<p>I know I can't fill this out until October, but I was looking at it and it asks something like, "How much can your parents contribute to your college education?". How do we answer that? My son wants to go to Bucknell and it costs $43,000 a year. He wants to go early decision. While if we have to, we can swing paying for it, it will mean my postponing my retirement by a couple of years. Anyone have any idea what kind of answer they are looking for? If we put down $43,000 will it hurt his chances of aid and we say less will it hurt his chances of admission? Also, right now we know he will at least be a NM commended student, but his score is right on the bubble- last 4 years he would have made semi twice and missed it by one point twice. If he makes it and if he puts Bucknell as his one choice, will he definitely get some money from them?</p>
<p>My understanding is that Bucknell gives out VERY FEW non-need based scholarships. </p>
<p>When my son was looking at Bucknell (in 2005) it was clear to us anyway that their merit scholarships were very behind comparable schools. (They even admitted as such.) Hopefully, it's improved some?</p>
<p>Their scholarship page lists every scholarship as need-based (reading the fine print) but also says, "The majority of scholarships are awarded to students who have demonstrated financial need; a limited number of scholarships are available for students who do not have financial need or do not apply for financial aid. Since we have an exceptionally talented pool of students applying for admission to Bucknell, all merit awards are extremely competitive." </p>
<p>It is certainly vague. </p>
<p>I presume you've checked on the Bucknell forum here? I don't see any mention on there about merit aid (a quick look) and a search of the Merit Awards thread on the Parent Forum turns up no hits on Bucknell...</p>
<p>BUT -- there are no circumstances under which anyone can say he will definitely get money. My guess (emphasis on GUESS) is it doesn't mattter much what you put on there...Good luck though!</p>
<p>i think ive spoken with tjmom before (though not about this), but ill just clarify things for those who may be interested.</p>
<p>while i certainly wouldnt consider bucknell a big 'merit aid' school, things are improving. basically, bucknell offered no merit aid (academic or athletic) until 2003. at that time athletic scholarships were approved and as a requirement for their implementation academic merit aid moneys had to be raised and dispersed at a 3+:1 ratio. as more money is raised for athletic scholarships in minor sports, the academic merit aid program continues to expand. in short, the entire merit aid program is self-contained and in essence fueled by athletics donors.</p>
<p>as to the second issue, the merit aid program is somewhat unique in that a vast majority of the awards are earmarked for students with some level of demonstrated financial need. this 'above need' approach, though somewhat altruistic, realistically allows the university to maximize its scholarship dollars by offering hundreds of ~$10000 awards. i do wonder where the scholarship page lists every award as need-based, however (only because im not seeing it).</p>
<p>as for what to put in the 'what you can pay' box, id first fill out an institutional-style financial aid calculator to get an idea of what you might be expected to pay. from there, im not sure what to tell you, other than that i wouldnt put down anything larger or substantially smaller than the calculators estimation.</p>
<p>Here is the page I was looking at. Near as I can tell, if you read the descriptions carefully, they all say need-based, with the exception of very specific awards, music and theater/dance.</p>