Options for my son

Parents Forum
1

<p>My son is a National Merit Finalist and he attends a very small private school.
Unfortunately for us there is no guidance councilor at his school to guide us.</p>

<p>He will be a Computer Science Major</p>

<p>My son applied to and was
rejected at
Princeton, Williams, Harvard</p>

<p>Wait listed at
Amherst, Haverford.</p>

<p>Accepted at </p>

<p>University of Texas at Dallas
with a full tuition scholarship
$1000 towards housing</p>

<p>But no meal plan and we have to buy everything for his apartment and flights home
We are in NY </p>

<p>Gordon College
with 75% tuition with loans of $12000 per year</p>

<p>Liberty University 100%
A couple of class mates are going </p>

<p>My son would love to attend Gordon but I call and they will not give any more finical aid.</p>

<p>My questions is could he take a gap year and apply to different school and still get National Merit Scholarship money?</p>

<p>I don't know what to do
Thanks Tina</p>

2

<p>I have two kids in college now, both of whom were National Merit Finalists, and for some reason I checked into this at one time (but you should call the College Board to verify). I think once you are offered any merit aid related to the National Merit program, you cannot defer your first year. If that is the case, then taking a gap year will not help in terms of receiving a National Merit Scholarship award to any school.</p>

<p>However, if your son is seriously considering taking a gap year, then if he applies again next year he should possibly consider applying to other small liberal arts schools that also offer merit scholarships (e.g. University of Richmond, Washington & Lee, Furman University, Messiah College, etc.). You did not provide your son's GPA and test scores. If he is a National Merit Finalist, then he may possibly be in the range for these scholarships. Note that there is no guarantee that he will receive any better merit scholarship packages next year, so I personally would only defer if there were some strong reason why you think next year would generate better results.</p>

<p>If your EFC is low, then your son could also apply (either as a transfer student or after a gap year) to another private school that is not as difficult to get into as Princeton, Harvard, Williams, and Amherst but which also typically meets close to 100 percent of need (e.g. University of Richmond, University of Virginia, Colgate, Washington & Lee, Franklin & Marshall, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, etc.), and the financial aid may make it less expensive than Gordon College. Unfortunately, according to USNews, Liberty and Gordon only meet about 67% of financial need or less. The schools I mentioned meet close to 100% of financial need.</p>

<p>If your son will attend college this year, then it is difficult for others to provide advice given the information you have supplied (e.g. your EFC, your son's grades and test scores). The three college choices are quite different. Since you mention Liberty and Gordon, then I assume that you and/or your son are Christian. I am a (Christian) mechanical engineer with a PhD from MIT and not an expert on Computer Science, but in general Gordon College is academically stronger than Liberty. Your son is the one who would have to take out around $50,000 in loans. This is A LOT of money, but not necessarily insurmountable. Why does he prefer Gordon to Liberty? I would discuss with him how hard it may be to pay back that amount of money, and then you and he can decide if the difference in cost is worth it.</p>

3

<p>University of Texas seems like a good option as well as active pursuit of the two wait lists. </p>

<p>However, both are very small schools so their frieshman class is also, particularly Haverford.</p>

4

<p>just a suggestion....................there are some colleges that you might check into......make phone calls to their honors departments and admissions offices immediately .........since there is a deadline for the National Merit $$$'s. be sure that you tell them he is a national merit finalist. </p>

<p>check......univ. of houston, univ. of tulsa, harding univ., baylor university, univ. of central florida, oklahoma, oklahoma state, ku, wichita state, arizona state, tcnj, fordham</p>

<p>your best bets may possibly be with schools that are participating in the national merit competition.......there is a listing of these schools available at the national merit corporation website or you can contact them.</p>

<p>it's likely that a number of schools would like to have your son enroll at their school because he is a national merit finalist. it's not unusual for a national merit finalist to apply to 10 to 14 schools or even more. they are seeking out the best f/a packages.</p>

5

<p>As for UTexas Dallas, that's a great deal they're offering. That and an on-campus job and your kid would be in great shape, with perhaps a small student loan every year. </p>

<p>Lots of jobs for good comp sci majors--a loan would not be hard to pay back.</p>

6

<p>My understanding is UT Dallas is a very good school- that is tremendous merit $. If I can make a suggestion-with the caliber of student your child is, in addition to Furman ( for next year) look at Davidson-if you qualify, there are no loans only scholarships and grants and it is an excellent school. Also check out Rhodes College in Memphis-they have a great merit program and consider some of the other private schools in the south-look at Stetson University in Deland-they have more than four Bonner Scholarships.</p>

