I’m just starting to comb through information here and am wondering:
My child is a US citizen but studying overseas(International, IB school). For merit aid, is it given automatically to admitted student with good grades, good SAT? Or does it depend on the college? Or do we have to specifically ask for it during application time?
We have a home in CA, husband has not been back to US for 2-3 years first due to covid, and now we feel comfortable where we are. Let’s say our child applies outside CA, that will make him an out of state student but NOT international, correct?
Merit awards and rules are school specific. Some have additional essays to be considered, some are automatic, some have earlier deadlines. Your student will need to investigate each school on their list for specifics.
Your student will be considered a domestic applicant but out of state for all public universities.
You don’t ask for merit. Many provide it automatically. Some have a chart such as below, some just tell you everyone is considered. Others have a special app to consider if you want merit or even more than they give.
You can usually figure out from reading merit aid pages the how and how much. Some include in net price calculators. Don’t forget, you have to look at total cost. Some start with tuition $40k + and some less than $20k. Some give $1000 and others $30k +.
Here’s an example of one that has auto merit. Good luck.
Schools give merit as a tool to entice high stats students to attend. Generally your stats must be way above average for that school in order to get merit, if they offer it at all.
For most schools your S will be a US applicant, but academically evaluated in the context of their international school.
If none of you have been living in CA for the last 2-3 years (it’s not clear), I am not sure your S will qualify for in-state tuition in California. @gumbymom will know the rules.
The aggegrate average discount rate for US colleges is greater than 50%. It is generally easier to get merit from schools that aren’t highly selective, and often does depend on stats as they compare to the applicant pool.
My child is a US citizen but studying overseas(International, IB school). For merit aid, is it given automatically to admitted student with good grades, good SAT? Or does it depend on the college? Or do we have to specifically ask for it during application time?
college dependent. Some schools award merit aid based on the application only. Some have an additional application. You need to check each college website to see what that college requires for merit aid consideration.
We have a home in CA, husband has not been back to US for 2-3 years first due to covid, and now we feel comfortable where we are. Let’s say our child applies outside CA, that will make him an out of state student but NOT international, correct?
Your child is a U.S. citizen…and that will be consistent everywhere. But your child WILL be an out of state student at all public universities…including those in CA. Glad @Gumbymom clarified the CA question.
Do you need need based aid? Or will your student require a certain amount of merit aid to bring costs down to a certain price point? For example…the CA publics give no need based aid to those who aren’t CA residents. So you would likely be full pay at these colleges.
If you want suggestions for affordable colleges, etc…I would suggest you start a chance me thread, include your child’s stats, possible major, preferred types of locations, and your price point. Folks here will give you some suggestions, I’m sure.
Thank you all! Really appreciate your input and I’m taking notes. I’m just wondering cause I feel that we can never qualify for anything. My husband thinks universities will offer grant/scholarship automatically if the child is accepted(he got one for grad school in one of the Ivys) but I always think if you don’t ask, you won’t get anything so I’d like to educate myself what our options are and plan accordingly.
Do you know what you can afford to pay for university? Do you have permanent residence or citizenship in a different country, and if so which country?
There is a wide range in terms of what universities cost in the US. Many (probably most) students are constrained in terms of which schools they can afford to attend. Some universities give merit aid, some do not. Some offer generous need based aid, some either are more limited or have no need based aid. Some offer athletic scholarships, some do not.
In our case, many universities offered merit aid without our asking for it. A small number would have been full pay (which we could not afford for a private university). In some cases the NPCs (Net Price Calculators) correctly predicted merit aid, and in some cases they did not. At least in our case when an NPC predicted merit aid, it was right (with regard to merit aid actual offers were either the same as the prediction, or better). In some (but not all) cases the schools that had a larger base price also offered more merit aid, which brought the costs to a similar number for several schools that had started out somewhat further apart in base price.
As others have mentioned most of the “elite” highly ranked universities in the US do not offer merit aid. Both daughters, particularly our youngest, had stats that make highly ranked universities possible (but not a given) for admissions, but the price would not have been possible for us.
And we insisted that both daughters attend universities that we could pay for without taking on any debt at all. After they graduated, having no debt was a very significant help in terms of what they did next. They were both able to take on opportunities that they just could not have handled if they had any debt. Avoiding debt is a good plan if you can manage it.
While we live in the US, one daughter attended a university in Canada that for an international student costs about the same as our in-state public university costs for in-state students (except that the in-state public university was not as good of a fit for her). While there are a large number of options in the US, there are also some good options outside the US.
Have auto merit - a U of Alabama for a 3.5 and X SAT/ACT score gets you x $$. I linked it before.
