<p>Our local private university JUST announced the recipients of the five full tuition scholarships it awards every year to local high school students as part of an agreement with our small city, where the univ. is located. Not sure why it was done so late this year. Kind of makes me think it's a half-hearted attempt to comply with the city council agreement, since at this late date many kids will turn the scholarships down because they've made other plans.</p>
<p>My D was awarded one of these scholarships late today and was only given the weekend to accept it, or not. She liked the school well enough when we visited, but definitely doesn't want to go to college in her own back yard, as long as other, financially feasible options are available. </p>
<p>She has a couple of generous financial aid packages from nationally recognized, higher-ranked private universities further from home, which we are visiting this week to make a final decision. They have pretty much covered tuition with merit & need-based grants, although there are Stafford loans, so I realize it's not all "free" full tuition. It has always been her dream to go away to school, she's a great, well-rounded kid, so I'd like to see her dream come true. </p>
<p>We can reasonably meet our expected family contribution at these schools which is about the cost of room and board, even at the local univ., as we told her she could live on campus if she got the full tuition scholarship. Many of the local scholarship kids do that, but come home the second year once the novelty wears off, or they get an apartment with friends. </p>
<p>I do wish the local univ. had let us know a month ago (the applic. deadline was ages ago) because I think she would have considered it differently. While she should feel great about receiving a full tuition scholarship somewhere, she is upset and conflicted - and rushed, to only have the weekend to decide before even taking a final look at the other schools. I called the univ. rep to ask if we could postpone the decision but had to leave a message.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’ve got one more great option among a lot of great options.</p>
<p>You could very well be right that the school did this grudgingly and half heartedly. Or maybe there were totally innocuous reasons why it took them so long. I wouldn’t spend a lot of time angsting over the timing. I really doesn’t matter how you got it, the fact is that you’ve got it.</p>
<p>So, now you have it. I’m guessing that your phone call will result in a delay. If the financial difference is affordable, and you really don’t care, then let her pick after she’s seen all the schools. If not, you’ll make the decision based on the offers you have.</p>
<p>I thought that the national agreement requires that, at least if you ask, that colleges have to give the student until May 1st to make a decision, including a decision on scholarships. They can ask you to make a decision more quickly, but you should be able to ask that they abide by the national May 1st deadline.</p>
<p>I was going to say the same thing, I thought they had to give you a May 1st deadline.</p>
<p>I agree with you about going to school in your own backyard. We’ve told all the kids we would like to see them 2 hours away or more. It’s just way too easy to run home for every little thing vs them figuring things out on their own. I was talking to a friend last night who was saying her freshman DD called to let her know her retainer broke and she had called their orthodontist to see what to do and he suggested someone near her school to go to so she did and Mom and Dad would be getting a bill :D. She said if she had been closer to home, she probably would have just called mom to take care of all of that for her.</p>
<p>I would also suspect that several kids she goes to high school with also attend that school. We used to live in a college town (thus the 2 hour rule) and it was almost like the high school just picked up and moved across town for college. Kids hung out with the same high school friends, etc. and didn’t really step out of their comfort zone.</p>
<p>Very interesting point about the May 1 deadline - is there a CC or other link that explains this somewhere? I’d like to have something “concrete” to say to the school rep who called about the scholarship, insisting that she had to decide over the weekend. We don’t even have anything in writing! This whole thing seems sort of unprofessional, even “sketchy” as the kids would say, but it’s the way they always do it, with a phone call. They are much later than usual with the scholarship notifications this year. </p>
<p>Although her preference is still to go away to school, it would be nice if she had more than a weekend to think it over, and a chance to look at the other schools where she received good aid.</p>
<p>If you can afford it and she wants to do it, there’s no shame in turning down a full tuition scholarship offer for a better (fit, rankings, or otherwise) school. She should still feel proud that she got it and happy with her choice to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>If you were going into massive debt for it, I’d advise otherwise, but some debt (Stafford Loan variety), to us, is nothing more than an investment and we feel better about a good fit/rankings/etc with investment than a so-so choice without.</p>
