Schools known for good merit aid

Parents Forum
881

We have been fortunate to finally land a truly exceptional merit scholarship. But our experiences has been that there are only very few truly merit scholarships. Here is the summary of what was the final tally based on our limited experience:

The best way to get the merit is to get National Merit Scholarship. This we found opened up many doors.

For engineering, here is the best we could land:

1)UTDallas – AES/McDermott
2) Texas A&M – National Merit
3) USC – Trustess

These we found very generous!

882

^^^^ I don’t think any National University is as generous as Bama. Bama has over 550 National Scholars on Campus…and has about 2000 students with the Presidential full tuition scholarship.

Bama has announced that it is not changing its ASSURED MERIT scholarships for stats for the next application season. If you have the stats, and you apply on time, then you get the scholarship.

And…if you’re majoring in Engineering or Computer Science, you’ll be given another scholarship to stack on top of the University scholarship…

**The University of Alabama Scholarships 2011-2012

In-State Scholarship Offers**

Presidential

  • Students who have a 30-36 ACT or 1330-1600 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive in-state tuition for four years.

Collegiate Scholarship

  • Students who have a 28-29 ACT or 1250-1320 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $3,500 per year or $14,000 over four years.

Capstone Scholarship

  • Students who have a 27 ACT or 1210-1240 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year or $6,000 over four years.

Out-of-State Scholarship Offers

Presidential

  • Students who have a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive out-of-state tuition scholarship for four years.

UA Scholar

  • Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive two-thirds the cost of tuition scholarship for four years.

Collegiate Scholarship

  • Students who have a 28-29 ACT or 1250-1320 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $3,500 per year or $14,000 over four years.

Capstone Scholarship

  • Students who have a 27 ACT or 1210-1240 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year or $6,000 over four years.

Note: Full tuition scholarships and 2/3 tuition scholarships do increase in value as tuition increases. :slight_smile:

National Merit and National Achievement Finalists

Students receive the following:

<ul>
<li>Value of tuition for four years</li>
<li>Four years of on-campus housing (includes honors housing if selected)</li>
<li>$1,000 per year University National Merit or National Achievement scholarship for four years</li>
<li>One-time allowance of $2,000 for use in summer research or international study</li>
<li>Laptop computer</li>
</ul>

The University’s application for admission and application for scholarships must be completed by December 1. Transcripts and test scores must also be sent. Only scores from a “best sitting” are used.

Final test dates for scholarship consideration: ACT - October '11. SAT - November '11. GPA can be weighted if listed on transcript*. Only grades 9 - 11 are used.

<ul>
<li>If your school doesn’t list a weighted GPA on the transcript, if the GC writes it on the transcript and signs it, that will be accepted. </li>
</ul>

College of Engineering Scholarships 2011-2012

The following College of Engineering scholarships are in addition to the University-level scholarships offered.

College of Engineering In-State Scholarships:

<ul>
<li>
Students who have a 30-36 ACT or 1330-1600 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $2,500 per year for four years.
</li>
<li>
Students who have a 27-29 ACT or 1210-1320 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year for four years.
</li>
</ul>

College of Engineering Out-of-State Scholarships:

<ul>
<li>
Students who have a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $2,500 per year for four years.
</li>
<li>
Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive a tuition supplement to bring their University-level scholarship offer up to the value of tuition. In addition, they will receive $2,500 per year for four years.
</li>
<li>
Students who have a 27-29 ACT or 1210-1320 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year for four years.
</li>
</ul>

Students must maintain enrollment in a College of Engineering degree program to receive any College of Engineering scholarship.

If you apply for admission and want to also apply for scholarships, you must complete the scholarship portion of the application to be considered for any UA undergraduate scholarship(s). By filing one application, a student will be considered for all College of Engineering scholarships for which she or he is eligible.

