Merit Aid

<p>Has anyone from a public high school recieved any Magis? Not Ignatius but Magis. Thanks</p>

<p>Yes, my daughter knew someone from her public school who got a Magis on top of her Ignatius. My daughters didn’t, but they got very generous Ignatius awards, and for some reason, I was under the impression that the Magis works as an “add-on” for kids whose scores didn’t give them one of the higher Ignatius awards.</p>

<p>Yes, my daughter received one last year.</p>

<p>I got the Magis scholarship, I go to a public school and my school isn’t Catholic/Jesuit.</p>

<p>confused by financial pckg. EFC= $6k/year. Only 2k in grant money and 10k in Ignatius. My d for three years has had the max. federal and state grant money, 13k. Is it because Marquette is private? My son is getting the same max. grant $ offered from his other schools, all public. I called and asked the financial aid office and they said it is based on the proposed federal budget cutbacks for 2011-12. Really? I feel it is a sad way to put a package together based on what might happen in congress. 80K in student loans for a ba is not going to happen. He will be at a UC or Minn. for far less. Too bad, but I guess that’s way all pieces of the puzzle need to be considered. Still confused, maybe Marquette wants full pay, less qualified students. If so, I understand.</p>

<p>^ Popeyoung5 - I’m curious to know what your child’s stats are? Do you mind sharing?</p>

<p>31 act/ 1960 sat/ 9 ap’s/ eagle scout/ church corazon/ 3.77 gpa in a very tuff academic cal. public school (3.77 is 29th% rank out of 660) He has many friends accepted to caltech, stanford, mit, cal, ect. I just printed his UC fin/aid pkg. Here are the details:</p>

<p>UCSD,UCSB,UCDAVIS:</p>

<pre><code> Total cost= $30k EFC=$5700

Grant= 11.2k
</code></pre>

<p>pell grant= 500</p>

<p>sub. stafford loan=$5500/year scholarship= $4200/year</p>

<p>student contribution $3,500/year</p>

<p>Same as my daughter for the last 3 years at UCSD. 4 year graduation is 22k is sub. stafford loans and 8k/year out of pocket. He is easily in the top 10% at Marquette and just average at the UC’s and slightly above average at Minn.</p>

<p>I am waiting on Minn. for my s now, he already has a nice scholarship and the starting price for oos is 24,500 per year total. I just do not understand Marquette’s math with grants and sub. stafford loans. It must be private vs. public schools. The states are meaningless. He walks in 4 years with a UC degree or U Minn. degree with 20k in loans or Marquette with 80k in loans for the same efc?? Let me think about that decision for ohhh, 3 seconds.</p>

<p>Pope, sounds like you are taking it a little too personal. MU has a formula - one that doesn’t make sense to you - but it’s been working fine for them.</p>

<p>Sounds like your son has at least two great options - find the happiness in that.</p>

<p>King,
Thanks for the input. Yes, he does have nice choices. I also realize all the schools have to make money. No doubt MU will fill the seats they just are not as competetive as other schools on the financial aid pkgs. I guess that’s difficult when retail starts at 40k/year vs. 30k/year for a state schools.</p>

<p>@popeyoung5 Mind telling when your S received his f.a. package? We are still waiting in the lower midwest.</p>

<p>We’re having similar concerns about MU. It WAS #1 on my student’s college list . . .have a feeling the need based aid is not going to come through after reading your post.</p>

<p>@archimom - It should be posted on your student’s CheckMarq account. If not I would call de fin. aid office.</p>

<p>Yes, it is on his checkmarq account.</p>

<p>I can only imagine how disappointing and frustrating the fa news is for some of you. </p>

<p>This is not to minimize your disappointment, but MU has never advertised itself as a “full need met” school. On CollegeBoard, I think the statistic is something like 75% of need met. Marquette simply does not have the deep pockets to meet full need. I know it has been repeatedly stated as a long term goal to raise the endowment in order to offer the best fa possible. </p>

<p>For us, the fact that MU’s “midwest” tuition (less than comparable schools in other parts of the country) coupled with merit made it just about even with our expensive state flagship. Obviously, this isn’t the case for everyone. I wish you and all your kids the best in this difficult decision making!</p>

<p>Received f.a. package – WAY under what my S has been offered elsewhere (both merit & need-based). Not even close. The MU package self-pay portion is 30 times our FASFA estimated EFC! So out of proportion that I will check with the office before my S declines to make sure that there is not some mistake.</p>

<p>Have heard nothing but great things about the school (except for the aid situation) so I know all of you who are headed there will have a great experience.</p>

