It’s interesting that the Providence College section on financial aid gives a pretty simple definition of what the requirements are for a Friar Leadership Scholarship. It reads
“Students who have academic achievements that earn them admission to Providence College and also demonstrate a true commitment to their out-of-classroom activities will be recognized with awards up to $10,000 annually.”
Basically saying that if a student is admitted then they have cleared the academic qualifications. Then its a determination of what “true commitment” means. They seem to promote a much more robust merit aid program than is the reality. The information sessions on campus also said that merit aid was need blind so the PC admissions case that most aid is based on need seems to be in conflict with the information that is presented for prospective students.
My daughter received her financial aid package today. She was offered two federal loans and two grants (Providence College Grant & Pell Grant) “Special Message” indicates that her award is based on the fact that her brother will also be in college next year. He will be a senior, so they’ll overlap for a year. Sounds like she may lose the grant after he graduates. Does anyone have financial aid experience with two in at the same time? How does it change when the older student completes their degree?
@lmd828 When my 2 older children overlapped they received decent financial aid from their respective schools but as soon as the oldest graduated financial aid went away.
Error
From post #29, PC Admission said this in response to my question:
*Finally, with regard to the question about a deferred candidate receiving merit…since the reason for their deferral was more than likely that academically they are around the averages of our applicant pool, I would agree with your assumption that it is highly unlikely they receive a scholarship. The only one that a student could possibly receive post-deferral would be the $10,000/yr leadership scholarship. *
This is certainly not an ‘I told you so’ post but since many people use these boards as reference, I wanted to post that my D was deferred in the Early Action round and then accepted with $18k/year merit award in Regular Decision.
@saint68 Thanks for the update. Providence clearly pulled back on merit EA this year, in favor of full pay ED. Can’t wait to see the admission stats for this year’s class to see what % of the class was ED.
@suzyQ7 Happy to answer these questions for you…
This year’s class was 29.9% through Early Decision (last year was 29.2%). 33% of students admitted at EA received one of the four main scholarships compared to 35% the year before. We did also make several hundred fewer offers of admission overall, too. Hope this helps!
What percentage of Legacy students received nerit money?
@pcclassof2022 - Unfortunately we don’t have that stat readily available. A student’s legacy connection to PC is only considered for admission, not by the Committee on Scholarships, so it wouldn’t make a difference.
Unfortunately, PC plays games with their merit awards!!! There is no consistency with who they award to, this blog proves that theory. My child received between $40,000 an $98,000. at similiar schools such as Seton Hall, Loyola, Marist, and Siena. Zero $ from PC… I think a big factor is that my child is a 4th generation legacy student. PC figures why give them money if the odds are they will send their child either way.
It is unethical for this catholic school, but in the end they are 100% right, I am sending my child there. They win and I will be $250,000. lighter.
Providence College is not similar to the schools you describe.
And just because your child did not receive a merit scholarship does not make them unethical. As noted above by the Admission Office representative, alumni affiliation is not a factor in merit-based decisions.
Kudos to PC for showing transparency by providing the data referenced above.
@pcclassof2022 They do have an effective strategy since it’s working! More apps, more ED, more ability to get full pay students. The saying goes “vote with your feet”. As long as parents such as yourself are willing to fork over 250k+ for a good, but non-elite school, then they will charge it.
My D LOVED PC and feels the need to apply early decision to up her chances. She has - a 3.6, 31 ACT, 3 varsity sports for 4 years(captain) , several leadership positions, founded a charity, service trips, works as a lifeguard & soccer referee. Has had a job since age 12 but still we do not feel PC is a sure thing. She could get merit money from several schools, but none of them are the ones she wants so we will do what we have to do and not whine about it. We have been saving for college since the day she was born and if it’s not enough, we can take out a loan if need be. My husband recently lost his job and it’s a tough real estate market so our home will be slow to sell, no financial aid for us.
My point is, don’t criticize the school or the student who chooses to apply ED and pays full price. We all have a story and are doing the best we can.
Searching PC’s website, I am confused if the qualifications for the academic scholarship of 45-80% tuition per year are the same as the qualifications for the $18k Albertus Magnus scholarship. I hope not as I have exhausted my schools curriculum but received a B in one of the AP classes. Hoping this does not exclude me from consideration. Not sure if students with minimal honors/AP classes and a lower weighted GPA than myself but 0 B’s would qualify above me for all of these(4.45gpa, top 5%,32ACT)? I’m not sure if this is a new policy but I LOVE PC and hope to attend in 2019!
Don’t try to understand or bank on the the scholarships. My teen ranked in the top 5 of the HS class maximized ap’s and DID NOT GET ANY MONEY, which may have been related to her 3rd generation legacy status.
We still sent are teen and am paying FULL PRICE. My wife and I realize it a perfect place for our teen. Campus, location, professors, support staff, etc were are decided factor. An most of all my teen loved it and we wanted no regrets!!
The Albertus Magnus is a set dollar amount ($20,000 per year) and then there are the percentage scholarships. So…we award the percentage scholarships first (largest to smallest) and then the Albertus Magnus scholarships. Hope that helps!