I recently learned that Ivy Leagues and some other top schools don’t offer any merit based scholarships. My family makes a little less than $250,000 a year, so I do not qualify for financial aid. My parents say that they can’t afford a $60,000 a year school. Is there any way to get money towards these types of schools?
Are you a recruited athlete and that is why you are looking at a single athletic conference?
^Outside merit based scholarships? See https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/types-aid/outside-awards
Ask you parents how much they afford? Maybe they could borrow the rest?
No.
Ask your parents to run the NPC at a HYP. If you can’t afford those, then look for affordable options. There is a lot of info on this website about merit scholarships offered by the schools.
What year in high school are you?
What are your stats?
What state are you from?
What are you focused on ivy league schools
What is your major and career goal?
How much WILL your parents pay each year?
the answer is, likely, no…you won’t find outside scholarships to noticably reduce Ivy costs.
Students competitive for Ivy+ schools are often so strong they can win outside (community, organizations, agenda) scholarships. Also, some parents making quite a bit can qualify if there are multiple kids in college at the same time, a slew of younger kids who will be attending, parents close to retirement age, etc. But, there are about 40,000 secondary schools in the US. There are 13899 slots at Ivy League Schools. Do the math. Do you think you will be the strongest candidate from your school and two others nearby? If not, paying for an Ivy League school may not be an issue. There are tons of great schools. Do you homework and learn about them. Money would probably be available from many of them.
Good news? Those schools no longer cost $60k. Bad news? It’s now closer to $70k.
Your parents are right to tell you now so you can look for other options. Your state school, schools with merit aid, schools where you might be a desired recruit because of your academics or another skill.