<p>Dbwes makes a good point. For the region, Marquette is probably a “good deal”. It was very hard for us to find a happy medium last year for costs. We had an unbalanced choice between almost free rides and borrow 20 to 30K a year. As we were used to paying close to 10K a year for Catholic high school, we would have been willing to borrow 10K a year and forego “perks” that others take for granted, like family vacations, for four more years, but there was such a chasm between the offers. It is no surprise that so many midwesterners and west coasters are heading down south for the free ride, or at least close to free tuition, for good students. Trying to rise above their “football school” image, these schools are taking their money and luring good students to their campus. Perhaps Marquette will one day be in a position to do the same. While I’m sure they make a pretty penny from Big East TV broadcasts and tournament appearances, they may not have the generous donors that SEC schools do who are willing to fund academic scholarships, as well as supporting their athletics.</p>

<p>^
And the SEC schools for the most part have a lot more alums to be donating…most are significantly bigger schools than MU.</p>

<p>Been reading through all the FA posts and I certainly empathize with many of you and the frustration with MU’s FA. MU is probably my son’s top choice now and will likely attend there. We knew Marquette was not the most wealthy university and was not a “fully meets need” school. Like many of you, my S is our oldest and all four of my kids are attending Catholic elementary/middle/high school (not affiliated with any particular religious order). Despite being an engineer, we also live a modest lifestyle and do without many things. Still I can’t complain, we’ve been blessed in so many ways. </p>

<p>I thought I would add a data point with my son’s stats and FA award info for those who are looking at this. I think he has a nice resume, but he’s not really the go-getter type. He’s rather passive, a bit introverted and just happens to do well with a minimal level of effort. He will probably be in for a shock when he start college because he will have to learn to work hard for the grades - worries me some.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.92 (4.0 scale) (most rigorous course load available - AP’s Honors, etc)
ACT: 34
SAT: 2190
National Merit Finalist
Good mix and quantity of activities (perhaps a bit light on leadership and service IMO) including: Boy Scouts, theater, robotics, Mock Trial, cross country, track, Rock for Life, Medical mentoring, volunteering as s student teacher…</p>

<p>College level English
5 AP course, 7 AP Exams (4 anticipated in May)</p>

<p>Ignatius Award: $14000
Magis: $2800
NMF: $2000 (MU will recognize in July)</p>

<p>Other Fin Aid: work study and Stafford loans</p>

<p>Why he received the award he did is beyond me considering what some of you have reported about your S/D. Of course, all FA seems like some complicated puzzle that nobody can figure out.</p>

<p>I’m thankful for what he did receive, but MU is still the most expensive school of the three left on his radar.</p>

<p>For those of you who have had kids at MU in recent years, I have a question. My sister attended MU during the 80’s and she always received two FA award statements. The first was in the March/April time frame and was always rather meager. The first award always caused her to panic because it was not enough. I recall her going through this at least for 3 consecutive years before she gain independent status.</p>

<p>She always received an update in late-June or July that included additional aid which was always enough to make it work. I believe this was probably something MU did back then on a case-by-case basis. Have any of you received updated/improved aid awards on a second pass during the summer? I’m not expecting anything, but I’m just curious.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>My S is a sopomore and his need based grant was increased by about 30% in June. It seems they redistribute available aid from the students that decided not to attend. Still too early this year to know if they will do the same.</p>

<p>^^^Ajax, that’s a very good award. A few thousand better than my son. If we had gotten that offer, we might have been able to do it, if the economy had improved. Last year was my lowest earning so far, so I’m grateful we did take the full ride at Bama. </p>

<p>Son did not have the high GPA and ACT and SAT scores that your son did, but he was NMF and had a fair number of activities. Don’t understand why he didn’t get the Magis. I don’t know of anyone that got it last year. Maybe it wasn’t available then?</p>

<p>I’m also second guessing son’s reluctance to apply for the Honors College last year. He also always attending Catholic school, with the most rigorous curriculum, and was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle Honors and Biomedical Engineering. He did not want to live in Straz, as it was too far from campus, and being from the South, was not looking forward to walking several blocks to class in the freezing cold. I wonder if he would have been given more merit aid, though, if he did apply for Honors College. </p>

<p>Ajax, do you mind sharing what your son’s intended major is? </p>

<p>It seems engineering majors get low figures as well, because they have an opportunity to do co-ops, where they earn a salary, so it is assumed they’ll be paying their tuition through the co-op program. As son was on track for grad school, he didn’t want to co-op, so he wasn’t going to have this extra money available.</p>

<p>I also see that your child is a “legacy”. Is Marquette more generous with legacy candidates than just a regular old kid?</p>

<p>Wishing all of y’all good luck on your Marquette decisions. We loved the school. We wish they had wanted son more. But God has a plan for him, and hopefully, he will be able to attend grad school there in a few years.</p>