Merit Scholarships At T20 Schools

@thumper1, there is a big spread between full ride awards and $20k in merit which I’m seeing a lot in awards. So getting a $40k financial aid package at a $70k school still leaves $30k, a huge hunk of change to manage. But that $20k in merit can make it possible IF stacked onto the FA. Can’t do it at a lot of schools. Comes right off the financial aid as if the kid didn’t get the award. Reduces EFC for those whose numbers are beyond getting FA but reduces the award for those who get it.

MIT is need only. No merit or athletic (they are D3, so can’t and wouldn’t anyways) scholarships.

I would say that every student at MIT could get merit scholarship money somewhere. So, for those with the ability to pay, it becomes a choice; money or the MIT experience. MIT does have a good amount of need money available.

OP is here, as mentioned in original post, stacking is not an option as financial aid eligibility is $0. It’s all about out of pocket and merit.

I can’t understand the hostility in this thread as I don’t see a significant problem with OPs plan, which I assume is to attend the state flagship (UCB/UCLA?) unless a better option is available (though clearly safeties are needed as a backup too). Weighing up the difference in cost it appears he thinks a top 20 with merit is the only thing that would provide a better ROI because (e.g.) full pay at say Stanford wouldn’t be a better deal than instate costs at Berkeley.

But if his son is realistically going to be in the running for those sorts of ultra-competitive possibilities, I would suggest taking a closer look at full ride options at slightly lower ranked schools, not just say Jefferson at UVA, but I’m thinking of the threads about Stamps full ride at Wake Forest or Carolina Scholar at UNC vs full pay at Stanford. Those can also be a better deal (especially with the privileges that come with some of those programs) than even the best state flagship.

OP, I sure hope you have been reading all the posts written by those who have lots of knowledge and experience about merit awards.
They have taken time to try to educate you about who offers them, and how hard they are to get, especially at top tier colleges. I hope you have talked with your DS and recommended that he adjust his college list to include colleges that do offer them. An acceptance of reality, rather than engaging in “magical thinking” is what is needed, in order for him to have a better chance at landing a large merit award . Your DS has to cast a wide net in order to do so.
Trust us on this.

I’m grateful for every input.

Stacking is not only merit on need based aid but also merit on merit, athletic, talent, outside merit, state grants. A few merit scholarships are ‘last dollar’ so they only pay once everything else is paid. Schools have rules about stacking merit too.

The OP is down to a few schools from the original list of 20, so those should be easy to research and rule in or out.

I’ve not seen many problems with merit or sports stacking. Just stacking on financial aid. I’ve seen on college websites that only one of their scholarships are permitted when there is a list, but if you get an outside scholarship , I’ve never seen it subtracted from a merit award. That can happen with FA, and in fact, often required when government money is involved

The stacking of need based and merit, and outside scholarships is very school specific. You need to check each college’s policies.

The only time “government money” comes into play is if the amount of aid exceeds the cost of attendance. Even then, there are exceptions. For example…if a student gets a full free merit award from a college AND is Pell eligible, that student still gets the Pell Grant to which he is entitled.

@Twoin18

I’ve clearly missed something, where did the OP state they were in state for CA or that UCB and UCLA were on their list?

OP can you please clarify.

Agree with @3scoutsmom and not likely that it is CA…as the OP stated that the flagship had auto admit with guaranteed full ride at non-flagship for NMF.

The OP wrote:

I don’t think UCB or UCLA have auto admit for anyone…and I don’t think any CA schools have guaranteed full rides for NMS.

Am I wrong about that? @Gumbymom

“I don’t think UCB or UCLA have auto admit for anyone…and I don’t think any CA schools have guaranteed full rides for NMS.”
correct.

@ufalumn1997 that was close to us a few years ago with Duke. I only had a heads up about the outside scholarships affecting need based aid from my old boss who D had gone through it. The EFC just isn’t affordable for us. It would be if we had a chance to stack outside scholarships, but otherwise no way. The part that irritates me is that the schools seem to hide this fact until it’s too late. In all of our visits to schools I never heard it mentioned. I would ask each one point blank what the deal was and they would hem and haw and try to dance around the answer. And many of our local scholarships go toward need based students. I wonder how many of those groups realize that their $$$ is going straight to the school and not helping the student/family?

But in our case Duke wasn’t a dream school. He would have liked the name, but it was not any life long dream.

As mean-spirited as it seems on the surface, outside scholarships reduce a student’s need, so the school may then adjust downward the need-based aid (usually first with the loan or work study).

Some local groups structure the scholarship so it is not called a College scholarship. Yeah, I know, splitting hairs here to s point where there is no hair there. But they call it an award for scholarship achievement but not a college scholarship. Oddly enough, some college groups do that too. They are not reported to the colleges and the winners are so told. They are usually for small amounts. One of my kids got one of those awards from his college, ($100) and the distinction was foot noted in the award letter.

It can really hurt when a student gets a financial aid package still short of what the family can afford, then gets a major scholarship and ends up with the same amount. I’ve seen that happen. The Lafayette Marquis award was notorious for upsetting financial aid recipients with how they timed the aid packages and that scholarship

In the end, scholarships and financial aid (inside or outside) are meant to pay college bills, not to pocket money for spending or savings.

I don’t know if this is a question for a new thread, but…

I understand elites generally don’t give merit and we mortals would be insane to hold out hope. But what stops them from giving a student merit if they felt like it, and how would anyone know if they did? NCAA rules stop D3’s from giving athletic scholarships, but there isn’t a comparable association for stem, orchestras, art, politics, etc. are there?

If they want a kid bad enough, why can’t they lure the kid to come to that school with whatever bait works? Yes, tippy tops already have the pick of the litter, but there still must be rock star applicants that they are competing for.

For those students, who have families that do not have to consider cost of colleges, any scholarship, merit money are for fun spending or tucking away.

I think the OP said somewhere (maybe in another thread) that they were in state in TX and would get auto admit to UT Austin. @Riversider is trying to focus on Top 20 pure merit possibilities only. Apparently the family is full pay and finances are not an issue.

@CateCAParent why would these schools need to do this? They get plenty of more than we’ll qualified applicants…plenty. With acceptance rates in the below 15% or in some cases single digits, these school don’t need to lure anyone.