Harvard…just kidding 
Emory, Tulane, WashU give good merit money.
Hi there.Nice to hear another Barrett’s parent here.Just have to correct you a bit…if you go below the 3.5 on the scholarship you are put on probation for the following semester. there is a review process.it’s not automatically rescinded. DD has friends who lost it altogether, were on probation and some got it back. Hard to say how many were involved DStark…since shes in the Honors College, practically everyone was on one kind of scholarship or another.Lots of kids on ones they call SunDevil scholarships, theres also others.Not just a place for National Merit kids though they are so generous there’s tons of them around so thats been her peer group from living in the dorms first year.
Maybe she’s being “dramatic” about the amount of loss,who knows?
Just want to plug what a great academic experience she’s had.She’s not a scientist…shes a muscian but the science kids are surrounded by great opportunities…new college president is big big into BioTech and has brought a slew of new money and people to aSU from the Northeast (he came from Columbia U).I’d call him a “rainmaker” in the way law firms call legal partners who bring in lots of $$.New Honors Dean comes from Swarthmore. Original Dean retired, he was the one who started it all.His effectiveness remains to be seen.The college is named after Craig and Barbara Barrett from Intel.They are still active in their giving and involvement,including unbelievable internship opportunities for engineering students(D’s friend has one,as well as summer employment and offer of job after he graduates)…as Ive said before, no competition…its the only U in town.Plus the weather is great,actual palm trees,orange trees and huge cactuses on campus!
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Noseemom
but you can not apply to just one school. You need to cast a fairly wide net. Say 8-12 applications. All applications to schools that fit the student.
One other component that has an impact on the merit aid award is often ‘diversity’. I am speaking of the ‘diversity’ that we all can qualify for, that is geographic diversity. If you are from New England I would expect to get better merit aid outside of my region, i.e. California, WUStL, Tulane etc. than say Northeastern (with all stats being equalized).
Continued good luck to all with their efforts.
i know for UMD scholarship you must maintain a 3.2 gpa…my question is…is this per semester…or is this a cumulative gpa…does this depend on the school or is it the same for every school?
One of the sweetest merit scholarships is the $15k/year Rensselaer Medal. What makes it so appealing is that the students are awarded it at the end of their junior HS year, it is awarded by their high school and there is no minimum gpa required to retain it, a significant factor at a school with a reputation for little grade inflation. While the medal is to be awarded for students excelling in science and math, the criteria for selection is left to each individual hs. Our hs like to award it to a student ranking high in math and science but who also has an interest in Rensselaer.
In addition to the Rensselaer Medal our son received a $#k/yr Legacy scholarship and a $7k Leadership scholarship bringing his total merit awards to $25k/yr.
Other colleges which offered him 15k or more were Case, Wooster, and Allegheny with Case being the most at $17.5k.
Oberlin offered him a very nominal amount, less than $2k even though he was in the top quartile SAT composite score.
Howard has decent merit aid. I recieved a full tuition and fees scholarship with a 3.0 and 1170.
St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia is a solid school that offers generous merit aid.
St. Joe’s is ranked #10 by US News among North “Masters” Universities.
LINK:
<a href=“http://www.sju.edu/admissions/[/url]”>http://www.sju.edu/admissions/</a>
<pre><code> SAT GPA Award
over four years
</code></pre>
Board of Trustees Scholarship 1500-1600 minimum A Full-tuition
Presidential Scholarship 1300-1600 minimum B $34,000-$64,000
University Scholarship 1200-1290 minimum B $28,000-$34,000
Achievement Scholarship 1000-1190 minimum B+ $20,000-$28,000
Academic Incentive Award $14,000-$16,000
My D has a merit aid out of state tuition waiver. It requires her to keep a 3.5 gpa and 20 hours of community service. Also she must take 16 credits hours of honors courses by the end of her Sophomore yr. One of the advantages of the honors college there is you get to register for classes before other students. Only seniors get to register before honors students.
She had merit aid from
U of Florida --Full tuition and books
U of Miami–3/4 tuition
Tulane–$14,000 a year
all jesuit roman catholic schools except for BC, Georgetown and maybe Holy Cross (altho they have some very good specific awards for particular majors) provide substantial merit aid. If your child can tolerate 12 hours of philosophy or theology (not Catholic indoctrination) and broaden their minds, they can receive an excellent education. Speaking from experience, they were extremely generous but D opted for Vandy
The best schools I have come across for merit aid are:
U of Miami
Tulane
Case Western
To say that Emory, Wash U., and Vanderbuilt gives excellent merit aid is rediculous. Not only do applicants have outstanding scores to get in, but they must be “ivy quality” students to receive the small number of these scholarships.
In contrast, the three universities I have named give scholarships to a vast majority of the student population. Take myself for example. I have the stats for about the cutoff for the top 25%. At each of these universities I received merit based scholarships worth over 20K and the final cost at about 17-18k. That is an excellent deal since I only qualify for about 2k in financial need (which will probably be given to me in loans).
Also take into the quality of the institution. Case, Tulane, and Miami are top quality schools (Regarded much more highly than the colleges others are stating - Grinnell, Holy Cross, American, etc.)
Of course, the best education you can get for the price is at your state university where there are merit scholarships like the lottery that make the total cost relatively miniscule.
