@Awesomekidsmom Congratulations to your son! That is very helpful information. So from what I understand the package offered at admission is the minimum, he is still in the running for one of the other scholarships. His scores are very good. Good luck to him. Also, if you have time let us know how this package compares to some of the others he receives.
I have not read this whole thread but wanted to say that we found that all the schools that my kids applied to (including NE) calculate need based financial aid after they give merit aid.
It ends up that if your financial need is greater than the merit aid, and the school meets need, the merit aid really has no affect as the schools end up giving you less need-based aid.
For ex. if your need is 30K, and the total cost is 55K, your package would be:
you pay 25K need based f.a. 30K
Add a 20K merit scholarship to the above scenario, your package would be :
you still pay 25K merit sch 20K need based f.a. 10k
Although my daughter received between 18k-22K merit scholarships at schools which offer merit aid,
the best aid packages were offered by schools that donât offer any merit aid.
^^^
That is true.
That is why merit is frequently most useful if the family has no need (so any award reduces cost)âŠor has little need and merit is greater (so the award reduces cost)âŠor merit is HUGE (like full tuition or more) and the remaining costs are less than EFC.
Milkweed â the sweet spot for the whole merit aid game is families that canât or wonât pay full sticker price, even though the schoolâs calculations would say that such family theoretically has no or little âneed.â Such families want/require financial help, even though they are determined theoretically to have no financial âneed.â
Like a family that makes $200k-ish per year, which would imply an EFC of $50k or more per year. Such a family would technically have no or little âneedâ, but would likely choke if it had to write four $60k checks. Such a family, though, might be willing/able to write some $35k checks after getting a $25k merit award.
If you have a lot of âneedâ, shop at schools that do lots of need aid and no merit aid. Like Harvard.
If you have no âneedâ but still require financial help, shop for schools that do a lot of merit aid. Like USC, Tulane, Northeastern, Gonzaga, etc.
@northwesty, I get that now. I wrote my post because Iâm guessing that I wasnât the only one who thought merit aid would be additive to need based aid.
Milk â the logic flaw in this area comes from the concept of âneed.â Most families (including those with no demonstrated âneedâ) are not able or willing to pay their expected EFC. Few families with no âneedâ could afford to buy four Mercedes in four years (which is what full private college sticker price equates to) for each of their kids.
While some criticize merit aid as âfinancial aid for rich folksâ, the reality is more often that merit aid going to no-need families simply takes the net price from âout of reachâ to âstill very expensive but do-able without declaring bankruptcy.â
Money Magazine January February 2015 has a great two page article How to Find a Generous College.
It may help with finding a particular college, or strategies they talk about if in the top quarter of the applicant pool of a particular school.
@milkweedâ
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@northwesty, I get that now. I wrote my post because I'm guessing that I wasn't the only one who thought merit aid would be additive to need based aid.
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RightâŠbecause once you have a merit award, then suddenly you have less need.
This is frequently misunderstood and every year we see kids rushing around trying to find large private merit to reduce their EFC after FA was awarded.
The $11k merit award S got from his school (a little over 20% of COA) tipped the balance and definitely made it easier for us financially. Since the award came early (before April) we used it to try to get an award from our top choice (not his) when he was accepted from the waiting list. They matched the amount but it included work/study and he didnât accept. He did find a job at his chosen school that added almost $4k/year to his kitty.
Itâs true that schools generally reduce need based aid when they award merit aid, but if you have reason to believe your income will increase over the next three years, go with merit aid. If the student maintains the required GPA then theyâll continue get merit but financial need will be re-evaluated every year. I went back to work to cover tuition so S16âs need decreased, but merit stayed the same.
Sorry for the random thought but based on my experience, I think it this is important for people beginning the search for Merit aid. As a practical matter, a student will be able to gain admission to more âprestigiousâ schools than the schools that are willing to give them big bucks to attend. Start early and often conditioning your student that the education that they can get from mid level school is not that different from a highly ârankedâ school. High School Students are under a lot of pressure from peers to attend an âimpressiveâ college. This means that a national Merit Scholar might not be interested in some of the quality State Schools that offer merit aid automatically.
@Disneydad - this is excellent advice, and right on in terms of timing.
Cmom, youâre smart to be thinking that way. Start by printing a list of colleges ranked by SAT or ACT. Draw lines to show where heâs in the top 10%, above the 75% and maybe pick a couple where he is around the 65%. Donât go lower. It will get his hopes up for no reason. (unless you have income below $40k or above $250k)
From there, pick about 25-30 schools that have his major, location, size etc. Go straight to their scholarships webpage and see what they offer.
My son is getting all his EA acceptances. Every school so far has offered enough for our cost to be $30-35,000. I guess thatâs standard if you are around the 80%. He has not heard back on any of the full tuition scholarships he applied for. Be careful about thinking that a âbigâ award, like 30,000, is better than $20,000. You have to look at the schoolâs price. eg TCU max scholarship is 10k less than Tulaneâs, but its tuition is 10k less to start with. (both good schools and offers, donât get me wrong). You just have to do the math.
To get those full tuitions, many schools say you should be in the top 5-10% of their applicant pool.
And be cautious with the need-based only schools. Your cost could go up easily in years 2-4.
Yes only have read a few schools that lock in same tuition each year if four. At least the ones my son is interested in.
Maggpie (or anyone else in the know), how do you rank colleges based on ACT (or SAT) percentiles, especially outside the normal 25% and 75% given on the college board website? Is there a data base that is easy to search and rank order various schools based on scores? For example, be able to list all schools where a composite score of 32 is in the top 10% of admitted students. Obviously looking to identify schools where the chances of merit aid would be greatest. Please enlighten me. Thanks!
Does your school have Naviance @TuckerTroy? My sonâs school does and you can do a college search entering your ACT score, and other criteria that are important to you, and can select to identify schools where your score would be above the average.
SOSConcern, can you please cut and paste the Money magazine article? Cannot locate that issue anymore. Thanks!
@TuckerTroy Also, I posted a similar question a while back, here is the link:
Thanks Collegemom. Yes, I have used the College Match function on Naviance but it only allows you to search schools where the candidate is âwell above averageâ (whatever that meansâŠ75, 85, 90%?). Was looking for something a bit more specific like Maggpie suggested. Thanks for posting your link. Iâll check it out.
excuse my ignorance- what does NMF mean?? I am also a bit disappointed with the merit based aid situation at wash u. They are always listed as a school that has generous merit aid. we do not qualify for need based aid yet the full tuition would not be easy to pay. my daughter was accepted there and we were very much hoping for some merit aid- she applied for all of the scholarships requiring essays, she has very high ACT, SAT and AP scores and a very high grade point average and many many extracurriculars and received no merit based aid.