<p>My son is hoping to be a business or economics major. Eventually he'd like to go to law school, so we are trying to lookf for a few schools with generous merit scholarships for his undergraduate. His SAT breakdown is Math 770; CR 690; Writing 680. He has a 4.0 unweighted, however he is homeschooled so I'm not sure how much weight that will be. He has taken 8 AP courses with 3 more this year (his senior year). He has lots of ECs especially with 4-H (including national trips) and works for local state senator. He would love to attend Colgate, however I don't think we will be able to afford it and law school. Any suggestions for undergraduate school where he could qualify for generous aid?</p>
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<p>Washington University, Whitman, U of Chicago (possibly a stretch), Knox, Lewis and Clark, MacAlister come to mind right away. </p>
<p>Schools with some similarities to Colgate:
-Denison
-Gettysburg
-Centre
-Illinois Wesleyan
-Whitman
-Trinity College
-Furman</p>
<p>Did you run the net price calculator at Colgate, they seemed pretty generous to me.</p>
<p>OP, if you look at the Financial Aid section of this website, you will see threads at the top that discuss guaranteed merit aid for kids with certain stats, and schools that offer competitive merit aid as well. You can start here, but there are others: <a href=“Schools known for good merit aid - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-for-good-merit-aid.html</a></p>
<p>Tulane, U of Miami, and Northeastern offer very generous merit aid. </p>
<p>However, none of those are very similar to Colgate. </p>
<p>If money is the most important factor, you have to make compromises. The word “generous” may mean different amounts of scholarship/grant to different people. Many LACs give scholarships of $10,000 to $25,000 to qualified students, which can be generous to some families but not generous enough for families of high financial needs of $50,000.</p>
<p>Thanks for the many suggestions! @mommdc, yes, we ran the net price calculator - but I didn’t have our tax info in front of me so much of it was just guesswork. I will definitely take a closer, more accurate look. @Bamboolong, I agree with you about what “generous” means. In our case, we are hoping to find a place that will cover his tuition and we could pay room & board. @suzy100, thanks so much for the link! I looked around there and added a few more possible schools to his list. I do have a question though - I noticed some of the schools on those threads list schools as being full tuition, yet when I went to the schools website, I couldn’t find full tuition scholarships. (Dickinson was one example.) Is there something else I need to look at to verify which schools offer full tuition scholarships? </p>
<p>Kiplinger’s shows the number of students receiving merit aid, and average amounts, for about 100 private universities and 100 private LACs.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php</a>
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code[]=ALL&id[]=none”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code[]=ALL&id[]=none</a></p>
<p>You also can Google around for various lists of schools offering full tuition (or full ride) merit scholarships. Example:
This one is ranked by selectivity:
<a href=“Loading...”>Loading...;
<p>You may find that many small schools are not too explicit about how many large merit scholarships they award and the necessary/average qualifications for them. However, you can make inferences based on where your kid’s stats fall in the top N% of enrolled students, the percentage who get awards, and the average amounts. I would think he’d have a good shot at one of the largest awards at a place like Centre College ($18K-$22K). Keep in mind that most LACs do not offer business majors.</p>
<p>@tk21769, I just want to thank you for your very helpful information. The link showing schools that offer full tuition in order of selectivity is especially helpful and deserves to be noted in order to help other people. Thank you so much!</p>
<p>@davenmame, you have raised a good issue. That is, you should always double-check with the individual schools about their current offerings. These can change from year-to-year, and lists can get old quickly. Similarly, the link showing schools that offer full tuition in order of selectivity should be researched as well. You will see that some may only be offered to minorities, or state residents, etc. Good luck!</p>
<p>For big merit scholarships look at these lists:</p>
<p><a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/</a> (safeties)
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; (non-safeties)
<a href=“http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/”>http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/</a> (National Merit)</p>
<p>[cribbed from a prior post by @ucbalumnus‌]</p>
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<p>Since conserving funds for law school is a consideration, then how about the University of Alabama? It’s not Colgate, but with your son’s SAT scores, he would get a full-tuition Presidential Scholarship and qualify for the Honors College:
<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.html</a>
<a href=“http://honors.ua.edu/about-honors/”>http://honors.ua.edu/about-honors/</a></p>
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<p>The more I read about Alabama on CC, the more I am warming to the the opportunity. We are going to visit and give the school fair consideration.</p>
<p>Thanks GMTplus7, Alabama was not even on our radar. My son sounds interested in considering it, BUT, it sounds so far!!! Is there a support group for moms who need to cut the apron strings - well, maybe just trim them! It certainly does look interesting! Thanks for the suggestion!</p>
<p>Alabama wasn’t no our radar before, either, but the more I read about the school, the more I am intrigued:
<a href=“What schools did your child pass on in order to attend Alabama - University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1549857-what-schools-did-your-child-pass-on-in-order-to-attend-alabama-p1.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“Not Quite Over, But This Story Shows How Drastically Lists Can Change Over Time - Admission Stories - College Confidential Forums”>Not Quite Over, But This Story Shows How Drastically Lists Can Change Over Time - Admission Stories - College Confidential Forums;
<p>GMTson also expects to continue on to professional school, so conserving cash for that is a priority.</p>
<p>davenmame, UA actually does have strong parental support, some official through parent programing and unofficially in facebook groups and here on CC. The fact that there is such a high percentage of out of state students you would not be alone!</p>
<p>Is your son a National Merit Semifinalist? </p>
<p>If he has good chances of making Finalist status, his odds are good for the full tuition Paschal Carter scholarship at Denison University (which is comparable to Colgate in several ways). They have a couple extra requirements for homeschoolers, but I didn’t find them too difficult.</p>
<p>There are several other schools where National Merit opens the doors for substantial scholarships.</p>
<p>davenmame,</p>
<p>Given that Colgate is your son’s first choice I expect you are in close contact with its Office of Financial Aid to guide you through his scholarship and assistance opportunities and options. They are most helpful and will support your understanding of this process. And they are very good at their jobs.</p>
<p>Please let us know what new doors open as a result and what you find.</p>
<p>Best of luck and Go 'gate!</p>
<p>Could you tell us more about what attracts him to Colgate? Outdoorsy location, sports, fraternities? Something else altogether?</p>
<p>Some other small to medium sized colleges with overlap with Colgate. I believe they all offer merit aid, but you’d need to double check the specifics.</p>
<p>Kenyon, Grinnell, Skidmore, Colby</p>