<p>Like many on CC, we do not qualify for aid and have been counting on some merit money to close the gap between our budget of about $30,000 per year and the actual cost of the schools son has been admitted to.<br>
Has anyone successfully negociated merit money from Brandies or NYU? He was also admitted to WashU, but I don't think he is likely to be high enough in their admit pool to have much luck there.</p>
<p>In the case of NYU we are particularly frustrated as son has been admitted to the honor program and received a letter stating that he will receive a merit scholarship as a national merit scholar, but we have been unable to get any information on how much that scholarship may be from either the Financial Aid office or the Presidential Scholars program. Admissions office advised us to just change first choice to NYU, accept the admission offer and see what he gets! She seemed puzzled that we would need to know the total cost of attending the school before committing......</p>
<p>There are two sources of NM awards – individual schools and the NM people themselves.</p>
<p>For the first, check individual schools’ websites with the words “national merit” to see if they are institutional sponsors of the NM program. (I know that both Brandeis and WUSTL are. Don’t know about NYU.) If a school participates in the program, then your D will automatically receive the scholarship (I think it was 2500 last year) from that school if she lists it as her top choice and matriculates). </p>
<p>For the second, the National Merit folks themselves award additional scholarship monies to some NMFs. You may not know until June, as I recall, whether your child is a recipient. My son came up empty last year.</p>
<p>If you talk to the right person in financial aid, you can sometimes find out that there is a ‘scholarship committee’ (different than fin aid, in some schools) that makes these determinations. Maybe you can get that person’s name.</p>
<p>Also–some scholarships are issued by academic dept. That might be worth a try (call dept, find out who’s in charge of scholarships).</p>
<p>The National Merit scholarships from NMCorp are only about $2000 I believe & non-renewable (a one-time award). Not many are given out but can apply to any school. They are awarded by late May, I believe, because they were mentioned during the graduation ceremony that took place in early June.</p>
<p>I would definitely continue calling the departments & FAid & Admissions folks at the Us your child is interested in. At USC, we were given the merit award info prior to orientation. The other Us he was accepted at also gave merit info by April 1, so we could make an informed choice. It IS unreasonable for them to expect you to make choices without this info, IMHO.</p>
<p>Agree also that sometimes the department awards additional funding (engineering did for our S). It’s important to also clarify whether awards are renewable, what terms are for renewal, how many kids keep vs. lose renewal of their awards, etc.</p>
<p>When you get the awards, sometimes when asked, “similarly ranked”/competing schools will match (without admitting they are) the award of the other school, particularly if they really want your student. That was how we got a bit of extra $ for our S to attend the school he wanted rather than its competitor which we & he weren’t as interested in attending.</p>
<p>Son had a great NMS offer from USC-- which automatically award a 1/2 tuition scholarship to all finalists. Unfortunately, he doesn’t want to attend USC at this point… Brandeis’s award is $500-$2000 depending on “financial need” according to their website.
Son called NYU again today with no luck-- was eventually switched to some number is CAS with just a recording.</p>
<p>Up in the middle of the night so I just took a quick look at WUSTL website.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters where your S is in the admit pool. All that matters is that he be a NMF. If he’s a NMF, he will automatically be eligible for $2000 a year from the University if he doesn’t get the 2500 NM-sponsored award. If he does get the 2500 NM-sponsored award, WUSTL says it’s “committed to” renewing it annually. To be eligible for any NM award he has to declare WUSTL as his first choice by the NM deadline. </p>
<p>Your completely right about WashU NMS policy–thanks, I was unclear in my op-- I was saying I don’t think son is in a strong position to try and negociate more merit money at WashU, whereas at NYU (and probably Brandeis) he is in the top 5% of the pool.<br>
What is so puzzling about NYU is that they have written son directly stating that there will be a merit award, but no one at NYU seems able to tell us how much it might be! The total cost of attendace of $54,000 per year, about $15,000-$18,000 over our annual college budget- so if NYU’s award is goin to be 2k, we need to know and move on to other choices.</p>
<p>I’d tell them, that (if you haven’t already). At one school, son explained that merit aid would definitely make the difference as to whether he could attend or not. I think they process that fact.</p>
