I would rather not give out my current home state online. My parents just feel that there is no need to stress the money until we can see all my options. I don’t think I’ll apply for need-based aid, hence why I am looking for merit-based aid.
Good for her, that’s great!! Thank you for sharing! 
I understand totally! My parents just want me to apply anywhere and to see what I get and then decide how affordable it will be. I have done the net price calculator online for almost every school, but I was just curious about scholarships for OOS students and stats for those kids
Full tuition at those out of state publics will be double what instate tuition costs…unless you get a merit award that reduces your costs to the instate costs.
There is NO need to wait until you get accepted to know the costs…there is a net price calculator on EVERY college website. Get your parents to do THAT for each school. You will get a very good estimate of the net costs and aid you will receive.
Are your parents divorced, self employed or do they own real estate in addition to your primary residence? If the answer is NO to these questions…the net price calculator should be a good estimator of your net costs.
I’m saying estimate…because the NPCs are set up NOW for students starting in Fall 2018…and you won’t be starting until fall 2019.
IMO - “just apply anywhere and see what I get” is a very dangerous method.
I admit, as an uneducated on the true costs and the process parent, I too had this methodology and it bit us in the hind end big time. DD applied to some great schools, got into the “dream” school but that school did not offer her any merit, the sticker price was well beyond our means, in the end we had to say no.
You wouldn’t go house hunting without knowing what you can afford, the same applies to college, don’t go there unless you know it is reasonably do-able.
My DD was awarded full tuition/housing at Univ Alabama Huntsville - she had a 34 on her ACT and a 4.85 GPA (W)
Check out the list of full or close to full ride scholarships that is on this site:
She could have gotten all but about $10K a year from Alabama and Ole Miss would have given her a chunk as well mainly due to her ACT score. The grades are also a factor but to even get into consideration for the housing award, the ACT/SAT is the lead in
I don’t think you are going to see much with that ACT score, it will need to come up considerably
Point your parents here to CC, open communication about college funding is very very important!
Good luck
To get a full tuition scholarship at the OOS publics you have in mind…my opinion…you need your ACT score to be ABOVE 32.
UofSC merit for Out of State students.
Thank you very much, I am going back soon to retake my ACT and I am super excited! I know I can improve once I study and really put my all into it congrats to your daughter, that’s awesome! Thank you for all the info!
I have used the net calculators for almost every school, and I have seen what my expected values are. I was just asking around to try and see if certain schools are more likely to give OOS merit scholarships and if so, how much and stuff like that
Exactly the info I was looking for, thank you so much!
Awesome! Thanks so much!
Thank you!
Just go to each college’s website on your list and in the search function type “merit scholarships.” It will take you to the pages similar to what people have been referring you too here. Also go to the website collegedata.com and insert each college on your list. Once you get to the college’s page, scroll down to the money matters tab and then after you click it, scroll down to the numbers for merit also known as “students who have no need.” You can see how many scholarships the college gives out to the entering freshman class and what the average amount is for merit. Full-scholarship merit awards are tough to come by, instead most colleges will vary the amount which can be any where from $5K to $25K. Also look to see if merit is guaranteed (you get it for test scores and grades) versus you are considered for merit which just means you are in the running.
Although these states are not on your list, I would look at Ole Miss and LSU. Both have been generous with merit to my OOS students.
Thank you so much! I will check all of that out!
Based on your current stats… you have quite a few admissions reaches on your list ( Wake Forest, UNC OOS, Emory, Davidson, and possibly others). Keep in mind that even students with perfect stats… among other things… are usually not getting large merit to those schools.
I would check out the NPC for Oxford at Emory and see if you qualify for financial aid… if there is anything going on such as divorce etc the NPC may not be accurate. The list provided on post #3 might be a good place to start looking for schools. Try and get your scores up. Applying anywhere and seeing what you get… is not a good strategy.
Will your parents contribute anything?
Make sure your own 4 yr in state schools are not significantly superior to fixed merit option schools. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Of course, once you have areal test score, you will be in a better position to postulate.
Great thank you!
Yes once I am actually satisfied with my scores it will be a lot easier to estimate potential scholarships
Try and get your scores up and check out the other UNC schools - Charlotte, Wilmington, Asheville.