Merit Scholarships for Class of '23, 4.0UW Private School HS Student

Paying for College
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I’ve been doing a fair amount of research and have started my list, but I’d love some recommendations!
We are looking for schools that give good merit-based aid or are OOS friendly for our daughter as a starting list. She will graduate in Spring '23. Here are our stats/info:

Attends small college prep high school in Texas (where I work)
School is college prep and does not have any AP/Honors specific, as all classes are considered honors.
4.0UW GPA
2 dual credit classes
*most likely will tie for valedictorian, although we do not do “rankings” at our small school
Strong extracurriculars-ballet, ice skating, violin
Some volunteer work
Personal work experiences and apprenticeships
Scholastic writing competition
Many fine art credits
*unsure of major but has shown interest in Journalism, Law, Fashion Merchandising and Architecture (specifically Environmental architecture)

She recently won the College Board National Recognition Program for rural/small town

Has not taken SAT yet, I imagine at least 1350.

Our EFC is going to be quite a bit higher than we can actually afford, and we know she can qualify for big merit aid at many schools.

We would like her to be within a “day’s drive” (12 hours max) away from Austin, TX or close to other family members in either S. California, Arizona or Florida. Would also consider Colorado and Univ of Missouri.

She would like to attend school out of state but convinced her to look at some big TX state schools as well. I know about some of the big merit scholarships from schools like Alabama and Arizona. I would like additional recs on any schools you know of that fit this profile. Thank you!

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First, she sounds like she’s done well, and many congratulations to her.

If she is #1 or #2 in her class, that means that she should be auto-admitted to UT Austin (I think that it works for private Texas schools as well). She should also be an auto-admit to any other public Texas university.

UT Austin is at least as good as any of the other schools you mentioned, and I do not think that, even with merit money, it any would be cheaper for you than in-state tuition at UT Austin, except perhaps Alabama.

Of your list, I would only recommend Missouri, because of the interest that your kid has in journalism.

UT Austin is one of the best public universities in the USA, it is affordable, and your kid seems to be auto-admit.

If your kid was a NMF, Alabama may have been worthwhile, but even with merit funding they are barely cheaper than UT Austin in-state, and UT Austin is, IMO, the better choice.

Some private colleges to consider because they have some really good merit scholarships are Santa Clara University, Tulane, and Emory.

Overall, private schools can be more generous sometimes, since they do not have a missions which is focused on the students of their state.

If your kid stays in-state, many of the Texas publics have great merit scholarships for high stats in-state students.

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i’d read through the PSAT National Recognition Program threads in this past year; read through merit threads, and join the Parents of the class of 2023 thread for sure. Full tuition scholarships are hard to find any more. Many of the merit scholarships offered to our high stats S20 included getting tuition down to the in-state rate at several schools (like Florida State and KU). Perhaps those might be an option?

my D23 is in the same position as you - small private school, 3 AP classes offered; tied for Val at this point with a 4.0 UW. We are merit seeking as well. I’m not completely sure about the rural/small town program though. you might have to dig deep to come up with lists for that, if any.

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With a 4.0 unweighted gpa, university of Arizona gives an almost free ride. It will cost about 3k all in, I think.

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As @mmrose says, if U of AZ qualifies you as a 4.0 UW, your tuition at current rates will be $3K ($35K off) and they toss in an extra $1K for year one. Alabama is similar - you’ll clean up.

Other OOS publics that are generous are Arkansas (tons of Texans), MS State, Mizzou, Miami Ohio, UAH, U of SC, and Arizona State. Note many have Honors Colleges. You can look at New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and so many more. Florida State and Florida are both inexpensive and with a 31 ACT or equivalent SAT, at least today, FSU waives OOS tuition and in-state is like $7K.

For privates you probably want to go down a tier - although some like Washington & Lee, SMU, and American have full rides.

A lot depends on size and environment you are looking for - because there are inexpensive publics of small, medium but yes mostly large.