Among Catholic schools, Notre Dame and Holy Cross give the best financial aid as they have the largest endowment per student. Holy Cross has always been a very good LAC ranked in the 25-30 US News National Lac. Also in the ACC, Duke offers some merit aid and Wake has a large endowment.
UNC, UVa and BC(soon) from the ACC all have merit aid (as opposed to financial aid). UNC shares some of their merit scholars with Duke, BC’s program is quite small, about 15 students a year.
According to US News Holy Cross provides the following:
Avg. merit award
(% awarded aid) $15,308 (4%) $11,661 (5%)
While Santa Clara University provides:
Avg. merit award
(% awarded aid) $4,971 (52%) $5,025 (11%)
Overall, it appears that Santa Clara gives the best aid because of how broadly it is given. Notre Dame on the other hand has no merit aid program what so ever. However, their alumni do provide scholarships through their local alumni clubs.
As far as I know, of the elite schools in the world, Caltech is far and away the most aggressive at giving merit awards. My brother, for example, was awarded the President’s Scholarship Award at Caltech that not only paid for all his schooling, but also gave him a hefty stipend that was actually more than what he needed to live on. So not only did he not pay a dime to go to one of the elite schools in the country, he actually MADE MONEY by going there. I doubt that you can do much better than that.
Sakky:
My heartfelt compliments to your brother, but he must be <em>way</em> off the scale to get an award like that at CalTech. It’s extremely tough to get accepted at CalTech, let alone get offered a merit scholarship.
Lewis and Clark has some great scholarships. Apply online and the application is free, the scholarship is given based on your application. No addition work.
optimizerdad: I agree that Sakky’s brother is exceptional and that not many students are going to have that type of opportunity. Texas 137 also spoke to these very competitive scholarships in a post on this thread. However, some parents reading this board have kids who will receive these awards… if they apply to the schools which offer them. A science/math kid on the east coast may apply early to MIT and never even be aware that the Caltech award is a possibility. A fairly recent AB Duke graduate told me that he only left in his Duke application after being accepted EA to Harvard because of that scholarship. It paid off. He only knew about the award because he had been a TIP student. Personally, I feel it is worth a few extra application fees to these other schools if you are dealing with a student you feel has a really good shot at MIT, Harvard or Yale. Nothing to lose in my opinion?
Actually for Lewis and Clark fans, nearby Puget Sound and Willamette offer even more for scholarships. My D recieved 5,000 at Lewis and Clark, 8,000 at Puget Sound and 11,000 at Willamette. All are good schools.
Earlier, texas137 wrote:
I appreciate reading everyone’s posts on this thread because they’re helping me to realize that “nothing ventured - nothing gained” has the possibility of being true - with some thoughtful looks at what programs would be “good fits” for one’s offspring and, as texas137 has pointed out, what one’s offspring might offer the programs in question.
At times this whole tuition spiral reminds me of the health insurance industry’s influence over the cost of medical treatments and expenses… Makes you sort of wish there could be a “universal tution program” rather than exponential tuition stickers which, often unbeknownst to would be students, are not as real as they appear at first blush.
Just my morning brush with a philosophical outlook on the upcoming two years for my family. :rolleyes:
BLUMINI wrote “…rather than exponential tuition stickers which, often unbeknownst to would be students, are not as real as they appear at first blush”
This has been the biggest shock to me in the entire college process. And you are absolutely right that nothing ventured is nothing gained. The type of math/science students Texas137 describes will probably receive amazing awards if they apply to the right schools. Will they get much at all if they apply early or to only one or two very selective need based FA only colleges? I think it may be more difficult to judge which humanities students are going to be highly sought after. And as several parents have pointed out on several threads: even schools that are need blind and have only need based awards have an amazing amount of leeway when they really want a student AND think that student has other equally attractive choices. Where I live it is not unusual for the most competitive students to apply early and never enter this pool where colleges compete for the students rather than vice versa. This is not ever going to be a whole lot of students but I bet at least a handful of parents on this board right now have kids deciding between two major merit scholarships and matching ivy/elite FA awards. Merit awards may turn out to be much more money than at first glance since students may be able to keep additional merit scholarships… like Sakky’s brother. But of course the money isn’t everything, or for many even a very important consideration in choosing a college. But all things being equal…
'm surprised there was only one mention of USC. Below are some of the merit awards they make:
Trustee
Amount: Full tuition (approximately $30,000 per year)
Number of awards: 100-120
Presidential
Amount: Half tuition (approximately $15,000 per year)
Number of awards: 150
National Merit and National Achievement Finalist Presidential
Amount: Half tuition (approximately $15,000) Students cannot receive this award and a Presidential, Trustee, or Deans; these awards are mutually exclusive.
Number of Awards: Varies
USC Associates
Amount: $7,500
Number of awards: 15
Deans’ Scholarship
Amount: One-quarter tuition (approximately $7,500)
Number of awards: 250
Also there are scholarships for Jewish, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific, Mexican-American, and transfer students, as well as legacies and international freshman. There is also a “hidden” program called the Trojan Scholarship, $4,000 per year, which you can’t apply for.
See: <a href=“http://afaweb.esd.usc.edu/dcpage2.cfm?PageBaseID=50223[/url]”>http://afaweb.esd.usc.edu/dcpage2.cfm?PageBaseID=50223</a>