I was on Umass Lowell’s website looking at scholarships offered. They mentioned Raise.me. You have to update info before October of your senior year otherwise you will miss some schools download date. It is nice to have a guarantee of the minimum merit you will receive if you go there. There really are too many schools that participate to list here. If you search based on micro-scholarships then you won’t pull up any schools that don’t participate.
@suzyQ7 It’s hundreds of schools. Examples: Michigan State, Rollins, Wooster, Kenyon (pretty sure on Kenyon), Tulane, Southwestern, Juniata, etc. I haven’t seen any tippy-tops. No HPYS, no Williams or Swarthmore that I recall. Either WPI or RPI, can’t remember which, but one of them does.
Last I checked, both RPI and WPI are on raise.me. WPI is on my son’s radar so I’ve been keeping up a raise.me profile for him. @suzyQ7, I don’t think you need to register on the site to see which schools participate so you can just check it out for yourself. Definitely too many to list here.
I obviously have too much time on my hands then - lol - here’s the list:
Northumbria University, Newcastle, England
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
Corban University, Salem, OR
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle WA
Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, CA
Seattle University, Seattle WA
Menlo College, Atherton, CA
California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA
Azusa Pacific University, Azusa CA
Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego CA
University of Montana, Missoula MT
University of San Diego, San Diego CA
Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ
Prescott College, Prescott AZ
Arizona State, Tempe AZ
Carroll College, Helena MT
Weber State Ogden UT
Western State Colorado U, Gunnison CO
Regis U, Denver CO
U. of Denver Denver CO
St. Mary’s U, San Antonio TX
Texas Tech U, Lubbock TX
Southwestern U, Georgetown TX
TCU, Fort Worth TX
Houston Baptist U, Houston TX
Dakota Wesleyan U, Mitchell SD
Austin College, Sherman TX
Newman U, Wichita KS
Union College, Lincoln NE
Briar Cliff U, Sioux City, IA
U. of Kansas, Lawrence KS
Creighton U, Omaha NE
Buena Vista U, Storm Lake, IA
Gustavus Adolphus College Saint Peter, MN
Tulane, NO LA
U. of M-College of Food Sciences, Minneapolis MN
Drake U, Des Moines IA
U of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth MN
Westminster College, Fulton MO
Truman State U. Kirksville, MO
Missouri S&T, Rolla MO
Luther College, Decorah, IA
Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA
Northland College, Ashland, WI
Barry U, Miami, FL
Quincy U, Quincy IL
Augustana College, Rock Island IL
Clarke U, Dubuque IA
Webster U, St. Louis MO
U of Tampa, Tampa FL
Lane College, Jackson TN
Saint Leo U., Saint Leo FL
U of Montevallo, Montevallo AL
Saint Francis Xavier U., Antigonish, Canada
Beacon College, Leesburg FL
Birmingham Southern College, Birmingham AL
Lawrence U, Appleton WI
Rollins College, Winter Park FL
Stetson U, Deland FL
Carroll U., Waukesha WI
Elmhurt College, Elmhurt IL
Lewis U., Romeoville IL
Flagler College, St. Augustine FL
Olivet Nazarene U., Bourbonnais IL
Indiana State U., Terre Haute IN
Jacksonville U., Jacksonville FL
DePauw U., Greencastle IN
Georgia Tech College of Sciences, Atlanta GA
Georgia Teach College of Architecture, Atlanta GA
Agnes Scott College, Decatur GA
Western Michigan U., Kalamazoo MI
Butler U., Indianapolis, IN
Indiana Wesleyan U., Marion IN
Indiana Tech, Fort Wayne IN
Trine U., Angola IN
Georgetown College, Georgetown KY
Michigan State U., East Lansing MI
Spring Arbor U., Spring Arbor MI
Presbyterian College, Clinton SC
University of Dayton, Dayton OH
Converse College, Spartanburg, SC
Gardner-Webb U., Boiling Springs NC
Winthrop U., Rock Hill, SC
Madonna U, Livonia MI
Queens U of Charlotte, Charlotte NC
Lawrence Tech U., Southfield MI
Wingate U., Wingate NC
Wayne State U., Detroit MI
Husson U., Bangor ME
College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor ME
Denison U., Granville OH
Oberlin College, Oberlin OH
Methodist U., Fayetteville, NC
Fayetteville State U., Fayetteville NC
The College of Wooster, Wooster OH
Thomas College, Waterville ME
Waterloo Engineering, Waterloo, AK
William Peace U., Raleigh, NC
