That’s why Tunlane is on my D’s list, too. :))
Thank you for all of the welcomes!
@MAandMEmom , I’m actually from the southern California area
Hi, I’m new here and am grateful this thread (and site) exists. My daughter falls in this range and she’s applied to a few state schools plus a few other target schools. Her top choice is Temple. I made a spreadsheet to show her how much each school she’s applying to costs and how much she (we) would need to take out in loans over the course of 4 years…and that’s with savings I’d thought were pretty good until we really started looking at costs. There doesn’t seem to be much or even any merit aid for average to slightly above students. Can anyone recommend a good scholarship search site?
@cozminok My DD’17 (25 ACT) received a national renewable scholarship that we found on Sallie Mae. It was targeted to her major though (Graphic Design) so that helped narrow the field. Mostly I don’t think there are good odds on the national search sites. Some may be worth a try. She also won a few local scholarships. For DD’19 I have made a list of all the local scholarships the Class of 2018 won so she can try to apply to all of those. I’ve also done general google searches for scholarships for our state, our county, our religious affiliation, her major, etc. and gleaned a few more. I also like to remind people to have their students apply for the foundation scholarships for continuing students at their chosen college every year.
DD’19 is planning on a directional public in the Midwest where her 27 ACT gets her in the top automatic merit bracket and in the running for the competitive merit too. Less selective schools can be more generous. Midwest is often cheaper too but I assume you’re not looking in that area.
The trick is to broaden your scope beyond the schools that “everybody” talks about.
My D19 is applying to a number of schools that offer good merit money to average+ students: Mississippi State, Alabama-Huntsville, West Virginia, Iowa State, Bradley, St Mary’s (Texas). (She’s looking at engineering; your list may vary, but there’s lots of options out there.) For some of them the priority deadline for scholarships is past, but not for all.
@bjscheel Thank you for the tips. She will be an elementary education major so we will google. How did you find the list of local scholarships the class of 2018 won? That sounds like an excellent starting point.
@dfbdfb I am speaking prematurely in my daughter’s case since merit awards will come later. I guess I am tempering expectations based on what I’ve hard about PA state schools and the more competitive ones on her list. She will put effort into scholarships. She didn’t want to go too far from home, so we will see what she can get.
In general, the best merit out there is offered by the schools directly. Run NPC’s, scour their websites and you can find quite a lot of information to give you a decent estimate as to what you might expect. You can also look up each schools common data set (google it on their site) and it will show the average finical aid awards as well as average merit awards to kids not awarded aid, and the percentage of total need met.
Finding merit for the B student is hard. The same rules apply as they do to the A student and that’s the basic rule that the best merit will be offered to students in the top 75th percentile of admitted students. That’s hard if you are a B student and you are looking at match schools where you are in the stats range, but not above. As mentioned there are many schools that do reward B students but Temple is likely not going to be one of them, at least maybe not as much as you might want or need.
Scour each schools website for scholarships that can be applied for in addition to any auto merit, there may be things that fit your D. As mentioned the priority dates may be past for some, but not all.
In general as well, the scholarship sites and the national ones are very competitive and not a great use of time. Local scholarships can be a much more likely source of funding though they are often not renewable. I would check with your HS and see if they maintain any kind of database for local ones as there can really be some hidden gems.
I would also be very careful of loans given her major as starting salary in her field isn’t going to be conducive to paying a lot off quickly and as I am sure you know, she has a limit that she can take, the rest is either on you entirely via parent plus loans, or private co signed loans.
@JBSeattle not an expert at all! I did call out UConn as a match lol.
Saw UCONN after you typed eandesmom and you have been through this a few times so that makes you more of an expert than us “first timers”. I actually think we sort of agreed as you had 4 matches and 1 safety and I said 3-4 of those so actually.
@cozminok It was in our local newspaper this spring after Senior Night. Our Guidance Counselor has a website with a list of available scholarships but it is not very well kept. Maybe your GC will have a list? I’ve even looked up the GC lists on neighboring schools’ websites and found more that apply to students from our area. These local ones are generally one-time awards, but will definitely help in our case.
Oh, there is also a page thescholarshipsystem.com that writes a blog every quarter with national scholarships, though I find most of them to be for current college students, not seniors. But that just tells you not to stop trying after senior year 
Thank you all for the really great input on scholarships. It’s breaking down an overwhelming process bit by bit.
I have another question. For a 529 plan, would you spend it all down first and then borrow or would you divide the amount saved (roughly) into 4 years and take loans out for the balance each year? I am fairly certain we will not have enough for 4 years. If we wind up not using it all (ha), we have another kid we can transfer it to. What I’m not sure about is how costs will change as my D gets further along and will likely move off campus and not have the same room and dining plan costs. There is also the American Opportunity Tax credit, though I know we can’t double dip by paying with money from the 529 plan. This may be a question for another part of the forum but figured I’d start here.
We’re looking at probably helping out with masters-level tuition for at least most of our children, so we’re trying to avoid drawing on our 529s at all during their undergrad years, or if necessary using them as a hedge against possible employment bumps down the road.
(The fact that you can nearly freely change 529 beneficiaries within a family makes this even better—if we don’t use any of D17’s money, then we can use it for D23 if necessary, or even for any of our nieces or nephews.)
Has anyone uploaded documents through idoc? One school looking for tax returns…signed. We submit electronically through turbo tax so no signatures. So should I print our copy, sign and scan. Also our printer only scans one page at a time and each page is seperate document. I just renewed our subscription to adobe. Any adobe experts out there. Can I insert just the one signed page into our existing pdf document that was generated by turbo tax?
@EENYMum you should be able to download your submitted copy from turbotax. That will have your electronic signatures shown. upload that to idoc. Do not print and sign a copy, that would be considered forgery/fraud as it is not way you actulaly submitted.
@cozminok I think that really varies by family and what is saved. For S17 we are doing a mix of pulling from the 529, cash funding and loans. We’ve semi front loaded the loans to be earlier and less or zero later or the 4 years based on a variety of assumptions not the least of which is other kids graduating from their schools which frees up cash. IF all the loans are subsidized than early loans are a win but if not, arguments could be made both ways. I wanted to preserve 529 for all 4 years as you just never know what could happen.
S19’s may look entirely different depending on the offer.
I think drawing on 529 also depends on the situation. I am going to evenly distribute if my Daughter does not receive aid. If she receives aid then I am going to use all of it immediately. My younger daughter has a comparably funded 509 (about 60k each). So, I know there will be nothing left in the end. If they pursue graduate school then they are on their own. I figure they will be old enough to decide whether it is worth it to take on loans at that time.
@cozminok It’s my understanding that student assets are charged more heavily than parent assets in determining financial aid, and a 529 is considered parent asset until distributions are made. Those distributions are assets of your D. So if your D is accepting financial aid, it would be best to wait until later to use those funds.
So D19 accepted into Honor society. She had it as pending on her apps (those submitted). She can add it to the applications she is sending out later… right?
It depends.
If it’s a parent-held custodial account (i.e., held by the parent for the benefit of the student), then it’s a parental asset. If it’s a student-held account (i.e., it’s actually held in the name of the student), then it’s a student asset.
For the 529 plan, my understanding was if it’s in the parent’s or student’s name, distributions aren’t counted as income on next year’s FAFSA. If, however, a grandparent or other relative owns it, then a distribution counts as untaxed student income and would affect aid. In that case, I believe it would be better to wait until junior or senior year to make withdrawals.