Is it possible to get money with 3.1 gpa and 27 ACT score?
At certain schools, sure. If that 27 is in the top 25% of accepted students, you may get something. The question is how much.
If your parents income is at a certain level, then you may be eligible for need-based aid. That GPA is not cutting it for most merit aid.
Did you file a FAFSA?
At Wyoming, as an out of state student, you’d get $6000/yr off tuition of $15000.
There are schools that give merit aid that is more akin to a tuition “discount” that is given to many students. I know students with 3.0 GPA and 23 ACT that have gotten $13-15,000 off of $40,000+ tuitions for their stats. It depends on the school.
Thank you. I can’t imagine that most people are spending 40 plus a year on college. Can you name some of those schools?
Wyoming is a nice place! Thanks.
not yet. in the fall.
There are 2 broad types of aid:
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Need-based Financial Aid: determined solely on the basis of your family’s income & assets
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Merit Scholarships: determined by academic stats and is independent of financial need
My daughter had your stats fall of her junior year. She took practice ACT tests starting about now (late March) and took the ACT in June of her junior year. I had her take one section test a week, untimed in March and April. Then in May, she started timed section tests and towards the end of May, I gave her two section practice tests a week. Her score rose to 31. By the end of junior year, she had maybe 3.2 unweighted and 3.7 weighted GPAs (she was in a STEM program and took only honors and AP classes). She had taken 5 AP classes and scored 4s on all 5 exams by the end of junior year.
She applied to several Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) schools. Her results (from memory so these may not be the exact amounts) were as follows for merit awards:
New College of Florida ($15,000 automatic discount for all OOS students)
Willamette ($19,000-$20,000)
Eckerd ($19,000)
Cornell College in Iowa ($22,000)
Hendrix College ($22,000)
University of Puget Sound ($14,000)
University of North Carolina, Asheville ($3,000)
These discounts brought the COA down to somewhere between 25,000 and 35,000, except UPS - that was about $40,000+ which was unaffordable to us. D knew that going into the application process. She chose to apply even though she knew UPS would likely come off the table. I regret NOT approaching UPS and asking for more money because it was a good school for my daughter.
D had picked these schools with the 27 ACT score because that put her at or above the median score.The higher score placed her at or above the 75th percentile. (After some discussion, she decided not to add reach schools based on her new score). So, you are well qualified for schools with your stats. You will be better qualified for money with a higher ACT score.
^^ the amounts above are per year, not four year totals
how much will your parents pay each year? Getting an award that gets costs down to - say - $35k per year, won’t help if your parents can only pay $15k or whatever.
Thank you for your feedback. Good luck!
Then the kids take loans, which is a shame.
Mount St. Marys in Maryland grids out for you how much they award based on combination of GPA and SAT or ACT
http://msmary.edu/admissions/financial-aid/scholarships-grants/index.html
@mockingbird15, Students can only borrow ~$5500/year on their own. Run each school’s Net Price Calculator to get an estimate of what they’ll cost.
Consider in state schools. Students whose parents can’t/won’t pay a lot and who can’t get enough merit aid to cover costs often commute to their state college or start at a cc.
Good point RE loan limits. Something to consider.
Trinity University is also very transparent about their merit awards. Looks like you’d need to get your ACT score up to a 29 to qualify for their lowest-tier award, and that jumps up a whole $4.5K/year if your ACT score is a 30:
https://new.trinity.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/academic-merit-scholarships-first-year-students
They will pay 25 per year. Just got a 30 on ACT. Will that help?