<p>I have just recently embarked on my college search adventure when I realized just how expensive college really is. My family is not low income however (120,000+ per year) and I don't participate in athletics. Please don't slander me based on family income, most of our money goes to other places, and what's left really isn't enough for my college education.</p>
<p>Are there schools (preferably top 25 privates or any Liberal Arts Colleges) that offer full tuition based on merit?</p>
<p>Most universities save the 8 members of the Ivy League and a couple other mega elite universities like MIT and Stanford give out Merit scholarships. </p>
<p>However, the better the school, the more impressive the candidate mut be. For top 25 universities or colleges, a candidate should have near perfect stats. </p>
<p>Assuming you do not attend a super duper private boarding school (like Deerfield Academic, Hotchkiss, St Paul, Phillips Academies, Collegiate etc...), a near perfect 3.9+ unweighed GPA and a top 1% class rank is generally required. Standardized scores should be as impressive, with a minimum of 2300+ SAT/33+ ACT) to get a full ride and even then, the odds are good.</p>
<p>i dont understand why the question is for "full-tuition". A full-tuition merit for a family w/ income > 120k a year is nearly impossible to get, but you don't need it. It doesn't matter how many places your family's money goes, you can afford SOME tuition even if not full-- go for the good partial merit scholarship places like Rice university, some state schools, and Caltech (if you are a girl/minority).</p>
<p>Emory, Dickinson, Tulane, Arizona.</p>
<p>This is not meant a slander so don't take it as such, but I think you should know many families, including high income ones, need to understand that sending a kid to college means that you cannot maintain your current lifestyle. Now, if your family has a medical problem, that's understandable, but sometimes the time-share needs to go to afford college.</p>
<p>My family is in a similar financial situation, but my parents had put away more than a year's worth of tuition by the time I graduated high school. The rest of it is coming from national merit and their pensions/salaries. </p>
<p>In situations like yours, it is your parents' fault for not preparing.</p>
<p>If it really is going to be a hardship for your family then you're going to have to look at state schools. In-state if you're not stellar. If you are a national merit/achievement/hispanic scholarship semifinalist or finalist than plenty of schools, including the ones listed above (although I would add UNC-CH and UT-Austin) offer scholarships and special programs.</p>
<p>If not, then you need to sit down with your parents and discuss your options. College may be more affordable then you thought. And you could always (and I know this is awful) take out loans.</p>
<p>From what I’ve been able to gather, there is an interesting dance that goes on every year in the awarding of merit aid. So far, the Ivies and a couple of others have yet to offer merit aid. God knows they have the bucks to do, but I call this the Ivy League cartel and some will claim there is some price fixing going on. I don’t know about that, but until the Ivies begin to lose students in numbers to these other schools that will use their merit aid aggressively, then the status quo will hold. </p>
<p>So much of the merit aid awarding process will depend on what you have to offer the school and how much cash the school is willing to award. Some schools, like Wash U, are famous for aggressively targeting high scorers on standardized test scores and their student body ranks 6th nationally on this measure. Others, like U North Carolina or U Virginia, will offer full scholarships to some top students who otherwise would likely have ended up at HYPSM. The numbers who receive these are small and the competition is exceptionally strong. Each school has its own unique approach to how they award money, but the commonality is that these are all pretty terrific students. If you’ve got that kind of record, it will take some digging, but there is a wealth of info on each school’ website as they would LOVE to attract these students. </p>
<p>Final suggestion-given your financial circumstances, make a first cut based on personal fit and then move to the financial issues. Getting a free or partial ride to a place where you’ll be miserable is not such a great strategy.</p>
<p>Check the threads pinned to the top of the financial aid and parents forums.</p>
<p>To get full tuition from a top 25, you have to be so stellar that you'd be competitive for getting into Harvard (which doesn't offer merit aid). The schools like Duke, Emory, Wash U that offer full tuition merit aid do it to a very small group of students whom the colleges are competing for with places like Harvard.</p>
<p>Otherwise, if you want full tuition merit aid and have the stats to get into tier 1 colleges, you'll have the best odds of getting such aid by applying to tier 2 colleges that offer such aid.</p>
<p>As you apply to college, realize that you can pay some of the costs by taking out loans (The average college student takes out a total of about $20,000 in loans to pay for 4 years of college) and by working summers and during the school year.</p>
<p>hawkette- The ivies are not allowed, under the ivy charter, to give out merit aid, whether it be academic or athletic. I sincerely doubt that will ever change. Harvard will never be wanting for applicants.</p>
