<p>My son got in but will not be getting any merit-based aid. I know he'll get no federal financial aid under FAFSA in all likelihood, but Tulane has its own financial aid pool as well. Does anyone have any insight about how generous this program is? At $62,000 or so per year, unless that aid can come to about 50% in grants (to bring it to Penn State levels) there's no real chance of attendance here. I mean is anyone seriously thinking about taking out $45,000-55,000 in loans per year?</p>
<p>Your son cannot take out loans of that amt w/o parents co-signing for them, and I doubt u want to postpone your retirement until u are 120 years old.</p>
<p>Do u know w certainty that he is not in the running for merit awards? Aren’t those announced after RD results?</p>
<p>@GMTplus7 </p>
<p>Tulane gives partial merit awards upon admission to some students. It ranges from $10K-32K. The full tuition scholarships are announced in late February and early March. But anyone not getting a partial scholarship now will not be in the running for a full tuition award.</p>
<p>@Newtownunit </p>
<p>Tulane does have its own pool of need based FA, but it is based on the FAFSA and CSS profiles. So if you think your income and assets are too high to qualify for much need based aid (and the grants to which you refer are need based), then Tulane probably will be unaffordable for you. I don’t think very many people take out $45K per year in loans for any school, but certainly there are people that end up with $100K+ debt after 4 years, which I think is as dumb as it gets (not to put too fine a point on it or anything). No school is worth that kind of debt, not even the Ivies. IMHO of course.</p>
<p>Any merit award is included in the admissions letter, and I have confirmed that with the Director of Undergrad Admissions. So, if you did not get it with the admissions letter, it is NOT forthcoming. I was sorely disappointed because the payment calculator made it likely my son would get a $22K Founders Scholarship, but that did not happen. Chances of the full scholarship are extremely remote, though of course we’ll pursue that route. I’m just sorry because as an alum of the undergrad and law school, I held out some hope, but unless major dollars are coming I think you’re right that Tulane is not on the radar screen. If that’s the case, I better never hear again from the alumni association!</p>
<p>If you didn’t get any merit award with your admission letter you will not be getting any of the full scholarship awards, those usually go to people in the top two merit award categories (32-30K). That being said there is the community service scholarship and other scholarships outside of Tulane. I would call the school and inquire about why no merit scholarship (maybe they have some of his stats wrong).</p>
<p>Our family personally will never take out money for college because there are so many options where we live and no degree is worth starting off you life with > $70K dept.</p>
<p>“But anyone not getting a partial scholarship now will not be in the running for a full tuition award.”</p>
<p>Boy. Won’t that put some kids in a bind? They may hear of admission through Gibson before the 12/15 scholarship deadline but not get the letter before that. </p>
<p>I spoke with the folks in admissions. His GPA is 3.99 and his SATs are 2120, but no money. They indicated that maybe later on if others turn down the offers, some of the merit money may come back into the pool, but frankly, I doubt we’ll have much interest by that point. </p>
<p>Well, Tulane is pretty clear about the kind of stats expected for contenders for the full tuition awards. Here is a quote from the DHS page in the Financial Aid section of Tulane’s web site.</p>
<p>
<a href=“http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/dhs.cfm”>http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/dhs.cfm</a> (I wish they would update that 100 awards number to 75, but that isn’t the point here). In fact, they used to be more specific with the test scores, citing 33+ for the ACT or 2250+ for the SAT. Perhaps they changed it due to the upcoming changes in the SAT.</p>
<p>While the wording on the admissions page is less specific:</p>
<p>
<a href=“http://admission.tulane.edu/aid/merit.php”>http://admission.tulane.edu/aid/merit.php</a></p>
<p>That still should leave little doubt as to what it takes to be eligible for one of these awards. Looping back to my original point, since the partial merit scholarships are based on these same academic (mainly) criteria, if one doesn’t get a top level one of these, the full scholarships should not be in one’s thinking.</p>
<p>Wow - SAT of 2120 and GPA 3.99 and no merit money? Doesn’t give me much hope for my S! Tulane is his top choice, but no money might make it tough. Of course he hasn’t even gotten accepted yet so it might be a moot point…</p>
<p>I can’t really give credence to the statistics cited. A couple of my son’s friends received pretty generous awards and were just about the same. One had a slightly higher GPA, but still well outside the top 10% ranges, but had lower SATs. I certainly understand your point about the full tuition scholarships, but I’m talking more about the Founders program, which is in the 20-32,000 range. </p>
