I didn’t know they are so stingy. Oh well. The only thing I regret is wasting an application fee.
Johnson is a separate process that involves many people writing essays, a subset of them making it to the next stage that involves a campus visit, etc… We know someone who was a candidate awhile ago, but I doubt it’s changed. I don’t remember when that notification was, only that it wasn’t at EA. (The person applied RD.)
Also quite startled by merit, especially since another award came in from a very similar school that’s considerably more than this offer. We’ll probably give SCU a call in January and ask if that merit is complete, or if Presidential/Provost are still possible.
Still a long way 'til May 1.
Repeating this post I put in financial thread…Just incase something changes I always like to begin with… the past it has worked this way…EA/ED applicants are notified with their acceptance in December if they are Johnson Scholarship semifinalist. RD are notified in Feb. If you are chosen as a candidate for the Johnson scholarship, you would be notified in the original award letter. Not sure if any EA/ED are notified of being a semi-finalist later in Feb. You cannot just apply, you are chosen as a semi-finalist, write an essay among other things to compete for Johnson scholarship, they only give out 10 a year.
Sorry about the disappointment in merit $ for many, but that is standard operating procedure for SCU it seems.The 6K Deans seems to be the go to scholarship for them. The other Jesuits are generally more generous if that helps. Gonzaga gives great merit if you like Spokane and LMU gives more as well, but I sense a tightening up there a bit as well, but still more than SCU. The problem is there are still a lot of people willing to pay the big bucks.
@2manybooks - I know how you feel! SCU was at bottom of my daughters list when she began applying cause way too close to home and too familiar. Thought for sure she would end up across the country and she and we were totally good with that. But in the end, the program and local opportunities were too strong to resist. The compromise was we would consider study abroad if she got stir crazy. And she is still away, didn’t come home to sleep here till Thanksgiving like a normal away kid. While we encourage our kids to go see the world in college, I have to admit, the idea that she is more likely to settle in this area (while not a guarantee) is a nice bonus now that she stayed close.
@USAstudent06 Yes loans are considered financial aid at colleges though most people don’t realize that until they get accepted and receive “the aid.” When a school says they meet 100% of need, that is often done through loans on top of merit or grant aid. Grants are “free money” that they are actually giving you versus aid through loans.
@CADREAMIN - we’re currently not so close that S could pop home on a whim, which is probably good. But we did live much closer at one point. But - it may be moot. Another school gave a HUGE amount of merit, and SCU gave a tiny bit of merit and suggested some unsub loans for the balance. A little puzzling, but oh well - it’s all a confusing game. And he’s still got 3 more schools to go, so we’ll see how it shakes out. The school with massive merit is all the way across the country. But I’ve always maintained it’s his choice. April could be interesting around here.
@2manybooks Not surprised of other much bigger merit offers. It’s a fun time albeit stressful at times as well, to go through the decision process. I wish you well wherever it leads!
Our child was just accepted. SCU was the top choice. Grades from a Catholic high school were 4.0 and over 30 ACT (over the min Johnson criteria), with meaningful community service leadership activities (the type of service that SCU is supposed to encourage). SCU offered $10K in merit aid, which is not nearly enough. As an alum, I am very disappointed and believe SCU has lost its way. It is a good school, but not a $60K school or a net $50K school in our case. SCU is most valuable if you plan to live and work in the Bay Area, but then again the Bay Area is an expensive place to live, so the true value of an SCU-degree is arguable. SCU charges so much and gives so little simply because it can, but in the process quality middle class kids are left out because they simply can’t afford $200K or they can attend other great schools that do offer decent merit aid, like Gonzaga, Chapman, and even St. Mary’s. I’m clearly a bit bitter since I am an SCU grad, but also believe that SCU will miss out on my child more than my child will miss out on SCU.
What school offered a massive merit award?
@noonen completely understand, it is a problem that reaches further than SCU, the middle class squeeze that is super frustrating. The other schools you mentioned do offer much greater scholarships, but the engineering and CS programs at SCU are so much stronger in a great location, and they know that. Chapman is an entirely different school intellectually, Gonzaga is in Spokane and job offers would likely be NW, while St. Mary’s is not a science school. All great schools in their own way, but different than what SCU has to offer. I just think they know they have a strong competitive advantage, at least in certain majors, which shows itself in inadequate merit for many. And let’s face it, they are choosing to do this which is why they appear on the Stingy Schools list. It is not uncommon for an engineering applicant with a 4.0/4.4+w, 33+ ACT to get 6K - the token Dean’s scholarship, while not being considered for the Johnson at all. I have heard many of theses stories from my student’s friends. Agree, it blows. Wish you well!
@Noonen - Same boat (and I’m an alum of one of the SCU grad schools, too). Still love the place, but if 4.53w/35/NMSF(/F) is just Dean’s + unsub, well, the alumni office better put me on hold for a few years, especially if S turns down the full ride he has elsewhere and picks SCU. 