Good luck.

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One of my colleagues has a daughter, who also graduated valedictorian from our campus 3 yrs ago, at AZ in the Honors College. She is doing amazing, I’m definitely going to push for that! My daughter started off doing alot of “dreaming” of east coast schools etc…fortunately that is fading fast!

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We would obviously love for her to stay here at UT, but we live in Austin and for some reason, it just isn’t appealing to local kids. Even though, it’s such a prestigious university. Again, we are making her visit. She may change her mind! TX state schools offer 1st year tuition waivers to valedictorians, I just wonder if anyone knows how those awards renew after the first year?

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Two to consider from the Colleges That Change Lives list:

Southwestern University

Saint Mary’s College of California

I don’t have personal knowledge, but the websites indicate generous financial aid for high GPA students.

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yes, AZ is a great opportunity! S20 was offered basically full tuition.

but, if you read through that national Hispanic recognition thread (which includes the rural opportunities), someone mentioned an admissions officer said AZ’s scholarships next year could all change. (like ASU changed). Trust me, we are watching this all too!! :woman_shrugging:t3: knock on wood that doesn’t happen.

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Rhodes College in Memphis, TN has lots of Texas students (many were shut out of the automatic admissions for public TX universities). As I recall it gave good merit aid, although not on the scale of some of the OOS public universities mentioned above.

Hendrix College in Conway, AR has good merit awards, here: Scholarships | Hendrix College. If your daughter qualified for the Hendrix Tuition Advantage program, here, We believe in making Hendrix College affordable and accessible to deserving students. | Hendrix College, her tuition would be matched to that of the state flagship university.

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Linking post here for reference: College Board National Recognition Program (includes former National Hispanic Recognition Program) Class of 2022 - Specialty College Admissions Topics / Hispanic Students - College Confidential Forums

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Thank you for this, I hope not but I’ll keep an eye on it for sure! I’ve read through that thread but it’s long and I may have missed that. Any idea on when they universities will publish that info for our '23 students? Meaning, when can you expect to see update info for the Fall '23 enterting students? Curious. I suppose I could email AZ and ask if they plan on any changes.

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Hendrix, Ogelthorpe in Atlanta, and even U Maine - will match (in some cases) flagship tuition. I’m sure there’s more.

I think that you mentioned Bama, Arizona, and Mizzou - you are off to a great start - and it’s some of those schools that are in that same area - MS State (and Ole Miss), Arkansas, LSU - these schools are loaded with Texans and these schools have really good merit. FSU another if you get a solid ACT but cheap even without.

UAH for a mid-size school.

But your list is off to a great start with some you mentioned.

For smaller schools that are less expensive - you’d have your Truman State, W Carolina, etc.

But I think your list is off to a great start with the original names you came with on top of what others have suggested.

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Another LAC that came to mind is Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, AL (which should be within your 12-hour driving window). BSC has rejiggered its tuition structure in the past few years to reduce the overall cost to (currently) $33,700 before financial aid, here: Scholarships & Financial Aid. Additionally, merit scholarship information may be found here: Academic Scholarships.

Samford University, also in Birmingham, AL, might be worth a look as well. So might Trinity University in San Antonio, TX; here is a link to its merit scholarships: Financial Aid | Student Financial Services | Trinity University

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Sounds like you are doing a great job as is your daughter!!

One question though. How can one “win” the college board NRP already? Just curious? Is it based on previous PSAT 10/9? The NMSQT numbers have not come out yet for juniors ('23s.)

Sadly, the NRP program has been diluted as does not count for much any longer. There is more money if you are “commended” and I imagine the cutoff will be ~208-210 this year. I would focus on getting her SAT/ACT up as high as possible.

Alabama and TN have many good possibilities.

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Her NRP was for PSAT10 scores from last year. She received an email from College Board in early December that she qualified and should send in her transcript. She was notified very shortly after that she received that status. Thank you for the SAT tip:)

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