<p>Hi, I'm new to this forum and am hoping my daughter isn't too late to benefit from taking AP classes and carrying a 4.0 GPA throughout high school. She has just begun her Sr yr in HS. Although my daughter took her PSAT in her Jr yr, she did not join the Nat'l Merit Scholarship Corp. or any other scholarship organization. Is there another way for her academic acomplishments to be recognized, and hopefully benefited w/ a financial ride for college? Her dream is to attend a university, not a community college.</p>
<p>Is there any chance she could still get a merit scholarship even though she isn't part of the NMSC?
Since I just graduated college myself, and am paying off my student loans, I don't have any savings for her college, and could only help her by paying for a small part of her schooling.<br>
What advise do you have for me?</p>
<p>Your daughter should focus on colleges where she is above the 75th percentile in SAT/ACT scores. That is where the merit money is. Also run the Net Price Calculator on any college she is interested in, to see what financial aid and merit she would qualify for. </p>
<p>Is your daughter an underrepresented minority (usually refers to black, Hispanic, native American)? That could open up some opportunities. Are you low-income? That would help her qualify for more financial aid. If you make a good living but just have no savings, that’s a tougher situation. </p>
<p>Another option would be 2 years at the local community college to complete the standard gen eds, then transfer to a 4-year college. Saves a bunch of money, same degree. Most CC’s also have articulation agreements with in-state colleges for automatic admission if you complete requirements and hold a certain GPA. </p>
<p>Merit scholarships work like this (usually)…</p>
<p>There is a large pool of students with high GPAs. (so GPA alone usually means NOTHING. Too many 4.0 students out there)</p>
<p>There is a smaller pool of students with high test scores.</p>
<p>There’s an even smaller pool of students with high test scores and high GPAs. Those are usually the students who get the merit scholarships.</p>
<p>A school breaks down it’s students into Quartiles. At a school that gives a good amount of merit scholarships often gives them to those in the upper quartile. The students who are “well-within” the upper quartile often get the bigger scholarships.</p>
<p>So, if a school is generous with merit scholarships and it has an upper quartile of 31-36 ACT, then maybe the ACT 31 students get a $10k per year scholarship, and maybe the 33 ACT students get $20k per year scholarships, and maybe the ACT 35+ students get a full tuition scholarship. (this is just a vague example).</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re looking for a full ride (tuition, room, board, books, etc). Those are kind of rare, especially if you’re not a NMF. </p>
<p>If your D got a full tuition scholarship, could your family cover the room, board, books, fees? (about $15k per year…your D can take a $5500 student loan to help).</p>
<p>What are your D’s test scores (include SAT breakdown)?</p>
<p>re: community college…check with the ones in your area and see what kinds of scholarships they offer. The one here offers two years of free tuition to students in the county who have a 3.0 GPA or higher. The students do community service each semester to earn the tuition. Also, they have a great honors scholarship program where students can get free tuition and a stipend each semesters. Students in that honors program have automatic admittance to one of several colleges/universities in the state and a guaranteed, generous scholarship to that university.</p>
<p>Many students from our local high school take advantage of the two free years at CC. It would be worth checking to see if your CC offers anything like that.</p>
<p>Another potential opportunity if you fall within a low income category might be Questbridge. Go to questbridge.com for more info. I’m sure others could chime in.</p>
<p>Does your daughter have any extra curriculars to note? That could help round out her applications.</p>
<p>Can her high school counselor provide some guidance to opportunities like soonermom95 references?</p>
<p>agates: The advice above is sound but preliminary. You might try posting in the College Search and Selection forum, as a follow-up, where posters are apt to respond more freely to your general questions. This forum focuses on National Merit Scholarship (NMS) topics.</p>
<p>Your post suggests you are a little confused about the NMS program. It is a competition based primarily on PSAT score that is sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Competition (NMSC). Your daughter participated when she took the PSAT last year – there is nothing to “join”. (Perhaps you are confusing it with National Honor Society?) She is eligible to continue competing in the program if she achieved a PSAT score equal to or greater than the cutoff for your state. Those cutoffs were just recently made known and you can find a list in the topmost thread of this forum. (It is likely but not certain, however, that if she did qualify her high school would have notified her of this by now.)</p>
<p>If she did qualify she is a National Merit Semifinalist (NMSF) and is likely to become eligible for generous scholarships offered to NMSC by several schools around the country. You can check the FAQ in this forum or post most questions here to find out more about it.</p>
<p>If she did not qualify that only means that particular avenue to merit aid is not available, but there are many more. In addition there is the possibility of need-based aid (which does not depend on high grades and test scores) from schools, too, which should be considered. All this is beyond the scope of this forum but there are many other forums on CC as well as many sources on the wider Web where you can find guidance.</p>
<p>You will find more precise advice here on CC if you provide a little more information about your daughter, such as interests, curriculum, and test scores. I note, by the way, that you did not mention test scores. Has she taken the SAT or ACT? If not, doing that by December would be a crucial next step if she has her sights on any college with selective admissions.</p>
<p>Her AP classes might very well end up saving you and her money depending on her AP test scores and the school she attends. She will probably want to consider a school’s AP credit policies as one of the factors in her choice of schools.</p>