Gracie – you need to search the NY Times and Kiplingers databases, which are cited many many times above. It is pretty easy to figure out that there’s basically no merit aid at Stanford. But there is at USC and lots of other CA schools as well.
How about going to a university abroad.
@gracie63 Your son has great grades and SAT scores but you’ll never know how much merit aid your son will get until he has applied and has the offer letter. If you live in California and your biggest concern is cost, the in-state schools might be best for your son to look into since in state tuition is a lot cheaper than out of state but with his grades and scores he can find a college to offer him a full-ride scholarship. Good luck.
gracie63 - have you looked at Washington University in St. Louis? They do offer some merit aid and have a reputable pre-Med program as well an an undergraduate business college.
Willamette University in Oregon offers generous merit aid to high-achieving students. If you look at the Willamette thread here in CollegeConfidential, you’ll see that multiple posters accepted to the school have received merit scholarships ranging from $20,000 to $22,000 per year. It’s a beautiful school. My son was a national merit semifinalist who chose to attend there. He’s now a junior, and we’ve been really, really happy with the education he’s received.
(MaryMac15535’s Mom here): I ran the Net Price Calculator for every college my daughter was considering BEFORE she applied to any of them, and she only applied to those where the net price was at or below the level her Dad thought we could afford, while still putting her big brother through college as well. FWIW, Franklin College (IN) and Monmouth College (IL) have both offered my daughter good merit aid already (approx. 40-50% of the total cost of attendance), and they’re OK with ACT/SAT scores which aren’t quite Ivy League-caliber (an ACT composite score of 25 or above is sufficient to qualify for Monmouth’s merit scholarship competition, f.ex.). We’ll still be filing the FAFSA in January, though, as soon as we get our taxes done (always a bit complicated, as my spouse owns his own small law firm). Hopefully, the need-based aid on top of the merit aid my daughter’s been awarded will make either Franklin or Monmouth doable for us.
Has anyone had experience with univ of Delaware?
Yep. Very cool place with lots of duPont and Gore $$$ going to make a state U look like Wm. & Mary - North. A nice size and college town.
Unless you’re an athlete or a Rhodes Scholar-in-Waiting, don’t anticipate alot of FA. However, they DO provide much money.
And don’t look for a Navy ROTC grant here. They don’t have it.
I posted this a few months back:
"She has a 3.7uw, 3.85 w GPA at the end of her jr year. Has taken 2 APs so far (3 tests: 4,4,5) and will be taking 3 AP classes next year (4 tests.) Her school offers 9 AP classes.
SAT 1930.
She has good ECs and decent leadership. Her strength is in volunteer work and service: will have gone on MANY mission trips including 2 out of the country and has an internship in her field of interest (social work/sociology/psych) as well as many other volunteer activities.
Should have good recs.
We will not qualifying for need based aid but since we have two more kids who will need college educations plus a retirement to fund, we will be looking for merit aid.
This is her list as it stands right now:
V andy (just for fun as we are grads- financially do not expect this to be feasible.)
C ase
0 hio W esleyan
St M ary’s C0llege of MD
Denis0n
F urman
Maybe W00ster
J ames Madis0n
University of Mary Washingt0n
Where do you think she stands in terms of merit aid from these schools?
Our goal is to be within 20-35k/yr."
<hr>
I wanted to update on my D’s college responses so far.
She did not apply to Univ. of Mary Washington and she added Mc Daniel as a safety and also added St O laf.
So far she has had four responses, all acceptances, all with merit money.
C ase- 17.5k merit/yr
O hio W esleyan- 22k/yr
W ooster- 20k/yr
Mc Daniel- 20k/yr
So far most coming within our range of what we were willing to pay.
89wahoo, my son applied there. The merit offer was just so-so, about 6K but for a public school that might be decent especially if you were instate. We were OOS so it was low compared to other schools.
Vandygrad … when you say “within 20 - 35K” … is that what you’re looking to pay? Or for FA? Did she look at Westminster. A very nice campus, small town in Amish country, very generous in FA, probably a stronger institution than McD, i.e. the old “Western Maryland.”
What you’re seeing is the teeter-totter of FA vs. selectivity. Imo, Denison, Furman might be a bit more generous. The obvious issue is not the sticker, nor even the FA, but the bottomline in combination with perceived “quality.” The latter is very subjective and often of little, no consequence once a student matriculates … UNLESS … the academic mode, median, maybe mean (this one is mostly meaningless but the one most reported) are substantially, significantly out of whack with your student.
Lewis and clark
Of course, one needs to consider the cost of gettng there and home into any of these.
And that’s the downside to Lewis & Clark. It’s a nice campus sorely off the beaten path … and Portland’s VERY expensive to get in and out of for the vast majority of the population of the USA, especially the East.
Can quickly negate any benefit of “merit aid” or other financial assistance.
And the other kicker is recognizing that at many institutions, students becoming alumni tend to remain in some proximity if it’s possible. Oregon’s dependence on natural resources and non-green power is not promising at all. Nike’s can’t save it all.
"Why is no one mentioning Alabama? Full tuition/ride based on stats- automatic??? "
Roll Tide!
I did net price calculator for each school we applied and they have been accurate. Stats: ACT 31, GPA3.8 uw
Miami OH - 11000 per year OOS
St.Louis - 16000 per year
Saint Mary’s,ND - 17000 py
Hope College - 7000 py
Xavier - 17000py
DePauw - 18000 py
TCU - 6000 py
Because I think it’s in the “guaranteed merit” thread instead.
Here is a current update on my D (Senior, Start date - fall 2013 … act 33, sat 2050, GPA 4.07, rank 5 of 398).
Merit awards so far:
Alleghany = 20,000
U of St. Louis = 18,000
Ohio University = Full ride
U of Pittsburg = Full ride
Waiting ON:
George Washington U
U of Rochester
American U
Washington U of St. Louis
Carnegie Mellon
U of Dayton
I thought i would post what I have recieved so far. My stats: 5% of class at a private college prep school, 33 act, 3.95 u/w 4.6 w GPA, lots of ECs, AP classes, and other awards.
this is all just merit, we havent filed FAFSA yet
Tulane: 27k a year, applied for more.
Auburn: 10k a year
Baylor: 15k a year, offer for $1k more if I attended some weekend thing
TCU: 17k a year and invite for Chancellors full ride interview
SMU: 20k a year, waiting to hear about more (Hunts, Business school, etc)
Chapman: 25k a year
still waiting: USC, WUSTL, Pepperdine
zvidacs: At Ohio University was that a full ride or full tuition? With the scores you mentioned I know that OU has the automatic full tuition Gateway scholarships.
full tuition