<p>D is still thinking that she may want to transfer to a school closer to home for sophomore year. She received a great merit scholarship from current school, which allowed us to be able to have her attend while keeping the costs near to what our state U system would be (if she went, she would be a residential student). Does anyone know of any private colleges in the MA/RI/CT area that offer transfer students merit aid? We do not qualify for any need-based aid, other than the usual Stafford Loan and some work-study. Also, when should she start applying for fall 2008 admission? She realizes, of course, that any merit aid will be based on her grades that she receives from her current school, rather than her HS transcript.</p>
<p>allie'smom, I'm not aware of which schools in her target area might offer merit aid to transfers. Hope others will chime in. As a veteran of the transfer wars, I do know that merit aid is far scarcer than for freshmen, unfortunately... but it does exist.</p>
<p>For other valuable information on transferring, including the answer on when she should start applying (she has plenty of time), go to the Transfer Forum here on cc, in particular the Transfer Admissions 101 thread. Lots of great information there.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=390861%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=390861</a></p>
<p>Perhaps that forum is also a place where you could start a thread asking who has received merit aid as a transfer and where? That would be a good thread to have over there, as the question comes up fairly often.</p>
<p>There is merit aid for upperclassmen. Unfortunately, much of it is from Udall, Goldwater and other national scholarships. and I doubt that a transfer student would ever be recommended for these by a university.</p>