Does Iowa give OOS merit aid? I have also heard that once you are a student for two years you qualify for in state tuition. Is this true? (hate the rumors!) S18 is very interested and has applied (not heard yet), but the OOS tuition may be a factor. Thanks!
Yes, they do give merit aid! I’m not sure about qualifying for in-state tuition.
@Irishcali you have been woefully misinformed on what it takes to qualify for resident tuition. I’m a little rusty on the fine points so please fact-check me but there has been a long list of requirements including 1) student is no longer claimed as a dependent, 2) student does not attend straight through but must have gap semesters spent either in local CC or God knows where. It’s basically designed to be extremely difficult.
As for merit aid, there is a low-hanging fruit scholarship for OOS students that amounts to about 5k per year. You’ll see it on the website. Beyond that the scholarships dry up pretty fast unless student is pretty gifted or belongs to a specific ethno-socio-economic group.
I agree with @beastman …the qualifications for resident tuition are daunting. I looked last week and the list was LONG! DD was awarded the Old Gold scholarship ($10,000/year for OOS) and also a diversity scholarship (that also has a merit component.)
Kudos to you and DD, @sdteak ! That’s an awesome accomplishment!
Thanks for the responses. My son got his official acceptance letter this weekend with a scholarship of $8K over 4 years. Doesn’t amount to much with just $2K/year, but am hopeful that once we file the FAFSA it could change. Does anyone have any experience with this? Does the FAFSA only help configure loan amounts, or will Iowa offer more in merit aid?
They give great merit aid! I just applied/got in and got the Old Gold (10k per year) scholarship!
@rose621 It’s wonderful recognition of your hard work in HS.
Congrats! How long did it take you to hear back? And did you hear about honors college?
Does anyone know if they change the merit/gift aid after the FAFSA is filed? My son got some help, but definitely not enough to make it work. Will the FAFSA make a difference in the total package?