Hi my son is a rising senior and interested in majoring in FInance. This forum has helped me a lot in analysing the college process as this is my oldest and I did not study in the U.S.
He has a GPA of 3.7 (uw) and 4.7 (W) . He has taken 5 AP so far and got 5 in 4 APs and 4 in 1. He plans to take 4 AP courses this year. He will definitely be a NMSF and may be a Finalist. He has a 35 in his ACT. ECs include Soccer, Band, Commnunity Service, Quiz bowl and leading the Stock Market club in his school. We will not qualify for need based aid. We would be able to contribute 10K per year . Our Safety school is Alabama . Are there any other good ranking schools that provide a good merit scholarship that is good for Finanace. Also how would you rank the Finance program at Alabama. I really liked the 5 year option to complete the masters. But my son wants to look at other top schools. We would prefer him to stay in the south and may be upto Virginia/Dc for some good ranking schools. He will be applying for UNC and UT Austin. Not sure if he would get any aid there.
Fordham give full tuition for NSF. However it is in NYC and still has a cost of about 20k.
Take a look at Vanderbilt.
@Eeyore123 Thank you . I will take a look at it. We would prefer somewhere closer. But will research Fordham also.
@NJCity Vanderbilt does not have a Finance Major for undergrad.
@NJCity Thank you. Will take a loot at it.
U of Florida might be a long shot for money but his weighted GPA is good.
Those are minors at Vanderbilt, they look good but you’d have to major in something else, maybe econ.
If Benacquisto continues (and so far there is no hint that it will not continue), a NMF gets a full ride plus some extra money (study abroad, internships).
UT Austin has no NMF related aid. There are a few big scholarships (Forty Acres program) but I think that’s it. Very hard to get in OOS.
I see you can contribute $10k/year but won’t receive any need based aid. Schools have been moving away from merit scholarships to need based aid for years. It will probably accelerate this year.
Even with full-tuition scholarships most room/board still costs around $15k/year depending on the school. Taking the federal loan would add another $5-7k/year which would cover room/board. That said, full tuition scholarships are tough, even for NMF. Especially at top schools.
South Carolina? Very good business school and they have scholarships.
SMU’S Cox School of Business?
SMU was one of my son’s top choices. It was probably his best offer and it still would’ve cost $40k/year.
They offer 20-25 Presidential scholarships per year which are full-tuition. You can’t win if you don’t apply…but they are extremely competitive. Read the bios.
For NMSF, I looked at these schools:
UCF (automatic full ride upon acceptance), I believe it is similar at USF and other Florida publics that aren’t UF. Bigger schools, but Finance would be concrete pathways.
Fordham (full tuition, but NYC housing is steep ~20k/yr) Good connections in NYC if you are looking to work for companies there.
Kentucky (they call it “selective” so I think they may only choose limited amount of NMSF for this) Nice proximity to liquor industry and shipping/logistics companies.
Ole Miss (iirc full ride, but it and Bama just weren’t for me) Not sure about their programs.
Where I ended up attending:
TCU! Received full tuition Chancellor’s Scholarship, not contingent on NMSF, but I’m sure it helped on the application. Finance at the Neeley School of Business is a prestigious program and can easily get one into jobs in DFW.
I also applied to SMU, whose highest award still left ~40k/yr. Their Cox School of Business has good placements in DFW, especially tech companies in my experience. I think you live in the South? Southern state publics schools tend to have decent NMSF awards for in state residents that you may want to take advantage of.
Second vote for the UF Benaquisto. Also look at Tulane.
I think people covered the colleges (Fordham immediately came to mind, if he is looking to work in IB it is incredible). Speaking to Alabama, I would say it is a really good school overall for finance but it doesn’t hold the same brand recognition of other state schools like UVA.
I would recommend that he looks to get the master’s at a “more prestigious school” (not to put any school down, but the name rec holds weight in the business world and based on his hs achievement, I think he will be able to get into some good MFin or MBA programs) after working for a few years. Masters are often networking degrees, so I would recommend avoiding a 5 year master’s program unless he def would prefer not to have to go back to school.
Thank you all for your inputs. Based on your inputs we have added Fordham and UF .
Still following up with UF if OOS National Merit Finalists will still be elligible for Bancquisto .
Have you considered the University of South Carolina? Its international business program is one of the best, and it has excellent merit aid.
@Peruna1998 No I have not . Thanks for the info. I will take a look at it.
@speller12 , Arizona State Barrett Honors with Business. Full OOS tuition. Our daughter is doing this. Looking at roughly $21K-$22K per year all in, which includes Barrett and business school fees.
There is a 4+1 program at Thunderbird for Finance. Your 4th year you take Grad level classes which also count towards undergrad graduation. 5th year is at Thunderbird, and they have scholarships for the $25-$30K in tuition. So you graduate with a bachelors and masters degree with at most $25K-$30K in total tuition.