The Vernacular

Paying for College
21

<p>NoCook, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but that’s because I am sharing with you lessons I just finished learning.</p>

<p>Some schools have merit scholarships that are designated specifically for students who qualify for need-based aid. Some award merit scholarships without looking at the financial information. Some have a combination. The numbers you see on that list don’t distinguish among those situations. The experience of your friends and neighbors who got financial aid along with merit scholarships is also not relevant to your full-pay situation.</p>

<p>GW is an example of a school that has some of each. If you want to see what percent of the applicants who do not qualify for need-based aid get merit scholarships, that information is available on their website, via the Common Data Set, and elsewhere, broken down by school. You may discover that the specific parameters of your student (no need, applying to X school) would put him/her in a pool where a much lower percentage are awarded merit aid (and the merit scholarship for students “without need” is, as I mentioned, about $15K, which is a nice discount, to be sure, but still leaves a big tab).</p>

<p>Brandeis is a school that USED to have some of each but has eliminated all but a tiny handful of their scholarships for students without need.</p>

<p>As others have mentioned, to be a merit aid candidate, your student needs to be at the top of the applicant pool as measured by whatever criteria the school uses to determine who gets the scholarships. Some schools offer assured scholarships, where any kid with GPA/scores over a certain cutoff will get a scholarship. I’ve seen this information on websites for Howard U, Stevenson U, and a few others. Some schools make the decision based on that year’s applicant pool, but say that they do it straight by the numbers (GPA/test scores)–American U is an example of this. Others are more holistic. </p>

<p>My kid applied to four merit scholarship schools, none with assured scholarships. We did not find that the process was predictible. She got a top merit scholarship where we didn’t expect one, didn’t get one at all where we did expect one, got surprised when a school changed its policy after she applied so that she wasn’t eligible there, and got one at the school she chose to attend. We have seen the threads where students and parents report out on their qualifications and have been on both sides of the “Why did my kid get/not get a scholarship at this school” reaction. There are kids with top stats who get passed over and kids with less impressive credentials who get the scholarships sometimes. (There were more qualified students at School A where my kid got the top scholarship who didn’t get it…who knows why?) The schools have their reasons, I’m sure, or there’s some metric we don’t know about that weighs in. </p>

<p>I think it might be helpful, after building your initial list of possible schools, to contact the admissions offices and ask directly for information about merit scholarships that are available to students who do not apply for financial aid. The criteria, competitiveness, typical amounts, typical stats of students who receive them, etc., may be helpful to you in shaping a list.</p>

<p>I feel very fortunate that my kid ended up with a very good fit at one of the schools that offered her a scholarship. I believe it was more dumb luck than anything else, since I didn’t know to look deeply enough into the details at two of the schools on the list.</p>

22

<p>Thanks, deskpotato, I appreciate your insight and particularly your assurance that I can count on the statistics in the Common Data Set. That appears to be exactly what I’m looking for - percentage of kids who DO NOT qualify for needs-based aid but receive merit-based aid, and the average dollar amount. I totally get that kids with financial need might also get merit aid at schools that provide both and the Common Data Set is useful for separating the need recipients from the non-need recipients.</p>

<p>However, I still don’t understand why a college might be listed in Barron’s (or a similar book) as being NEEDS BASED ONLY but still show up on the Common Data Set as giving merit aid to kids who don’t qualify for needs based aid…isn’t that a contradiction?</p>

23

<p>Barron’s may not be as up-to-date as the Common Data Set. So while it (and other books) can be a good place to start, you will need to verify the details using other sources as well.</p>

24

<p>

</p>

<p>Keep one thing in mind (and it was posted already). Policies at schools CAN change from year to year…and they do. The Common Data Set is based on LAST year’s numbers. This CAN change when the current application year comes up.</p>

<p>Don’t look at the “averages”…remember that there are 50% of kids who get aid below that average and 50% above…your kiddo COULD be in the lower end. Then again…they could be at the upper end. No way to predict unless the school has ASSURED merit awards based on stats. Even need based amounts can vary from year to year…it depends on the applicants and the level of need, AND the school’s ability to support that need…all things that can change from year to year.</p>