For more general information, visit Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama. [Undergraduate</a> Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/]Undergraduate”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/)

To fill out an application online, visit Application for Admission and Scholarships. [The</a> University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>http://www.ua.edu/)

883

My daughter is a rising senior interested in majoring in Biology and Spanish and looking for colleges with a good medical school acceptance rate, preferably somewhere with snow. So far she has a 29 ACT (plans to retake, and hopes to get it up to 30 or 31) and 3.978 GPA (weighted 4.13), on the Health Careers program track at her HS with four AP classes thus far (all As) and three more to come plus an IB class. She is also yearbook co-editor, plays two sports, ran the school’s blood drive and volunteers for the MS Society, in addition to working 10-15 hours a week at an after-school job.

We have another child in college now, but my husband will be inheriting money this year (both parents died last year), which will double our EFC to about $40,000. Since daughter is aiming at premed, minimizing costs for UG is a priority. Can anyone point me to schools that might give her merit money, or should I be resigned to shelling out this amount yearly for the forseeable future? (we have a third child coming up for college one year later). Thanks for your suggestions.

884

Bump ^^ I have a rising junior D with a similar interest in premed (great grades and also good but not great test scores–unlikely to get NM) but unlikely to qualify for financial aid but H will retire while she is in college so we need to save to help her with med school. I have heard that Rhodes, Grinnell, Mills, etc. give good merit aid and have good premed programs. Any advice …

885

teameffort,
"My daughter is a rising senior interested in majoring in Biology and Spanish and looking for colleges with a good medical school acceptance rate, preferably somewhere with snow. "

-My D. has been at Med. School for exactly 2 days. My advice - any UG that fits your D’s personality and wide range of interests and preferrably gives her full tuition / free ride Merit award is fine. Any major is also is fine as well as any major(s)/minor(s) combo. she will need tons of EC’s both Medically related and preferrably others. She will have opportunites at any place as long as she maintains very high college GPA. Here we go with important stuff: high college GPA, decent MCAT score and good number of medically related EC’s, outgoing personality (yes, social life is importan). All could be achieved at any UG that matches your D’s personality and interests. So, visit, talk to students, look around campus (pretty one was important for my D.) and make informative personal decision. As fo my D., she went to state school on full tuition Merit Scholarship and had many more opportunities there then we have anticipated, more than she has ever imagined in HS, and at the end, good Med. School choices.

886

^^ “Barnard College New York, NY”

Barnard’s website says they do not grant merit aid scholarships… is that correct? Barnard sounds great to me but I keep getting put-off by that possibility.

887

[Fifty</a> Affordable Colleges With the Best ROI: Generous Financial Aid Cuts Costs - BusinessWeek](<a href=“http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110405/fifty-affordable-colleges-with-the-best-roi/]Fifty”>http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110405/fifty-affordable-colleges-with-the-best-roi/)

888

Yes, it is true. Very few schools in that tier (remember, Barnard is part of Columbia University) give merit aid. Since most of their admittees are top students, they don’t want to differentiate between them on insignificant differences.

889

damseldog, I don’t know if you are still looking at this or not, but UVa offers the Jefferson Scholarship. However, your high school has to nominate you for it and you have to get through the interview process.

My son applied to the engineering program at the Univ of Mich and a month after his acceptance they offered him $20,000 per year in merit without us asking. We are out of state. However, if he were to leave the major he would lose the money.

Someone just told me that Clemson offers some full ride scholarships.

890

MiamiDap…thanks for the reply. We are in virginia so the WandM and UVA are full of top kids and tend to be a bit cutthroat for the grades. However, we have heard good success stories from Virginia Tech despite the size and of course, VCU , that is second tier but does offer guaranteed med school admission to top students. Unfortunately, we are not sure how good a med school it is and what types of opportunities she would have when she leaves. I am looking for a small liberal arts college that will allow her to enjoy her classes and get better interaction with professors than in the big state schools. These can be a bit pricey…has anyone ever heard of Washington and Jefferson college in PA and boasts lots of merit aid and 90% acceptance into med school? Rhodes? Sewannee? How would they do for merit aid?

