<p>My cousin seems doomed to getting little Financial Aid or Scholarships. </p>
<p>What types of scholarships should he be looking for with these stats?</p>
<p>White Catholic Male
3.7 UW GPA / salutorian / 1940 SAT(550m,700v,690w)
hardest classes offered
basketball team 4 yrs
community service 200 hours
boys state
etc.</p>
<p>It seems that he has no special chance because his family is middle-class so he probably will not get too much financial aid and he has already received no scholarship from institution he hopes to attempt.</p>
<p>What are some sites besides CollegeBoard and Fastweb that are good for scholarship searching?</p>
<p>Also - is there any school that will give him substantial (20K+/yr) merit aid to go to that school? A school that's still taking apps, preferrably on commonapp.</p>
<p>Where has he applied already? What types of schools is he interested in? What's his major likely to be?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, $20K/yr usually takes a lot of research and early apps help too...</p>
<p>Suggestions:
- Boys tend to be more "in demand" at liberal arts colleges.
- He needs to look at schools where he is in the very top of their applicants' stats.
- If he applies someplace far away he might be appealing as geographic diversity. (Or, it might just cost him more to get to school and back.)
- $10K/yr is much easier to get than $20K
- Read through all the merit threads onthe parent forum on here.</p>
<p>The catholic highschools I know seem to have college counselors very much aware of where the money is. Catholic colleges seem to have some goodies there to give out. I suggest that he visit his counselor with the express wish to get a list of some good possibilities. I know that Providence College in RI is a school looking for more males and is good for some merit aid. However, with his stats, it is going to be difficult to come up with substantial money. The SATs unfortunately play a large role in merit awards, and though your cousin is a great candidate for many colleges, getting substantial merit money is a whole different story. THe type of kid who gets that kind of money tend to be ivy material that the less selective schools are trying to lure away. </p>
<p>I suggest that in addition to looking for some schools with merit money, that your cousin look for some low sticker price schools. York College, Grove City, Elon, James Madison, are some examples. Also what is his home state? There may be some good possibilities in state schools. We are running into the same issues with our son who is currently a junior. We are not going to be able to pay the full sticker price of the type of school that we would like for him so are looking for all kinds of ways to find alternatives that would be the best fit. We 'll be looking at some catholic colleges and other LACs that may cough up some money, but from what I learned from his brother's experience, the amounts are not large compared to the cost of those colleges. $5K just isn't gonna do it when the tab come to close to $50K. We have found some low cost schools that have some possibilities and are still searching. Our state system is also promising in terms of cost.</p>
<p>To get some idea of where he is, Weenie's questions need to be answered. Her advice is also very good.</p>
<p>What state does he live in? How much is his family willing to pay to send him to college? Those 2 questions are important because he may not need $20 k in merit aid to go to college.</p>
<p>He also should run his family financial info through an estimated financial aid calculator such as the one linked on CC's home page. </p>
<p>Since he's concerned about paying for his college, he also should be here asking the questions and reading the info about financial aid. It's too important of an issue in his life for him to be leaving to you to research. He needs to be more aggressive about finding out this info.</p>
<p>"It seems that he has no special chance because his family is middle-class so he probably will not get too much financial aid and he has already received no scholarship from institution he hopes to attempt."</p>
<p>If he actually is middle class (and the family does not own a business or hold large assets) financial aid may well be possible. Your cousin's parents need to complete the finaid calculators to get a better handle on this.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions guys. He is a New York State resident. However, none of the SUNY or CUNY schools are particularly appealing - to him or the average student. Thanks for the suggestions about colleges. As it stands right now if he attends the instiution of his choice, tuition will be about 22-24k assuming he gets no aid from either the government or his institution(very unlikely.) He would commute, so that would save substantial money.</p>
<p>To justify going anywhere else and paying room and board he would have to get significant merit scholarships in ballpark of over 15k+ probably. </p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, but it seems as if he has no hope but to apply to some scholarships and hope he gets some government aid.</p>
<p>There are some very good SUNYS and you can get a quality education for around $15,000 per year. Maybe he is looking at the wrong ones for what he is interested in?</p>
<p>First off, forget fastweb as it will probably be just a big waste of time. As far as community service, was it centered in one area or scattered here and there. if he was very involved in particular projects, focus on them (especially if he can show leadership) Often local scholarships can be won by kids who have strong community service projects.</p>
<p>My son's good friend with similar stats to your cousin decided to stay home for the same reasons--did not like the SUNYs, did not qualify for much financial aid. He ended up choosing among Iona, Fordham and Manhattan Colleges, with a full tuition paid at Iona, near full at Manhattan, and nothing from Fordham. He graduated from Iona, and enjoyed his 4 years there. He probably could have gone away to Providence, St Joe's or Binghamton (or smaller Sunys) but not for anywhere close to the cost (which was none). Fordham gives commuters a break on the tuition which would have been his first choice had he not gotten the merit offers from the other schools. He has not regrets.
As for Fastweb and other scholarship services, it never hurts to look them over and see if one pops out that suits him. It is not easy getting a sizeable award , but I do know several kids who got a smattering of small awards that were a nice boost.</p>