<p>
</p>
<p>I know what you are saying and have seen similar posts…but many schools that are high priced haven’t just become high priced by raising tuition significantly. Their merit awards, however, have indeed increased substantially over their tuition increases from last year.</p>
<p>redpoint and emilybee - ds’s awards so far range from 10 k to 22 k. there are a couple of schools where he has been invited to compete for up to either full tuition or full ride. for these 5 schools his stats are either within the mid range or exceed the range. still waiting to hear on admission from 2 more regular decision schools and on the one deferral. he likely won’t make any decision until April and after review of the F/A packages. who knows what the new year may bring. he may even apply to some additional schools !
we’ve tried to take curm’s advice and cast a wide net. this is my second child to go through the process and thankfully, i feel like we learned a lot when child one when through the process.<br>
did the fafsa today and have already submitted the css profile.
mom2collegekids - i feel like there are incremental increases in the awards…30 ACT gets dollars but the 32 ACT gets more dollars, etc.
we are very pleased with the 22 k award so far and thanks for your post explaining the award ranges. ds is seeking full tuition or full ride so the 22 k doesn’t take care of the full tuition but it is the highest percentage award so far. our experience with oldest d was that the institutional grants in the f/a packages exceeded the merit aid awards. you really have to be sharp, focus, and compare the packages…and eliminate schools where the aid awarded is heavy in loans and not heavy on grants and scholarships.</p>
<p>This is all very helpful, thanks.</p>
<p>i got to thinking more about dd’s awards and should probably clarify. she was nmf so there were some full tuition/full ride offers from schools who want to attract nmf’s. however, for schools that aren’t known for going after the nmf’s, those were the schools who offered merit aid awards that ran from 8 to 12 and then around 20. i feel like ds’s awards so far are similar to what we saw with dd’s and maybe even a little bit stronger. from reading other threads, it sounds like he could get some bigger merit aid awards (full tuition, etc.) at some of the large publics but those are not schools to which he is applying. seems like others are receiving full tuition and full ride merit at some of the large publics. he’s looking at more of the small private schools.
for d, it was the high ranked schools that use institutional methodology (css profile, etc.) who awarded nice grants as a part of their f/a package.
redpoint - there are some good past threads and posts by curmudgeon on merit aid that would be helpful for you to read if you get a chance.</p>
<p>DS only applied to tiny Midwestern schools where he would be in the top of the pool just like mom2collegekids recommends (expect for a couple of matches). he is getting merit from 10,000-22,000 a year so far, with invitations to compete for full-tuition+ at many of the schools on his list. We are lucky enough to live in a state that gives full-tuition for his stats at two of the publics, though he would go there as a last resort. It was only after applying to these schools that we learned that need/merit don’t normally stack, so we will have no clue about affordability until April. I really like when the merit award requirements are posted. For instance at Ds first choice, he knew that he would get $15,000 a year for being in the top 10%, but $17,500 for being in the top 5%. Since the school has been his favorite since he was a freshman, it was an unusual motivator for an otherwise typical homework-hating boy. They are also very clear about stacking and requirements. OTOH, I have no clue what the other schools are looking for.</p>
<p>“Tuition discounting seems to be more in the $8k-15k range…not $20k. The $20k+ awards are generally awards for very high stats (very high test scores/GPA) for the school…often the top 5% or the top 2% of the college. So, if a school’s midrange is like ACT 24-28, it might award a very good award for an ACT 30 and an even larger award for an ACT 32+.”</p>
<p>This is the exact opposite of what we found. DS got more merit at the better schools where he wasn’t at the top than those he was. I think it’s more a matter of endowment at small LACS and the higher ranked schools generally have much larger endowments. </p>
<p>From high to low his awards were per year: $30k, $27K, $22K, $22K, 18K, 18K and 15K - the last being the only public school other than our state school (Binghamton) which gave him nothing. </p>
<p>He graduated from a private high school so at least in his case, the colleges paid no attention to that fact when deciding to award him money.</p>
<p>Q-- were the merit awards listed on the school’s website? When I read about them, it always sounds as if they are given to just a few very select students.</p>
<p>Redpoint, I’m fairly certain most of them were listed on the school’s website but with the two highest awards he got my son had to submit an supplemental essay to be awarded the $$. But they gave the requirements needed to be considered for them. For the $27K award he applied for a higher one (30K) but didn’t get it.</p>