Re: jlauer95’s comment:
“Universities like Drew are not that generous with merit scholarships - which is why the point was made that the $10K per year they offer in merit scholarships is a pittance.”
As I indicated in an earlier post, Drew gave my D a very attractive aid package based primarily on merit awards. The “Drew Recognition Award” can range up to more than $20K. She got notification of that fairly early in the process as an Early Action student, even before we had filed FAFSA. In addition, she got a Presidential Scholarship in the Arts, which is a competitive scholarship (up to $10k) that a student must apply for, offered in three areas: creative writing, theater, visual arts. All that said, it may be that Drew (and other institutions) is more likely to distribute non-need based $ to students with certain characteristics. For example, Debruns & I are both from New England; and I think Drew is interested in attracting more top students from outside metro NYC.
The recognition award was the one my son received. That coupled with the grant was VERY attractive. If we hadn’t had some past financial problems, it would of been even better. Trying to “catch up” with bills and losing most of the grant was hard. That said, grants can waver, but the award stays. For most people,the amount we received with just that would be enough since it rivals a lot of state schools(w- R&B) We also had a free application for EA admission and were told of the award by December 15. That was nice…other EA schools made us wait for awards but at least we knew we had that starting out.
I know they wanted more students outside of their area and that long with good grades was one of the reasons they really would of loved to of had the student from CA. They did seem according to my son, to of gotten a pretty good spread across the US in freshman students, maybe not a lot, but he mentioned, Texas, mid-west, Maine, Florida and international students.
Aid is not always free money - schools will often say that you qualify for $XXXX in financial aid and then you’ll often find out that a lot of the money is low interest loans and/or work-study programs.
This is very deceiving because many schools are very vocal that they provide “aid” for those who qualify. Then you find out that they will mostly say that you’re qualified for loans, work-study, etc. Usually, only the “well-endowed” schools really can “give” large amounts of money away in free aid.
Scholarships and grants don’t have to be repaid. Merit scholarships are usually based on SAT/ACT test scores, GPA’s, National Merit Finalist standing, etc.
My posts about Drew University were based on Drew’s current scholarship website - since that is what parents want to know - current info. My posts were not based on what Drew may have generously done in the past. If you go to their website and look up scholarships, you will see that they are not as generous as what some of you may have experienced in the past. They also make it quite clear that whatever you are awarded, those awards will NOT increase as tuition goes up each year.
My info on Drew was from last year, but I haven’t checked the site recently. What I found though, was amounts were not really given to the Achievement Awards which my son received. They varied in amounts from posts from students ranging from12,000-22,000 but that was just 10 students or so, not all the students that received them. Many people there also pay the whole thing, so a good endowment (very good for a small school) and students paying full tuition helps.
This link is from Drew’s site:
<a href=“http://www.drew.edu/depts/finaid.aspx?id=7327[/url]”>http://www.drew.edu/depts/finaid.aspx?id=7327</a>
Again, amounts aren’t really given, but are left up to them. With us it was guaranteed for 4 years, the grant wasn’t though, and study abroad in my sons case, wasn’t included. (some students he knows got that also,but less money overall)
I agree with jlauer. I could never figure out how a college could assume you will take out a loan and then call it “financial aid”. Heck, I can take out a loan on my own, thank you very much! Also, my students can find work on their own any time if they want to (and do). To me, the bottom line is how much FREE money is awarded. Work and loans don’t count as “financial aid” in my book.
Greetings. I’ve been away from this discussion for awhile.
jlauer sez: “My posts about Drew University were based on Drew’s current scholarship website - since that is what parents want to know - current info. My posts were not based on what Drew may have generously done in the past.”
For the record, my daughter is entering Drew as a freshman in the fall. That’s as current as you can get! As I said in my earlier post, I think a lot of schools like Drew use “merit scholarships” strategically. So, for example, if you’re from NJ, where Drew is located, you might not be as likely to get merit aid as someone from New England or CA. Drew is a nationally ranked LAC; but the more prestigious LACs (Amherst et al) can pretty much assemble the kind of class that they want. Consequently, I suspect that merit aid from those schools may be harder to come by.
Meanwhile, jlauer is absolutely right that my D’s scholarship amounts will remain the same even if tuition goes up. Also, regarding travel abroad, Drew’s policy is that all financial aid is available for Drew’s own programs; that’s not currently the case for approved programs offered through other institutions (though I’ve heard that may change). If your S or D hopes to go abroad, they should definitely check out their prospective school’s policy re: application of financial aid.
Here was our experience with merit aid. Our daughter (with strong SAT scores, ranked third in her class) got good offers from Oberlin, and Northwestern and Duke. The others – Kenyon, Davidson, USC, Tufts, Boston College – were TERRIBLE!! They offered $5,000 or less!!
My was one of the 50,000 national merit whatever this spring and will likely advance to the next stage of competition (218 WA) this fall. She took this SATs earlier this month and scored well (cr 760 m 720 wr 790) without studying. I am a public school teacher so we of course have limited financial resources.
I am looking for advice on where to begin the college search. My daughter is receiving a ton of mail (including ivies) encouraging her to apply. Many ivies mention need-blind admissions and that they meet the financial needs of admitted students. What exactly does that mean??
