<p>Did anyone get less merit-based financial aid than expected? I didn’t get any!</p>
<p>My class rank is top 5%, my GPA is 98.2, and my SAT is 2240. I have no clue how I would pay for 4 years at $50,000 per year. Colorado College has an acceptance rate a tad less than Bucknell, and they offered me $20,000 a year. I was leaning toward Bucknell, but now I do not know what to do! :(</p>
<p>samee here! my stats arent as high as yours but other colleges are offering me alot more but i loveee bucknell like you have no idea.
even the normal based financial aid they offered me isnt alot</p>
<p>Did Bucknell meet your financial need? I think Bucknell does meet need as they define it, but they do not give merit aid. Colorado College does. That is the difference.</p>
<p>Call the financial aid office and ask them if you would be considered for any merit aid with your stats. Tell them about Colorado's offer, then put it in a letter as well. I've heard this has worked with some schools that do have merit scholarships but don't outright offer. Show interest in Bucknell but tell them that the money at Colorado is tempting. Good luck.</p>
<p>Bucknell does have merit aid. Look at their website.</p>
<p>That must be new. When my son applied to Bucknell, they gave only need based awards. My guess is that they have a limited number of merit awards since they have only recently started this. </p>
<p>It never hurts to negotiate. If Bucknell recently started giving merit money, it must be because they realized that they were losing kids to schools that did give merit money. With their financial aid/admissions office in that awareness mode, they will take your request seriously, I'm sure, especially with a competing offer. Good luck from me too.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure the only merit-based scholarships are Arts Merit Scholarships. Sorry!</p>
<p>There was no mention of merit aid in my D's acceptance letter. This probably means there will be none, but we're not sure. It does not appear that Bucknell offers very much merit aid - even the biggest ticket merit scholarships listed on its site appear to max out $12.5K, not much when the full ticket is $50K. Although Bucknell was/is her top choice, it is looking more and more unlikely, which would be good news to those on the waitlist. Hmm, can we put her spot up on Ebay? That might pay for (name of other college here).</p>
<p>How have you all heard about financial aid offers from Bucknell? Have some of you received the acceptance letter via snail mail already and was the financial aid award enclosed? If so, would it tell you about both need-based and/or merit-based aid?</p>
<p>bucknell offers merit aid to a relatively significant number of students, but the vast majority of the awards are earmarked for applicants with demonstrated financial need. </p>
<p>i would agree with cpt that it never hurts to ask, but in this context i would not count on success.</p>
<p>(and cpt, the first merit awards were awarded to my high school class (2003)).</p>
<p>If you look at Bucknell's website they have several merit aid scholarships. They offer 10,000/yr dean's scholarship, 12,000/yr presidential, art scholarships for non-music (2500) and art/music majors. They now have a merit based scholarship for women engineers and the math dept has merit for incoming math majors. Just look under financial aid, "types of aid" for merit and you will see. For engineering and math, look under specific academic dept. Bucknell certainly does offer merit scholarships as my freshman D has a combo of them that we are happily enjoying with no financial aid request as we knew we'd be denied.</p>
<p>I think I probably should get organized and write a letter to the financial aid office. Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>tc15: I am in Maine, and I received my acceptance letter in the mail today. A whole financial aid folder is enclosed, which describes how much of both types of aid you have been awared.</p>
<p>And I love the idea about selling college spots on Ebay, haha.</p>
<p>It appears that merit award and need-based award info comes out later. My D got the packet today. Dean’s scholarship for $10K and some need-based aid (that will only be for the first year when she and her brother are both in college). Is it enough to make a difference? We’ve got some thinkin’ to do.</p>