<p>Hi all. OP here…so I met with my nephew today. What a great kid. Brought me his transcript - so impressive all A and A+ (not even a single A-). School does not rank, so it’s difficult to tell, but apparently, they weight more for AP classes than honors classes and he only has one AP (many honors). According to him, there are a lot of super smart kids with more APs, so rank will be difficult to figure out. (Although, I would imagine that he has to be in the top 15-20 kids). And, as I mentioned, he has a 2250 SAT.
It’s sad that money will have to be such a factor in his school selection. I mean, that if money were not a factor, I would be suggesting schools like Cornell, UNC, Emory, Lehigh, Bucknell. But I doubt that schools of this caliber will offer enough $$. Thoughts anyone??
I looked at the full tuition scholarship that someone here mentioned from Northeastern. He seems interested. And, while I think that he will qualify, I wonder how competitive it is. Anyone familiar with this?
Also, is anyone familiar with how difficult it is to get $$ as an OOS student from some of the state schools: U Delaware, U Maryland, Binghamton?</p>
<p>UNC has some full tuition and full ride scholarships available. They are quite competitive. My D has high 35 ACT, 2280 SAT, 800 on Math2 Subject, 4.0 UW, lots of APs and music ECs like crazy. But she didn’t get anything, it’s not enough. Some scholarships you apply to and for others you need to get invited to the scholarship weekend to interview. If your nephew is URM, or has some special interesting ECs, or maybe just amazing writer of essays, he might have a shot at it. It’s certainly worth applying to try for it. Although, not certain how many $50 raffle tickets his family wants to buy…</p>
<p>You checked his PSAT score?</p>
<p>We know kids who got merit money from UMD and UDEL but it was a few years ago.</p>
<p>How much CAN the family afford to contribute each year?</p>
<p>Do you know how much is “enough” money? Cornell is pretty generous. They have a few sample family situations and awards listed on their financial aid page – it might help give you an idea of what they might offer. Also their NPC estimate for my family is pretty close to what my son actually gets from them (and my DH is self-employed, which often messes those things up).</p>
<p>Sounds like he would qualify for the full-tuition President’s at Temple U in Philly.</p>
<p>UNC meets full need but they are a profile school.</p>
<p>That’s full need according to CSS/FAFSA. The problem is that many families do not define available resources the way colleges do. They generally assume you will be happy to mortgage the house, stop putting money into retirement accts., etc. Our family won’t do these things, so can’t possibly afford most ‘full need’ schools unless there are merit scholarships. Lucky to have kids who are good enough students to qualify for big merit scholarships in many schools. And if not that, there’s UW-Madison down the street, much cheaper at full pay, even with dorm, than our EFC.</p>
<p>UofMaryland, has Banneker Key (check spelling) free tuition, some also free rides. But VERY competitive, don’t think 1500 on SAT (M+CR) will do it, probably got to be near 1600.</p>
<p>Northeastern. might have good shot at 20K, but COA is like 55K or higher now. NMF is great deal there, but being from NJ the cutoff is so high. </p>
<p>NMF biggest fraud going IMO due to they way they set cutoff per state.</p>
<p>As others have said, NE is poor for big merit. Look south or mid-west.
Check UofPitt, Layafette (but marquis is I think max of 20K or so), UDel, Villanova.</p>
<p>What is his Math + CR score of his SAT? That’s what merit will be based on.</p>
<p>His he a likely NMSF? What was his PSAT?</p>
<p>How much will his parents pay each year? That will let us know how much he needs. If the famly can pull together $15k-18k per year, then that can cover room, board, books, fees, transportation and misc expenses. Then he’d need a full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>If he needs HUGE scholarships in order to afford college then he needs to:</p>
<p>1) Apply to a few schools that offer huge competitive scholarships.</p>
<p>2) Apply to a few schools with ASSURED HUGE scholarships…those will be like insurance in your pocket.</p>
<p>3) Apply to a local public. </p>
<p>4) Apply to HYPS…they give super aid. But hard to get accepted.</p>
<p>What’s the situation with the family? High income, but can’t pay EFC??</p>
<p>I am in similiar situation. My S will go to college next year. He has 1550 Math+CR and 2350 SAT. His PSAT will make NMSF. And he got 4.0 GPA and good EC. We will try apply to HYPS. But, if he cannot make it, which top 25 school will give serial merit aid?<br>
We have good income and will not get any need based aid from Ivy based on EFC/profile. But, we can barely pay 60k, and I am not sure if lower tier Ivy is worth 60k. As I need keep future flexibity for young ones.</p>
<p>*But, if he cannot make it, which top 25 school will give serial merit aid? *</p>
<p>None have assured merit, and most probably have none. None of the ivies have merit, and neither do MIT nor Stanford.</p>
<p>The reason is that most of their student have very high stats…so all are deserving…which is why they mostly resort to need-based aid. </p>
<p>A few may have some highly competitive merit which may likely go to highly desirable students who help with regional or ethnic diversity. </p>
