What are some of the schools that stack TE and merit and/or athletic aid? I have a 24 who is looking to study business and run track. 3.7 GPA 1210 SAT (will take again)
Looking at Bucknell, Fordham, American U, Marist, Merrimack, Bryant, Sacred Heart, Susquehanna, Scranton, Le Moyne, Syracuse for now.
Syracuse does sometimes. The best way to find out is to email the TE rep of each school to ask. They’ll have the latest info and are usually helpful and nice.
At least two people in this thread have kids who received stacked scholarships at SU.
Pitt offers full tuition.
Be sure to search the TE website for full tuition schools, too.
Providence College stacks merit on to the set rate for TE.
Saint Lawrence stacks.
Also look at Gettysburg, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall and Lafayette.
Do schools typically continue the award for all 4 years, if student stays in good standing and parents are careful to reapply on time every year?
I recently heard of one large school that scaled back on # of TE awards given out while someone’s child was only halfway through…left them unexpectedly unfunded for final 2 years.
Even if we were able to land an award at a school my ‘24 likes, I’m terrified at the thought of waking up to an unexpected $41k bill halfway through.
Schools plan to offer the TE award for 4 years (or 8 semesters) subject to the student maintaining a satisfactory GPA. The terms are generally spelled out in the award letter. Some schools list their requirements on the Tuition Exchange website.
Make sure to get the 4 years in writing. The descriptions I’ve seen from the schools themselves say they offer it for four years. Not 4.5 or 5 so the last year is on the student at full price if they don’t finish.
My daughter has finally made her decision after a year-long process. She’ll be attending Mount Holyoke in the fall with the set rate $41K TE Scholarship and a combination of other local and national scholarships to supplement that. Here’s the end result for folks looking for more information about how the TE awards turned out:
Mount Holyoke $41K TE
Emerson College $41K TE plus $12K merit
Case Western Reserve $41K TE
Fordham University Lincoln Center $41K TE
Loyola Marymount University waitlisted, TE denied, application withdrawn
Boston University, waitlisted, no word on TE, application withdrawn
USC, denied admission
It’s been a long journey, and I do think that she will be happy where she landed. It was a stressful wait and I know much more now as I head into the process with my son that is in the Class of 2025. He’s a different kind of student, and I think we will be applying to schools that give full tuition instead of the set rate as his opportunity for outside scholarships will be lower. I wish all the parents and students patience. In the end, it worked out for my daughter and I hope it will be the same for all of you.
I’m sharing my TE experience because it’s been so helpful to read this thread to try to understand the mystery of TE. 
DS22 - applied to Lawrence and DePaul
Lawrence received the TE 2022 set rate (can’t remember amount)
*DePaul received TE full tuition based on Liberal Arts & Sciences tuition rate, School of Music added scholarship to meet SOM tuition rate which is higher than LAS
DD23 - applied to Fordham and DePaul
Fordham received 34K merit but declined admissions before hearing about TE
*DePaul received TE full tuition, also awarded $25k/year merit but it doesn’t stack with TE
Personally, I wasn’t sure they would award TE twice to the same family, but I am very grateful.
Released Baldwin Wallace full tuition today. Also set rate Gustavus Adolphus.
From what I can tell Gettysburg, Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall do not stack. Is your experience different?
Gettysburg did not stack, but they do award merit that in some cases is more than TE and the student can choose. Dickinson did not stack for S23. He did not end up applying to Franklin & Marshall – I suggested it because it was in the same geographic area/similar to the ones you mentioned.
Saint Lawrence ended up being our best financial offer by far, with TE and additional merit awards.
Well, it’s finally over. After a year of researching, applying, waiting, and a lot of rollercoaster ups and downs, D23 will be a Ram next year when she begins at Fordham. Here’s the breakdown for all of it, along with her stats for those of your following for the 2024 year.
Stats:
So how did those stats do:
Boston University - waitlisted, TE denied
Fordham University - admitted, TE accepted, 43k COA
Loyola Marymount University, admitted, TE denied
Sarah Lawrence College - admitted, TE accepted, 38k COA (no stacking)
Saint Louis University - admitted, TE accepted, 12k COA (full tuition)
Clark University - admitted, TE accepted, 25k COA (no stacking)
Fairfeld University - admitted, TE accepted, 33k COA (no stacking)
Syracuse University - waitlisted, TE denied
University of Delaware - admitted, TE denied
Wheaton College - admitted, TE accepted, 33k COA (no stacking)
Loyola University Chicago - admitted, TE accepted, 27k COA (no stacking)
Ursinus College - admitted, TE accepted, 15k COA (full tuition)
Lake Forest College - admitted, TE/CIC accepted, 12k COA (full tuition)
Hendrix College - admitted, TE accepted, 14k COA (full tuition)
Providence College - admitted, TE accepted, 18k COA (set rate but stacked)
DePaul University - admitted, TE waitlisted
Eckerd College - admitted, TE unknown (never heard)
University of South Florida - admitted, 18k COA (USF was the one non-TE school)
It was a weird journey in many ways, but we learned a lot along the way. Our process worked for us. What we did was:
a. Pick a lot of schools to apply to. 17 colleges were a lot of schools to apply to (and try to visit, where possible). But TE is far too competitive, and so you have to cast a wide net. Given this, we scored a few early TE awards in November, so the pressure was off. This would have been a harder process if not for knowing early that “everything will be okay”.
