Merit varies a lot (none to $30k per year?) and then Lyle College often gives more. There are the Hunt and Presidential scholarships but that’s only about 40 students per year or 2.5% of entering class.
RPI is a great offer. Similar size to SMU and engineering focused.
My DS23 just checked the financial section in his SMU portal the other day, and his financial aid package was/is there. He still hasn’t received an email notification that it’s there, though.
I just checked and same, I can see my financial aid package there too. Weird, zero notification or anything. If you don’t mind sharing, how much did you get?
Yes, my son got his in the mail today. We are in Texas.
Hello! I was invited to SMU’s Honors program a few weeks back and also filled out the additional essays for merit scholarship consideration. Considering that the SMU honors program only makes about 180 invitations per year, am I in good shape to potentially be invited for the president’s scholars program?
Received email about filling out FAFSA. Has anybody hear anything about how good is the school providing financial aid versus merit/academic scholarships?
I’m guessing you were invited to fill out the president’s scholar questions back in December, correct?
Hi, SMU is high on our D’s list for 2024. Wondering how generous are they with merit scholarships?
My oldest applied and was accepted back in fall 2000, slightly above average in terms of acceptance requirements, and he only received $25 towards a free financial aid application. lol. Beyond that, $0. Not sure if things have changed but would assume the same if not harder for merit with how interesting the last few years have been.
If your child has a good SAT, a good GPA and good extras, SMU IS very generous with merit aid. The school is working very hard to bring in the best and brightest. The school is also very fortunate to have a lot of money. Just to put it in perspective, the entering Cox school of business BBA scholar program for 2023 has an average SAT of 1528.
Sorry I didn’t fully answer your question. My son is at SMU. He received a lot of merit scholarship money. However, he was valedictorian with a great SAT and great extracurriculars. His essays were also very moving and well written. I’m sure that whole package is what attracted SMU, and why they offered him so much merit aid.
If one has the stats to be admitted to a top 40 type university, they’ll probably get quite a bit of merit aid. About 25% attend with no aid.
The university is doing more to attract top students who need financial aid. Therefore, those with top stats and high need will be in good shape with this high resource university. Great job placement, small classes, faculty access, study abroad, etc.
My son applied EA and was accepted. We got a merit based offer but haven’t yet gotten the need based offer. Anyone know when those might be coming out? We assumed since he applied EA that it would come sometime soon?….
I’m not sure if “financial aid need” is quite the driving force at SMU right now. I think they want kids with really high numbers in terms of GPA and SAT. I don’t believe this whole test optional thing at all.
In all transparency, my husband and I do not qualify for financial aid, and yet, my kid got very generous merit aid.
yes
The goal is being a top 50 national university. Increasing access is just one piece of the strategy. Research one designation. Top notch athletics.
SMU tries to balance recruiting top-notch kids like your son along with those who can full pay and those with need.
Regarding research, SMU hasn’t reached R1 status yet, but they have a plan and are working toward it.
Any idea on when ED 2 comes out? Shows online “By March 1st by mail” but wondered if anyone knows if they will happen to release earlier.
It has nothing to do with it being a “driving force” at SMU or not. I asked if anyone knew when because schools usually announce the dates they will be released - people who are accepted EA get the offered before people who apply RD.
That’s great your child got a nice merit offer. Mine did too. He also got into 3 other great private universities and we’ve gotten the merit aid and need based aid offers from two of them already. Just trying to find out when the need based aid offer will be released from SMU so we can run all of the numbers so he can make his decision.
Apologies for my general SMU statements. As for financial aid notifications, I keep thinking late Feb or early March. They are still working on regular admissions. However, don’t think SMU is settled based on their first offer. I know several students were offered new scholarships as late as April last year.