What are some of the best schools on the west coast that offer significant merit aid packages? What are often the cutoffs for each of these scholarships?
It would be easier if included more information such as your Stats, EC’s, how much merit you are looking for and your family income? Large/Small/Rural/Urban/Public/Private? Intended major?
@Gumbymom I’d just like a list of merit based scholarships to some of the major schools on West Coast
Really, the best merit opportunities come from Southern schools. Northeast and West Coast schools are notoriously hard to get merit at.
USC has a few merit opportunities, but they go to kids with perfect stats, or close to them.
@Gumbymom Thanks for the link!
The west coast isn’t great for large merit pkgs. …and major schools are the worst.
What are the stats of the student?
What do you want the net cost to be?
What is the major/career goal?
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GPA: 3.85 (unweighted)
SAT: First time I took it I got a 1330 (660 in math, 670 in English), I haven’t got the scores from the second time yet
ACT: 28, I don’t know what happened here, I might try to take it again in the fall
EC: I’ve been on my school’s mock trial team for three years, we’ve gone to state competitions and have traveled out of state. I’ve also been in my school’s musical and fall play for two years. I played JV tennis for two years, and I’m in NHS.
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There aren’t any “major colleges” that would give you much/any merit. I’m guessing that major colleges means schools that you’ve heard of.
Sorry. Our son has a 4.5 gpa and 34 ACT and we couldn’t identify any serious merit based opportunities in California.
Where a university did offer merit aid it was highly competitive and not something that even a perfect SAT score could rely on.
If you move in from the coast and consider Utah, Nevada, Ariz, Idaho, Montana, you might find some.
If you look at U of Portland, Gonzaga, U of Seattle, U of San Diego, you might get merit aid but the tuition at those schools is high and even with merit may come out to be too expensive. You might get $15-20k in merit money but that won’t even be half of tuition.
@mom2collegekids According to this site, http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
1330 would get OP free tuition at the Alabama schools, has that threshold changed?
Isn’t the OP looking for merit aid possibilities in CA? That’s a long way from Alabama.
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1330 would get OP free tuition at the Alabama schools, has that threshold changed?
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At maybe some of the lesser known schools in Alabama. Not UAlabama or Auburn, which are the ones mostly known.
Is the 1330 from the new SAT or old? A 1330 on the new SAT is significantly lower than a 1330 on the old SAT (conversion chart).
The west coast and the NE are not great places to look for significant merit to bring costs down…unless you’re looking at schools that few have ever heard of…or stats are very high.
@thumper My question was more related to mom2K’s statement that OP would not qualify for merit at any major schools. I was not recommending Alabama to the OP. The yola site does say 1330 old SAT qualifies CS/Eng students for full tuition at U Alabama.
Scripps gives merit aid, but it is not guaranteed for stats, and your stats are likely not high enough. Maybe someplace like Williamette. They give about a quarter of their attending students merit, average amount is $19K. Your odds would be better if you could get your ACT to 30.
@BobWallace was the poster who kept the Yola site up to date. It looks like it hasn’t been updated in a couple of years. Anyone looking at it should look on the specific college website, as awards may have changed.
@nw2this When I said that there weren’t any schools, I was referring to her question about major schools on the west coast.
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yola site does say 1330 old SAT qualifies CS/Eng students for full tuition at U Alabama.
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Not anymore. That ended last year.
Also…do we know if this student’s 1330 is the old or new SAT? If it’s the new SAT, then we need to find out how that compares to the old SAT. I believe that a 1330 on the new compares lower.
@mom2collegekids what are the criteria for Alabama scholarships now?
They are under review right now.
However, Alabama has already said that they will be using the CollegeBoard conversion chart
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/educators/higher-ed/scoring-changes/concordance
Seattle University gave great merit aide in 2011, and it looks like it still does