^^Our state U (and the one in the state next door to us) offer very poor merit aid. Highest merit scholarship available is 7K (24,000 in state tuition at our state U; 45,000 at the neighboring U). Selective private LAC seems the more affordable option. Much better grant and merit aid.
For amory4
Where are you located? Junior is currently torn between two. Actually he wants one and I the other for different reasons. One in VT and one in NY, both god schools.
To Mindysu- We were in the exact same situation last year. Our daughter applied to the top liberal arts schools, most of which do not offer merit aid and we did not qualify for financial aid. We had saved and were prepared to pay full price. One school, not in her top five choices due to location, offered her a full scholarship with tuition, room and board for 4 years. What a choice! 50k per year or free. She decided (with our encouragement) that it was too good an offer to turn down, essentially she just earned her first 200k.
It was not an easy decision for her, and she second guessed herself at the end of the summer and was not enthusiastic about going. However, like most kids, she made friends, got caught up in college life, and really likes her school. She has the small classes and the personal interaction in the classroom that she was looking for. Best of all, she knows that her college fund is there for grad school, which is part of her plan. In addition, we are able to give her an allowance that enables her to do a little more off campus (dinners out, a weekend trip) than we would have otherwise. Plus, she gets some extra mentoring as a merit scholar.
^^My son applied to some of the top LACās (which were very long shots for him); he also applied to the very next tier. The nice thing about these schools is that I believe they are every bit as good (they just donāt attract the droves of applicants because they lack the name recognition) and many of them do offer attractive merit scholarships in addition to providing generous need-based grants.
I have found that in Kentucky, it seems pretty easy to get a lot of money to state schools. One of my kids got five different offers of full tuition scholarship. All to state schools. He had a 31 ACT but got numerous awards in school and had leadership positions in ECs. He was ranked 3 out of 110 with a 4.0 GPA. The scholarship he ended up taking was at the University of Louisville with a full tuition, room, board and books scholarship.
Private schools were a different matter. I think that the best scholarship he got out of several private schools was just half tuition. All of those were in our state also.
He is graduating in four years next month, has no debt, got a good education and loved every minute of it. So far he has been accepted into grad school at Rutgers, University of Michigan and University of Cincinnati.
State schools should definitely not be discounted just because they are not ivy league schools. The important thing is the education. :o)
<a href=āhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html[/url]ā>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html</a>
Schools with both a high percentage of merit aid recipients (>20%) and high average awards (>$15K) are shown below.
Legend:
Schoolā¦ non-need kids with awards %;
$ average non-need award
(# non-need awards / # non-need freshman)
Americanā¦36%; $16,086 (367/1027)
Brandeisā¦25%; $17,940 (128/513)
Case Westernā¦71%; $20,329 (189 / 265)
Davidsonā¦21%;$19,079 (57/269)
Furmanā¦50%;$16,230 (154/307)
GWā¦27%; $22,632 (441/1624)
Riceā¦35%; $15,912 (176/508)
Among these, the most highly ranked schools are Rice (USNWR #17 university) and Davidson (#9 LAC).
MOM23 - do you know if those scholarships in Kentucky are available to OOS students?
Here in Mid-Michigan, Saginaw Valley State University gives a full tuition scholarship for 3.7 GPA and 28 ACT:
[SVSU</a> - Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid: Academic](<a href=āhttp://www.svsu.edu/financialaid/types-of-financial-aid/scholarships/academic.html#PRES]SVSUā>http://www.svsu.edu/financialaid/types-of-financial-aid/scholarships/academic.html#PRES)
wdaveo: I believe that most of the scholarships that my son got were available to OOS students. Some needed no more than an application to the college and others needed a separate application for the big scholarships.
Take TCU off the listā¦
Brandeis basically plans to discontinue merit aid (non-need) in the future. The numbers posted above may be accurate for the past, but will not be so in the future.
Hi Everyone
We are from Canada and I have a quick question. Basically my son wants to apply to NYU Tisch early decision. Based on everything I have read to you think he will be looked at that he is serious about NYU can this increases his chances of getting in vs if he applied regular decision and they really like him they might offer him a spot and merit ad in the hopes of luring him to accept with them? Does this makes sense. Iām just worried if we apply early decision they know you donāt have any other choices out there so they are more apt to not accept you and take chances for who applies regular decision.
Thanks in advance for you help.
^Youāre correct on both counts. He is more likely to be admitted ED, but more likely to receive financial aid (need- or merit-based, since NYU doesnāt guarantee to meet full need anyway) IF he is admitted RD. Take your pick.
tk21769ā¦
Can you share with us where you collected this data? Iād like to look at other schools.
Thanks
collegesearchnhā
Follow tkās link to our earlier thread. <a href=āhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/...ata-set-6.html[/url]ā>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/...ata-set-6.html</a>
The last post includes 57 schools, hopefully some you are looking for. The procedure for torturing the common dataset numbers to confess this data is given in post 14, and a way to get to the raw CDS numbers from collegedata.com is given in post 41.
Keep in mind that the purpose of that thread was to identify the percentage of non-need students who got merit awards and the average size of those awards. (Non-need students defined as those who do not qualify for need-based financial aid)
Also note that these numbers may be a couple of years oldā¦
Would love to follow the linkā¦seems not to be working.
Love this thread!
sorry, try this
<a href=āhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html[/url]ā>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html</a>
or tkās link in post 846
Mom23 - I agree with your analysis of KY schools. My DD (and I) were dead set on Dayton. She was awarded Daytonās largest available scholarship. That all sounds great except it still left us paying $20,000 out ot the $40,000+ bill. I pleaded and begged them to give more. They would not budge even though she is a National Merit Scholar w/ 4.0 GPA, Gov Scholar, athlete, activeā¦ KY schools offered her a full ride (tuition, books, room, meals) on top of the KEES money and outside scholarships. Here we come Western Kentucky University!!!
Iāve started a survey. Would love feedback. <a href=āhttps://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dF92U3l0d2h0RV9CdW9DNS0yMV9WTlE6MQ[/url]ā>This survey is 100% CONFIDENTIAL; Please spread the word. THANK YOU!
University of Mississippi offers many merit scholarships (you donāt have to live in Miss.) and also has the Sally M. Barksdale Honors College. We visted, and were impressed. Total cost for 1 year, including living expenses: $19K.
My daughter will be a hs senior next year and wants to be an engineer. She is top 10% at her school. ACT 33, SAT 2250, lots of CS, AP, 4.2 weighted gpa, works on projects with local engineering firm. Any suggestions on schools with great engineering programs that give full merit scholarships?