@mdcmom We have found that with coaches you cannot be too blunt. Have your son ask directly if he is being guaranteed a spot on the team and make it clear that you don’t expect any scholarship monies.
@LilyMoon Great news UCSC is offering $$. I went to school at UCSC is really is a wonderful place. I Just no marching band… sigh…
We haven’t heard from them yet. Did just get the OSU money offer but it’s in a letter so I’m waiting for my son to get home. I am expecting a small scholarship from them, but it has fallen off the list. It’s less expensive than UofO and CU Boulder and if they offer money even more so. But he is not guaranteed in the major and you have to keep a very high GPA to get into it. Doesn’t make it a good bet.
@Hankster1361 Does your son have any AP’s? How many? They might help a bit in getting into classes.
Everyone I know about UCSB loves the place. (This is know personally like my cat sitter & friends kids) No one has complained about not getting classes they have needed. I do know your kids HAS to be on top of things. Register fro classes as soon as they are able.
I’m not sure UCSB and UCD are that different in terms of these issues. What is happening is classes are larger than they were 10 years ago. Particularly upper division courses in programs like Engineering and CS.
Will you visit them again? Personally being close to the beach at UCSB might tip the scales. But they are both great schools.
@homerdog in the acceptance letter it’s called “an Alumni Award.” Their NPC was dead on for us–most of the NPCs were, in our experience, with the glaring exception of American U. Even those with really crappy NPCs (the ones that went through the CB site).
@homerdog My D’s is the same amount as klinska’s D [24K] and is also an Alumni Award, whatever that means.
@klinska @kt1969 so did that award amount show up in the NPC for you before applying? I just entered some random (pretty high) numbers. 4.0 GPA and 1500 SAT and only got $6000.
I just did American’s and got $16000 without entering any grades or stats. LOL.
@homerdog yes, that amount did show up for me in the NPC. For the longest time they didn’t have anything at all available, and then when they did, it was this very elaborate thing that was unlike any of the other NPCs I’d seen. But yes, when I plugged in the data, it spat out the exact amount we ended up with. We’re a very high EFC family, essentially full pay, so it all was coming from merit. My kid’s stats weren’t going to get her full tuition/full ride anywhere, and she wasn’t going to be getting anything through the super competitive scholarship route, so we were definitely focusing on those CTCL schools known for generous merit (or rather, deep discounting on the sticker price).
@klinska ok. Went back in and lowered our assets number and grants went up to $20000. The problem, though, is that the first asset number is the correct one. So, given our assets, even if S19 gets a 1500 SAT, does not look like we will get as much merit as some other families. Thanks for replying to my questions!
^^Oh yeah, and Denison also gave D work study money, the only school that did, and we didn’t even submit the CSS Profile! That doesn’t really help with out-of-pocket, since D is on the hook for $3K a year, and the WS is less than that, but it probably would facilitate being able to find a job on campus easily.
@klinska sounds great! Is he choosing to attend?
Also, and anyone can chime in here, I thought merit aid had nothing to do with need. That’s not the case according to Denison’s calculator. When I change financial info, the scholarship changes. That does not make sense to me.
@homerdog it was really weird. When I initially did their NPC, it came up with a range of 23-25K, so the 24K she got was exactly right. Then they revamped their NPC and no matter what I put in, I got really low numbers. So I would say their current NPC is NOT accurate.
Yeah, and those NPCs where you don’t enter any details are LAME. 
Wow! Our EFC after inputting assets was something like $96K. Seems like assets would really only impact need-based grants.
Final decision just came out…it’s a no from Smith. Not at all a surprise. D17 doesn’t know yet bc she is at work, will probably call me in a bit when she gets a break. I talked to her about it a little bit earlier today and I think she will be fine…she already has a lot of choices and she wasn’t sure it was a great fit although she liked it a lot. I was worried my ex would try to pressure her into going bc it’s the highest ranked school she applied to, even if it wasn’t the best fit, so it’s sort of a relief. 11/12 is a damn fine result.
To those of you considering UCSB, my husband (before I met him) went there for grad school . The good news is, he LOVED it! The bad news is, He LOVED it. So much sun, sea, socializing, he took seven years to get his PhD. Consider that a warning 
@kt1969 sorry about Smith–but it sounds like the decision may have averted some unnecessary drama, so there’s always that. Your D has awesome options, so now that all the decisions are in–time to pick one!
My D yesterday got rejected by Emory (we expected that), but got accepted to American. ! suprisingly lots of high stat kids got wait listed there. She was thrilled to get in. (should have taped her reading her email while we were at walmart). Waiting for last reach school, GW. unfortunately we are not getting the merit love.
@snoozn Yes I have been accepted to Clarkson and RIT, but I’m still waiting to hear from Syracuse!!
@homerdog my son’s Denison letter also says Alumni Award. He didn’t do anything special to apply for it.
Congrats and hugs to all on the latest round of news, good and bad. At least the pictures are filling in, that feels good.
At our house, two pieces of news:
Waitlisted at Occidental (bummed about that one)
Accepted at American but with a spring admit and an offer of a fall “Mentorship Program.” Also no money. He’s still thinking about it (and everything else!) but I for one am not liking it.
D’s last two decisions came in today: waitlisted at Smith and WPI. She wasn’t surprised about Smith, but was disappointed not to be accepted at WPI. I feel really good about the final effort: 13 apps, 10 acceptances, 3 waitlists, 6 schools within budget. Not too bad! Of course her top choice is one of the schools NOT within budget, but they are pretty close.
And I finally heard from RIT that my request for more merit has gone to their appeal committee for review and we should hear in about a week.