How good is UMaryland about giving money? Are they generous? Is there a stat cut off?
Looked on the website, there isn’t many specifics, of course.
Maryland last year gave need to all of the freshmen who were identified as “having” need (this was 71% of those who applied for financial aid), but only met 66% of that need (as in, they gave financial aid but not enough). Only 14% of freshmen had their full need met. The average financial aid package was around $10,000.
The average merit based award was around $4,500. Only around 30% of the freshman class was given merit aid.
So, they are good about in-state financial aid. They are not generous. There was no cut off that I could find. Are you in-state? Because if you’re OOS you’re kinda outta luck if you can’t afford full-price but don’t qualify for need-based.
More info → https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-maryland-college-park
@namelessnancy - Here is a link that provides some info about UMD merit scholarships.
https://www.admissions.umd.edu/finance/freshman-merit-scholarships
UMD does not have any Stat-only based merit scholarships.
Also, UMD, and many other schools, consider the Standard Federal Student Loans to be a form of Financial Aid
@izrk02 Thank you! Yes, I am OOS. Seems slim for aid then.
@SoofDad Thanks for sending along that link, that clarified a lot.
My daughter received a $12k annual ($48k total) merit scholarship. The highest outside for the Banneker/Key scholarship is $12.5k annually. We are OOS. Her SAT was 1550, WGPA 4.9, UWGP 4.0, with all Honors and 6 AP courses. Our school does not rank.
You can read prior year threads to see what others who received merit scholarships noted as their stats. But as noted above, these are not stat-only scholarships so no one really knows what criteria the university uses when deciding to whom to award these merit scholarships.
@adlgel did your daughter get into the honors college?
@adlgel Best of luck to your daughter!
@fisiksphrendz yes she did get into the Honors college. Note we have friends whose son went through the admissions cycle last year. I don’t know his stats but he was also offered the $12k per year merit scholarship but was not offered Honors - he was offered Scholars instead. So there is not a direct correlation between merit scholarships and Honors college.
@namelessnancy Thank you - not sure if it was clear but my daughter is a sophomore now so was going through the admissions cycle in the fall of 2017.
Merit scholarships tend to be a long shot. They’re slightly easier to get if you’re out of state. I got 12.5k a year as an out of state student.
My stats were:
1540 SAT
36 ACT
4.5 W GPA, 4.0 UW GPA
1/602 Class rank
My ECs were above average, mostly leadership roles and community service