A U of Arizona is similar - if you get a 4.0, you get $32K back. A 3.9, $30K back - off of $40K tuition. You don’t ask - it just happens.
Other schools that give regular merit to many - but it’s not on a published table. Many, at U of South Carolina get OOS tuition waived plus more. Or Miami of Ohio gives a range - such as:
SCHOOL GPA 1
OHIO RESIDENT (ANNUAL AMOUNT) 2
NON-RESIDENT (ANNUAL AMOUNT) 2
4.30+
Starting at $4,000
Starting at $15,000
3.95-4.29
Starting at $3,000
Starting at $10,000
3.75-3.94
Starting at $2,000
Starting at $6,000
3.50-3.74
Starting at $1,000
Starting at $4,000
These happen just for applying.
There’s another group - you have to do extra essays for a scholarship or they’re high end schools that have merit money - but little. A Vandy and WUSTL - you write essays. Wash & Lee has an essay for its full ride. Schools like Northeastern and BU have merit - but are more selective vs. the others that guarantee.
There are many schools that offer no merit aid - zero. They do meet demonstrated need - so if they feel someone can’t afford the school, they help with grants. This is your Ivys, Georgetown, top Liberal Arts schools (and sometimes more than just the top), Northwestern, Stanford, MIT types
If you apply to #1 and #2 types I list - schools maybe not as high on the pedigree tree but great schools and you meet published criteria or outperform the student body - you’ll get money.
But again - the cost matters more than how much you get in a grant.
Florida State is $18,746 out of state. Indiana University if $40,480. Even if they gave you $10K in merit, they’d still be more expensive (by far) than Florida State.
So it’s not just about scholarships, it’s about the bottom line cost. If you have a budget, please share and we can help you - if you provide stats and desires, etc.
Once more…this is college dependent. Read my post above.
Also, what your husband got for grad school has zero bearing on what your child might get. For example, the Ivies don’t give a nickel of merit aid to students for undergrad. It’s all need based aid which you need to qualify for.
At places that do not award merit aid scholarships, you can ask until the cows come home, and you still won’t get merit aid.
Really…each college website has information about financial aid and scholarships. I would strongly suggest you start reading those for colleges of interest.
Run the net price calculator at Harvard. Is the result affordable? It doesn’t provide merit aid to undergraduates, but is very generous with need based aid.
The result will let you know roughly whether pursuing need based aid is worthwhile or if you need to seek out merit opportunities or schools with lower tuition.
Every school has a net price calculator, some include merit aid in their estimated net price, some do not. Regardless, running a school’s net price calculator and understanding whether or not merit is possible or how that would stack (or not stack) with any need based aid is an important part of building a college list.
Merit has been covered very well by those who have chimed in.
Now, if you are interested in this team helping you create a list of colleges that could work well for you, please tell us what your child prefers in terms of:
Major/academic interests
Setting (rural, urban, suburban?)
Location
School size
Sports/Greek/Political vibe
Annual Budget
Please also mention any other strong preferences your child possesses.
The way I went about it was get on google and type University name and merit scholarships and it usually brought you to the university page with scholarships. They all have different requirements/charts. Some are a competition that you don’t find out until Feb or March, so you have to apply to many if you are merit hunting.
We were merit hunters so message me if you have specific questions or I can tell you where my kids had success.
This isn’t always true. There are lots of schools that give merit scholarships to almost everyone. It makes them feel good. Take Oberlin College as an example. The had 863 first year students. 509 of them had need that was 100% covered. Of the 509, 494 of them received a non need based award as part of their package. Of the 354 that didn’t receive and financial aid, 354 got a non need based award. So nobody pays full price and 848 of 863 could say they got a “merit” award.
You have to RESEARCH that for each university individually - and once you learn that there is some application process, then follow whatever deadlines, requirements, submission of essays/material…, which can further vary for various different scholarships they might offer!
Some will throw out some merit scholarships to entice interesting students, without even asking.
“Not qualifying” usually applies to financial aid, because your income/assets might exceed thresholds.
In contrast, merit scholarships (typically) are open to all income levels because they are based on (drumrolls…) merit! The most elite/selective schools don’t offer merit scholarships at all, because all their applicants are equally highly meritorious.
Elite schools will only give need based aid and they have their own way of determining needs. They don’t do admission based on your ability to pay.
Your kid could get merit aid for next level down. In essence those schools are buying your kid’s academic prowess.
We were not eligible for any need based aids, but D1 was offered a full ride at her safety school.
You need to decide before your kid apply to schools what you are willing to pay and for what kind of school. There is no magical thinking of just apply to where you want to go and there will be money (some how) to pay for it.