We are currently sorting through the mail offers and searching for schools that are a good match for her interests (strong creative writing and polisci programs, good vocal music/theater opportunities-- including clubs,etc and small school in desirable college town and/or urban area). What else should we be doing to be “smart” school shoppers??
Financial aid comes in two varieties - need-based and merit-based. All colleges offer need-based. These colleges will use the FAFSA (and possibly also the CSS Profile) to determine your EFC - expected family contribution. There are online calculators that can help you estimate your EFC. Please do this now so you can find out what you can afford. Colleges that provide 100% of your need will give you an aid package in the amount of the college’s COA (cost of attendance) less the EFC. Warnings:
Not all colleges meet 100% of need.
What colleges calculate as your EFC can vary, and is probably more than you want to pay.
The aid packages will vary - some colleges provide mostly loans (must be repaid), some will be in the form of grants/scholarships (don’t need to be repaid), or some combination. Some loans may be subsidized. There may be a work study offer included in the package.
Outside scholarships won by the student are used against the aid package. In other words, you are still stuck with having to pay the EFC. Although colleges will vary in how they treat the scholarship - some will use it to reduce the amount of loans in the aid package, some will use it against grants.
As for merit aid, not all colleges offer it. The elite colleges (generally top 10-20 in the US News rankings, but there are exceptions) only offer need-based aid. You will need to do your homework here to find out which ones offer merit-based aid.
Then there are the “merit within need” colleges, such as Colgate. If your student is designated as a Colgate Alumni Memorial Scholar, then you get “preferential packaging” and your need-based award package will be grant/scholarship only - no loans.
The most important advice I can give is to watch the deadlines. Some colleges may want you to apply for financial aid before the application deadline. Be prepared to do your taxes as soon as you get your W-2s. Get familiar with the FAFSA and Profile forms (both can be prepared and submitted online).
NationalMeritMom, you may have more success in suggestions for particular schools if you post the question for your d in the College Search & Selection forum. And congrats on her scores!
national merit mom: top schools that offered NMF son great merit/not need: Swarthmore, Duke, Case Western, RPI, our state school.
He is full ride at our state school with nothing but great things to say.
fireflyscout,
that was an excellent post
nationalmeritmom,
do thread searches and internet searches on “merit aid.” curmudgeon’s posts on merit aid are helpful so please review his posts, especially those on merit aid at selected LAC’s.
on one of d’s visits, the guides (who were nmf’s) informed us that each of them had applied to 10 to 14 schools and that the make-up of each financial aid package was different. these 2 students ended up at an out of state public flagship university which gives X amount of $$$'s per year to nmf’s.
check out the national merit merit aid at Baylor, Univ. of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Univ. of Central Florida, Texas A & M, Texas Tech, etc. There are a number of universities that offer generous merit aid to nmf’s. check with your state schools and with the state schools in bordering states. check with private colleges as well as to what merit aid may be available to nmf’s and nmsf’s.
as has been mentioned, some schools have earlier deadlines for scholarships and admissions than others. perhaps you can start a spreadsheet to track this information.
there is a website “peterson’s college search” which you might find helpful. pick up copies of the Fiske Guide and Peterson’s Competitive Colleges at your local bookstore.
Great posts above. Being from WA also, I’ll just add that I’ve noticed there seem to be many LACs in the south and southeast that offer good merit aid, but you don’t hear of so many in the west. Some colleges offer small numbers of very competitive “named scholarships,” while others give nearly automatic merit awards to NMF’s: e.g. USC gives half tuition; Arizona State and U of Arizona give lots of money (look at the honors colleges specifically). I’ve heard that Lewis and Clark and Willamette are good for merit aid, and Whitman to a slightly lesser extent.
You may be less concerned with merit aid if your child qualifies for need-based aid.
My son received a full tuition scholarship from The College of St. Rose. Several other schools came close to that but not the full ride. In addition he was accepted to their 5 year Masters in Accounting program. Since he will be going in with 33 accepted credits i asked how that would affect his scholarship. I was told he will get 4 years so if he finished the 5 yrs in 4 then he will have a full ride to his masters. A deal we could not pass up! I decided to ask the stats on how many full scholarships were given out and the reply is below. I was VERY surprised at the amount!! making this a very good school to consider for those with high SAT/GPA/Rankings!
From the admissions office…
“This year we offered the Carondolet Scholarship to 203 students (which comes out to 8% of all accepted students). To better put that number in to perspective, we had 3,797 applications from first year students (current high school seniors). Out of that, 2,533 first year students were accepted. A student has to be accepted by the college in order to qualify for any of our merit based scholarships”
Nationalmeritmom - I forgot to define need-blind admissions. That means that a college will consider your student’s application without taking into account if financial aid has been requested (in other words, the college is rich enough to be able to fund all the aid requests of its accepted students).
Then there is “need-aware” admissions - the college will have their financial aid budget in mind when they are making acceptance decisions.
May I suggest Rhodes College? It’s one of my favorites, offers excellent merit aid, excellent poli sci program, good choral group, located in Memphis. And the most gorgeous campus I’ve seen.
The first part is correct. Need-blind admissions means whether you have need or not is not a factor in deciding to admit you. This does NOT, however, mean that they will be able to fund all the aid requests of accepted students. You need to look for the words “we meet 100% of need…” Some schools are need-blind for admissions purposes, but do NOT meet 100% of need (In other words, they gap you.) HTHs