Westminster College (PA), New Wilmington PA
Washington & Jefferson College, Washington PA
Gannon U., Erie PA
Mercyhurst U., Erie PA
U of Toronto, Toronto Canada
California U of PA., California, PA
Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, VT
Merrimack College, North Andover, MA
Clarion U., Clarion PA
Northeastern U., Boston MA
U. of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell MA
Norwich U., Northfield VT
Colby-Sawyer College, New London NH
Saint Anselm College, Manchester NH
Randolph-Macon College, Ashland VA
U of Vt., Burlington VT
New England Institute of Technology, E. Greenwich RI
Champlain College, Burlington VT
Becker College, Worcester MA
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA
Mount Aloysius College, Cresson PA
Assumption College, Worcester MA
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY
Houghton College, Houghton NY
Nazareth College, Rochester NY
U of Rochester, Rochester NY
Marlboro College, Marlboro VT
Juniata College, Huntingdon PA
Hood College, Frederick MD
College of Our Lady of the Elms, Chicopee MA
RPI, Troy NY
U of Hartford, W. Hartford CT
Syracuse U., Syracuse NY
SUNY-ESF, Syracuse NY
The College of Saint Rose, Albany NY
Notre Dame of Maryland U., Baltimore MD
Washington College, Chestertown MD
Messiah College, Mechanicsburg PA
Wesley College, Dover DE
U of Bridgeport, Bridgeport CT
York College of PA, York PA
SUNY Cortland, Cortland NY
Susquehanna U., Selinsgrover PA
U of Delaware, Newark DE
Hartwick College Oneonta NY
NY Institute of Technology, Manhattan/Old Westbury NY
Rowan U., Glassboro, NJ
Marist College, Poughkeepsie NY
Neumann U., Aston PA
Wagner College, Staten Island NY
Temple U, Philly
Bloomfield College, Bloomfield NJ
Ursinus College, Collegeville PA
Montclair State U., Montclair NJ
College of New Jersey, Ewing NJ
Drew U., Madison NJ
Cedar Crest College, Allentown PA
Moravian College, Bethlehem PA
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Thanks a lot, @Gatormama. Some good schools there though it is a question whether, if you run the RaiseMe figures high, it will start erasing some other grants from a college.
Yeah, that’s the big unknown @PurpleTitan … I think it’s probably different for each college and I guess you find out when you’re at the end of game. Kind of risky. Or not? Blech.
WPI does make it clear that raise.me doesn’t stack; to me it seems they basically use it as a way for families to partially pre-populate their merit aid file. I’ve looked through WPI threads for info on typical merit aid. Kids that are similar to my S appear to get half tuition minimum in merit scholarships, and raise.me is nowhere close to that yet. He’s up to $8k/year from raise.me halfway through junior year with his SAT already in there, and tuition is over $40k. I doubt his remaining junior grades, junior year AP scores and summer activities are going to bring him up anywhere close to the total merit award he is likely to be offered. RPI, which I just followed on raise.me for fun, is even worse. He’s at about $4500 per year via raise.me and kids with similar stats/demographics/ECs appear to be getting far more than that from RPI.
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We were told by Rollins that any Raise.me scholarships would be deducted anyways from her Rollins grant. ;(
Not sure if this is normal at other schools but seems defeating.
Hmm, this is interesting. Some of the schools on Raise.me list October 1 as the cutoff for earning microscholarships. So while you may get credit for something like enrolling in an AP class in September, you won’t be able to come back and claim the additional credit for getting a good grade in December of June.
If you need to update your profiles in advance of the Oct. 1 deadline, do it this week.
In addition, S has several awards in his list that go significantly beyone what he’s earned in microscholarships. Drake, for example, says they’re giving him a Presidential Award of $20k/year for four years for a total of $80k even though he’s only accumulated $40k in microscholarships
Would he have gotten the same or better by applying normally, without Raise.me? Maybe. I have no clue, but it sure is nice to get an advance read on some of these things.
