Has anyone ever heard of a merit scholarship that increases with the % increase of tuition? Is this something that’s real, or only a unicorn in my active imagination? I’m looking at the COA over 4 years, and the % increase really does add up. I realize that schools are different, and we’ll need to discuss with the schools when final packages comes in.
I mean, full-tuition scholarships (and full-rides) are still full-tuition even if tuition increases, but I haven’t really heard of many percentage based ones. My university has a presidential scholarship that is worth 1/3 tuition, though.
My kid had a very small merit award that increased annually at the same %age of the tuition increase. But she graduated in 2010.
My S got a 50% tuition scholarship that increased with tuition.
Obviously, it depends on the scholarships.
Maybe it depends on if the scholarship is a certain $$ amount vs. percentage amount ($15,000 vs. 50% tuition).
^^ This^^
If your scholarship is for a specific amount of money, the scholarship will not increase with the cost of tuition.
If your tuition is a half tuition scholarship, it will increase as tuition increases
the scholarship that pays a % of tuition are usually harder to get just for this reason. It is more cost effective to the college to give you a nominal amount of money as scholarship vs giving a percentage.
Not universally true! My daughter had a $6000 merit award that increased by the %age amount of the tuition increase each year. It was a fixed amount that increased.
You would need to ask the colleges…as YMMV depending on the school.
Your situation is more the exception than the rule. Most scholarships now state the terms in the scholarship letter freshman year. It will say that you have a been granted a $32,000 scholarship or some other amount (over 4 years).
My S15 received 2 scholarships that covered full tuition for all 4 years. One was for Bama, which he is utilizing and the other was for temple; they are no longer offered.
D18 just received a full tuition scholarship for West Chester University. I assume it also increases if tuition goes up, but I will definitely have to verify that.
After the full FA packages come in, we will be discussing finances with each school. Glad to hear that such a thing exists, even if it is an exception. When Kid 1 is a sophomore, Kid 2 will be a freshman, so 2 schools increasing 3-4%, adds up “bigly”.
You might want to get this answered sooner than later. It really is thnexception…and not the rule. I believe the vast majority of of merit awards are fixed amounts…and don’t get an annual bump because costs increase.
We were actually surprised.
I should add…the increase only applied to the %age for tuition…it did not apply to the room and board costs…which also went up up up Year after year.
And for clarity…my kid got a $6000 award. Her school tuition went up about 3% each year so she got a rousing $180 or so increase in aid per year. She could,have earned that much babysitting over winter break. It was NOT a huge windfall!
@DoingResearch please you make sure you look into “fees” at each school some schools keep the tuition down by charging crazy fees. DD is at OU and and some of her fees hare more than tuition! UMass Amherst is now for this too.
My D gets a named scholarship from her school that was always described as ‘X thousand per year for 4 years.’ It has increased in value twice during her 4 years, always keeping it in the ballpark of not-quite-full-tuition. We never thought to ask up front if it would increase or not. We got lucky, but it was something we learned to consider with kid2.
Definitely ask the specific schools.
Another thought could be to research schools that “freeze” tuition after freshman year. We have not seen many, but did find a few that also offered good merit scholarships. We also researched past few years of tuition and room and board increases. There are some good websites that will download this information into Excel.
I’m not sure it is ‘rare’ but it is a consideration. At U of Wyoming, the OOS scholarships are mixed. Some are $3000 or $5000, but the top level is 150% of instate tuition, so if instate tuition increases, the merit scholarship does too - for the top award.
Watch the increases in r&b too.
State schools in Arizona freeze tuition for your four years. I know U of A, ASU, and NAU have merit.
DD2 received a scholarship that was 67% of tuition each year which was pretty nice. I think the school now goes with a fixed amount but freezes tuition.
Look up University of Dayton. They have a tuition freeze policy for admitted students.
Both my kids have fixed amount scholarships. At one of the schools, the scholarship was full tuition dollar amount with no future increase, but would cover the additional time for a coterminal masters. Tuition increases are smaller for returning students than the increases in the entering student rate, and in addition she’s switched to less expensive upperclassmen housing and a meal plan for students in rooms with a kitchen. Groceries are far less expensive than a meal plan for her. We may even be paying less in year four than we were freshman year, although we budgeted for increases. She’s taking advantage of the coterminal program as well. At the other school the there was about a 3% increase in both room and board after the first year. Currently in year two.
Its important to understand the terms and conditions for each scholarship when comparing offers. Data on precious year’s tuition and room and board can be found in the common data set to get an idea how the school has increased tuition in past years.