<p>schoolfinder: the scholarships are paid out of donated funds thus their names.
They do not come from the general funds but from funds designated by the benefactor to be used for scholarships.</p>
<p>Well, nothing in the mail for me today.</p>
<p>me too Mallomar. Has anyone received good news in the mail though or are they all scholarship rejection letters?</p>
<p>I know this kind of lament doesn't bring much sympathy, but we are caught in that middle-income limbo, where we stretch our incomes each month to pay the mortgage, cars, our daughter's tuition, etc.,yet the FAFSA thinks we still have enough pocket change to pay a $43,976 college bill each year. Absolutely ludicrous, but like I said, I know I'm not going to get much sympathy on CC for that. </p>
<p>The fact is, we are certainly willing to pay for our daughter to attend college. We have a good idea of what our financial breaking point is, and we're prepared to meet it. But at a private university it's going to take some "help" from their end. Some merit-based aid.</p>
<p>No reasonable parent could have expected their child to do more than our daughter did -- 2350 SAT, 4.2 weighted gpa, National Merit finalist. It hurts to have to tell her no.</p>
<p>S did hear and get offered both a scholarship and the university scholars program. My D had statistics similiar to your D, graduated from HS in three years and had done some pretty amazing things but did not get one a few years back. The most qualified young lady I have ever had as a student who got accepted about 9-10 years ago to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and a few others along with getting the Emory Scholar was nominated but did not get a WashU Scholarship. I do not know what area your daughter applied to but I sure would not question her qualifications or get too bumbed that she did not get one.It is a bit of a "crap shoot". We were in your situation and had to figure out a way for D to go. It was her ED school. It has been a financial challange for all involved but she has no regrets, loves it ,and had found it to be a perfect fit. Good luck</p>
<p>Several posts have stated that their S or D is a National Merit Finalist. There are free-rides out there, just not at private schools. I imagine that these students have parents who have been tremendously supportive throughout the student's life and will continue to be so. It is not a "failure" of either the parent or the student for the student to attend a state school. </p>
<p>As these post indicate, the competition for Merit$$$ means MANY, MANY highly qualified students are not going to receive any. A student with stellar grades and out of sight standardized test scores probably can understand the probability of any one student getting merit$$. Don't under estimate your S or D and perhaps you might want to give yourself a break too.</p>
<p>FYI--I'm in the same boat. My son's Nat Merit, 35 ACT, 4.0++ gpa, AP's galore. However, I explained the financial facts of life and he's dealing with it.</p>
<p>Thanks, oldolddad and eleph. You are both very encouraging. We knew it was a longshot, but it's still disappointing. ...
Shoe66--I SO relate to you. We're in a situation similar to yours. FAFSA says our family contribution, with TWO girls in college, will be $47,000. Uh, ok. Of course, that's impossible for parents living on middle-class journalists' pay. (Although we made the mistake of paying off our home over the past 20 years, and stuffing aside a few bucks for our retirement. I'm sure that worked against us.) ... Your daughter and mine are clearly very bright and talented, but finances may dictate that they display that brilliance and talent somewhere other than Wash U.!</p>
<p>Right. It's easy for us parents to beat up ourselves today after receiving the "no scholarship" letter. We'll deal with it as a family and move on, I'm sure.</p>
<p>As a dad, though, I find it increasingly hard to explain to my daughter where the justice is in the fact that the students at the top of her graduating class are not going to their colleges of choice, but other kids at her school are.
There are a couple of girls, for instance, who were able to get need-based scholarships to attend her high school. One drives a BMW and the other has a 2006-model car. My D borrows our car when she needs one on weekends, but she knows that not owning her own car was one of the sacrifices she had to make for attending such a good high school. These two "needy" girls are headed to Harvard and Columbia. Probably driving up there.