<p>Ditto on honors prgs. in colleges like state schools. Good luck-there should be merit $ for him at a number of schools.</p>

7

<p>IDK if they'll still taking applications, but Alabama, UCF, and Tulsa offer very comprehensive packages for NMF's and offer very solid educations. Oklahoma has said they'll still take apps and offer NMF money.</p>

<p>Fingers crossed your S gets in off the waitlist at one of the schools.</p>

8

<p>Now my son doesn't want to do the gap year . He wants to start school right away.
His SAT score is 2240.He averages 97-98 per school year.</p>

<p>According to the EFC calculator
our contributions is around $3901 per year . I am not sure if that is low or not. </p>

<p>I thought that my son would be locked into going to one of the school because of the merit scholarship.</p>

<p>So he will be able to transfer next year to a different school and still receive financial aid?</p>

<p>Why does he prefer Gordon to Liberty?
Gordon College is academically and if employer were to look at two students, one from Liberty and one from Gordon, my son feels that the student from Gordon would get the job over one from Liberty.
If he choses Liberty, he will probably go for engineering. </p>

<p>I just wanted to thank everyone who replied to my post. I really appreciate the time you took to reply.</p>

<p>I will call all the school mention here on Monday.</p>

<p>Tina</p>

9

<p>Tina, I hope I'm not making assumptions here, but I get the feeling that you don't have much money and that your son would be the first one in your family to go to college.</p>

<p>It's not a big deal if your son graduates with some student loans to pay off, especially if he graduates successfully in computer science. His combined SAT score shows he's got serious smarts; as a parent, you know whether he's got the persistence and determination to work hard for four years.</p>

<p>I find myself wondering if your son should call Haverford and plead his case to them to try to get off the waitlist. Yes, that can be done. He should explain why he would like to go there, including that it is closer to home. Why am I specifically mentioning Haverford? As a small Quaker school they have a strong commitment to social service and a commitment to the students they accept. It might be worth a call to Amherst as well.</p>

<p>Who helped your son decide where to apply? Your list seems to divide between schools that search for NM finalists and high end private colleges. I'm wondering why your son didn't apply to one of the SUNY schools? </p>

<p>In any case, perhaps whomever helped your son make the list would be willing to help him figure out what to say to Amherst and Haverford to get off their waitlists.</p>

10

<p>Dmd77
You are right!!! We don't have any extra money and my son is the first one in your family to go to college.
The problem is we "assumed" that my sons' school would be able to guide him , well they did sort of.
The school is small (100 students) and the counselor is the math teacher, track couch and pretty much runs the school.<br>
So being a small school they are so totally impressed with him and his abilities. He is the only one in his school ever to be a National Merit Finalist.
They thought he would be a shoe in at what ever college he applied to.<br>
His science teacher encouraged him to apply to Gordon College because her daughter had gone there.
I keep telling my son that he is very fortunate that he has three schools to chose from.
Tina</p>

<p>Tina</p>

11

<p>"So he will be able to transfer next year to a different school and still receive financial aid?"
You are going to have to be very careful and check with college before he tries to transfer, ESPECIALLY with colleges that are NOT need blind, which is basically all colleges without huge endowments.[ And the ones with huge endowments are the ones with the lowest transfer acceptance rates]
I second the suggestion to have your S contact Haverford. However, know that decisions about who to select from the waitlist[ if any are chosen] can be influenced by whether the student is a full ride student or not [ i.e. kids who need financial aid are often not picked because they need financial aid, and the money allocated for FA is often gone by the time colleges go to their wait lists]</p>

<p>"According to the EFC calculator
our contributions is around $3901 per year . I am not sure if that is low or not. "
That is very low.</p>

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<p>menloparkmom: The info about wait list and full ride students is not true for all schools, especially need blind schools. My S was accepted off wait list at a highly selective LAC with financial need before he could even send the car back. He was emailed. </p>

<p>And a school like Haverford should be especially interested in a first generation college student so the FA might even be a plus!</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
Now my son doesn't want to do the gap year . He wants to start school right away. ....
I thought that my son would be locked into going to one of the school because of the merit scholarship.</p>

<p>So he will be able to transfer next year to a different school and still receive financial aid?

