<p>We have a family income that is high enough to disqualify my S for need based aid, but low enough to feel the pain of $60,000 per year. The good news is my junior son has a 34 ACT and unweighted GPA of about 3.9. I know merit aid is out there for him at certain schools, but I am not sure about the application strategy. Do we still fill out the FAFSA, and check "yes" for needing aid? Is ED definitely out as a good option when you are seeking merit aid? Getting these merit aid offers is just a complete mystery. Any thoughts/experiences would be appreciated! </p>
<p>In my opinion, if aid is a significant consideration, ED is not a good choice…because you can’t compare net costs amongst various offers.</p>
<p>There is a pinned thread above about scholarships…and low cost colleges. In the scholarship thread, there is a link to current information. There are a bunch of colleges where your son would garner guaranteed merit aid for his stats.</p>
<p>Look at that thread and the threads embedded in it for more info.</p>
<p>Re: completion of the FAFSA and Profile for merit aid…ymmv depending on the college. Some schools require them for all awards. Some don’t for merit only awards.</p>
<p>Did your son take the PSAT?</p>
<p>While some top 20 schools offer merit aid it is very limited and a student would have to be in the top 5% of an extremely talented group of admitted students.</p>
<p>You should look to schools like Boston University and Northeastern University that give significant merit aid to high performing applicants. </p>
<p>Try this table. There are separate lists for LAC, 4 yr privates, 4 yr publics.<br>
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php</a>
Target schools where S2 stats are above the school’s 75th percentile-- lucklily, w a 34 ACT that will mean just about all schools.</p>
<p>If your income clearly will not qualify for FA, then u might not want to fill out a FAFSA. Some schools, like Carnegie Mellon, WUSTL, UMich, require the FAFSA for merit aid-- seems to be a strategy for the school to limit the amt of merit aid. If your income is on the edge, such that u need federally subsidiary loans, then that requires the FAFSA.</p>
<p>You are coming to the merit game quite late, but not too late for some schools. Many schools’ deadline for the big merit scholarships has already passed. Most others are due on Mon 15-Dec. </p>
<p>Look also at the merit schools thread pinned near at the top of the Parents Forum.</p>
<p>I think OP is coming to the merit game early-S is a junior. </p>
<p><a href=“Links to Popular Threads on Scholarships and Lower-Cost Colleges - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Links to Popular Threads on Scholarships and Lower-Cost Colleges - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<p>The first post on the link above contains a bunch of other threads about scholarships. Start there.</p>
<p>The FAFSA doesn’t ask if you are requesting FA, it’s just a form everyone can complete and tells you what FA you can qualify for. I filled it out this year and neither of my kids qualifies for FA. For example, it used to be required for receiving Florida Bright Futures (a merit award) but it is no longer required. Some schools want it anyway, and some even give a bonus if you file the FAFSA (Drexel, Stetson) by a certain date. Filing a FAFSA does not indicate you want need based FA. On some school applications, it asks if you need FA; that question you need to answer truthfully.</p>
<p>At some schools you can get a pretty good idea of what the financial aid offer might be on the NPC, and you might feel comfortable to apply ED to a preferred school with that estimate. We had a pretty good idea by Nov 1 of the package from my daughter’s school, and it turned out to be exactly the package we were finally offered in February. Other high-award-for merit schools have a rolling or early admission date, and you could know about those schools before the ED application is due for the school you are thinking about, so in fact you do have a few schools in the running before the ED filing is required for that ‘chosen’ school.</p>
<p>I’ll add…the FAFSA does not tell you “what aid you qualify for” at any college. It gives you an EFC which is primarily used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid like the Pell Grant and SEOG. That same EFC is used by some states that have grant aid for lower income students.</p>
<p>And colleges that require the FAFSA only, use the information on that form to determine your institutional need based aid.</p>
<p>The admissions applications typically ask if you will be applying for financial aid. If you need it, check yes. An acceptance will do you no good without aid consideration.</p>
<p>My son did take the PSAT. Got a 204 which did not qualify for National Merit in our state. Thanks to all for the collective wisdom. This sounds very much like a school by school assessment. Several schools mentioned in this thread. Does anyone have a view of Wash U vs. Emory for merit aid? Also, for schools that have a high percentage of girls (like Emory) would they be actively recruiting boys with strong academics?</p>
<p>You are late for ED/EA, but wouldn’t want to go ED anyway given your described situation. So, go RD (i.e., in many cases applying by 1/1 or may be 1/15). Fill out FAFSA anyway in early 2015, since some schools will require, even if you won’t get need-based aid. With high ACT and GPA chase merit aid in schools slightly down the ladder in prestige rankings. Pick schools of interest/fit where your S is clearly above the 75% threshold for ACT scores, and are shown (check USNWR or elsewhere, IPEDS etc) to give non-need-based merit aid to substantial % (e.g., 10-25%) of students. To start a first cut, use, say, Forbes college rankings and start looking at schools in roughly 40 to 200 range in that ranking (and verify who give out give % of merit or non-need based aid). Add in geographical and school-type preferences and the list will narrow quickly. The schools in this range are all still very good quality. Fine to add in a couple stretches from top rankings, but if you are chasing merit aid you want a good set (?6+?) of schools, where your child is clearly in the overlapping set of top % ACT/SAT scores and % who receive merit aid. You have to line up the probabilities if you want to trade top scores/grades for merit aid.</p>
<p>Extremely helpful, thanks Economo. My son is actually a junior. We are planning college visits for the Spring, and trying to be efficient with our visits. Currently looking at Rhodes, Creighton, Wooster, Case Western, Emory and Wash U. With the exception of Wash U and Emory, I am pretty sure he will be in the top quartile for these schools. </p>
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<p>How much merit do you want/need? How much do you want your NET COST to be?</p>