b. We divided colleges into academic reach, target, and safety. Reach meant that D23 was in the 50% ACT range only. Target meant she was in the 75% ACT range, and safety meant she was deep in the 75th % ACT range. In the final list above, BU was a clear “reach” and she was waitlisted (apparently this year, BU accepted 10% of applicants). Fordham and Clark were soft reaches, since their 50% ACT ranges ended with a 33. Most of these above schools were target schools, some softer and some harder targets than others. We had two safety TEs (DePaul and Eckerd) and one non TE safety (USF). Oddly enough, she was waitlisted at DePaul for TE and never heard from Eckerd (I found this school particularly arrogant and non-responsive throughout the process, so much so I started calling them “Sailboat U” to explain why).
c. We also made sure that we had financial safety colleges. All the colleges with sub-20k COA were financial safeties. The rest were over 20k COA, and were mostly set rate. We also knew that perhaps some would stack and some would not, and knew that some, if they did not stack, or if we could not secure outside scholarship funding, would not be possible. As you know, even with TE, some of these schools are really expensive,
d. We divided schools into NLACs and NUs. Early on in the process, it was clear that D23 wanted a bigger school experience, and so was titled to the NUs. We purposely visited both types so that she could get a feel for both (early on, we visited Lake Forest, an NLAC, and Loyola Chicago, a NU). My wife and I favor the NLACs (she loved Lake Forest), but we knew the NUs were good schools so we left it open.
As it came down to the wire, for a lot of reasons we quickly started to hone in and it became clear that Loyola Chicago was the front runner. We visited the campus twice, and D23 really liked it. Both my wife and I were very impressed with LUC (super beautiful campus). But then, close to the end of the process, she got TE at Fordham (after all that craziness in January some of you remember). Fordham had long been her top choice, but the COA even with TE was not affordable. Luckily other funding sources brought the COA down to make them affordable. So, my wife and D23 took a plane trip, headed up to the Bronx (where I grew up, actually), and D23 was hooked, in part by the school and the campus, in part by the Italian food on Arthur Avenue, but also by Manhattan (15 min train from Fordham). It’s hard to beat the ease of getting from Fordham (commuter rail literally outside the main gate) to Grand Central Station. D23 has been floating around on a cloud.
Everyone is happy. I’m also happy that D23 will be attending a Jesuit institution (both Fordham and Loyola are Jesuit). We are not religious at all, but I have long been an admirer of the Jesuit tolerance of religious pluralism and their commitment to classical education - particularly their embrace of philosophy and theology at the center of a core curriculum. D23 will likely go STEM, but her education will be embedded within a solid education in the humanities.
Good luck to everyone, and I hope everyone’s kiddo is happy where they landed (or will land). I’ve appreciated this forum, and the wisdom and support that the posters here (and in previous years) provided.
After I hand in my grades in early May, I will be making the long post here to summarize everyone’s data in this thread for easy use by the parents who will be stressing out about TE for Fall 2024. Lots of good information is such a help in this process (which neither TE nor the schools themselves seem to provide), so I appreciate everyone putting details in their final posts so that I can put it all together later on. You’ve all been great!
Best of luck to everyone and good luck to your kiddos in Fall 2023!
@Excel_Dad congratulations to your D! A Fordham grad myself, I was disappointed in your earlier experience with Fordham so I am glad to hear it all worked out. Coincidentally, my D23’s top two choices were Fordham and Loyola Chicago. Unfortunately, Fordham was out of reach for us financially (I think her COA was around $55K), so she will be attending LUC. I’m a little sad b/c I know she would have loved Fordham, and I had hoped one of my kids would be a legacy there, but alas, we could not justify the high COA (my oldest also got in six years ago but her COA was $65K!). Though we are excited D23 will be at LUC, I am bummed not to have reasons to visit Arthur Ave and my favorite restaurants and shops that are still there!
Make sure your D stops in at Pugsley’s Pizza - when D23 and I toured Fordham this summer, I was pleasantly surprised Sal (owner) is still alive and well since my days as a student many years ago. It’s just off campus on 191st St outside the Bathgate Ave gate.
I hope your D23 enjoys her time at Fordham as much as I did!
My wedding reception was on Arthur Avenue. Best food I’ve eaten in America! My husband went to Fordham Prep and Fordham U and still misses it. That’s how we came to be married on the campus.
Congrats on Fordham and the TE! After than January thing, you deserve it. (Edit: deserve it in a good way!)
Thanks and I’m happy to hear the ringing endorsement of the school (I’ll tell her about Puglsey’s, she needs some go-to tips that are cheaper options than Arthur Ave)! You’re right - Fordham is really expensive. I was happy for her when the outside funding came in, because TE only gets it down to 44k a year, which is just too much for us.
I hope your D23 loves LUC. My wife and I were big fans, D23 really liked it, and we were actually very excited to send her there. Fordham was simply a late-breaking last minute TE award that shook everything up. I loved the LUC campus, how the academic and residential areas were set apart (felt like BU a bit to me), obviously the lake is amazing, and how can you not love a college that spends 30 million on an all glass library/study building overlooking a lake. Also loved Rogers Park and how the campus was sorta snuggled in between the CTA stop and the lake. Nice and private. 
Thanks, and it’s funny that you mention your wedding - my wife and I (married 21 years) wanted to have our reception at Mario’s (we were grad students at UCONN at the time). We just couldn’t get the logistics worked out, so ended up doing it somewhere else. When my wife and D23 visited Fordham, they had dinner at Mario’s and she mentioned that we tried to plan our reception there (my wife said the food was as good as she remembered it being). I miss the food - we’re in Missouri, and I’ll just say that the Italian food is, well…not as good. 
Our reception was at Mario’s!
Thank you so much for sharing this, it is very helpful for those of us just beginning this journey. Can you say who you got information from November? Again, I appreciate you sharing.
I work at a Jesuit and would have loved for my son to attend one.
But like you, a sudden acceptance at a school he didn’t expect plus getting set rate TE plus 20k stacked scholarship made for a mad dash to visit last week!