Many of the school sponsored scholarships which I am applying for do not give back results until very late, as late as April/May. Financial aid is basically my number one priority in choosing a school. This puts me in a dilemma because I need to make admission decision by May 1st or so and it is advantageous to decide early because of being able to reserve my spot and apply/accept for housing. Advice? Ideas?
By school sponsored, do you mean college sponsored? My D did not encounter this situation at all. She had FinAid packages in hand well before the standard May 1 reply date, including merit scholarships as well as need based aid.
I know some small local scholarships are awarded later, like something a credit union might award.
Yes, what schools are you talking about? My D had her merit awards in December and finaid awards in March/April.
The very vast majority of colleges give both need based and/or merit awards prior to May 1 which is the deadline day for choosing a college to matriculate to.
what schools be specific scholarships are you talking about? Perhaps if you tell, folks will be able to respond to the accuracy…or not…of your concern.
I’ve seen this happen, usually at lower tier or smaller private schools. You just need to apply early and push for your information before the deadline.
A lot of big publics (like Texas A&M) ask for a housing deposit early on. Some will refund it by a certain date, but others don’t (I don’t think A&M does). You are right that the April notification date is late, but that’s the way it is.
If it’s a big public you’re talking about you can rest easy assuming you won’t get much aid from them unless you happen to get a specific scholarship you apply for. You may have better luck with getting aid from privates. (but again, you won’t get packages until the March/April time-frame).