<p>How much are you willing to pay each year? Frankly, I don’t think any school is worth $60k per year if I’m concerned about how to pay for a younger sibling. </p>
<p>What is your child’s likely major and career goal?</p>
<p>when you say “serial”, do you mean multi-year? or “serious”.</p>
<p>Net222 - I would look at big schools with top honors programs. Biased to University of South Carolina (USC!) but alabama also gives really good aid for NMF and high stats and has good honors program. At USC he might be competitive for McNair, but even if not, if he is NMF plus any small scholarship that waives/reduces OOS tuition (many do) would probably bring COA down to very doable amount. Run some net price calculators and plan a visit to some good honors programs…really think it’s the biggest bang for the buck. My D didn’t apply to Ivies (no interest) but had higher stats than your son and got in some other top schools…but no merit money. Competition is stiff at that level. We decided we couldn’t justify $50+ a year.</p>
<p>There are some schools with merit awards that are also up there in the rankings, but getting one of those awards is a mission unto itself and requires absolutely the top scores and grades. UNC has the Morehead, JHU has the Beneficial awards, BC has some merit awards, Duke has a few, Wake Forest does, Georgia Tech has some, Fordham U, Emory Scholars Program, U Pitt Chancellor’s Awards, U Miami has a number of merit awards, George Washington seems rather flush in the money, Lafeyette has the Marquis, U Chicago has some awards, Tulane can be generous, Vanderbilt used to have good merit money, RHodes College is a gem of a school that has some great scholarships. These are some of the “name” schools that come to mind that give merit money. Most state universities do have some form of merit for the very top applicants, as well.</p>
<p>You can get 1/2 tuition at U of Southern Cal as a NMF.</p>
<p>Yes. I mean serious money, like 10+K. I think we are confortable with 40+K per year. But, 60K is really stretch. USC is good one and about top 25. But, we prefer east US. JHU, or Chicago? Any link/status who got merit aid from those 2? Thanks.</p>
<p>NorthEastern pretty much gives free tuition for NMFs and so does Fordham. But you gotta be NMF, and for some schools that just means your hat is in that ring for the choosing.</p>
<p>We set an amount we could pay, and my kids worked around that. One did pick an in state public and didn’t have to pay for a thing for 4 years as we covered everything. Another picked an OOS public, and he does know that he has to pick up some of the cost by working, and had some savings dedicated towards that and will borrow some of the Staffords if necessary. The other found an small LAC with a slightly lower sticker price than comparable NE schools, and got a small merit award, negotiated a little more, worked summers and during the school year, borrowed some, and lived cheaply off campus, ever mindful that he was stretching the financial limits with his choice. </p>
<p>All of them did have some lower cost choices which they did not select. So for those kids with upper range test scores, the merit money is out there. But in order to get it, you have to be in the very top echelon of those schools that do have the scholarships. At those top 25 schools that do have some sizeable awards, the winners are usually students who are also admitted to some the top handful of the most selective schools and often do choose being a Morehead Scholar over going to Yale for a quarter of million dollars in family cost, or being an Emory Scholar over Princeton, when the money simply is not there. Someone in our community made that choice when a NCP refused to pay more than $X, and that would not cover a private school cost.</p>
<p>*Yes. I mean serious money, like 10+K. I think we are confortable with 40+K per year. But, 60K is really stretch. USC is good one and about top 25. But, we prefer east US. JHU, or Chicago? Any link/status who got merit aid from those 2? Thanks.
*</p>
<p>You’re not likely going to get what you want with a geographical restriction AND a Top 25 req’t.</p>
<p>Your child will be considered “run of the mill” at those schools. Not special enough to be giving him $40k+ to grace the campus. I’m not saying that to be harsh, just to put things into proper focus. </p>
<p>These schools tend to either give a few big merit, or none at all.</p>
<p>Actually it sounds like you need about $20k per year, since these schools are now costing $60k+ (increasing every year), and you want to spend around $40k per year. </p>
<p>You have to decide what you can afford to do. </p>
<p>Your child can apply to the few Top 25 schools that, if super lucky, will award your child some merit…since those awards are very competitive.</p>
<p>If your limit is $40k per year, then you need to broaden your choices and move down the rankings ladder in order to get the merit that you need…including some schools that will give assured merit.</p>
<p>Focusing on Top 25 schools usually is not necessary for most careers…not at all. </p>
<p>What is your child’s major/career goal.</p>
<p>It will be major in enginering and minor in business. Should we concentrate on 2nd 25 schools with excellent engineering/business program? any suggestion?</p>
<p>Agree with m2ck, as a suggestion, you could look at UCONN and similar public schools.
UCONN is about 40k for OOS and price would come down with merit aid.
UCONN has an Honors Program is #27 in USNWR’s rankings for National Public Universities.</p>
<p>UCONN has Business and Engineering…</p>