Here’s the text of the message so you know what to look for.
Thanks for posting. I’m going to sign up my youngest for this.
So wait a second - today’s the 7th, so that means Raise.me is useless to the class of 2018? Or does it just mean that senior year grades, whether by semester or full year, are useless to get microscholarships?
As for the Raise.me being deducted from how much a student would have gotten from a college, to be honest, if I have a number from Raise.me for a college (the most for my S18 is around $15,000 per year but most are around $2,000 per year), at least I have a minimum.
They do give you the average FA per year for each college, when you select “About” whatever college. And that is really useful to have in that format. I am hoping I don’t have to put together a huge spreadsheet like I did for my other son, but if I do, it looks like the Raise.me website might be a quick way to get all that info.
If a school’s deadline has already passed, the student gets everything logged before the deadline. Senior grades and activities just won’t add to the count. I don’t know what happens for a 2018 senior who signs up now, though. Someone like that is probably only eligible for microscholarships at schools who haven’t closed their deadline yet.
Lots of schools are still awarding microscholarships.
Does raise.me have a parent login so you can see what your kid has without having to log directly into their account?
I don’t think so. If they do, I’m not aware of it. You may have to ask your S/D to show you what they’ve entered.
Interesting - DD is applying to Lewis and Clark, but it says “scholarships not yet available.” So, a school can sign up, but not offer microscholarships. Of the nine schools that DD is strongly considering/has applied to, the only one that has scholarships is Loyola Marymount. She has almost straight As in AP/IB classes as well as a healthy amount of ECs. After entering all her info for all four years she is eligible to get 2K per year. I know of a kid who had similar statistics to DD that received 0 merit. With that in mind, I’m willing to spend the hour entering every darn class, extra curricular, etc for $7K. I don’t know about you, but I don’t make 7K an hour 
And yes, I am doing the scholarship search for our daughter. I figure that she is earning scholarships for school by getting good grades. With D1, we didn’t apply for any scholarships because we aren’t eligible for need. One of my resolutions this time was to facilitate the application for scholarships, so I am the scut worker for DD. I will search, find ones that match, open the app and fill in the easy stuff, and then hand to her for completion. I think doing this part is most definitely worth my while, and is a great way to support her as well as my checkbook.
@shoot4moon I wonder if the colleges know - when you apply and they are considering merit - if you participate in Raise.Me. If so, its quite possible that you could end up getting less merit than you would have if you had not participated in Raise.Me. For example, say your D applies (without having a Raise.Me account) to Loyola Marymount (which is a college that does give merit scholarships) and because of her great academic profile, she might get $5000K per year to entice her to attend. But if she already has a Raise.Me account where you expect she will get $2K per year, maybe that’s all they will offer.
I think (not sure - so i would be great if someone could find out) that you have to tell them that you are participating in Raise.Me at app time. And that could hurt in the long run.
I can’t see how it’s in a school’s best interest to offer less to scholarship-caliber students if they are on Raise.me. They are offering the scholarship to entice the student, and they should want them just the same whether they are on raise.me or not. I think several folks here have said that their student was offered more by the college than their raise.me amount. It seems like you can look at raise.me as a guaranteed minimum – I don’t think you’re really “earning” scholarships by using raise.me so much as getting an insight into what that school values and getting some idea of what you might get out of them. But I’m just a parent, and I don’t know anything for sure.
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DD has finished her application for Loyola Marymount, and Raise.me did not come up. However, another poster said that the letter from the college acknowledged Raise.me, so clearly some schools consider it. I believe the university brought it up in the merit aide letter.
@shoot4moon So they didn’t ask about it in the common app, but they must have crossed checked the app vs Raise.Me and they know the student is on that platform. Hard to say if its a factor…
I agree with the poster that its a good as a ‘guaranteed minimum’. I haven’t gotten around to putting in my sophmore’s info yet.
I just saw this tool and it intrigues me, but we already have a fairly solid list of colleges. Is there a way to find out whether a college participates without actually signing up for the service?
Their website is utter crap when viewed on Internet Explorer (which I am contractually required to use for my work so don’t tell me to change browsers). It’s a bit unprofessional.