891

Hi. this is a great thread. My daughter fell in love with Wake FOrest, but with room & board it is $53000/year. does anyone know how generous they are with financial aid? based on grades/need?

892

Mequonmom,

My daughter had 2200 SATS and 32 ACTs, 99.7 GPA, 7 APs and stellar ECs and reccos. She was accepted to Wake Forest but was not offered a dime. She received numerous merit scholarships ranging from $8-$25K at a variety of other good schools. WF just does not seem to have the endowment to offer much aid. I honestly do not know why anyone who needs to be concerned about finances would ever go there and pay full price.

893

Adding UAB (University of Alabama)-Birmingham <a href=“http://www.uab.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.uab.edu</a>

Tier 1 research university. 11K undergrads (17K total students)

Ranked 5th for diversity and race relations

Ranked 11th for happiest students

urban campus

very strong in sciences and anything health related

scholarships based on test scores and gpa

Has NMF full rides

oos costs: Fall 2011 First-Year Freshmen Estimated
First-Year Freshman Out-of-State
Tuition and Fees* $14,256
Books and Supplies** $1000
Meal Plan $450 - $3,894
Total $15,706 - $19,150
Residence Hall (Blazer/Camp Hall)*** $5,200
Grand Total $20,906 - $24,350

OOS merit:
Blazer Elite Scholarship
$10,000
Based on academic achievement (28-36 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Gold Scholarship
$7,500
Based on academic achievement (26-27 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Pride Scholarship
$5,000
Based on academic achievement (24-25 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)

receives more research funding than all other alabama schools combined.

wonderful honors programs, many 5th year programs (math bio, etc) has biomedical engineering with a 5th year also.

feel free to pm for more info re specific majors, or programs

894

*My daughter fell in love with Wake FOrest, but with room & board it is $53000/year. does anyone know how generous they are with financial aid? based on grades/need? *

My daughter had 2200 SATS and 32 ACTs, 99.7 GPA, 7 APs and stellar ECs and reccos. She was accepted to Wake Forest but was not offered a dime

Since it sounds like WF doesn’t give much/any merit scholarships, you might want to determine what your D likes about the school so you can find similar schools. If you can’t pay for WF, then it’s best to let your D know that now before she won’t consider other schools.

What are her stats?

895

Of the schools that some have mentioned - do they give 100% of the aid that they say they are going to give? Example - they tell you your pkg is $20,000 - how much is grant, aid, loans etc and does it all add up to the $20,000 or is it really less than that.

896

Anyone know about University of Florida? How is their merit aid for CC transfer students?

897

They don’t tell you that your package is $20,000. They tell you that you have been awarded $10,000 grant, $4,000 unsubsidized loan, $1,000 subsidized loan, $5,000 work study (or whatever).

When it’s first awarded to you, upon acceptance, it’s usually tentative. Your final award will be given once all final financial information (specifically signed tax returns) is received.

898

Hello,

thanks for the answer but sometimes(and this happened to two of my sons), some colleges will send you a letter informing you of the total aid $, then send in the mail a pkg that breaks it down with papers that need signatures to accept etc. So, when this occurs, I just wanted to know if the breakdown is equal to the actual $ they originally told you. Also, I was on a webinar last night and the presenter mentioned that in some situations, the college doesn’t always give 100% of the aid that they first present to you and that prompted the question.

the incidents that happened to my sons were that an initial letter came and then later on in the mail the pkg with the breakdown and paper work came. Fortunately the amounts were the same as the initial letter.

Thank you for your input!

899

“Barnard’s website says they do not grant merit aid scholarships… is that correct? Barnard sounds great to me but I keep getting put-off by that possibility.”

Like most of the top tier schools Barnard gives institutional grants based on need as, like the other poster said, everyone who is accepted is meritorious.

900

In a bit of a quandry.

Re-married and will no way qualify for any need-based FA. S2 is in love with all the $50k+ bracket and I will make it happen.

Which northeast, LACs and business schools offer best merit or other options? He’s an IB grad and athlete.