I know, I know, UNC is especially stingy with merit aid. But does anyone have specific stats or anecdotes? Approximately how many merit scholarships are given out? There is extremely limited information online (probably representative of the extremely limited merit aid opportunities, haha) so any insight beyond “Don’t expect it!” would be much appreciated.
I’m not really asking for me specifically, but I have a 1550 SAT, 4.5 GPA, extremely strong everything, and am OOS. Just curious 
Getting merit aid as an OOS student is extremely, extremely difficult and does not really have much to do with stats alone… many OOS students have high stats. OOS students with very high stats don’t even make honors ( there are exceptions of course and maybe you will). The one student I know who received merit as an OOS student wrote a book.
The school … however… will meet your FAFSA EFC despite being a profile school. Maybe that will help?
Good luck to you - maybe you will be one of the lucky ones!
I’m sorry but I don’t think merit aid should be available to OOS students at any public university, not just UNC. State tax payers should support IS students. Federal aid should obviously cross state lines.
@byadg123, I’m pretty sure (but not 100%) that the big merit scholarships - Pogue, Morehead-Cain and Robertson - are privately funded by donors.
Suzy you might be right… I did not investigate @byadg123 …the Out of State Student Association (OSSA) gives FA grants to OOS students.
@suzy100 - that’s a different kettle of fish. My apologies
@byadg123, no worries and no need to apologize. The state publics here give lots of merit aid to OOS kids too, but the flagship is kind of stingy to in-state kids and that perturbs me.
Today’s problem is getting in! Even without aid UNC would be much less expensive than any private school she’s applied to. For this reason I think I’m more nervous than she is.
Tomorrow is a long way away…
@byadg123 We are in the same boat UNC full out of state tuition is about 20K cheaper per year than Vandy and Ivies my daughter applied to. UNC is also about 10K cheaper that OOS UVA. UVA probably coming tomorrow as well. Big day. I hope she gets one of the two. If she doesn’t it is going to be a sad day at our house.
@burghdad - Instate it’s an incredible steal. She was accepted to NCState which won’t stink if UNC turns her down. Also a great deal money wise.
@lesjubilants: My OOS daughter was admitted with statistics that are pretty much identical to yours, along with the “extremely strong everything.” She got zero merit aid.
She also did not get invited to Honors Carolina as an incoming first-year student, although you did not specifically ask about that.
Glad to hear that she got in at least! @gandalf78
@twogirls My FAFSA is incredibly unreasonable and doesn’t reflect my family’s ability to pay. It is $50,000, which is over 1/4 of my family’s income, and we live in an area with an extremely high cost of living. Also, my dad lost his job and prospects are dim (a fact I will be sharing with the financial aid office this week). Do you think I’d get some financial aid? UNC is quite unaffordable otherwise.
@lesjubilants We found the FA office to be extremely willing to reconsider aid if an unusual circumstance occurs. We had something happen that would have made our EFC extremely high if it was not taken into consideration and removed. The school agreed and removed it… they redid the award during the reconsideration period.
Will your parents ever have 2 in school? That will help considerably.
Call the FA office tomorrow. You will be assigned a FA officer who will be in charge of your case. You will be given an initial aid package in Feb/March using your original EFC. If they agree to do a FA reconsideration… ( it was our experience that they usually agree to a second look, as special circumstances are not uncommon) they will ask for paperwork… probably including documents from your dads employer stating that he is no longer employed. Once all of the paperwork is in they may reconsider your package … based upon this new information.
Have your parent call tomorrow. While I can’t tell you exactly what they will do, and I can’t make any promises, I can tell you that they were very very willing to reconsider our package once the appropriate documents were in, and they were lovely to deal with.
Good luck ( we are also OOS)
@lesjubilants Very sorry to hear about your father’s job and dim prospects for work soon. I’ve also heard that financial aid offices take into account these changes in circumstances. So maybe there is still a chance for you to receive need-based aid.
As far as your EFC being too high at 25% of income, ours is 35% of our income (and our income is lower than yours). What a family is expected to pay is frequently not what the family feels like it can pay. Many students don’t go to the schools that they want to attend for that very reason.
My S did not apply to any school that did not at least offer a chance (however slim) of merit aid. He was accepted to UNC-CH OOS but with no honors and no $. He had applied hoping for a referral for the Morehead-Cain scholarship, which didn’t happen. He will probably not attend UNC because he has received significant merit $ at other schools. Will he be disappointed? Yes, at first. But his other options are very good and he can make the best of them.
Hi all. I am trying to help my daughter weigh her options. One question we can’t seem to find an answer for: If you are a Carolina Scholar are you considered part of the Honors College?
If anyone knows, please share.
@MayBIvyMomma If you get one of the merit scholarships you’re automatically in the honors program! It’s an honors program though, not a college.
Thank you. She got her honors invite today.