<p>^^. Those that use fafsa only do recieve the whole fafsa report and can make professional adjustments to any line item in it. Those that use Profile also receive its whole report and many, such as Duke, also request tax returns and can adjust Profile numbers. Of course, whether they adjust or not is college policy.</p>
<p>There are a LOT of TOP colleges that DO offer merit aid. They just aren't HYPSM etc. But there are excellent schools...excellent...that offer merit aid.</p>
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I made the choice too stark. What I wanted to convey is that full rides at the more selective schools are difficult to get. I know a lot of kids who got into ivies, but few who got full rides at schools like Vanderbilt, Duke, UCh, etc. Many kids I know who were accepted to such schools did not get any merit aid at all even if they were HPY acceptees as well. The competition for those scholarships is very fierce.</p>
<p>I don't think there is a big void between HYP and any other school. In fact I think that the chances are better to get into them than to get one of those more coveted full ride type scholarships at the very selective schools.
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Thanks for the clarification. This is helpful to know.</p>
<p>Look at outside scholarships too. My family is middle class as well, and while we're eligible for <em>some</em> financial aid at privates, it's not enough to cover it. </p>
<p>I'm applying for a number of scholarships, especially at the local level. One scholarship may be worth $2,000/year...but apply for a lot of those, and if you get even a couple it'll make a chip in it. That's what I'm hoping happens to me at least :) This isn't necessarily the best method but it helps.</p>
<p>My son has a $10K merit award from his school and an additional $5K outside scholarship. We are so thankful for this. It still means a lot for us to cover since COA for his school this year is around $50K, and due to our distance from the school, we will go over COA in travel costs, especially if H and I visit this spring which we would so like to do. We found that getting the big $ awards from any of the name schools is very, very difficult. Even the schools with about 40-50% selection rate do not give many awards that are sizeable. The same go for outside scholarships. </p>
<p>If you are looking for a full ride scholarship, the best bets would be from Momfromtexas's thread. I think that thread is a goldmine for those who need money but will not qualify for financial aid.</p>
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If you are looking for a full ride scholarship, the best bets would be from Momfromtexas's thread.
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<p>Which thread is that?</p>
<p>Here they are:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-i-ve-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=learned%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-i-ve-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=learned</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=learned%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=learned</a></p>
<p>The standard caution is to ignore the negative responses - there is lots of great information here!</p>