Merit aid Question

College Search & Selection
1

<p>D is junior. We will not qualify for financial aid for remarriage reasons, although father not likely to help fill out forms or contribute.</p>

<p>I am curious where my daughter has the best chance of getting merit aid. Here are her expected stats for when she applies:</p>

<p>Top 10%
ACT: ~32 (strong in English, not strong in Math)
Has not taken SATs yet. Practices show low 700-level English and mid 500-level but improving Math.
UWGPA: 3.85
WGPA: 4.1
Race: Hispanic (Cuban, Costa Rican)
Will not qualify for NHRP; did not take PSAT seriously (ignored Mother's prodding)
Courseload: 4 APs, with tests on 3 of them, received '4' in AP US History and will take 2 AP tests this May.
EC's: moderate, nothing major: NHS, Interact, Varsity Tennis, Ski Team (not competition-based), Literary magazine, Voluntary Journalism Project, Volunteer at Save a Pet, Part time job at dog groomers.
Intended major: exploring, initially thought something English-related but is now talking about medicine (realizes she has to overcome her math phobia). She will likely morph on this a little; I wouldn't be surprised if she went to Law school.</p>

<p>D mostly wants a small school, loved Grinnell but we don't think she will be at the top of Grinnell's pool to receive merit aid. D has not stated a geographic preference; I think mainly does not want to go to school where a lot of her high school classmates may go.</p>

<p>Personality-wise: Independent, thinks she is liberal but seems pretty mainstream, jeans and sweatshirts kid, not political, is a little artsy, opinionated but not outspoken if that makes sense (shy). Likely to feel intimidated where she thinks other are better than her. Likely to not join a sorority but friendly Greeks would be fine with her. She does not care if the school has a low or high hispanic population. The way she puts it, the hispanics at her high school are Mexican, and don't view her as hispanic since she is not Mexican, so she is diversely diverse. </p>

<p>Schools considered: Denison, Wooster (likely where her brother 1 year younger may go, she is balking at going to the same school as he), Allegheny, Case Western, Earlham, Davidson, Ohio State, Miami University (Ohio), Emory, Kalamazoo, New College of Florida (a good option because she would receive instate tuition there - her father lives in Florida), Kenyon (same boat as Grinnell, I think), Illinois Wesleyan, Knox, Beloit, Lawrence, Tulane, University of Wisconsin (OOS).</p>

<p>How are these schools for merit aid for someone of my daughter's characteristics?
When people say schools are good with merit aid, what does that really mean? $8 - 10,000? A lot of half tuition? More than half tuition? It's hard to tell.</p>

<p>Are there other schools that could be a fit for her?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>Don't underestimate the ethnicity hook at schools like Grinnell, a small LAC in the Midwest that has difficulty attracting diversity. It's certainly worth a shot. Your extensive list looks good for general merit aid; but I can't say more until I know exactly what your target number is. How much can you comfortably afford, how much can you afford at a stretch? Then take that number, subtract it from each school's COA, look at each school's merit aid individually and see how many awards would make it possible for your D to attend. "Good merit aid" can mean anything; it's really just another name for YOU to research on your own according to your own family's needs.</p>

<p>Also, go read some of curmudgeon's threads; he is the accepted CC authority on merit aid, and his information is VERY useful, even if the situation is different (i.e. he had a very high-stat Ivy-accepted D who chose Rhodes on a full ride).</p>

<p>Oh, and I would look askance at New College for someone "pretty mainstream" and "not political."</p>

3

<p>I've communicated with parents of high scoring URMs, much better than my D, who received the max merit award that Grinnell gives, I think $15,000 or $17,000. Yes the New College situation concerns me. She also is not a partier, also a big hobby at NCF (yet, unless she is lying...). My thought with D has been to maximize merit aid because her brother, 12 months younger than her and a sophomore, will likely get very little, but is likely to a little scholarship money for playing the bagpipes at one of the Scottish heritage schools (Wooster, Monmouth). He also needs a smaller school with services for ADHD, hence the need for private. With our family educational planning, he is where the money will need to be spent.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply, Keilexandra, I've read some of your posts in recent months and your maturity level and intelligence impress me.</p>