But really - I hope the aid is distributed to get more geographic diversity. I imagine that had something to do with the great merit elsewhere, and I really do see that as a legitimate decision on the school’s part.
A friend there now suggests that a lot may be skewed toward engineering & business, which may also disfavor certain students.Such is life. Many good schools out there, and I’m especially glad that S didn’t do ED at SCU, which was a consideration at one point. I’m grateful to have other options.
@CADREAMIN - Agree that SCU is stronger in certain areas and is in a superior area for job offers, but if you don’t intend to stay in the Bay Area or you plan to go to grad school, those advantages don’t travel. When I was there, SCU felt very much like a traditional Jesuit/Catholic school as far as social justice and teaching the whole person. After taking the tour with my child, I knew something had changed (in addition to the cost). The selling point was on being in the Silicon Valley. I got a completely different feel at St. Mary’s, our arch rival. It reminded me of the SCU I attended. As far as St. Mary’s not being a science school, I agree regarding engineering, but not life sciences. St. Mary’s med school admission rates are above 90%. Same with Gonzaga. Spokane is Spokane, but it’s a great school and job offers don’t matter if your next move is grad school. I am proud of my SCU education, but like I said earlier, I think they have lost their way (like most schools unfortunately) and are acting like a Jr. Stanford. The irony is that my child likely would not have considered SCU had I not been an alum, and we are both now disappointed in the meager merit offer because of our joint emotional attachment.
Received our EA notification via email 2 days ago. I was prepared for the low aid, but suprised to see NO merit aid offerred. Instead, we were offerred an ~$6k need based grant, $3.5k sub loan and $2k non-sub loan. My child’s stats were good, but probably not as good as some other applicants, but my question is this…could it be that SCU offered either need based grants OR merit based grants, but not BOTH?
What they said about our grants was one was need based and one was an incentive grant, which was described as neither a merit award, nor a need-based award. We are from the midwest and my son does have good stats, but I think our location played a roll. We were shocked to get it honestly.
http://www.scu.edu/financialaid/SCU-Awards.cfm If you scroll way down on this page, the Incentive Grant is listed. Our need based grant was tiny and the loan was on there too and nothing was labeled as one of those scholarships or awards on that page. I have tried to research and keep on top of things with my son’s search, but it honestly is pretty confusing and then there’s the flat out feeling of rolling the dice and really having no idea. I guess some of our state schools have straight stats based awards, so on the one hand, that takes the guessing out, but on the other, there isn’t the room to award more for specific situations.
Thanks for the response. I noticed that SCU says the incentive grant is “offerred to those NOT receiving other forms of University assistance”, so it is surprising that u got a need based grant as well, but good for u! I’m going to wait a week or two to see if we get ANY merit aid, and if not, contact SCU to see if anything can e done. After all, if I don’t ask, I know what the answer will be.
“Chapman is an entirely different school intellectually” Care to elaborate?
@CADREAMIN re: remark about Chapman
@paddleon For us, they are two very different schools. The emphasis at Chapman is very different, lots of film/art majors, OC, etc. I think it is a great school, super nice staff, admin and professors, loved the location and setting (albeit feeling super small) but that didn’t matter, it was how my daughter felt there and what she felt about her major there. They offered her full everything (tuition & R&B) along with an amazing research opportunity freshman year, but she just couldn’t feel the fit after 4 or 5 visits there (we spent a lot of time there with heads of dept and univ pres etc.). We went to all the festivities in the spring, including a private reception of wining and dining - they did it up for her and others they were recruiting, but in the end we just couldn’t feel it either. But that was only our experience. It is the perfect school for many wonderful students. She has friends there that are very happy, one in business and one in art. Everyone has to do what is right for them, fit is everything, (with some flexibility and adaptability on the student’s part).
@CADREAMIN never seem to miss an opportunity to post a thinly veiled, long winded, self-congratulatory pat on your own back post…even when asked to clarify a jab at a school with a very similar student profile and likely a consideration if Santa Clara is one of your target schools.
@noonen noticed how you didn’t respond to @CADREAMIN regarding Chapman–hat’s off to you. If you are looking at it do so with an open mind. A friend’s son who chose Chapman over Santa Clara was the highest wage earner at my oldest daughter’s five year reunion (private school with grads from IVY’s, UCLA, University of Mich., etc.). His parents had both attended Santa Clara (one undergrad and one masters) and were emotionally attached as well. Their son also turned down Berkeley because he wanted to stay in southern CA. It really is about each individual child and their interests and passions. Intellectual promise is subjective at best and is often a very unpredictable variable when considered with other factors such as emotional intelligence and plain old likability. You can be brilliant on paper and that really doesn’t equate to success if you don’t posses the skills necessary to work well with others. Grain of salt when reading these posts if it is your first time here. Lots of parents still posting about their brilliant children. Most honest posts come from the kids. I mainly use this sight to find out when decisions are out. All the puffing becomes nauseating.
@paddleon Do you have a child at Santa Clara, or applying to SCU?
@CAMidwestMom-applied ea and was accepted.