroll in college full time usually can participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program if they take the PSAT/NMSQT before they enroll in college. Such students must take the PSAT/NMSQT in either the next-to-last year or the last year they are enrolled in high school.
Those who take the PSAT/NMSQT in the next-to-last year of high school will be entering the competition for awards to be offered as they are finishing their final high school year.
Those who take the PSAT/NMSQT in their last year of high school will be entering the competition for awards to be offered as they are completing their first year of college.”
BobWallace might be able to confirm…but I believe the student will have to take the SAT as well for NMF consideration.
''It’s quite possible that one child could graduate with a mound of debt “”
No, that’s not possible unless you cosign those big loans.
The high school in my town makes it difficult to graduate early. Four years of English is required, and you can’t double up.
I would consider the following. First, make sure the student is comply with the course requirement for the colleges he/she wants to apply, not just for high school graduation. Note that some schools may recommend 3-4 years of foreign language. Second, think about Dual Enrollment to earn college credit for the last year in high school instead of graduating early. DE would be likely much cheaper than 1 year of college expenses while it may get you the same credit. Third, the student may consider using the last year to improve the test scores in order to get better merit aids from school. ACT 33-35 is a wide range that may get you from nothing to some merit aid at top schools. ACT 35+ would get you a much better chance for merit aids at top schools.
Yes, but no reason they can’t be done at or around the same time. (The SAT can even be done earlier, as far as I know.)
@EarlVanDorn - Sounds like you’re doing everything right. You’ve decided how much you’re willing to spend, and how you’re willing to spend it, and you’ve made that clear to your kids. And I absolutely love this:
What more could any kid want??? 
Your son needs to review this list of guaranteed merit award schools:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
There are also plenty of schools that offer competitive merit awards, but “competitive" means just that - he may or may not get the award he needs, and you need to help him understand that. His best shot at competitive awards are those schools where his GPA and SAT/ACT score are above the 75th percentile for that school - he really does need to be the best of the best within that particular school’s parameters. So he may have no chance at College A, but an excellent chance at College B.
But if the NMF schools aren’t good enough for him, I’m not sure that any of these schools will meet his high standards. If he can’t see past Ivy, that’s certainly not impossible . . . so long as he’s willing to spend the next five or 10 years working so that he can pay the tuition! (Or he can just wait until he’s 24 and apply as an independent student.)
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That will get you independent status for federal aid, but many elite colleges have their own rules for their aid. I know, for instance, that the age for independent status at USC is 26.
“Those who take the PSAT/NMSQT in their last year of high school will be entering the competition for awards to be offered as they are completing their first year of college.”
OP -That means you would have to pay full freight - $60,000 + R+ B -for his first year of college- are you willing to do that because he wants to graduate early??
What colleges is this student thinking to target?
Someone asked what three college classes my son had taken. They were kind of determined by what was available in late afternoon or night. They were Greek Mythology, Accounting 101, and Homeland Security. The B+ was in Homeland Security. I saw the study guide for his first test after he took it, and it was full of American History questions, which he had not had. The “A” in accounting is actually something to write home about, as there are generally only a few As in a class of 50 or more.
As for what colleges my son is interested in, I tend to turn my hearing off as soon as he starts yakking about expensive schools. He’s mentioned the U. of Washington, U. of Michigan, and U. of Texas. A boy from our former neighborhood is at Stanford, and my opinion is my son is likely Stanford material if I were willing to pay the bill. I don’t think I am.
My son plans to take several college courses this summer. The only question is whether he takes two or four. I really don’t think there will be an issue of his meeting the course requirements for any college.
My only concern is that merit offers might be less generous for a student graduating early than for one who graduates in the normal cycle. For example, I was not aware that kids who graduate early can still be NM scholars. That’s useful information. But financial aid decisions are made on the front end, and most schools won’t give a penny to a kid they already have.
Just because he can graduate early doesn’t mean it would be in his best interest. Maturity plays a key role in not only doing well in, but enjoying college. That said, I don’t see why he wouldn’t qualify for nice merit aid.
Do you reside in Washington, Texas or Michigan? If not, those won’t be a bargain either.
Any time the idea of disdain comes up, I worry about admissions. As said, consider his maturity and how it can grow by waiting. Also, if he’s interested in STEM, I don’t know that those DE courses will be a benefit. Does he have plans to take higher math-sci DE? And does he have math-sci ECs? Again, time can help. The decision to grad early often needs to be strategic.
I don’t think the question is whether or not he meets the basic admission course requirements. I think your questions should be geared toward specific schools. For example, if he is considering lower ranked schools with automatic admission scholarships, your thinking is correct. The scholarships will be based strictly on test scores and GPA. If that is all you both want, there is probably no advantage to staying in school the additional year.
If you are thinking he might be interested in competitive scholarships or competitive schools, the question shifts. Then the question becomes whether or not he is equally competitive for scholarships and admission without the extra year. Will he have the ECs, the higher level academics, etc that will make him stand out above other applicants in order to be eligible for those? Are there competitive honors programs, dept scholarships, additional scholarship opportunities at less competitive schools where the selection process for those selective honors would be more advantageous with an additional yr?
One thing is definite. Early graduation is not viewed as advantageous. He will have to compete on equal footing with those with 4 yrs worth of high school time…many of those students are taking high level classes, completing research, building their “resumes” with awards, etc.
Earl, I think you need to set a budget for college and discuss this with this student. Perhaps run a couple of net price calculators for the schools he is considering.
Encourage him to open his mind to different types of colleges that will meet his needs as well as the price point for the family. If he can’t do this, maybe he isn’t ready to apply for college admission…yet.
He needs to understand your budget, and also understand that he will need to walk away from all acceptances that are not within those guidelines once merit aid is awarded.
He needs to also understand that schools that do not give merit aid are not going to make an exception for him.
For UMich, ACT 32-34 would not get you much merit aid if any. ACT 35 or above is likely needed particularly for OOS students. Also, check if UMich accept the DE credits from his classes. You may check it on their web database. For UMich, AP exam scores may work better than DE.