Concerning Rice and it’s new Rice Investment. I found this in the FAQ:
I’m not sure if this is a change of policy or not but when my D was accepted in 2017 she received the Trustee’s Scholarship(28K) but no Need-based award even though when I did their NPC it did show an award (and if you’ve done the Rice NPC it’s pretty extensive). Her final package only showed the Scholarship. I wonder how this will effect Merit awards and if they’ll be more combining or if they’ll just give Merit to Families in the +200K range.
I grew up on Long Island and have lived in Dallas for 20+ years. I think a change of scenery is good for anyone and would like my kids to “get outta dodge” if they can and want to.
Be aware. “Conservative” in Texas is not like “conservative” in NY. I was once one in NY, but am considered next to “librul” down here. Not bashing either, just the reality.
Yep. My sister didn’t get enough aid for MIT (this was eons ago, though). My dad, NYPD, paid a visit to their offices with lots of paperwork in hand. They found the $$.
For general financial aid purposes, the rule of thumb is that 20 percent of income and 5.64 percent of parental assets (with some degree of exclusion, depending who is doing the calculating) are considered fair game for EFC. So, if a family has $1 million in tap-able assets, it is assumed that $56,400 can go towards the expected contribution towards the COA.
The questions then become: what assets are considered in calculating need and, for a given income, what are “typical assets?” In answering this question, one of the largest variables is home equity and how much – if any – home equity is considered? If you live in a house worth $800,000 (not a lot of money in some markets; a LOT of money in other markets), how much of that will a school count towards parental assets that can be used for tuition? A few schools don’t consider home equity at all, some cap it at a percentage of income…
As for “typical assets,” for a given salary, that is determined by the schools. In addition to home equity, there are other factors (e.g., very high medical costs) that can affect “typical assets.”
University of Tennessee Knoxville just accepted my son = offered $12.5k to start per year, honors invite, and said more scholarships will come his way. 3.85 GPA/32 ACT superscore
@LoveTheBard say for example the parents own a house worth $900,000 but they still have to pay mortgage of 700k and earning 250K as AGS, will the kid get any grants from any college whose NPC shows 25K college grant?
Colleges don’t give families more money just because they have an expensive home to pay off. That would like the school helping you with your mortgage. Your huge mortgage is considered to be a choice, a luxury choice
Did the NPC ask for assets? Did you list any? You have $200k in home equity. What about savings and investments?
It would be unusual for an income that high to get that much grant money. Will you have more than one child in college at the same time?
Right, but if you own a $900k home with a $700k mortgage, your asset has a $200k value, and a lot of people have home equity of $200k, so that’s typical in my mind.
I was wondering whether most schools give merit GPA contingent or not. If you have a student who struggles with transitions, this can be a problem and would risk merit aid.
@FlyAwayTime Yes, most merit scholarships are tied to maintaining a certain GPA. However, the GPA requirement can vary dramatically by school, and there may or may not be supports in place that allow students either “grace periods” or the opportunity to re-earn scholarships. I would check with schools individually; most of that info can be found on the school website.
Thanks, @Bubblewrap666 I took a quick look at Vanderbilt just to determine and I didn’t find any indication of merit and GPA. Is this something most schools advertise then? I also found this
“Roughly 1% of the entire freshman applicant pool will be offered a merit-based scholarship award. The number of merit scholarships is limited, as the majority of Vanderbilt’s student financial assistance is provided in the form of need-based financial aid.”
So only 1% of applicants are offered merit. Is that typical?
Section H has the fin aid numbers. H2A shows that 134 freshman received non-need based scholarships and grants (not including athletic scholarships). In H2(g) there were another 77 students non-need based scholarships and grants, in addition to need-based aid. In summary, a total of 211 freshman received non-need based scholarships/grants which is about 13% of all freshman (211/1607). You can also look at the total dollars of fin aid awarded to calculate averages.
@FlyAwayTime For schools at Vanderbilt’s level, yes. They tend to give very few merit scholarships, but they are big $$$. Drop down down a tier or two in selectivity, and you will see schools give smaller – but still significant – merit scholarships to a broader range of students. For example, look how Miami of OH does it https://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-guarantee/.
My D19 has applied to Parsons School of Design’s BBA program in strategic design and management, and with her grades, scores and talent, we’re very confident she’ll be admitted (it’s both her safety school and her first choice, which is a good position to be in). We’re hopeful she’ll get a decent merit scholarship–they seem to range up to about half of tuition (not including room and board). All admitted students are considered for them, and it would really help since it’s a hugely expensive school and we won’t qualify for any FA. https://www.newschool.edu/student-financial-services/scholarships-and-grants/