<p>The agreement between the Ivy's banning merit aid is not that old, only about 40 years. It was almost wiped out by court action in 1991 but rescued by legislation. But, as far as I know, nothing compels the members of this group "the overlap group" to remain in it. If competiton from other top flight universities continues it would not be surprising to me to see some of them break ranks from the cartel. See: <a href="http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj14n3-9.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj14n3-9.html</a></p>
<p>But odds seem low until at least 2011 that Ivies would turn to merit aid because until about 2011, each year, more students will be applying to colleges, and it's very likely that most colleges in the country will be able to recruit their strongest classes ever whether or not they offer merit aid.</p>
<p>SlightlyConfused, Alexandre has pretty well summarized what it takes to get a full tuition scholarship to a "top 20", but I will add a couple of notes. First, most of the big awards require considerable evidence of real leadership in your extracurriculars, as well as long-standing and extensive involvement in those activities. If you don't have that kind of record as a rising senior, it is too late to fix the situation. Second, being in the top 1% is not strictly necessary if the rest of your record, including the difficulty of your classes, is top-notch.</p>
<p>Also, you can add Vanderbilt Univ. to the schools that award merit scholarships. Most of them are not listed separately anywhere and do not require separate applications, but a few do. As with all schools, take a very careful look at web sites.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned above that highly regarded schools that award merit aid do so in order to attract "Harvard caliber" students. This is correct. If the award is from an engineering school, they are trying to attract "MIT caliber" students. Chances are poor for everyone, and pretty unpredictable even for those with stellar records. Don't bank on a merit award, but be sure to include some merit schools if you think you might be competitive and some of the schools appeal to you.</p>
<p>Sports are not a requirement. </p>
<p>By the way, "full ride" means full tuition, full fees, and room and board. I don't think there are too many of those. Most "full" merit awards include tuition and some/all fees. A few throw in extras like a computer. Even with a "full" tuition merit award, your family will have to come up with room and board and incidental expenses.</p>
<p>I didnt know there was a difference between full ride and full tuition. Thanks for the clarification! And while its true that my family can afford SOME tuition, I just wanted to know what schools would offer me full, so that way it would be less of a burden to my family.</p>
<p>I am very committed to my extracurricular activities, and I think I demonstrate leadership in them. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA, and am ranked first in my class. My SAT score is 2350+. I know I will be a national merit finalist (240 PSAT score).</p>
<p>Thanks for the link Sheed!</p>
<p>^You'll be a semi-finalist. Finalist standing is determined by essays.</p>
<p>Slightlyconfused, base on your stat, you are a very strong candidate for good merit scholarships from some top tier colleges. Just make sure you spend some effort in doing the application. Some schools will invite scholarship finalists to visit for interview and final competition all expense paid. This is one way to get paid to visit. Just keep up the good work.</p>
<p>Full-ride scholarships from top-tier universities certainly exist, but they are extremely competitive.</p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, and WashU are among the schools known for aggressively offering such scholarships.</p>
<p>I'm receiving the Robertson scholarship, a joint program from UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke, and I am completely in awe of the achievements of my fellow scholars.</p>
<p>We had a rather lengthy discussion of merit aid at Top 20 Univ. and Top 20 LAC's on another thread the results of which are as follows. </p>
<p>Amoung top 20 National Universities 8 offer it: Caltech, Duke, Chicago, Wash StL, JHU, Rice, Emory, and Vanderbilt. Northwestern has a hybrid part merit part need called the "Founders Scholarship" new this year. </p>
<p>Among top 20 LAC's 5 offer it: Davidson, Harvey Mudd and Claremont McKenna, Smith, and Grinnell. Colby has a hybrid program like Northwestern.</p>
<p>The above gives some discount but not full ride. You have to go a little lower for full tuition. I know for sure Baylor University (UNI-81) for high SAT scores, not top 25.</p>
<p>Dear "SlightlyConfused":</p>
<p>Financial Aid varies from institution to institution. Most offer aid based on need. If cost is your bottom line, consider top schools that are reasonably priced. For example: Albertson College of Idaho is the finest liberal arts college in Idaho State and its tuition is about 26 thousand. With aid and grants you would be paying much less per year. </p>
<p>Review schools that are bargains. These generally are small, and offer an opportunity for the driven student to ace out and be accepted to a great grad school.</p>