<p>i am a junior in hs. in IL. Took 3 AP this year...do not have results of tests yet. Took ACT 3 times...high score of 32, Rank in top 12% of my school. Looking for a university that will give me full ride or full tuition... the most merit scholarship money. Parents income under 80,000. Prefer a campus in a large downtown city,,chicago or ny but will be happy anywhere i can get the most funding. thank you</p>
<p>Did you look at the pinned threads at the top of this forum? See the automatic merit threads. You will not get auto merit in NYC or CHI. You will get it at obscure locations for the most part. Unfortunately I think you are one point off for more money. Getting merit that is not automatic takes some research to find the colleges that are generous with that, but full or half is not easy to come by. You would have to apply to colleges far below your stats, I think.</p>
<p>With an income under 80k, you should get good need-based aid. That 32 gives you a shot at the highly selective meet-need schools. Here’s the list:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014</a></p>
<p>At these, you should be able to get at least full tuition in aid, based on your income. They vary in selectivity, so you can create a good match/reach list with them. None are safeties, though, and full tuition in merit would be better than a financial aid package from a school that doesn’t meet need.</p>
<p>*Note: The list includes more reaches than matches. Thus, you should look for more matches as well.</p>
<p>Agree with Lilliana. But I would also ask, How much do your parents or you know about financial aid? Are you the first in your family to go to college? If you aren’t familiar with the process, you need to read up on the basics.</p>
<p>The College Board, which administers the SAT and APs, also has a great website. Check out some of the articles on this page and then post back here with more questions:</p>
<p><a href=“Financial Aid Basics – BigFuture | College Board”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/financial-aid</a> </p>
<p>If your GPA is over 3.75 you qualify for full tuition at Temple University in Philadelphia. It’s not in the best neighborhood, but it is an urban campus in a very big city and an easy two hour train ride to NYC. You’d still have to pay room and board. </p>
<p>Temple has been surprisingly generous this year with financial aid with some families I know whose income is slightly higher than yours. However, you may be better off with more prestigious schools that meet full need. It may depend upon your GPA and if you have an hooks…</p>
<p>Alabama would give you free tuition if that act is from one sitting…for any major.</p>
<p>what is you major? some majors give more.</p>
<p>can your family contribute some money? how much?</p>
<p>If not, then work every summer and save (give to parents to save for you)</p>
<p>do you have any siblings in college to split your efc?</p>
<p>undecided on major…maybe international studies or history or englislh…no family money to contribute. I am the first in family to attend college. I am the only family member that will be in college for the full four years i plan to attend. I thank you all for your help and suggestions. This is all very overwhelming and confusing. Ive worked very hard to keep a high GPA and get a high ACT to try and receive merit money. Full tuition would be great. i have heard stories of people with 34 ACTthat get no merit money and people with 29 who recieve full rides at schools such as UW Whitewater. Have also heard of people from IL getting huge scholarship money from Vandy. As I said, its all so confusing.</p>
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Have also heard of people from IL getting huge scholarship money from Vandy.</p>
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<p>this would be rare. vandy students are top students, so large merit offers are for special situations.</p>
<p>however, you might get lots of need-based aid if vandy accepts you.</p>
<p>merit depends on the school and how high your stats are for that school (and if that school gives merit)</p>
<p>OP, Read the Full Tuition Merit Aid thread at the top of this forum.</p>
<p>what was your psat? also take the sat.</p>
<p>you are in a bad state for huge merit.</p>
<p>You need more than full tuition…you need a full ride. you wont be able to pay for room, board, books, fees, misc on your own. </p>
<p>What about someplace like Truman State? Would this student get significant merit aid there?</p>
<p>You would need either a full ride in merit or full tuition in merit + enough outside scholarships to cover other costs. I do think you should seriously consider the schools I posted for you, though.</p>
<p>Are you an URM or culturally disadvantaged?:</p>
<p>UW-Madison Chancellors Scholarship (full tuition)
<a href=“http://provost.wisc.edu/prospective-csp-applicants.htm”>http://provost.wisc.edu/prospective-csp-applicants.htm</a></p>
<p>If there is truly no money at all and some parental contribution is expected, one path is working your way through 2 years of community college, then transferring to the best state school that you can get in to. You may have to take out loans, though, which may restrict the major that you want to study. Personally, my view is, if you’re the first in your family to attend college and your family has no money to contribute to your education, international relations/history/English may not be the best choice for majors (unless you’re already fluent in 2-3 languages). If you do want to take those majors and don’t already have language skills, then try to get a full-ride somewhere. Worst comes to worst, then, you’ll be back in your parents’ basement but with no non-dischargable loans.
BTW, some colleges are really generous with financial aid, but they tend to be at the very tippy-top.</p>
<p>If you definitely want to stay in humanities, become fluent in 2-3 languages if you’re going to take out loans. Pick up some skills while in college. You probably can get enough aid to go to college, but some amount will be loans, so given your situation, picking up skills while in college is paramount.</p>
<p>“BTW, some colleges are really generous with financial aid, but they tend to be at the very tippy-top.”</p>
<p>Yes, but not all are insanely selective. She should take a shot at them. Community college should be the last resort if all else fails.</p>
<p>BTW,
<a href=“A five-year odyssey | The University of Chicago Magazine”>http://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/five-year-odyssey</a></p>
<p>Tough school to get in to, though. You may need an awesome story and great recs. Being URM would help.</p>
<p>This site provides additional info on schools that meet 100% of admitted students needs, including schools that add loans to their package and those who do not.</p>
<p><a href=“Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students”>Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students;
<p>Good lists. </p>
<p>The one thing you need to remember though about schools that meet “100% of need” is that said need is judged by the school itself. They may claim you have less need than you actually have, so 100% meeting need doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll cover all the expenses you wouldn’t be able to pay.</p>
<p>You are asking about schools that could offer you free full rides and free tuition in aid or awards. I guess the first thing for you to do is to find out how much you and your family can afford to pay each year. What is that bottom line figure. So do talk to them. You should also get some financial info from them, like their tax returns, particularly their AGI and also what estimated assets including home equity is. Then you can run the FAFSA EFC estimator (which will not include home equity) and find out what that expected contribution will be. That will generally be the bottom line number of what you have to pay before getting any financial aid. You can run NPCs of various schools with these numbers and see what these 100% need met schools will be expecting you to pay.</p>
<p>The other way to “beat” your EFC is by getting merit money. Take a look at those schools that have large merit awards. We have lists of them on this board. Then finally, look for some local options, including nearby private schools as well as community colleges. My son got a sweet tuition remission award from a local private that does that for grads of some of the local schools that are good students, so commuting to there would have cost less (zero in tuition) than the community or local state school. </p>