Hi. My daughter is currently a junior in HS and she is starting to look at colleges. I want her to look at colleges with merit scholarships first (we probably wont qualify for need based aid). She has a 1530 on the SAT (800 in math and 730 in reading). Didn’t do as well on the PSAT-got a 1400-because she had a really bad headache on the day of the test. I want her to look at UVA’s Jefferson scholarship and UNC’s Morehead-Cain scholarship. Any others I should look into to? I should add that she is physically active (does crossfit and weightlifting) and started a small unofficial cookie making business. She sells the cookies at school and donates the money to Sierra Club. We also foster kittens so she has 200-300+ of community service hours. Any advice on what colleges she should be researching? Thank you in advance!
Lake, your first step is to define what you mean by merit scholarships. 5K per year? Tons of schools out there for your D. 12K per year? Still lots. 40K? pickings start to get slim.
Run the Net Price Calculators on a bunch of schools and then sit down with your tax returns, checkbook, credit card statements, bank statements, any college savings in a 529 etc. and figure out what you can really and truly afford. 10K for four years? 30K? whatever the number is.
People on CC can be really helpful, but without knowing how much money you really need we are just blabbering.
And also post what your D is looking for in a college- study engineering? study Spanish literature with a year in Madrid? Stay close to home? Warm weather?
And run the NPC on your own state’s flagship first.
Where do you live?
In most cases we found that merit scholarships were not as large as the straight out difference in the full price between schools. However, we didn’t quite have a 1530 – which is very good.
I would tend to look at this more from the perspective of “what is your budget”, “what state are you in”, and “what sort of school do you want to attend”. Then go from there.
We don’t have enough information. What is your daughter’s major? What is she looking for? What can you afford?
Hi everyone. Sorry that I was vague before. I’m not quite sure how all this works. We live in Florida and she will definately get a full ride to the University of Florida. But we live in Gainesville and I think that she would like to explore the world a bit. She is not sure what she wants to do. She is full of “I want to help the world” kind of optimism and right now, she is leaning towards Environmental Science. We will not qualify for need based scholarships at all. She has about $110K in her 529 plan but I would like to save that for graduate school. Overall, I would like recommendations for possible full tuition and room&board merit scholarships. Again, she has UF as a back up plan but I want to know if she might qualify for merit scholarships at UVA or UNC. Or any colleges that you guys could recommend. Thanks in advance!
What can you actually afford?
The best “full tuition and room and board” scholarships are the service academies. But they aren’t a college financing vehicle- they are a way to serve your country- the free college education is just a part of it.
Geographically, how far is she willing to go, and why do you want to save her college fund for the “maybe she’ll go to grad school” if she is DEFINITELY going to undergrad? If she’s possibly interested in a doctorate, a PhD program will be funded (i.e. they pay for her). And if she doesn’t get funded, it’s the universe telling her she’s not a strong enough candidate for a solid doctoral program so she can eliminate that option.
@LakeAlto She definitely would have a shot at something like the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA or Morehead-Cain at UNC. But, those are incredibly hard to get, with school-nomination required and with multiple rounds of interviews. It’s definitely something to look into, but I would consider the likelihood of making it through to end for those scholarships on par with getting into Stanford or Harvard during the regular decision round. The first step for those, I think, is getting the nomination from her high school.
If her main issue is getting out of Florida, though, there are a lot of more attainable scholarships, including some that are automatically based on test scores/GPA, at other big state schools outside of Florida that she should definitely look into. As well as some at selective private schools like Tulane and Emory that are slightly more achievable than the two big scholarships that you mentioned.
Really? I thought I would have to pay for her graduate school. I went to med school and had to pay (a LOT!). She has no interest in medicine but might be interested in law school. Right now, she doesn’t really know what she wants to do. I keep telling her to just go to college and she will naturally find her tribe. I think that she should go to a broad and well-rounded liberal arts school to explore a bit. After that, she’ll have a better idea as to what she wants to do with her life.
Its interesting that you mentioned service academies because her grandfather is a retired Air Force pilot and keeps sending her articles on the Air Force Academy in Colorado but so far, she’s not interested.
And as much as I want to keep her in Florida, I won’t hold her back. So she can go anywhere geographically.
Any college suggestions? I just need some ideas and then I can research them on my own.
Here’s a recent thread with some ideas to get you started. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2006094-2017-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html
It’s far easier to find full tuition scholarships than it is to find a full ride (room and board included). Does she have a strong GPA?
