<p>According to their website Stanford only gives need-based aid. It is also known, however, that they give some scholarships to athletes. Does anyone know if they make exceptions for non-athletes?</p>
<p>No I don't think so. The athletic scholarships comes from an endowment that is controlled specifically by the athletic department. I don't think the admissions office has any control over it.</p>
<p>I've heard from all my friends (and a cousin who goes there) that Stanford doesn't give merit-based aid. Even if they did, it's not explicitly stated and may involve selling your soul to the devil. So that's why my cousin said there are a lot of children from low-income families and a lot from high-income ones. But very very few from the middle.</p>
<p>Does that mean I should save my graduation presents (laptop and car) for later as not to look pretentious/make anyone feel bad?</p>
<p>Stanford doesn't give anything for National Merit, do they? Should I even bother putting down Stanford as my school of choice on the NMSF form?</p>
<p>No. It might do you some good to put somewhere else down.</p>
<p>"Does that mean I should save my graduation presents (laptop and car) for later as not to look pretentious/make anyone feel bad?"</p>
<p>You are not allowed to have a car on campus your freshman year. After that you can bring it - everyone loves friends with cars ;)...</p>
<p>You will want to have a laptop (and most people do).</p>
<p>Heh, really? You administratively not ALLOWED? I hear some people make friends with older people and take their spot. Good idea/bad idea? Yay laptop. Yay end-of-GHz-race and start-of-core-count-race.</p>
<p>I guess if you have a cousin that is a current student, that could open up some possibilities, but as a general rule, you are not allowed to have a car on campus your freshman year.</p>
<p>Nope, they don't make exceptions. Stanford is pretty firm about the need-based aid thing. As someone else said, no, no NMS, either. If you win one of the non-school affiliated National Merit Scholarships, you can bring your money with you -- and they'll even use it to offset your 'Student Contribution', instead of deducting it from your aid award like they used to. A smaller and smaller number of schools are participating in the National Merit Scholarship program, so you should check carefully before you list final choices, to ensure that you're putting down ones that actually participate.</p>
<p>"you should check carefully before you list final choices, to ensure that you're putting down ones that actually participate"</p>
<p>you can change the school you put on NMS application later on - there is a card for that in the packet. Just don't forget to do it if you end up going to school that participates in NMS.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you win one of the non-school affiliated National Merit Scholarships, you can bring your money with you -- and they'll even use it to offset your 'Student Contribution', instead of deducting it from your aid award like they used to.
[/quote]
This suddenly became a lot more relevant to me, as I recently won a non-school affiliated NM scholarship...</p>
<p>Is "student contribution" referring to loans/work-study, or EFC?</p>
<p>
<p>Is "student contribution" referring to loans/work-study, or EFC?
Anxiously awaiting a response to this one too. Stanford refers to Student Contribution as separate from loans/work-study, which they call self-help. </p>
<p>The Stanford website makes it seem like NM scholarships would go towards self-help: <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/financing/5_2_faqs.html#five%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/financing/5_2_faqs.html#five</a></p>
<p>A confirmation of TrinSF's statement would be really nice.</p>
<p>
<p>Is "student contribution" referring to loans/work-study, or EFC?
</p>
<p>How about asking the Financial Aid office? They respond to email. I'm just a parent! :)</p>