The State of Florida give full COA ($100K +) to Florida residents to attend selected state schools, that is a big deal to a lot of folks. That is why many of use are hyper-analyzing
Sorry @ivysource, but you are definitely off-track on the National Merit front. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on this because my kids may qualify. None of the generous scholarships I’ve seen for National Merit Finalists are need-based, and most of them are at large, public universities. The ones I’ve seen the most talk about are Alabama, Oklahoma, and UT Dallas. There are a few small private schools who give either full rides, or full tuition for National Merit, but not many.
@ivysource wrote
It’s automatic large scholarships awarded by the school themselves (e.g. USC, Bama, Northeastern, WPI, etc.) not by NM, that are more of interest-- especially for higher income families that don’t qualify for FA.
Thanks for the info guys! I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on this front.
So most of the scholarships are in fact not need-based…makes sense given that it is called a “merit” scholarship.
However, the issue here is that students with top SAT scores are usually going to want to attend a top school, not an off-the-radar public university.
So it appears that although National Merit scholarships are available from private and public universities on a merit basis, many of my high scorers choose instead to attend a higher-ranked private or public school, especially when the sticker price is not a major factor.
(that is, a higher-ranked school with less incentive to offer merit scholarships based on the NMSC, such as an Ivy League school.)
Either way, it’s great to have the option to attend any 4-year college for free (or at a heavily discounted cost), even if you ultimately choose to go elsewhere.
For many families the sticker price is a major factor. A lot of families are in the “donut hole”; they make too much to get a lot of need-based aid but not enough to afford a higher-ranked school at full pay.
Sure, I get it. That’s why I’m starting to appreciate this site. I run a business aimed at high scorers, and a lot of the families have plenty of money to spend on college and tutoring, so it’s nice to get more of a middle-class American perspective on this. College is not cheap, even for those who are making too much annually for need-based aid.
There are plenty of upper middle class families that can’t afford 65K per year for college. NMS is a great option. So many schools offering scholarships. Including privates: Fordham (20K per year), Northeastern (30K per year), Boston University (20K per year), Baylor (full) etc…
Anyone know of schools offering scholarships for NMSF/high test scores without a GPA cutoff (or over 3.2)?
@Hankster1361 Do you mean the GPA for high school or the college GPA required to keep the scholarship?
My oldest was NMF and second was commended they got very similar merit aid from Fordham, BU, Northeastern.
It may be automatic for NMF but these schools give a substantial amount of merit aid regardless so don’t drive yourself crazy if you are on the cutoff.
Ynotgo–I meant high school GPA.