<p>Hi, my nephew is a HS Junior from New Jersey with great SATs 770CM, 730CR, 750CW. He is an A to A+ student (not sure what his rank will be yet). The family has not saved much for college (dad is a gym teacher, mom is an accountant but was a stay at home mom up until about 7 years ago). Typical problem, not much $$, but make too much to qualify for much financial aid.<br>
Can anyone suggest good schools in the North East or South East known for great merit scholarships? Full rides?
Also, are there outside scholarships out there that are specifically merit based? Thanks....</p>
<p>University of South Carolina McNair scholarship. University of Alabama.</p>
<p>^^Second both of those. Were his PSAT high enough to possibly be NMF? That might make a difference also. Somewhere on CC there is a list of schools that give good money for NMF.</p>
<p>Northeastern offers full tuition scholarships to NMF’s. Even without that he may be eligible for a full tuition scholarship if his GPA and EC’s are similarly exceptional.</p>
<p>I don’t think that his PSATs were that high, not sure. Having just completed this process for my DS2, I will be acting as his “college adviser.” I guess that what we are looking for would be the best academic school with the most merit $$. We will probably focus on schools in the NE, but might consider southern schools like Tulane and U Miami. My son was offered $20K at Tulane with a 1330 SAT (CR & M), so I would imagine that nephew would have gotten the $27 and would have been eligible to apply for their full ride scholarships.
Any other suggestions?
Also, I see here on CC all of these scholarships (Coca Cola etc), how does one know which ones are appropriate and what they are looking for? Is there a centralized list somewhere here on CC?</p>
<p>I am not sure what you consider a good school, but Rutgers has a $25,000/yr Presidential Scholarship for students with 2250+ SAT and 4.0 GPAs. My D received this OOS this year. It’s full-ride for instate, but leaves a $10,000/yr gap for OOS. It’s not exactly guaranteed for those stats, but a high %age of applicants at that level receive the scholarship. They have a decent pharmacy school.</p>
<p>^What TomSrOfBoston said about NEU. Besides the automatic NMF scholarships, they give 50 scholarships to ‘University Scholars.’ [University</a> Scholars Program | Northeastern University](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/universityscholars/]University”>University Scholars Program - Northeastern University) They are full tuition and have extra perks that the NMF scholarships don’t have, like special advising and mentoring and events, free transportation to welcome day. You don’t have to go to any scholarship weekends like UMiami to compete for extra $, just get considered for it with your application and notified at time of admission decision.</p>
<p>Oh, I should have read OP’s post more carefully. I see, you are from NJ so probably already know about the Rutgers scholarship and are hoping to get away for college. For him it would be a free ride.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-6.html</a></p>
<p>Congrats on your nephew’s strong credentials! BobWallace has really diligently kept the lists for merit award schools and those links will be tremendously helpful to you.</p>
<p>My suggestions without knowing what nephew wants to study or how big or small a school you are seeking:</p>
<p>William and Mary - Monroe Scholars
Washington and Lee - Johnston Scholars
Davidson - Belk Scholars
Lafayette - 1/2 tuition Marquis de Lafayette scholarship
Miami of Ohio in Oxford - greatly increased merit awards up to full tuition depending on stats
Case Western - several merit opportunities but lots of essays
Kenyon College - full tuition to half tuition for merit, music, etc.