[/quote]
Hi, Tina. I don't have all the answers, but want to give you a "heads up" to be very very careful about this. Check everything out in advance for schools where he may want to transfer. </p>

<p>My son transferred and I spend a lot of time on the Transfer Forum here on cc and have learned a lot through those two experiences.</p>

<p>Lesson #1: financial aid is an entirely different story for transfers than it is for freshmen. Merit aid is extremely extremely (have I emphasized that enough) scarce for transfers. This is not to say that it is absolutely unavailable, but that it is hard to find. Some schools known for good merit aid state explicitly on their websites that it is not available for transfers. One school which offered my son decent merit aid as a freshman offer him zero as a transfer. Most transfer students experience the same.</p>

<p>There are exceptions but you truly must check the websites/call each school where he might want to transfer to find out what the policy/likelihood will be.</p>

<p>It is my impression also that many schools are less generous with need-based aid for transfer than for freshmen. However, I don't have any first-hand experience or knowledge of this.</p>

<p>This situation is one argument in favor of the gap year - if financial aid is critical. But if there is a chance that he will want to stay at the school where he starts, and if you/he research aid policies at possible transfer schools and find them workable, then starting right away could work.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

14

<p>"The info about wait list and full ride students is not true for all schools, especially need blind schools."
I know that, read the caveat in my post.
"ESPECIALLY with colleges that are NOT need blind, which is basically all colleges without huge endowments"</p>

15

<p>Tina, your son's abilities are in fact quite impressive. Your small school might not have known how to make the case to the schools he applied to. I would suggest that your son sit with the math teacher who helped him and figure out a few things he could say to Amherst and Haverford to persuade them to take a second look. When they contact the admissions director, they should stress that your son would be the first person in your family to go to college.</p>

<p>Good luck and keep us posted.</p>

16

<p>tcap, be sure to submit the fafsa and css profile (if css is required) to each of the schools where he is admitted and definitely request financial aid. you'll have to submit an application for financial aid.
i'm not clear on whether or not you have reviewed actual financial aid packages yet from the schools .......or have gone through this part of the process yet (submitting FAFSA to the schools and the application for financial aid). the actual financial aid package should indicate the amount of grants and scholarships, work study, loans (for the student) and also will show the EFC (for the parents).<br>
you might also want to call National Merit Corporation (NMC) to be sure of the deadlines. has your son already designated a first choice school? please be clear on what the rules are with NMC.
some schools will allow what is called "stacking" of scholarships and some will not.<br>
a couple of other schools for you to check out are Texas Tech and Texas A & M.
the larger state schools may have "recruiters" who work closely with the National Merit families. they work to bring in nmf's to their schools. they would be helpful in letting you know what additional scholarships on top of the nmf merit aid your son might be eligible to receive. </p>

<p>good luck :)</p>

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<p>tcap, your son would probably get a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, based on his impressive SAT score. However, he would have to take a gap year and apply as a freshman early in the cycle next year, say, November. The scholarship money runs out, and those who apply early (Pitt has rolling admissions) are in a better position. Also, he would probably qualify to compete for the Chancellor's Scholarship, which in addition to full tuition also covers room and board and other perks, such as study abroad. My daughter is at Pitt and loves it. PM me if you have any questions about Pitt. Like you, we are New Yorkers.</p>

<p>I am surprised that your son didn't get recruitment letters from Texas A and M, Arizona State, and other colleges that court NMFs. Texas A and M even offered to fly my daughter out for free to look at the school. Arizona State offered admission to the Barrett Honors College and a grant of about $21,000 a year, which would cover tuition and part of the room and board. Some of the programs look very appealing. Those letters should have come directly to your home, not through his high school.</p>

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<p>Canyon Creek in the first post asked "Does anyone know of a good review of public honors colleges, especially those in the midwest/south central region?" Unfortunately, no, but there's is another checklist for evaluating honors colleges/programs. Go to the website for the National Collegiate Honors Council (nchchonors.org) and then click on the tab on the top toolbar for "Basic Characteristics" of a fully developed honors program. Use this as a nice checklist for the various public honors programs you and your son may be considering.</p>

<p>Plug - Texas Tech Honors College. My son is a senior and has had a wonderful time there. Tech Honors students have early admissions programs to Tech's Medical School, Law School, and lots of other stuff. Among his friends who are seniors in the Honors College - one just got a Fulbright scholarship to study in Mexico and another was admitted to a PhD program at Cornell in plant related biology. All of the schools mentioned are excellent prospects - both private and public. </p>

<p>Be sure to also check out honors offerings at the University of Oklahoma (OU), Norman is a great college town and - if you haven't been there - OU has a beautiful campus with a mixture of traditional ivy covered type buildings and new modern construction. OU rolls out the red carpet for honors students.</p>