Question about merit-based scholarships (TL;DR at bottom)

Paying for College
1

I am an incoming college freshman. I completed high school in California and will be attending Purdue University.

As you know, out-of-state tuition sucks. Purdue’s OOS tuition is pretty low compared to other OOS schools (around $40-45k/year), but that’s still a lot compared to the $30-36k/year tuition I’d be paying for a UC or Cal State.

I got rejected from all the UCs I applied to (applied to all but Merced) and only got into two Cal States (San Francisco and San Jose - undeclared at San Jose). Admissions were brutal this year, especially for my major, which is CS.

You might be wondering how I got into Purdue despite getting shafted by in-state schools (especially ones like UC Riverside, San Diego State). The reason being is because instead of applying as a CS major, i applied as a web design major which Purdue offered (basically CS dumbed down a bit).

Anyways, if you couldn’t already guess, my stats in high school were mediocre at best. I had a 29 (30 superscore) ACT and a 3.29 GPA (probably even lower after senior year). My class rank was like 400 out of 470 which is pretty bad.

My dad makes a lot of money ($200k/year) so I obviously didn’t qualify for aid in the form of grants. I got some loans but didn’t take them because it wasn’t worth it.

I also knew that with my abysmal GPA, I would not qualify for merit-based scholarships either.

While my dad is willing to cover all costs for all 4 years (which I’m super grateful for - love you dad!), I am willing to turn myself around in college. Many of the classes I will be taking freshman year at Purdue are easy or a review (retaking Calc 1 depsite getting a 5 in Calc AB, and the introduction courses for my major freshman year are EZ AF - I spoke to current students). I went to a super competitive high school in the Bay Area and honestly did not like the environment or teachers much. I’m so glad high school is over and am excited to move out. At Purdue, I feel it’s a bit more lax with my current major, and I like and feel like i fit in with the environment well, and know I will perform better and earn a much higher GPA. I’ll try to switch to the CS major, but if not, I’ll still be super happy in my current major - web design with a CS minor (and potential double/triple major within the graphics department where web design is offered).

So if I am able to get a much higher GPA my freshman year (I am confident I can - Purdue is a million times better than my overly competitive Bay Area high school), then would I be able to qualify for merit based scholarships for the remainder 3 years of college - or at least the next year? I won’t be able to get into the tougher CS major - if at all - until the beginning of my sophomore year, so I am confident in maintaining a high GPA my freshman year. Or are merit based scholarships only based on high school stats? Even if I do get a 3.7+ my freshman year at Purdue, will the people awarding merit-based scholarships still look at my high school stats?

Thanks so much, and sorry for rambling… Just wanted to get a bit more personal with you all. Here’s a TL;DR :wink:

TL;DR: Are merit-based scholarships only dependent on high school stats? Or can someone who did poorly in high school but brought himself back up freshman year of college qualify for merit-based scholarships after they performed well freshman year? If a college student applies for merit-based scholarships, will the scholarship awarding people look at HS stats, too?

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Your stats clearly are why you didn’t get accepted to the UCs. A class rank of 400/470 isn’t exactly stellar…but you know that already. Plus you were applying to CS, which is a competitive, and impacted major at many CA publics.

Can you get a merit award from Purdue as a sophomore? Maybe. Most scholarships for returning college students are departmental scholarships, and are based on the strength of your classes in your department. You can apply…and see. But these tend to be highly competitive. They don’t care about HS grades and the like. My bet…you would need a 4.0 to get one of those departmental awards. Simply put…there WILL be folks in your department with 4.0 GPAs who will apply for these departmental scholarships.

I guess what I’m saying is…it’s a maybe to get an award. Oh…and most of these departmental awards are not exactly huge.

Do your best at Purdue…and get your degree…and be thankful you both got accepted there…and have a family who can pay the bill.

3

While you really have to look at each school to determine what may be offered in terms of merit money for upperclassmen/transfer students, in general, the big awards are offered to incoming freshmen. The schools are, to be blunt, buying stats with that money.

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I would doubt it at a public school outside of maybe a small departmental scholarship.

My eldest kid got an endowed general merit scholarship along with a departmental scholarship her last 3 years of school but it was in a private LAC that meets full need.

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nm

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That is true man, I am fully accepting of my rejections and am super thankful to have been accepted to a great university and for having a family to pay the bill.

I will definitely look into departmental scholarships.

I think I remember my friend saying that it is possible to have your tuition cost cut in half with some scholarships. Would outside private merit-based scholarships be offering huge packages like that even for college rising sophomores whose family income is high (around $200k/year)?

And yea, I’ll definitely work hard in Purdue and try to get a 4.0 to hopefully maximize my chances of potential departmental scholarships

Thanks so much for your answer, btw!

@thumper1

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@LucieTheLakie what about outside third-party scholarships? are some of those merit-based?

Because it doesn’t seem like Purdue offers many scholarships (maybe that’s why their overall tuition cost is low)

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There are some outside scholarships for students in college. There are some from engineering firms and local groups listed with my daughter’s school FA office. Of course, they are quite competitive.

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Guessing you meant $20,000 a year! But the answer is…not likely that you would get an outside merit award for $20,000 a year.

Your friend…where is he getting his info??

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@thumper1, I think OP was referring to family income being ~ $200k, not the amount of the scholarship.

@vinashana, I’ve never heard of any private, merit-based packages that would halve a student’s tuition. I think once you’re enrolled somewhere, the best best is to try to be competitive for departmental scholarships at your school. I imagine if they exist, they’re very competitive at a place like Purdue.

If your goal is to reduce your cost, have you looked into a co-op? I don’t know how exactly they work at Purdue, but my son earned enough doing a three-semester coop at his university that he was able to pay for his room and board for three years.

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my kiddo goes to a public large school. He’s had some random departmental scholarships given to him 3 different semesters after receiving 4.0s. They were all around $1500 or so. He applied for these s during the year after he received his first GPA – the application was one general application for many particular scholarships.

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Purdue changed rules for engineering students this year, reducing the number of current students that can change degrees and be admitted to engineering. You may want to check the rules for the CS dept and see if they have these stricter standards now, too. Purdue calls it “CODO” which I think means Change of Degree objective.

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@eyesblink Yea, I’ve looked into it, and it’s super hard to CODO to computer science

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@LucieTheLakie I will look into internships/co-ops

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No

What would motivate an outside entity to offer huge pkgs or even generous ones

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Department scholarships are usually small and one year only…given to one or two of their top students…usually rising juniors or seniors

Look for Co-ops

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Was your friend talking about Purdue or just scholarships in general? A few schools grant instate tuition to all who receive merit scholarships (some Texas schools) which would cut tuition by quite a bit, but I think those are only for Freshmen.

If you go to Purdue, assume you will be full pay for your entire time there. If you get other scholarships, great. Don’t give up on department scholarships. My daughter has one for this coming year, her senior year. Even a few thousand helps. My friend’s son got one each year for soph to senior. Applied every year. You have to stay on them!

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It is highly unlikely that there are outside scholarships or even Purdue scholarships for returning students that cut tuition in half…probably not anywhere close

There just isn’t an incentive to offer/provide such awards.

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The degree program you are in is through their polytechnic institute. It does not indicate coop opportunities are available, however, they do offer a five year Masters program where you would complete both your bachelors and masters in 5 years. They do have competitive scholarships for you to apply to. Purdue also has some fairly inexpensive off campus housing options if you don’t mind taking a bus to the campus. The units I am familiar with are furnished and are about 10 minutes from campus via bus. That can save money on room and board after year 1. You could also seek employment in the area to help defray costs. Between the two it might put a dent in the $14k or so you are seeking to save.