<p>Penn State is probably my number 1 choice but (as of yet) offered me no merit aid/ scholarships whatsoever. Similar schools (Maryland, Delaware, etc.) offered me 8-12k a year. I know that Penn State does not match aid from other schools but would it be reasonable to see if they would reevaluate me or something?</p>
<p>Yeah go for it. I tried that with other schools (Rutgers, MSU, Purdue) and received additonal money, both need and merit, when I told them I was considering them but was unable to afford it.</p>
<p>How would I go about doing this? Who do I contact? Should I write to them via e-mail or call? </p>
<p>Thanks. :)</p>
<p>just email the admissions office & they’ll send it to the office of student aid. that’s what i did. i basically BEGGED them for more money.</p>
<p>Personally, I would call the office of aid directly. Thats what I did. What is stopping admissions from “accidentally” deleting your email? Besides, a plea over the phone would be more effective in conveying your emotion than a lame email.</p>
<p>called today, i was unsuccessful, they didnt even ask for my name or anything</p>
<p>From Penn State’s Student Aid and Scholarships Policy:</p>
<p>“Penn State cannot negotiate student aid packages to match grant and scholarship offers from other colleges and universities.” </p>
<p>[Penn</a> State - Office of Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.psu.edu/studentaid/needtoknow/osapolicy.shtml]Penn”>http://www.psu.edu/studentaid/needtoknow/osapolicy.shtml)</p>
<p>My D was admitted to UP for the Fall, and we put down a deposit two months ago. But PSU hasn’t shown her any love. No merit scholarships, no grants, only loans. Now she’s on the verge of telling PSU she’s changed her mind. She received a scholarship from a Top 20 Liberal Arts College. Small classes, intellectual environment, every class taught by the professor, no TA’s, no Greek Life, politically liberal, average SATs over 700 on math, CR, Wrting–each. And her own flagship state U doesn’t offer her a dime! And she’s a URM! Who is running PSU? Admittedly, I want her to go to UP more than she wants to, but that’s beside the point. Who is running PSU? Who is making the financial aid decisions?</p>
<p>Obviosuly she is not good enough to get $ from PSU for her freshmen year.</p>
<p>Plainsman-- I guess your D did not get that ‘full financial ride’ that you were expecting and posted about.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Not expecting, CBD, “hoping.” It was very competitive. The DUS only gave two. It’s supposed to be a merit scholarship but someone at UP pulled my FAFSAS right around the time the decision was made. The Financial Aid department had already pulled it months ago and decided based on my EFC that she didn’t have financial need. Okay, fine. But I suspect she was a finalist for the full ride and the undergraduate college decided to peek at the FAFSAs to give the award to the less affluent URM. That ****es me off because they said it was strictly merit. If so, why pull my FAFSA? There was no other reason for a different university department (other than Financial Aid) to pull it unless they were going to use it. </p>
<p>cwryan1, if she was good enough to get a merit scholarship from a more selective school, why not Penn State? To be honest, UP was a safety or close to it. She got a merit scholarship from a Reach school. I"m ****ed enough that I’m going to call somebody.</p>
<p>Yeah if that is how it went down then I would def be on the phone with someone. Good luck</p>
<p>Penn State has bad financial aid and they don’t give a lot in merit based scholarships.
I got nothing from Penn State when I practically got full rides everywhere else.
But I’m still going to Penn State to party, and I have to pay $14,000 a year for it. WHOO!</p>
<p>Well, I did get someone on the phone. I don’t mean someone from the financial aid department. I went WAY over their heads. He took my call too. I had two phone calls with him. He even called me back on my cell. No luck. Apparently my EFC is too high for any need and they have very few merit deals. Sure, I can afford to pay full freight, and I’ll have two kids in college at the same time. Somehow I can scratch it out for a couple of years, but why should I? My D is a plum URM who does not need affirmative action. With PSU’s horrible URM numbers, you would think they would want to do something to be competitive with other schools. I guess they only compete for athletes.</p>
<p>No offense intended, Nickk_v, but “to party” is the wrong reason for picking a school and passing up merit based scholarships. My D has decided to take the four year scholarship. It’s Penn State’s loss.</p>
<p>Nickk_v: What school you go to in Philly? I go to Bok.</p>
<p>Plainsman-- just curious, what are your D’s stats? Do you think she deserved full merit aid package because of a stellar academic ranking, or because she is an URM? If its because she has such superior stats that she would be one of the top 2 students in DUS, then I see why you would have a gripe. But if its because she is an URM, then aren’t you looking for affirmative action in a way? And you’ve said you can afford it, so shouldn’t the aid go to those who clearly cannot afford it, no matter what their racial ethnicity is?</p>
<p>And maybe one of the reasons she did get more merit aid from the small LACs is because she is an URM, and they are trying to diversify their classes, not because she is at the top of the class academically.</p>
<p>From Plainsmans lack of response(when he has posted elsewhere on the forum) leads me to believe that he wanted the extra merit just becuase his daughter is a URM, not a true high ‘merit’ case. To me, that’s whats wrong with affirmative action type thinking these days. Here is an URM who can clearly afford the tuition, but wants more money because of race. Its just wrong. Does he think his D deserves more money just for being partially black or whatever than a caucasian from an economically disadvantaged family (think inner city white single mother or something similar, etc) I wrote my junior research paper on affirmative action, so i am particularly interested in this mindset. Its like the current topic going on about “should class be considered instead of race” I think thats the true key, but higher income black and other races are very hesitant to go with that when its not to their advantage. A low low income causcasian should trump a wealthly black in aid and preference IMO but that doesnt always happen. Yes, your small LACs seeking ‘diversity’ for their data stats and whatnot, it will happen. Penn State is perhaps a bit more blind in giving need to those who really need it regardless of ethnicity.</p>
<p>An admissions rep from PSU visited my school a few months back. My school is a HUGE feeder to Penn State. I’d say about 15-20% of each class ends up there, though maybe not main campus. There was a question and answer period and I asked him this:</p>
<p>“What do you need to get merit-based scholarships at Penn State?”</p>
<p>To which he responded, “Penn State does not give scholarships for merit, only athletics.”</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is true, but I very distinctly remember this response. Although, the rep could have been confused with my question. So, as far as I know, Penn State does not give Merit-Based aid. This could very well be the reason that your daughter did not receive it. Or she may just not have deserved it. I’d like to think it was the former though.</p>
<p>I’m not entirely sure what the major issue is. Penn State is extremely cheap considering it’s level of academic excellence. You should just be happy to have the chance to attend PSU at all.</p>
<p>This counselor was confused. Seriously though flop, have you tried Google? [Penn</a> State - Office of Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.psu.edu/studentaid/scholarships/pssch1a.shtml?reload]Penn”>http://www.psu.edu/studentaid/scholarships/pssch1a.shtml?reload)</p>
<p>Penn State gives numerous merit awards to students, both at the University level and college level. Some are full-ride while other are a few grand. Since PSU admits a lot of students, the spread of these to freshmen is pretty thin. As you advance in classes, you become eligible for more $.</p>
<p>^^^
Second what cwryan says. Merit aid is out there but it’s tough to get. My s got an honors college scholarship plus a departmental scholarship - and an outside scholarship. Great deal since we’re in state. But rare. BTW, his stats were VERY high with lots of good ECs.
In any case, I still think PSU is a pretty good deal for in staters. But if you want money and have good stats - Pitt gives out more free rides.</p>