<p>(This is my first post here -- hope I'm doing this right!)</p>
<p>My high-schooler is starting to look at colleges and is interested in Penn State; we visited Happy Valley over spring break. He has good grades and tests well, and I've been told he might have a shot at the Schreyer Honors College, about which we have heard good things.</p>
<p>My question is: Are out-of-state students likely to get any merit aid from Penn State, on top of the $3500 for Schreyer? We will definitely be taking financial aid into consideration, but like so many other families, our EFC is much higher than what we will be able to pay. I know one student from our town who got into SHC and was offered no additional $, but I think my son may have slightly better stats.</p>
<p>Any info on likelihood and amounts of out-of-state merit aid at PSU would be much appreciated. Many thanks!</p>
<p>It really all depends on his HS grades/SAT scores. PSU can be a little skimpy on giving out aid to freshmen if you do not have good SAT scores and a great GPA. Getting into the SHC really makes you look a lot better for additional aid so if he can get in that would be a big help. It helped me tremendously my freshmen year. </p>
<p>PSU in not generous with any financial aid, merit or need. While you can certainly hope, you should definitely have some financial safety schools in the (likely) event that you are disappointed in the FA offer.</p>
<p>Thanks, aglages; that’s what I’ve heard. I wonder too whether it makes a difference which school he applies to: the college of science, or of arts and sciences. He is interested in both.</p>
<p>Penn State has a lot of merit aid that you get based on your high school gpa and SAT scores, without applying. I’m not sure about others, but I know the college of Engineering does this.</p>
“a lot of merit aid” = How many $K per engineering student?
What GPA/SAT scores are needed to receive this “a lot”.
Certainly just gaining entrance to Schreyer Honors College is not enough to receive more than a couple of K.</p>
<p>My daughter will be attending Penn State as a first year student in the fall. She will be majoring in International Politics, with a goal of becoming a Foreign Service Officer in the US Diplomatic Corps. Our experience is strictly with the College of the Liberal Arts, which is the college for her major.</p>
<p>Make no mistake, Penn State is quite stingy with merit based financial aid. As a basis for comparison with your child, my daughter ranked in the top 10% of a highly competitive HS Weighted GPA of 5.67) , SAT around 2100, many stints as servant leader of extracurricular organizations including our Town’s Government. She Captained her Girls Ice Hockey team for 4 years, this last year as they won the National Championship. She will be a student at Schreyer, which carried a small scholarship. But that’s it. She applied for (but did not receive) a scholarship directly from the College of the Liberal Arts. I understand that small scholarships from the College or Major to which you belong may be more possible in later years as a Sophomore or Junior. We’ll see.</p>
<p>I have heard that some of the Colleges do offer scholarship without the student even needing to apply for one, based on intangibles as well as tangibles (read: Legacy). The College of Engineering is one of the colleges to which you needn’t fill out an application for scholarship, you are automatically considered for one. I understand those scholarships, while helpful, are rather meager ($2500 - $3500 per year).</p>
<p>All that said, I am thrilled that my daughter is thrilled with her decision to attend Penn State. It will take belt-tightening down here in Texas, but we are happy that she has found a school about which she feels so excited.</p>
<p>My son will also be attending Penn State (as an Architectural Engr major), and the only $$$ he is getting is the $3500 from the honors college. Nothing from the College of Engineering.</p>
<p>Not being in the top 10%, he didn’t even apply to UT-Austin (and he didn’t want to go anyway) - so we will also be belt-tightening!!! Penn State is a great choice for him and he is really looking forward to it. The next big step - auditioning for the Blue Band!
:)</p>
<p>Penn State is very upfront and clear that there isn’t a lot of money available for incoming freshman. We just assumed we would be footing the whole bill, so the honors college scholarship was a nice bonus.</p>
<p>Ooops, sorry, for the editorial comments. Of course, I can’t be sure that the scholarships given the 2 different first-year engineering students we know have anything to do with Legacy. I do know the kids quite well, however. Neither one of them were particularly stratospheric academically. They were strong, solid B+ students. One common trait each shared was that at least one of their parents was an alum.</p>
<p>I made the jump to assuming it was because of Legacy - I could be totally off-base.</p>
<p>I think there are so few scholarships (and so many legacies) that there would be some serious eyebrow raising if the money went to someone who was less than entitled. Also, I be surprised that any faculty would risk their reputations by engaging in that sort of shenanigans (esp. when you consider how small the dollar amounts are).</p>