4

<p>If your daughter looks to have a good shot at Florida Bright Futures scholarship. Have you checked into that?</p>

5

<p>That's a very good and broad set of schools to consider. DD1 attends Denison and loves it. Their full tuition scholarships seem to be targeted toward NMFs but they are definitely seeking diverse student types. DD1 also looked at Earlham but it wasn't as good with Merit Aid. DD2 is looking at Knox and they tend to top out at 1/2 tuition. If you are from Ohio you should get good aid from Miami and OSU.</p>

6

<p>Denison's merit awards are generous but my perception has been that they like high stats. Of course, they also like diversity. Knox's maximum merit award is 20k, off about 45k COA.</p>

7

<p>My advice is always to look at those second-tier/"B+" liberal arts colleges where your D likely has a higher average GPA and SAT score than the mid-50% of students. You want to shoot for places where she'll be in the top 10-20% of applicants. I applied to places like this when I was applying and did really well on nabbing merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Agnes Scott College in GA has really good merit aid, but it's small and a women's college.</p>

<p>She will not likely qualify for large merit scholarships at Emory and Davidson. I applied to Emory and I'm an URM with stats similar to your D and I didn't get any merit aid from them.</p>

<p>Tulane, Allegheny, Earlham, Kalamazoo, and Knox are good places to look for merit aid. Also look at Juniata, Hampshire, Goucher (all students required to study abroad), Siena, Augustana, Coe, perhaps Muhlenberg and Berea.</p>

8

<p>D was born in Ohio; I lived there for years, but we now reside in Chicago. Due to our familiarity with Ohio, knowing the quality of schools and having close family there, Ohio schools are on our list. OSU (my alma mater) will give in state tuition to kids with higher ACTs, but D doesn't like the size of OSU. Illinois state schools are out of the question for her; she won't even consider them. And I don't like UIUC's plan to hike its already high instate tuition ($12,000+) even more drastically over the next few years. She would likely get merit aid that would be attractive, but the Greek scene is overwhelming from what I have seen.</p>

9

<p>You might look at University of Minnesota Morris--it's a public liberal arts college, well regarded academically in MN, that offers in-state tuition to everyone.</p>

10

<p>Gettysburg, F&M, Muhlenberg, Ursinus....</p>

11

<p>University of Dayton (OH)</p>

<p>She would probably receive a large amount of merit aid from Dayton.</p>

12

<p>Susan-D1 had similar stats and was not a URM and was accepted with merit aid at 3 of the schools on your list. Illinois Wesleyan, Knox, and Beloit. We too are from Chicago area. All 3 schools were very easy to deal with and provided similar merit aid. The cost for D1 to attend any of these schools was less than UIUC when it was all said and done. Visited Grinnell too, but ultimately it was a bit too rural for her. You didn't indicate how need based plays into your decision. IWU put together a grant, and work study in addition to merit aid. D1 loves it there. </p>

<p>D2 is looking at the midwest jesuit schools and has applied to Loyola, SLU, Marquette, and Dayton. All provide decent merit based awards for students like your D.</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
When people say schools are good with merit aid, what does that really mean? $8 - 10,000? A lot of half tuition? More than half tuition? It's hard to tell.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There's no set standard, so when someone gives you a tip that a school has good merit aid, you need to check their website and find out the details. Also, many people still mix up need based FA and merit scholarships. </p>

<p>I would agree with juillet that Emory scholar is likely out of reach with your Ds stats. A couple of years ago my URM D got invited to the interview weekend but she had considerably higher stats. </p>

<p>She also got accepted at UWisconsin. However, she withdrew before the scholarship information was sent out, so I don't have a good feel for how competitive their merit aid is.</p>

<p>Have you checked the Lewis scholarship at Northeastern? It was for full tuition a couple of years ago.</p>