Bard College - full tuition for economics or science study
SUNY Buffalo - Presidential Scholarship
University of Pittsburgh - apply early with optional essay and LORs</p>
<p>Again, these schools cross the range of small liberal arts to larger publics and research schools. Your nephew has to dig into the type he prefers.</p>
<p>Friend’s son with stats not as high as your N’s got a very nice award from UMass-Amherst just recently.</p>
<p>CPT, did the offer award at UMass include fees or just tuition?</p>
<p>First you have to determine how much the family can pay AFTER scholarships. If the family can only pay $10k per year or less, then many schools will not work because the merit won’t be big enough. It sounds like this kids needs HUGE merit. </p>
<p>“Nice awards” can sound great, but if the COA is $55k and the award is $20k per year, the remaining cost is more than it sounds like this family can pay. Those awards work best for families who are prepared to pay $30k+</p>
<p>The NE is not fertile grounds for huge merit without NMF status. There are some partial tuition offerings, but this kid needs at least a full tuition scholarship…maybe more. He’d have to go down to some lowly ranked schools to get full rides in the NE besides his state schools. </p>
<p>his M+CR is a 1500. that’s what his merit would be based on. </p>
<p>Pricey schools that give him $25k or so in merit may sound generous, but if the family can’t pay the remaining $25k+ per year, those won’t work. Many privates try to give merit to top students to get the costs down to about the COA of attending the state schools (about $25k). so if that wouldn’t be doable (which is what your post implies), then he needs to be willing to consider schools that may not first be on his mind.</p>
<p>It’s fine to apply to SE schools like Tulane and Miami, but if the remaining balances are too high, they won’t work. he needs to be willing to apply to some other mid tier schools that will give him HUGE merit. </p>
<p>What will his major be?</p>
<p>This student needs to apply to at least 2-3 financial safeties…these are schools that will give him such huge ASSURED merit that the remaining costs can be covered by parents and federal student loan. Again, the merit needs to be ASSURED for his stats. Competitive merit schools would not be financial safeties. </p>
<p>Find out what his PSAT score was. Unless his SAT was a fluke, it would seem that his PSAT would be in the 220s. I think NJs cutoff is 222 or 223</p>
<p>Outside scholarships won’t work. Many have a need component. The bigger problem is that the amounts are small and usually ONLY for freshman year. That won’t pay for college.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your insight and information. Having just completed this process with my own son, I am only now beginning to move on to my nephew. Rutgers will be a strong possibility, however Rutgers is only about 20 minutes from his house, so I"m thinking that he would really prefer to go further away if possible. I really need to sit down with him (and my sister) and ask some detailed questions, but all of your advice will be very helpful…thanks! keep it coming!</p>
<p>They need to run the net price calculators. They might qualify for more aid than they realize. Running a few calculations will at least give them a good starting point.</p>
<p>Does the student have specific majors in mind?</p>
<p>If business, accounting, or finance or in the mix then Bentley U in Mass might be a possibility … they have a few big merit scholarships.</p>
<p>DD received a nice scholarship from University of South Carolina. They offer the McKissick and Cooper Scholarships based on the strength of your admissions application. Both reduce tuition to the instate rate AND give an additional stipend. The McNair Scholarship requires a scholarship/honors college evaluation, but is a full ride complete if you get it. The school is really very nice and academic programs are good ones.</p>
<p>The University of Alabama scholarships are guaranteed awards based on your SAT score (CR/Math) and GPA. If you major in engineering, there is an additional stipend.</p>
<p>Both of these flagship universities offer solid academics. If this student wants a significant amount of merit aid, AND wants to go far from home, it’s worth getting info about these two schools.</p>
<p>Agree with the USC and Alabama recommendations. Both gave my DS great awards, making them cheaper than the in-state options for him here in Maryland. Assuming no program changes next year your nephew would be awarded full tuition at Alabama, along with a $2,500 additional award if hs studies Engineering or Computer Science.</p>
<p>NJ cut off for the 2013 graduates for NMSF was 221 (dropped with the change of how state counts graduates).</p>
<p>Pitt also has been offering good merit to OOS.</p>
<p>With those stats, if he is interested in LACs, have them run the Net Price Calculator for Haverford and Swarthmore. Though they don’t have merit, both are much more generous in financial aid then most schools. </p>
<p>Many of the PA lower ranked LACs offer merit in the $20k/yr range, but that may not be enough depending upon the family finances. Some of the lower ranked Unis, like LaSalle, provide at least full tuition. If interested in physical therapy, Arcadia has a strong program and offers full tuition to kids with his stats.</p>
<p>If interested in Engineering, besides the recommendations for Bama, Drexel and WPI are worth a look.</p>
<p>I am very familiar with Phila area schools. PM me when you have more details. There are no “guaranteed” merit in the region, but many in which it is a very strong shot. If he plans to stay in the region after graduation, then attending a school known more regionally (example Drexel) will not hurt.</p>
<p>Wow! You have all provided me with a lot of info. I have my work cut out for me! Thanks so much. I have forwarded them the info on U Pitt, and Northeastern as well as the full tuition scholarships at Tulane. I think that a family meeting is in order to narrow down the parameters.
Question about the net price calculator. Does each school have it’s own, or is there one “universal” calculator?
Thanks…</p>