<p>I have been awarded a few scholarships for different colleges. I am valedictorian, have 4.0 unweighted, and have 40 college credits. I missed the deadlines on applying for scholarships that award almost full tuition. A school in my town offered me 3000 a year, a school one hour away is offering 1500 and honors program, a school six hours away offering 3000 a year. I live in one state and graduating from another. No one is offering anything substantial, the best right now is the local one, but I really do not want to go there. Has anyone went in debt when they did not have to just to not go to the school they did not want? My first pick was none of these schools, the one I wanted only offered 800, their tuition is 28000 a year. Is there any way I can go back and pick up some scholarships? What would be my best bet right now? </p>
<p>What was your SAT or ACT score?</p>
<p>If you cannot afford any of these colleges, you might consider taking a gap year, and reapplying next year as an incoming freshman. BUT next year, get everything done well in advance of the deadlines. Also look at the thread for automatic full tuition and full ride scholarships. You could be eligible for something in that list.</p>
<p>YOU, the student, will only be able to take a $5500 Direct Loan in your name. Any loans in excess of that amount will either need to be taken by your parents or cosigned by them. Can they ,and will they do these loans?</p>
<p>I have to say, funding college solely on loans is going to be a huge loan burden, and I would not recommend it.</p>
<p>What can your parents contribute annually to your college costs?</p>
<p>There are a few schools with large automatic scholarships and late deadlines, such as UAH (June 1), UAB (May1), and Western Illinois (May 15). High test scores are essential. As thumper1 says, see the sticky thread at the top of the forum.</p>
<p>Agree with the above: (1) Look into the schools with late deadlines, and, if that doesn’t work, (2) take a year off and apply again at the end of the summer/early fall, and get each school’s scholarship applications in on time!</p>
<p>But if you’re taking the year off, you really have to take it off - you can’t go to school somewhere else for a year and then transfer. The generous scholarships that you need are for first-year incoming students only.</p>
<p>How much can you and your parents afford for college per year. Sit and talk to them about what they are prepared to pay, and think about what you realistically can earn this summer and during the school year. </p>
<p>The list all of your choices and how much you will have to PAY to go to them It’s the bottom line of what you have to PAY that counts, not how much you are offered. My son got an offer for $30K a year from one school. How wonderful–except the school cost over $60K which meant we’d still have to pay more than$30K a year for him to go their. Our state school gave a $3K scholarship, more in the line of the offers you have on the table, but those days the cost to go there was about $16K total with no awards so the $3K scholarship brought the price down to $13K! So you have to look at the cost without the loans, and workstudy things in there and look at the bottom line as to what each school is asking from your family in terms of cost. Make your adjustments as to what disrectionary costs would be at each school. Then you look at what you can afford. All of them? None of them ? Any of them? </p>
<p>You can call your admissions officer at each school and ask for consideration for more awards, and should do so. Tell him/her that your decision will depend on it. But…you are late and the early bird gets the worm. Money goes very fast, and there is a good chance that you are out of luck by now. You can also look on Fastweb and other sites and start looking for the leavings. Kids like you were doing this a lot earlier, so you are not going to get prime pickings. You will learn very quickly in life, if not already, that when it comes to money, people snatch it up fast, and that’s often it. All gone. </p>
<p>Some of the most generous school are very strict about financial aid and scholarship deadlines. No exception simply because they give away ever cent to everyone clamouring to get the money on the deadline date. So that’s really the situation. YOu look and ask, but I don’t have a lot of hope that you’ll get anything.</p>
<p>But seriously, my one son did do everything by deadlines, with me pushing him, he had perfect SATs, and only got one outside scholarship for about $1500. That’s it. SOme obscure award. Yes, that he got it, and they ended that program and gave him all of the money in there which nearly doubled that award was fantastic, but he could just as easily not gotten that one solitary award out of the 50-60 apps he filed, as he got NOTHING else in terms of scholarships that needed applications. So even having filled out the forms for money does not mean you get it You can also ask if there are ANY awards at these colleges that you can apply for next year when you appeal for any money now You ask them if anyone who does not accept their offers has some award left, if you can be in consideration. But, I truly harbor little hope you’ll get anything big. </p>
<p>When you look at what each school truly costs, and find out from your parents what they can pay, and you figure in what YOU can pay with a summer job and you can probably take up to $5500 in Direct loans yourself in your own name, IF you and your parents filled out FAFSA. If you and they did not. start right now Get a PIN for yourself and your parents, get their 2013 tax returns, and as soon as you can, you and they fill that out and see what comes out of it. RUn the EFC estimator to see what that number is and run the NPCs for each of your schools. In fact, use those numbers as a guide line as to what you could have gotten from each school when you talk to them, if those numbers favor getting more money from them.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>This thread highlights the importance of meeting deadlines. The OP says he/she MISSED the deadlines for full tuition scholarships. Too bad, especially if this student needs this type of award to fund college.</p>
<p>No, you cant later go back and get these scholarships.</p>
<p>why dont you tell us your stats. there may be schools that will still offer you large merit. I’m pretty sure that Miss State, UAH, and others will still offer large merit to OOS students with strong stats.</p>
<p>Dont know if Truman State will, but check.</p>
<p>You cant (and shouldnt) borrow much. YOU can only borrow 5500, and you probably already have that in your fa pkg.</p>
<p>how much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>what is your major and career goal.</p>