<p>Everyone is considered for them according to their site, but does anyone know how much or when people will find out?</p>
<p>I was wondering this same thing. Does an offer for a merit scholarship come with your initial acceptance letter?</p>
<p>yes and it should also show up under financial aid in your portal.</p>
<p>I haf another question about merit aid. I hear merit aid is given out based primarily on SAT scores... is that true??</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are given mostly based on SAT scores (excluding racial/socioeconomic factor).
A substantial amount will be awarded if the student is accepted to the University Honors Program (25K per year). Usually either 1400+ SAT and 30+ACT is needed to be accepted into the Honors Program (although I know students with 1400+ SAT who did not make it and students with less than that who made it). The average is somewhere around 1440 SAT and 32 ACT. This process, I've heard, is rather mechanical.</p>
<p>Besides merit scholarships, I don't believe AU's financial package is too competetive. Pure grant based on student's need is rather rare. My scholarships met my need, but many students who were not rewarded as much face a significant amount of debt.</p>
<p>how do we find out if we got a scholarship or got in the honors program??? would it say in the acceptance e-mail?</p>
<p>"Congratulations on your acceptance to American University's Class of 2011 and your invitation to join our Honors Program!"</p>
<p>That's how I knew about Honors. And merit scholarships are generally a given for Honors kids but I know that they do offer it to some students who didnt make the cut.</p>
<p>Does every Honors student get merit money? And is $25,000 the biggest package they offer?</p>
<p>I think every Honors kid gets money: but I was wondering about the 25K thing too..</p>
<p>25k is the biggest merit based scholarship offered by AU. Most honors students will be awarded with it. Some unlucky honors students may end up with a 18k scholarship.</p>
<p>As far as I know, Class of 2009 was the last class to receive full tuition scholarships. From Class of 2010 and so on, 25k is the max. While it is pretty close to being full tuition (28k), it does make a big difference because of predicted increase in tuition. 25k scholarship is frozen at 25k regardless of inflation while full tuition scholarship adjusts with increase in tuition. I recently figured this out and was pretty ticked off as well.</p>
<p>And yes, Honors invitation should be a part of your acceptance package.</p>
<p>$25,000!? every year?? that sounds too good to be true. i got the email and surprisingly got into the honors program.. </p>
<p>if that's the right number then it'd be cheaper to go to american than the state schools here. O_o</p>
<p>Congratulations, spengrench,</p>
<p>Yes, you are most likely to get $25k a year for four years :).</p>
<p>But if you are really really unlucky you may end up getting only 18k.</p>
<p>I got my packet in the mail today and they said I got a 22k scholarship (annual) called the Frederick Douglass Scholarship. I looked for some info on this online and found:
"1. Frederick Douglass Scholarships: These awards require the submission of a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year. Awards are made as long as funds are available. Priority consideration is given to admitted students in the metropolitan area of the District of Columbia, secondary consideration is given to admitted students in Maryland and Virginia, and finally nationwide, and within these categories to students who meet the financial aid application deadlines. Upon occasion, a Frederick Douglass Scholarship may be awarded to a student who does not demonstrate financial need but who presents extraordinary academic credentials."</p>
<p>My EFC is about 36k, so I assume that I received it because of academics and not because of financial need?</p>
<p>Also, on the Financial Aid Award paper it said that I receive a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan of $3,500 per year. They calculated that my total award is $25,5000. So is this the "25k scholarship" that people are talking about?</p>
<p>So confused... but excited! :) :)</p>
<p>25k scholarship is called Presidential Scholarship. I believe they are two different scholarships.</p>
<p>So, if a student is offered any merit aid, it will be mentioned in the official acceptance (i.e., "snail mail")packet?</p>
<p>It was in my childs packet 2 years ago but also on the portal under financial award.</p>
<p>Based upon what I'm reading on the forum, as well as my own daughter's portal, it doesn't seem like anybody's found any aid awards on their portals, at least so far this year. I know that a number of parents and current students mentioned that, as of last year at least, that the aid amounts were on the portals fairly early. Maybe they're waiting before posting the amounts online this year?</p>
<p>i checked my portal and the financial aid was not there</p>
<p>I rec'd my financial award in the mail in the same folder as my acceptance, but there's nothing about it on my portal.</p>
<p>You received your packet? Lucky duck...</p>
<p>I was hoping that it would come yesterday, but it didn't...and now its Sunday so I have to hope it will come tomorrow. The suspense is KILLING me.</p>