25

<p>Another caveat regarding the data from the Common Data Sets:
The denominator for those calculations is the number of enrolled students.
The percent of enrolled students receiving merit aid is very different from the percent of applicants, or even admitted applicants, receiving merit aid. Obviously, the purpose of merit aid is to entice the admitted applicants to matriculate, and to the extent that it’s effective, there will be a higher proportion of merit aid awardees in the enrolled class than in the overall applicant or admittee population. I think I read somewhere that, for example, American gives merit aid to about the top 20% of applicants, but the CDS suggests that as many as 40% of non-need enrollees had a merit award two years ago.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, the numbers can lead you to schools that offer merit aid and away from schools that don’t.</p>

26

<p>Excellent advice, everyone. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.</p>

27

<p>There are a lot of reasons why merit scholarships are given… The main one is to bring more of types of student that a college wants. Geographics, sex of the student, field of study, ethnicity can all figure into this. I have seen kids get a merit award over someone with far higher stats at the same college. Around here, for instance, getting the BC award is nigh impossible. The number of top Catholic school kids who are willing to pay full price to go there goes around the block. Why should they pay for one of those. But if you are from Iowa, that is a whole other story. </p>

<p>Females were deferred at USF this year while some male counterparts with decidedly lower stats got in. The school came right out and said that they had a 70/30 F/M split so it was tougher for those girls and they would be reassessed at RD time, but the school was eager to get that ratio closer to 50/50 which was hook for the guys. For schools like Rensalaer, or some other IT type schools, it’s a whole other story. My son tells me that a friend of his in CO got into CO Mines with a very generous award and much interest from the school, while a top flight male got the usual reception. You apply for a program a college is known for, and you have a tougher time getting in and getting merit than someone who is applying to an endangered program. So merit is more than the stats when it comes to awards schools give and can vary widely depending on the needs and wants of the schools…</p>

28

<p>Excellent point, and reflects what I was talking about when I said I didn’t dig deep enough to get the real facts about my kid’s chances for merit. While one of the schools lists an overall rate of 27% merit for enrolled students, it’s actually 10% in the specific college my kid applied to at that school! And that 10% is divided into some students getting the merit scholarships that are earmarked for students who also qualify for need-based aid. Who knows what tiny fraction of that class actually got the no-need merit aid?</p>

<p>On top of that, the yield for that school within the college approached 50% last year, so they would have even less incentive this year to hand out merit awards to encourage students to enroll.</p>

29

<p>Those schools that have such good yield, will narrow criteria for merit awards even further. Most all schools have a “wish list” of what is optimal in getting the freshman class they want. If there is a glut of premeds that year, getting a merit award as a premed is not going to be easy. Heck, getting in is not going to be easy with that intent. But if you put down Classics major and have 4 years of Ancient Greek, 4 years of Latin and some interesting work in that field, even if you are not quite up there in stats, you might get an acceptance and even a few bucks especially if that department feels that they need to let Admissions know that they want some students. I know a Physics prof at a selective school that makes sure that Admissions is aware that that department could use some interested bodies, Nothing like being in danger of extinction at a school to get those danged profs active in recruiting like coaches.</p>

30

<p>

My son receives a merit-only scholarship (it started out as $8000 the first year but has increased a little each year at the same rate as their OOS tuition increases). We live in Oregon and he attends UMD. We don’t qualify for need-based aid and don’t even file a FAFSA.</p>

31

<p>Absolutely, some do. Not all, but many do. Some have a specific program for OOS kids that they most want to attract with specific scholarships and OOS tuition waivers for them. </p>

<p>Also, what school shows up as needs based aid only and then giving merit award? I know Cornell is sometimes cited as a school that gives merit award, and my son did get an award from them but it was not off the year’s costs, but for some summer research opportunity. Also some merit awards that were once given for merit reasons and still having merit stipulations and called such may be turned into financial aid merit awards. Even Harvard has a bunch of those.</p>

<p>Also some schools have departmental money and funds that may get disbursed for specific reason and do not show up on the radar of financial aid. Such monies can be distributed to upperclassmen. My son has gotten some such money. </p>

<p>Also some schools will give aid beyond PROFILE numbers as merit if the student qualifies for even $1 of financial aid, as merit within aid. So someone not eligible for any financial aid would not qualify but the award can be larger than need once someone does qualify. That can help a lot of kids who border line qualify but not for much. We have cousins in that category. Their “on paper” need is about $5K at a $55K school, but there is no way they could pay the $50K. That their son qualifies for some need, has netted them some awards over need but still regarded financial aid. </p>

<p>Other than federal or other specifically need directed monies provided by outside agencies, a school has a lot of leeway in terms of defining need.</p>