<p>Yes, please don’t misunderstand. Those quotes are only talking about the full tuition scholarships, but if someone didn’t qualify for a Premier Distinguished Scholars Award ($30K) or a Presidential ($32K) then I think the odds are almost nil for getting a full tuition scholarship. Maybe a Distinguished Scholar Award ($27K) but that would be the lowest I would think.</p>
<p>If someone has strong stats and didn’t get any merit money, then I suggest having a conversation with admissions. For example, if that GPA=3.99 is unweighted, then not getting merit money would be very surprising. If it is weighted, then it is hard to say. But it never hurts to ask if there is a chance for some merit money. All they can say is no, and you are no worse off than now. Personally, I think it is more effective to wait and see if your child had a strong semester. If, for example, they pulled 4 A’s and 2 A-'s, it might make more sense to have that as a point in your appeal. Tulane has always seemed very fair as far as I can see in awarding these partial scholarships. They will usually listen to a calm, sensible appeal.</p>
<p>FYI @Newtownunit I think the Founders award this year is $25K. I know a list of this years awards and amounts was posted earlier on one of these threads.</p>
<p>I had a long chat with Admissions. They’re not going to budge. They advise waiting until the Spring to see if money gets freed up and we can take sloppy seconds. Honestly, by that time I will have advised him to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Well, at least you tried. Best of luck with the continuing search.</p>
<p>The only thing I can think that may have impacted his award or lack of award may be interest in the school? I know tulane is big on people who show interest and this being their first choice for college. From what you wrote it doesn’t make sense that he received absolutely no money so the only thing I can think is if tulane didn’t feel he really wanted to go there.</p>
<p>At least you did call and I can understand if you don’t want to go there now, plus it isn’t worth the money you would need to pay out of pocket. I am sure with his stats some other college will offer him some money.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>We visited the school on one of their comprehensive information days with great seminars. He was sold on the school, and I’m an alum. It is a mystery to us, and the admissions office simply would not give anything beyond a confirmation that he will not be getting an award. </p>
<p>@fallenchemist …First thank you for all your valuable insight! </p>
<p>My daughter is so thrilled she was admitted to Tulane last week to her first choice school having applied SCEA with a 29 ACT and 3.4 GPA (UW). She submitted a strong portfolio for Architecture, IMHO. She has met and kept in contact with her Admissions Counselor and visited campus. We are from Colorado in a high-performing high school.
As you might imagine, she did not receive any merit scholarships. Will Tulane reconsider awarding merit-based aid if she retakes the ACT this Saturday and say scores a 31 composite? Obviously, any money would be nice…but taking the ACT again with no chance of it seems a stressful mistake at this stage. </p>
<p>@mackris </p>
<p>Congratulations on the acceptance. I really like what Tulane Architecture is doing in NOLA.</p>
<p>That hypothetical, though, is not one I feel comfortable commenting on. I really don’t know if that would be enough or not. I understand about the stress, but my usual take on something like that is if she doesn’t do it, the chances are 0% for sure. But only you and she can judge how much stress taking it again would cause.</p>
<p>Is the Paul Tulane Award only for students that already have merit awards? It doesn’t say that on the form, but Fallenchemist, is that your observation, or do you have specific info? My son did not get merit awards, but he wanted to exhaust all opportunities, so he did the essays for the Paul Tulane Award. I’m already prepping him for the unlikelihood of such an award, as I don’t want him to feel doubly disappointed by the lack of any merit funding. </p>
<p>@Newtownunit </p>
<p>Yes, I am afraid that is the case. The DHS and PTA are awards based on demonstrated academic merit, plus the project (DHS) or essays (PTA). From the Financial Aid section of the Tulane web site <a href=“http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/paultulaneaward.cfm”>http://tulane.edu/financialaid/grants/paultulaneaward.cfm</a> </p>
<p>
That very last part is more vague than it used to be, perhaps in anticipation of the changes coming in the SAT, but it used to read that the SAT should be 2250+ or the ACT 33+. Those aren’t absolutes, but they also won’t go very far under those numbers.</p>
<p>@fallenchemist I have a question in regards to determining the top 5 percent of the class without guessing. Since my DS is attempting to obtain a large merit package we would like to know how to find out these stats. I have contacted a number of universities to try to find out what the stats are for their top 10% for example and they all tell me they only track stats for the top 25%, 50%, etc. There are so many schools we are looking at that offer merit scholarships and his stats are very strong but we really want to apply to only those that he would really have a chance at.</p>