Just as an example, my D16 applied for a full ride at Centre College (KY). We were told there were 500 applicants, 30 finalists, 10 awards. She was offered full tuition at a different LAC and at our state universities. Older D was offered full tuition at our state universities. She also won a competitive full tuition scholarship at Illinois Institute of Technology and considerably more than full tuition but not quite a full ride at UWyoming. Both kids had top grades, high scores. Applying for a bunch of highly competitive scholarships will require lots of essays and extra work in the application process. Not that it can’t be worth the work, but know what you’re getting into.
There’s a list or two on the scholarships and financial aid forum with competitive and automatic large scholarships. They’re a bit out of date but a good starting place.
The best scholarship comes from the school. If she aims lower, there are a lot of schools would offer her merit scholarship automatically. SAT 1530 is a great score and is sufficient for admission at any school (though admission is not guaranteed), however, it is likely not outstanding enough for a large scholarship at UNC and UVA. If she has time in the Summer, perhaps she should retake it to boost her chance for merit scholarships.
For graduate school, it depends what kind of degree she is looking for. For PhD programs, there are stipends or GA position that can cover the cost and basic living expenses.
Med school- she’ll pay. Law School- there are merit scholarships, but they won’t cover everything. PhD- they’ll pay. Business School- she should find an employer willing to send her on their dime.
But this is academic since she doesn’t know what she wants to do (which is fine) but to me, saving for the theoretical when the here and now is in front of you is ???
Nevertheless- we can be more helpful with some notion of what you can actually afford to pay. If your D is looking at a 70K per year school whose top award is 35K (nothing to sneeze at) but you can only pay 10K per year, we aren’t doing you any favors by suggesting it.
Of course I am biased, but what about something like Samford University in Birmingham? They offer environmental science as well as a master’s in environmental management. They also have a good law school if that is something she might like to explore. It is plenty far away from home, but not across the country, still within driving distance for holidays. It is a smaller Christian university that focuses more on a well-rounded student instead of just scores, they are also very service oriented, at least they were when I was there.
If looking at full-tuition scholarships: Emory, Miami, Tulane, Denison, UT-Dallas. All competitive (though less so than the Jefferson and Morehead-Cain, IMO). More in the South and Midwest.
If less than full-tuition, look at Case and Rochester. Lake Forest, Ursinus, and Drew have automatic scholarships based on test scores and GPA. So do the AL publics.
Grinnell and Mt Holyoke both have full tuition merit scholarships. Very competitive though. University of Alabama (automatic for stats you can look up what she will get) is worth a look as is University of Richmond (they have full tuition rides as well).
The tinier the budget, the shorter your list will need to be. Here is a thread collecting large merit scholarships. Start at the end and work backwards to find the most recent updates.
What state do you live in? Does she qualify for any full merit awards in-state? Sometimes those are the best, most generous options.
@LakeAlto “We live in Florida and she will definately get a full ride to the University of Florida.”
" Didn’t do as well on the PSAT-got a 1400-because she had a really bad headache on the day of the test."
I believe the Benacquisto would be the only scholarship at UF that is a full ride obtained by making National Merit.
Her SAT score makes her competitive for many full tuition or full ride scholarships. 1400 on PSAT may not get her NMSF/NMF (not sure where the Florida cutoff falls), so that will take her out of the running for some big awards that go to NMF. Jefferson Scholars at UVA depends on interview as well as test scores, and she must be nominated by her school. Plenty of competitive big merit awards out there - some that come to mind are Richmond, Syracuse, UDel, Alabama, UAH, Kentucky, plus other non-flagship state schools. So it depends on what’s good for what she wants to study and where she wants to be.
Her SAT score is great, but in and of itself may not get her a big merit scholarship, What is her GPA? Is she the best or close to the best student in her HS class? Is she taking the most rigorous course work?
The possibility of a full ride at any college, particularly UVA or Duke, is exceedingly slim. Are you sure about a full ride to UF? As noted above the only full cost scholarship there appears to be for students that are National Merit finalists. Does your HS participate in the Jefferson scholarship? Some of the UVA scholarships (and those at other places) require demonstration of financial need.
The best approach may be to look at schools she may be interested in and see if they offer pure merit scholarships. Set a realistic budget, as it may not be possible for her to go for free. But quite likely she can get a discount.