<p>The problem I see is that if you want your net cost to just be - say 20% lower than $60k - then there are schools that will give you a $15k-20k per year award. But…are you willing to pay the remaining $40k+ per year? If not, then you need to add in schools that you know FOR SURE will get you to that desired net cost.</p>
<p>Rhodes has some good awards. Creighton, if I remember correctly, maxes out at around $20k per year in merit, so remaining costs would be around $35k per year.</p>
<p>Being in the top quartile is usually not enough to get substantial merit. Many schools only award good-sized merit to those in the top 1-3% of their frosh class. </p>
<p>What is your home state?</p>
<p>How much can you pay each year?</p>
<p>What is your son’s major and career goal? </p>
<p>some of the listed schools sound like they’ve been chosen for a premed student. Am I off-base?</p>
<p>Great list @boatlift . We’re in a similar boat, probably won’t qualify for need-based, but definitely looking for merit aid. Recommend Wooster highly. D was just admitted EA with a very generous merit award that was included with the admission letter (nice not to have to wait!). We visited 3x, the final being an overnight for D. They were extremely organized, very upfront about the application process, D really enjoyed all of the students she met. Their year-long senior research project is pretty amazing. We just had an all around great experience at an excellent school. (BTW, Coccia House pizza near campus might be the best in all of Ohio.)</p>
<p>While D didn’t look at Case, my W worked there a while back. Another really great school. Kind of like a medium sized LAC attached to a large research university. The best of both worlds. I’ve heard that the numbers of applications have increased dramatically there in the past couple of years, and I don’t know if the guide books have caught up with that. It may account in part for why a number of applicants with competitive scores have been surprised to be deferred there more recently.</p>
<p>Thought about looking at Rhodes, but it was outside our self-imposed 8-hour driving limit. At the other end of TN, Sewanee was within the limit and D absolutely loved it. It didn’t seem quite as isolated as some suggest. It’s just a few minutes off the interstate, and Chattanooga is only 45 minutes away. All of the students and faculty we met were friendly, outgoing and accessible. There was a very, very positive vibe there. And the food in the cafeteria is really good!</p>
<p>I’ve always admired Creighton, and would like to see it one day. Best of luck in your search!</p>
<p>Thanks Midwest Dad. Very encouraging to hear that about Wooster. I know a couple of grads and they both really have great things to say. The town of Wooster sounds much more lively that what Granville provides to Kenyon? For merit aid to Wooster did you need to fill out the FAFSA and do a separate application? Did you look at Allegheny College? </p>
<p>There is no separate scholarship application for Wooster, which keeps things simple. The merit award showed up before the FAFSA opened up for 2015. I will probably go ahead and file the FAFSA in Jan.</p>
<p>Granville is very nearly a suburb of Columbus at this point. Not quite, but nearly so. The town is small, but there is major shopping 15 miles to the west. My D visited Denison twice and liked it very much. She applied, but won’t hear for awhile. A friend of hers loves it there, and received a substantial merit award due to excellent scores.</p>
<p>Gambier, where Kenyon is located, is very small. D visited Kenyon last summer. She thought the science quad was terrific. Very cool art museum, too. My impression was that merit aid is much harder to come by there. Admissions said that applications increased dramatically two years ago, making admission all the more competitive.</p>
<p>My nephew went to Allegheny and really enjoyed his time there. I don’t know off hand how generous they are with merit aid, but I do know he had some kind of merit award.</p>
<p>So that everyone responding on this thread can get a feel for what your son wants, please indicate:</p>
<p>Any distance issues from home state?</p>
<p>city or rural?</p>
<p>small, med, or large school?</p>
<p>cold/snowy weather or moderate/warm weather?</p>
<p>religious schools ok?</p>
<p>private schools preferred?</p>
<p>rah rah or quiet school?</p>
<p>Greek systems? yes or no?</p>
<p>Any other preferences?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Thanks Mom2. Definitely want to avoid the large university. Looking for a good academic environment for a potential pre med. he’s not really into sports or Greek life. Wants to hang with an interesting and diverse group of kids, probably serious students within his major. Also prefers an urban or suburban environment. Right of center is ok, just looking to avoid the wildly liberal schools. And then of course we need a school that is going to offer some merit aid. Rhodes seems to fit the bill with its urban environment and strong academics. Also looking at Case, Wooster, and Creighton. Reaches are Wash U, Chicago and Emory. 34 ACT and 3.9 GPA but still just a junior. Anyone have any thoughts about other schools we should be looking at? </p>
<p>Some schools provide big awards to only the top 1-2%, but some schools provide big awards to close to 10% of their class (or more, if you go lower down the totem pole).</p>
<p>It really depends on the school.</p>
<p>Merit philosophy also depends a lot on the school. For instance, Emory seems to give full-tuition awards to a single-digit percentage of their class but Case historically has been more likely to give something around half-tuition off, give or take (to make them competitive with in-state options), to many in their top quartile.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, WashU seems to be one of the most strategic when it comes to deploying merit money. How much merit money they give out is murky, but they definitely have a war chest that they use to secure the kids they want after acceptances are mailed out.</p>
<p>I have done a lot of research on this. Some colleges spend their money on financial aid and some on merit aid. So you need to find colleges that award a lot of merit based aid. Examples would be Vanderbilt, case western, Tulane.
In some cases all you have to do is apply and in other cases there are separate applications. If you want to know whether a college awards a lot of merit aid google their common data set and see how many freshman are awarded non need based aid and how much. You also may need to apply earlier than the normal RD deadlines. Consider public colleges like UVA and their Echols Scholar program or other full ride honors colleges. D has a 36 ACT and she is looking at both Ivies and going after serious merit aid.</p>