<p>Everyone has to make their own decision on that, of course.</p>
<p>Is there really any net cost difference between the local school and the other’s she has looked into. Typically room and board costs are very close from one school to the next.</p>
I second this question … do both of the other options have loans? … work study? … what is the difference in cost? From the original post it does not sound that big especially if you were OK paying for the options available before this option came along.</p>
<p>I know I read on CC just within the last month or so about a student’s right to request, in writing, to have until May 1st to decide. I think you have to do it in writing. </p>
<p>One other thing to consider - I’d be way more comfortable with a full tuition scholarship than a combination of merit & need of about the same amount because the need based amount will change every year. One would hope it wouldn’t change significantly unless your financial situation changed significantly, but there are no guarantees. If they give you full tuition then you’re locked in - it will go up each year with tuition.</p>
<p>And congratulations to your daughter! What an honor!</p>
<p>^ depending on the student and the rules about the merit scholarship I might feel differently … a lot of merit scholarships come with GPA requirements … if this requirement is high and has tough rules about missing the requirement then I’d probably favor the financial aid package.</p>
<p>You would not be the only family to give up such a good offer. We are spending twice as much now for a better fit college. No loans yet but I am still saving for years three and four.</p>
<p>My D turned down a full tuition scholarships offer from state flagship because it required a 3.75 GPA to renew. We felt the stress level to maintain that high of a GPA (she’s a math major) would make her crazy. She accepted a full tuition from another school that requires only a 3.0 to renew. It was a good move as she loves her school but has since changed majors to microbiology.</p>
<p>We live about eight blocks from our state’s flagship university, and plenty of kids from the area go there – and very few of them seem to see their parents more than every month or so. (Usually with a BIG bag of dirty laundry in hand once they figure out how much they get charged to do laundry on campus.) Maybe it is different at other schools.</p>
<p>We do have a friend whose daughter kept driving home from her college 60 miles away most weekends until mom & dad threatened to take away the car, but she was a very immature kid.</p>
<p>Every kid who can get into very selective schools has multiple free ride offers if they paid attention to applying for them. Very year, many are turned down for better schools.</p>
<p>I agree w Waverly. It would be one thing if that was the only affordable option, but since it isn’t, it doesn’t seem to push the school into the “desirable” category.</p>
<p>When my d got merit aid,she heard about it in March, which gave a chance to take another look at schools. To hear now ( & on the weekend that taxes are due;)), makes the school seem out of sync with the needs of families, and that may not be the only area where that is true.</p>
<p>OP, our city (if its not the same) has the same agreement with the LAC that they give full-tuition scholarships to city residents each year in exchange for some land that was given up. I made my son apply and he was invited to a scholarship day where he had to write an essay and be interviewed. He did not do well enough apparently to get offered one of the scholarships, but even if he did I don’t know if I would have encouraged him to go there because, although it is a good school, I don’t think it would have been the right one for him. (He did have some good scholarships at other schools also.) Being in our backyard was not a consideration. Alot of kids who live on campus do not really visit their parents any more than if they were 1-2 hours away. Does your d like this school, is good for her major, and can she picture herself there? Good luck in her decision.</p>
<p>OP here. Thanks for all the wonderful input! Lots to think about. I will definitely try to extend the “deadline” for her to reply.</p>
<p>Emerald Kitty (love your screen name) I think that’s what gets to me about this whole thing. How can the school expect families to make reasonable decisions in a weekend, without anything in writing, even? Don’t like the way it’s being handled at all.</p>
<p>I did make her apply to this school - knowing they awarded full scholarships, and I suspected with her stats she may be a good candidate. (She is the valed. of the local public high school). We did visit, and it’s a lovely campus, but I know she can’t really picture herself there. At the time, I didn’t know what types of financial aid or scholarships she would get elsewhere so we wanted to include this school as a possibility. </p>
<p>Many schools she was accepted to did not meet our need, but it turned out a few did, at “better” schools, in places she would like to be.</p>
<p>A coworkers’ son’s friend has a full-ride to one of the Boston-area schools vs admission to H. I’d guess that his parents make in the $100K - $150K area based on where they live. I’m looking forward to see what they choose.</p>