<p>I'm looking got suggestions of colleges that offer good merit aid for my stats. I need lots of aid, but am unsure of how much need based aid I can get.
SAT: 1810 (730 reading, 540 math, 540 writing. I'm retaking it in November and hope to get everything over 600)
ACT: 28
Gpa: 4.25, top tenth of my class of 300+
Service/EC: JV soccer (2 years) thespians, 250+ service hours, lead singer of youth band at my church, choir soloist since I was 12, NHS, youth group, pack leader (senior mentors to the freshman class), etc. pretty average.
Awards: school wide awards in English, chorus, and overall grade level, PRIDE award from the local chamber of commerce.</p>
<p>I live in Florida btw. Right now I'm looking at USC, UCF, Boston college, Northeastern, UCSD, and Florida gulf coast. And also UF but I know they aren't good about aid</p>
<p>If you can get your ACT up to 30, you will be in merit money range. It might make more sense for you to concentrate on that exam.</p>
<p>Go spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum. Start with the stickied thread at the top with FIN AID FAQs, then scroll down to find threads that deal with the issues you are facing. There are a whole bunch specifically on merit-based aid.</p>
<p>You need to take the ACT in Sept and Oct, and you need to take the SAT in Oct and Nov…and study for these tests.</p>
<p>You’re not going to get merit from BC, UCSD. NEU would require higher stats. Which USC do you mean? USC in Calif isn’t going to give you merit unless your ACT/SAT is in the 35+ 2300+ range and that’s not a given. </p>
<p>What is your situation?</p>
<p>Are you low income?</p>
<p>Do your parents have a good income, but can’t pay much? how much can they pay?</p>
<p>Do you have a non custodial parent.</p>
<p>The schools that give the best need-based aid are the hardest to get into and require high stats. </p>
<p>The schools that are more commonly known, will require higher test scores for good sized merit.</p>
<p>UCSD will be $23,000 per year short of meeting need for non-California students (that is the amount of the non-resident additional tuition). Minimum net price is probably around $31,000 to $32,000 for non-California students, after adding the expected student contribution (Stafford loan and work or work-study earnings</p>
<p>That means that your parents would be expected to pay their EFC + $23000. So, if your EFC is $8,000, then your family would have to pay $31k per year. And the FA pkg would include full loans.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned above, one needs usually to at least be in the top 25 percent of the accepted applicant pool to be considered for merit aid as well as schools that have specific thresholds such as a 32 ACT or 3.0 GPA etc.</p>
<p>“Lots of aid” is pretty ambiguous but also keep in mind that (as also alluded to above) even the best merit aid is still going to leave a lot of money to be paid out of pocket (or through other means).</p>
<p>A COA of $50,000 and a $20,000 merit aid still leaves a $30,000 bill.</p>
<p>Oh wow, lol. My parents have a pretty good income but can’t pay much (the economy really wrecked our savings). We haven’t done any efc/ FAFSA or anything but I’m expecting the efc to be higher than what they can actually do. I’ll probably get some need based aid but probably not enough to cover a whole lot.<br>
I was upset because my first round of test scores were just below full bright futures scholarships (for in state florida public school tuition)</p>
<p>Run some of the NPCs of the schools you’re considering and see what comes up.</p>
<p>You’ll need tax and other financial info from your parents to fill out the online forms, or they will have to do it.</p>
<p>
There are plenty of online estimators. A good first step would be to have your parents fill one out so you know where you are.</p>