Scholarships at W&M

<p>Does anyone know about scholarships at W&M? Are they possible to get for out of state students? I noticed they had a diversity scholarship; and was curious about the stats required for that, if anyone knows how much it is for, and if it is for in state only (D is hispanic). I know how hard it is for OOS students to just get in, so I imagine a scholarship for OOS must be next to impossible. Thank you!</p>

<p>When I went on a tour there this summer, they told me that getting scholarships was very, very, very hard as they only have a limited number. Sorry I don’t know more than that.</p>

<p>they have the Monroe program… but that is research money, not help with tuition. There are “College Scholars” (which have possibly been renamed in the last couple years), but there are only a handful of those each year. I don’t know anything about diversity scholarships.</p>

<p>A girl from my daughter’s school (OOS) got merit money, but I don’t know how much she received; it was not full tuition according to her parents. She was ranked first in her class, NM finalist (got the NM $$$), All-State Chorus, played a couple of sports not very well, pianist, lots of APs with great scores, etc., etc. The college counselor was also a W&M grad. Oh, and she was only 16.</p>

<p>You may be referring to the Murray Scholarships, soccerguy?</p>

<p>And there’s this helpful link:
[William</a> & Mary - Scholarships / Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/faqs/finaid/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/faqs/finaid/index.php)</p>

<p>The “Diversity” or “William and Mary Scholarship” is defined as:</p>

<p>“The William and Mary Scholarship is awarded to students who have experienced extreme adversity and/or would add to the diversity of our campus. Awards are worth the amount of in-state tuition each year. Selection is made from all those who apply for admission; no separate application is required.”</p>

<p>This is separate from the “College Scholars” or “Murray Scholars” which is applied for separately (there for 4 or 5 awards per year - here’s a list of current scholars to give you an idea of the level of competition.)</p>

<p>I don’t know much about the “W&M Scholarships” numbers, but I’d guess the numbers are similar (like 5 a year.) So, yes, scholarship money of <em>any</em> type is hard to come by as a state school, OOS even more so.</p>

<p>My daughter, who graduated Salutatorian (out of 840 students) was accepted OOS to W&M last year. She was offered a $3,459.00 Subsidized Stafford Loan, a $2,041.00 Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, $0.00 work study, and a $34,500 cost-of-attendance bill to our family. Bottom Line: Unless your are one of five students awarded a “College Scholars” or “Murray Scholars” award, W&M will not offer anything to OOS students beyond a Stafford loan, as they just don’t have the financial resources to do otherwise. (Full Disclosure: My daughter is currently attending Harvard for less than the cost of our own in-state tuition.)</p>

<p>I mean, you all seem to be saying that it’s harder for OOS students to get merit aid. There are what, 5 scholarships in total? None of them are specially for in-state students, so they are all equally hard to get for everyone.</p>

<p>WM just doesn’t have much money to throw around to people; this is definitely something you should know before you apply. Don’t expect to get any money, even if you have a 2400/number 1 rank.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the feedback!</p>

<p>gibby – Sorry, but no. I’m OOS and got a generous grant. But thanks for redirecting the conversation from merit money to financial aid just to complain. Nice!</p>

<p>I’m getting confused by the different terms we’re using in this thread. “Scholarship,” which the OP asked about, is often thought to be merit aid, but it can be a means of awarding aid to students with financial need (merit within need). “Grants” are usually need-based awards. The W & M website states that there are three forms of merit aid available: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>The William & Mary Scholars award, awarded to about 20 entering freshman each year who offer diversity to the campus; it’s equal to the cost of in-state tuition and fees. No separate application is required. </p></li>
<li><p>Murray Scholars, currently offered to 4 incoming students with plans to increase that number to 11; it provides many benefits, including “partial payment of their tuition,” per the website. Potential Murray Scholars must be nominated by their VA high schools or “select” OOS schools (this is similar to the Jefferson Scholars program at UVA); finalists are interviewed on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>The Monroe Scholars program, offered to about 8-10 percent of each accepted freshman class. The benefits include a $3000 summer study stipend, early registration for first semester of freshman year, possible housing in Monroe Hall (sometimes there are overflows), and some special academic opportunities (lectures, etc.). No scholarship money for tuition; no separate application required. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Here’s what the W & M website says about awarding aid to OOS students:

</p>

<p>W & M is a state institution. It makes sense to me that they attempt to meet the financial need of instate students before students from other states. But I believe they do not favor in-state over OOS students for their few merit awards.</p>

<p>Yes, the whole point of the thread was to discuss the various merit-based scholarships WM has. There are the 4 Murray Scholars and the 20 WM Scholars/Diversity whatever things, and none of these are at all related to being in or out of state. Those 24 or whatever people are the only students out of the incoming 1400 or so students that will receive ANY merit-based money.</p>

<p>Gibby got a little off-topic talking about financial aid. I am sure that in-state students have an edge getting financial aid, but that is not was the OP was asking for.</p>

<p>W&M will not offer anything to OOS students beyond a Stafford loan, as they just don’t have the financial resources to do otherwise.>></p>

<p>My DD was offered an $8K grant for each of four years as an OOS. She was not a national merit scholar, but had high test scores, was a valedictorian and had what (in my unbiased opinion, lol) were outstanding EC’s. So they do give some money to some OOS. They called it an academic grant. Our EFC was very close to COA.</p>

<p>I think we all need to keep in mind that financial aid (loans, grants, work study) is first determined by financial need (the FAFSA in W&M’s case). W&M does have need-based funds for out-of-state though not as many as for Virginian’s. W&M can meet up to 80% of an out-of-state family’s demonstrated need through need-based funds (work study, loans, grants).</p>

<p>Merit-based scholarships are awarded by the Admission Office. There are only about 45 a year that provide tuition assistance (W&M Scholar and Murray School) plus Monroe Scholars (research monies). Every student who applies to W&M is considered for every merit-based scholarship available and they are just as likely to go to out-of-state students as in-state students</p>