<p>All WashU merit award require additional submission of an application. You also have to apply to a specific scholarship (as many as you think you can qualify for by submitting essays, etc…). In the case of a Danforth scholarship you will need to be nominated by your high school (deadline for nomination is in the fall). I believe that all the finalists for scholarships are then flown out in March for a 4 days of interviews, etc… The committees for the different scholarships then make their decisions and you are told repeatedly all throughout that you can get full, partial or NOTHING!! </p>
<p>In short, with such a grueling process for the merit scholarship at WashU, I don’t think that you can appeal for money that way. They might match a need based award if you send them something from another school. It would be worth a try. Good luck.</p>
<p>krug is correct about Wash U merit scholarships. All require extensive additional applications; NMS is the exception. As for Brandeis, we have known several students who received generous merit awards without filing additional application materials. But I believe all were notified of the scholarship at time they were admitted. And these were extremely desirable students from the college’s point of view – choosing between full freight at one of the Ivies and a full- or half-ride at Brandeis. Also, even if you know you’re not eligible for need-based aid, you have to submit the CSS Profile to be considered for a merit scholarship at Brandeis; financial need is considered. [Brandeis</a> Admissions | Costs/Financial Aid | Scholarships](<a href=“Scholarships and Fellowships | Affordability | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University”>Scholarships and Fellowships | Affordability | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University)</p>
<p>I’m not aware of any precedent for “negotiating” awards of merit money. Especially at schools like Brandeis and WUSTL that are trying to buy up top talent with their merit awards, I can’t imagine negotiation from an award of zero would be a successful strategy.</p>
<p>We don’t anticipate any additional award from WashU beyond the NMS. I was surprised that son received nothing from Brandeis, but maybe it was just a particularly competitive pool this year. We did file that profile, but I have since learned that former spouse did not complete his portion (although he did mail son a copy of his tax return to use as needed).</p>
<p>Again, it is the NYU response that I find baffling. I can only assume they wrote to son about the forthcoming scholarship in an effort to convince him to commit to NYU, so why won’t they cooperate in at least telling us the amount so that we can determine if we can afford the school???</p>
<p>^^The plural of anecdotes is not evidence, but one of S’s classmates – 4.0, 36 ACT, 800 x 3 SAT IIs – didn’t get a cent in merit money from Brandeis. </p>
<p>Welcome to NYU, home of indifferent administration.</p>
<p>It does feel like indiffference…The other thing that has really struck me is the cultural difference. I have called 3 times, each time speaking to a different native new yorker (Queens sounding, if my memories from living there many years ago serves); each of whom has seemed rude to my Louisville attuned ears.</p>
<p>Both NYU and NYC have a lot to recommend them, but I think you have to be seriously independent and tough to be a happy camper at NYU. It’s one of the few schools that was off the table for both my kids. Too much disparity between the hefty sticker price and the low administrative investment in students.</p>
<p>Really? Hmm…they sent him an email asking him to confirm his National Merit Finalist status via a link, which he did. A few weeks later he recieved the letter asking him to join the Presidential Honors Program and mentioning a forthcoming National Merit scholarship. The letter did not say to fill out anything online–that is news to us!</p>
<p>We toured Brandeis yesterday and they said that they tried to maintain their financial aid in this economy but did find it necessary to reduce some of their merit aid. I hope that this does not effect your son. Congratulations on the fine university choices and good luck with the financial side.</p>
<p>Presidential Honors Scholars
(The top five percent of the entering class is invited to join; students may also apply for entry after they have matriculated, having demonstrated superlative academic achievement and a consistent record of leadership and service to the community.)</p>
<h1>receive special advising from College faculty and staff,</h1>
<h1>challenge themselves in honors courses and through independent research,</h1>
<h1>study abroad,</h1>
<h1>take advantage of New York City’s cultural resources, and</h1>
<h1>develop leadership skills through community service.</h1>
<h1>Activities include:</h1>
<pre><code>* Scholars Lecture Series
cultural events in the city
al events
community service projects
Freshman Honors Seminar
study abroad intersession trips
</code></pre>
<p>Scholars admitted as freshmen directly from high school receive financial assistance in the form of a scholarship.</p>
so I just took a quick look at WUSTL website.</p>