They played the system and it worked for them. I just find it hard to explain the alleged fairness of that to my daughter. </p>
<p>It's going to be interesting to see the dynamics of the college landscape 15-20 years from now. How healthy are colleges like WUSTL going to be after a full generation of turning their backs on the middle class?</p>
<p>I've wondered the same thing. It's depressing to be caught in the middle. Not "poor" enough for much or any need-based aid, not affluent enough to pay $45,000 a year for a school like WUSTL that nixed our merit scholarship dreams. ... I've known a fair number of kids like you described. Some of them are bright and seem to, for whatever reasons, get accepted to and offered big bucks to attend highly prestigious schools (ivys, etc.). In my situation, I've got an incredibly bright, high-testing, talented over-achiever, who may eventually end up at a state school or a second/third tier LAC that offers merit money. Those appear to be our best options. ... I know I'm sounding whiney, and I know she'll do just fine anywhere she goes, but the fairness issue still bothers me.</p>
<p>shoe66 - I am sorry that your daughter was not invited to the interview weekend. The competition for these merit scholarshipd is very intense and unfortunately some very deserving people may not be selected. My kid is in two scholars programs at WashU and based on that experience I must disagree with your statement about turning their back on the middle class. Most of the students that she has met in these programs, along with the parents we have met - are middle class or below. Granted there may not be enough funds to offer a scholarship for every deserving candidate, but from what I have seen and experienced, the scholars programs have not turned their back on the middle class.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that outside of the "apply for scholarships", WashU offers a considerable number of other grants and scholarships. I recomend that you contact the financial aid office - most people have found them to be very accomodating.</p>
<p>wow, this forum has some dedicated parentsXD sorry to hear about the rejections. but let's hope that WashU grants generous aid :)</p>
<p>i think my sad news and happy news always come together. i got a rejection letter from the scholarship program too today:( i was quite disappointed. my family can't afford WashU w/out some scholarship. but just five minutes ago, a lady from the Vandy ENGAGE program in medicine called. i'm a finalist (yay!) WashU's Scholar Program is still my number 1 :p, but i might go to Vandy if they give more aid.</p>
<p>Congratulations about Vandy, sakuragirl! What a wonderful honor!</p>
<p>So are the letters only for regrets then?</p>
<p>ST2,</p>
<p>Congratulations on your daughter being in two scholars programs at Wash U. I truly mean that.</p>
<p>But your post reads like something we'd get from WUSTL. In fact, part of it reads exactly like the letter that we got today. I know the competition was tough, blah-blah-blah. And I have no doubt that some of your daughter's scholar mates' parents are driving older-model cars, etc. </p>
<p>All I'm saying is that I know what my family's financial realities are, and they are similar to many people's nowadays. We don't have $40,000 a year to spend on tuition. We need some form of merit-based aid for our daughter to attend a school like Wash U. The letter today flatly stated that she wouldn't be receiving any academic scholarships. They could not have been more discouraging.</p>
<p>I could list my daughter's full credentials and even quote her HS counselor, who said she was "the kind of graduate who comes along only once every 10 or so years." But what's the point? I'm too old to dance naked for any college's financial aid office.</p>
<p>Did you fill out the FAFSA?</p>
<p>Shoe66--I feel your pain.
Eleph--We did fill out the FAFSA. Very discouraging, because it looks like everything we've tried to do right over the years is going to hurt us now. If we'd been much more extravagant with our hard-earned money, instead of pinching every penny, driving ancient, high-mileage cars, etc., paying off the mortgage, etc., we'd probably qualify for a ton of need-based aid. ... So, for us, a school like Wash U. is only a dream without merit money. Alas.</p>
<p>Hindoo: Exactly the same here. Sometimes it does feel like one is getting punished for living an economically conservative life. Fortunately, there are a lot of good schools that give academic money to high calibur students. I can not tell you how many mddile class students I have had who got int Ivy league or other privates schools but ended who up at Case, Tulane or state schools with big scholarships because the FAFSA calculations shut them out for need based money at their top choice.</p>
<p>1) If you haven't heard from Danforth yet, does that mean you won't be a semi-finalist?</p>
<p>2) If you do not go to semi-finalist wekeend for Danforth (in other words, got rejected from Danforth), does that also mean that your chances for Ivies and other schools with "acceptance rates" similar to Danforth's are also poor? I'm basing this reasoning off the fact that apparently 2000-3000 people apply and only 200 get nominated, an acceptance rate of 6.67%-10%, which is comprable to HYSPM acceptance rates and only slightly lower than acceptance rates at most other highly selective schools (including Wash U). So if you didn't beat the odds for Danforth, does that mean you probably won't beat the odds for other top schools (including Wash U) as well? </p>
<p>I applied to Danforth to help out my parents, but now that I haven't heard anything, I'm beginning to wonder whether my rejection serves is a harbinger of more thin envelopes from highly selective institutions to come...</p>
<p>My D is in a similar situation to all above posts. We are still awaiting word from Wash U on scholarships, but are not feeling very hopeful. It seems those with an EFC right around 40,000 are in the worst situation, not making enough to really pay without huge loans, but making too much (and having saved too much!) to qualify. We are just waiting for April and all the decisions and packages to come in, and then making a decision based on many factors. I keep hoping that if D gets into a school that is a great match for her, somehow the financing will come together. Otherwise, we live in Ca, so the UC's are always a good option, but D really likes the feel of smaller schools...Good luck to all, Hindo, oldolddad, shoe66, maybe a reasonable package will come through!</p>
<p>newmom:My son did get scholarship offer last week from WashU, and he is extremely lucky to have had several offers from top schools. For once the lottery was not a bust for us.</p>