I haven’t been in this game since I went college myself a loooong time ago.
My son has been accepted to Stony Brook for next fall. We are in-state. He has received the following scholarships:
$3000 : Presidential
$1000 : Academic Program
$1000 : Salutatorian
This is most of the in-state tuition, but more would always be better! I had found some documentation that stated the Presidential and Salutatorian scholarships could range all the way up to cover all of tuition and fees. I called the school today and was basically told that the award is what it is, and that the scholarships did not go that high, and that we should be happy with what we got. At that point I realized the document I had found was from 2007, so evidently things have changed since then. I also watched a video that stated they don’t give out more money based on offers students have from other schools.
Has anyone had any success getting more than what was originally offered?
My son is applying for some local scholarships. I assume that since what Stony Brook is offering is all merit based, his scholarships would not be reduced if he was awarded some “outside” money. Is that a safe assumption?
Since he is the Salutatorian, he should be in the top 10% of his class. Is he studying something in STEM?
There is a STEM scholarship, that pays tuition I believe at SUNYs.
Also if you made under $110,000 I think, you could qualify for Excelsior scholarship, which covers tuition at SUNY and CUNY.
Also what is the cost at SB for remaining tuition, fees, and room and board?
Can you afford that if your S takes his $5,500 student loan, gets an on campus job to cover his personal expenses, and works in the summer to earn about $3,000?
So for example, if the remaining cost after scholarships is $15,000, can you pay $6,500 a year, if your son contributes $8,500?
Did your son apply to other SUNYs? Are the remaining costs there less? Could he study the same major there?
Also, are any schools in commuting distance, or could he do two years of community college, and then transfer to SB?
About the reduction of merit by outside scholarships, that might be true, since SB is public, but it depends on the school.
But outside scholarships can reduce need, and they have to be reported to the school so they can determine need based awards, such as federal work study, Pell Grant, subsidized loans, and TAP, correctly.
Op needs to find out from school if scholarships are stackable or if they can only be used for tuition. STEM like excelsior are last payer scholarships which means other aid and tuition scholarships will kick in first
As salutatorian he will probably get an additional $500 per year as an academic excellence scholarship if he goes to school in NYs. This will come through high school
I think it is safe to say that Op is not eligible for PELL. Even if op were PELL eligible and was eligible for an excelsior scholarship based on income PELL would be applied first
Yes, I am sorry that I included Pell with the other types of need based financial aid in my above post.
I don’t think OP qualifies for Pell either.
I just meant that the school will have to be told about outside scholarships, so that they can determine remaining need and award any need based financial aid, such as subsidized loans, federal work study, correctly.
We didn’t get any need-based aid, and we weren’t surprised. We also don’t qualify for Excelsior. As for the STEM program, he would qualify, but it only covers the tuition, which the scholarships are already close to covering, and the requirement to work in New York State is an issue. We can make it work with what they have offered. I was just curious as to whether anyone had any success with negotiating beyond what was originally offered.
Unless you are absolutely certain that your son does not want to be in NYS 5 years post grad, apply for the STEM and let the school determine how they will apply the credits.
While you may not be able to negotiate for more scholarship, you can ask Stony Brook how they will disburse the scholarships that your son already has if your son takes a STEM scholarship. They may pleasantly surprise you especially if any of the scholarship $$ is stackable. You have nothing to lose.
If you don’t qualify for any need based aid, not even subsidized loan or federal work study, then your EFC must be higher than SB COA (minus scholarships).
The income limit for Excelsior is going up to $125,000 for 2019/20 school year.
I also watched a video that stated they don’t give out more money based on offers students have from other schools.