Does anyone know anything about a service from a website I just came across called College Money Search? They are offering to create a list of colleges that are likely to offer my DD merit scholarships. They also offer an online class. Just curious if anyone has used this before.
You can find out the same info here on CC for free by posting her stats. Also college websites state if merit is offered. In general an applicant should be in the top 25% of accepted applicants to get major merit aid.
Save your money. You can probably find ALL of those same merit awards…for free yourself.
Notice…they say “are likely” not “guaranteed”.
Also know that for most students the actual college merit awards are the most useful, since they last for 4 years (assuming GPA minimum is maintained).
Don’t waste your money.
If you post your DD’s GPA, test scores, likely major, likely career goal, home state, her interests, the amount that you can pay each year towards college, we can give you a list of schools that will likely give her merit.
Good starting places:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
And many parents on the Class of 2017 thread found this $7 list helpful
http://www.mykidscollegechoice.com/full-scholarship-list/
@mom2collegekids Wow - thanks for the help. My DD has a 33 ACT and 3.8 GPA, with an interest in majoring in business/marketing. We’re a family caught in the middle - meaning we won’t get financial aid, but can’t pay the full tuition at private schools. We can cover about $30k per year. Suggestions of schools to look at for merit scholarships would be great.
@TomSrOfBoston Is there a tool or website that can help me find the schools where she’ll be in the top 25% of applicants?
Google search “(College name) Common Data Set” for each school. It will provide information on acceptance rates and the breakdown of GPA’s and SAT/ACT scores by quartiles.
Echo the sentiments that the merit from the actual colleges is most useful. We were a bubble family as well and what we did was for any school they were interested in–we went on the school website and searched and looked at 2 different things a) NPC (net price calculator) b)scholarships (or sometimes Freshman Scholarships or Out of State Scholarships etc.
Miami of Ohio. The Farmer School of Business is great, and they give out lots of merit.
Indiana and IL a bit less so, but try them.
Wisconsin.
Southern Methodist Univ
http://www.CollegeData.com collects this information. In the upper right corner in the search box, enter part of the name of the school, for example, type “Buffalo” and hit enter. On the next screen, you’ll be presented with a list of school names that match your search (in this example, you’ll see both “Buffalo State College” and “University at Buffalo”). Click on the School name for the school you’re interested in, and you’ll get a page of information for the school that includes middle 50% for SAT, ACT, and average GPA about 1/2 way down on the left (under the “Admission” header).
To finish the example, if you look at University of Buffalo, you’ll see that the middle 50% for ACT is 24-29, so to be in the top 25%, you’d need a 30+ on the ACT.
This data appears to be collected from the Common Data Set info @TomSrOfBoston mentioned, but it’s not clear how new it is, so if you find schools that seem good candidates, there’s plenty of people here on CC that can fill in with recent experience.
The Kiplinger database (for private colleges and liberal arts colleges) is a very helpful tool (although it is not totally comprehensive in its coverage). It uses the same info that you can get from each college’s common data set, but in a searchable format. What you want to look at are two stats: (i) what percentage of students get non-need based aid (i.e. merit aid) and (ii) what the average non-need based aid is. If you sort those two columns, you will very quickly figure out the usual suspects who are the big merit money players.
Such as Case Western (62% of kids get merit and the average award is $23k). And Tulane (54% of kids get merit and average award is $24k). And SMU (49%, $22k).
Then next step is to see how your kid’s stats line up with the schools you’ve identified. Tulane’s middle 50% ACT range is 29-32, so your kid at 33 ACT would be in the top quartile (which is where the merit money is). CWU’s range is 30-34 (superscored), so your kid would be in play there as well. SMU is 28-32. The further above the range your kid is, the bigger your award will tend to go.
Also check out the merit money thread, which has tons of info as well.
I second Miami University in Ohio for a very good business school and good merit.
What state are you in? What size school is she looking for? What areas of the country?
@stencils That website stat data states:
"CLASS OF 2021
Profile of Students on COLLEGEdata
Interested in This College "
So it is self reported stats for applicants who have posted them to that website, not a reliable data source.
@TomSrOfBoston It has both Common Data Set and applicant reported data.
There’s a section on the left hand side of the page titled “ADMISSION” that has CDS data, including what the school finds important (like GPA, test scores, demonstrated interest), as well as middle 50%.
The section on the right hand side of the page titled “College Admissions Tracker” is applicant reported results. I agree, I’d mostly ignore that data.
No, you won’t get anything from IL. Move on. 
@stencils Ah, I see it!
@YogaMomof3 in addition to the questions above re:size and location, will your D consider a women’s college?
@suzy100 She’s open to any size school. We’re from PA.