So when looking through various college’s merit aid opportunities, my mom (a UM alum) suggested that I should look at Michigan State (which was surprising in itself). Looking at Michigan State’s various merit scholarships, it seems that with an ACT of 34 and an unweighted GPA of 3.92/4, I would be a solid candidate for a good amount of merit aid. It just seems too good to be true! Can anyone who has received merit aid from MSU or who is familiar with the process tell me a little bit more about how easy you think it would be for me to qualify for merit aid? I would love to have a college option where I would pay next to nothing <3
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Merit aid is not synonymous with big award. OOS merit awards at U Mich require submitting a FAFSA form.
@GMTplus7 I’m talking about Michigan State, not UMich
Check out this list.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
University of Alabama and Temple have excellent offers.
Is this the one for Michigan State? It doesn’t sound automatic but some else might know.
College National Scholarship
Awarded to out-of-state Honors College invitees who are U.S. citizens or permanent aliens, or citizens of Canada or Mexico; $15,000 annually for eight semesters**. To be automatically invited to the Honors College, applicants must be in the top 5 percent of their graduating class and have an ACT composite score of 30 or above or SAT combined score (critical reading and math) of 1360 or above. Students possessing achievements just below these standards are screened by the Honors College admissions committee and may be asked to submit additional information before being considered for Honors College membership.
@txstella yeah, that was the one I was looking at as well as the one that says if you have a 33 ACT or higher OOS you qualify for in-state tuition
Other schools have theses programs, too. Make sure you look closely at the application dates. A 34 ACT will definitely help you with these sorts of scholarships.
@txstella any programs I should be familiar with?
I posted the link to the automatic full tuition scholarships. I haven’t seen a list of scholarships like the one Michigan State has. TX Tech has something similar. You probably need to look at individual college websites. Or do some searches on College Confidential.
@txstella do you know anything about the quality of Alabama/Temple’s business/journalism programs?
Neither are highly regarded for journalism. Temple is better though.
Thanks @CaliCash ! Lmao just want to know that there are some good backups out there
Post that question in the school specific forum. People seem to rave about Alabama, especially for Engineering. Temple is in Philly.
Do you know your family’s EFC? If this number is affordable for you, then you should consider applying to colleges that meet-full -need. Theses schools tend to be quite selective and highly rated. Or are you looking for affordable options because your EFC is really high?
@txstella unfortunately, I don’t know the exact numbers. What I do know is that my parents don’t make enough money where I could go through college paying full tuition comfortably, especially with my sister going into college the year after I graduate it. We make too much (I think) to qualify for a lot of need based aid, but not enough to be able to pay full. I think it’s somewhere in the ballpark of ~110k?
Google schools that meet full need and check over the list. Have your parents run the NPC for a couple of the schools. Northwestern might be a good choice. But also run it with your sister in school for the second year. If they own their own business or have a second home or some unusual circumstance, it might not be accurate but it should give you a good idea. Hopefully, your family’s EFC will be doable. A lot of students are in your position. Also, your state might have reciprocal agreements with other states for in-state tuition.
Are you a possible NMSF?
@txstella haha I think I was unclear; my sister will be entering her freshman year of college in 2020, the fall after I graduate. For colleges, this will not seem to be a financial burden, but for my parents 8 straight years of college payments may seem to be a bit much. They both are small businesses owners, for whatever that’s worth. I scored a 206 on the PSAT which is not what I was hoping for. I don’t think that’s eligible for anything, right?
I am in the same boat with my kids who are 4 years apart. You are right about the PSAT.
Small business owners can be hit kind of hard for the EFC, too. I am sure you are looking at your instate options.
Check out Tulanes NPC. They take into consideration your ACT scores and tell you about potential merit.
@txstella well my only realistic in-state option is University of Illinois, and I realllllly don’t want to go there. 50+ of my hs graduating class go there every year, and I want a fresh start, a new experience. I don’t have my parents financials on hand unfortunately. There are some need based NPC that we have done and the lowest it looks like now is UVA around 30k. But Tulane does have some really good merit aid