Our tuition has skyrocketed over the last few years. I have been told that scholarships do exist based on merit for this age range. I’m usually very good at research but have come up dry. If anybody has any insight, I would greatly appreciate it!
Have you applied to your school? My kids’ private high school gave both merit and need-based scholarships. They were small, but some kids were awarded several, enough to make a dent in the tuition. For the merit scholarships, they needed teacher recs, and in some cases, had to be nominated by teachers in specific subjects (music, for instance). Just let the school know you’re interested.
Our school does not give any merit scholarships. They told they exist, but cannot tell me where due to confidentiality of current students. I’m completely stumped, and I’m a very good researcher!
D20 ended up choosing public schools for middle and high, but she did apply to two private schools where she received financial aid packages - one at the elementary level and one for high school. You probably aren’t going to turn up much on your research, because, at least in our case, the two private schools made it a condition of accepting aid that you can’t disclose you receive it. I imagine other schools could have a similar policy. At one school the aid was solely need-based because there was the assumption that just getting in qualified as merit. The other school had mostly need-based aid, but there was a merit endowment that specifically covered the discrepancy between the need-based aid offered and the remaining tuition, making the school tuition and fees free.
One thing to consider is whether or not the aid is continuous or if you have to reapply each year. The high school above would guarantee the aid for all four years. The elementary school did not guarantee it from year to year and I didn’t want to have to pull her out at some point. (I would have sent her to the high school if she wanted to go there, but she chose a public school that is academically one of the best in our state.)
There are two national (competitive) scholarship programs for HS students. Both require applications in spring of 7th grade, after taking SAT. Caroline D. Bradley is completely merit based. Jack Kent Cooke is merit and needs based. If accepted, they help with HS application process as well as funding, and have continued support throughout HS.
Schools sometimes say they don’t give merit aid, but they do. That applies though before you start attending the school.
In my experience, private schools are very tight-lipped about need-based or merit-based aid given. Also, you definitely should count on tuition going up annually. I would suggest you run your numbers with a 4% annual tuition increase factored in, if you are trying to make the decision about whether to stay in private or move to a different public district.
@cinnamon1212 Can you expand on that? Feel free to PM me if necessary. Thanks!
I did find the 7th grade ones which, unfortunately, I didn’t know about until now and no longer apply to us. The financial person at our school still said there are scholarships out there and said it would be a shame for us not to use them. I have asked several times about merit from the school directly and have been told they do not offer it at all. It’s so frustrating to feel I can’t find what they are telling me is out there.
@gabethan Would you mind sharing info on 7th grade ones (especially if they are national and aren’t limited to the profoundly gifted like Caroline Bradley?)
Some schools have merit scholarships—Culver Academies has some, SPS does (afaik?), and Choate does (I think?)
@raddad2018 one of my kids went to a school where the website explicitly says they do not give merit aid, and in fact they do not promise to meet financial aid either. My son scored very high on the SSAT, about 40 percentage points higher than that school’s average. We didn’t qualify for financial aid; nevertheless my son was awarded some aid.
You will find this dynamic at colleges. If you are above that school’s stats (so it would be a safety for the student) those are the schools that will give you merit aid.