Does not give me much confidence. And Utah is son’s #1 choice.
That sucks because they appear to be ignoring his test scores which have been the critical differentiator in prior years, and instead looking primarily at what I guess is the number of APs. I agree he would probably have got either the one year OOS full tuition or the $12K first year merit in prior years (not achieving a 4.0 UW stopped people getting 4 year full tuition).
Though they did seem to imply that homeschoolers GPAs weren’t given as much weight, so not taking ACT scores into account will have had even more impact.
Even though we homeschool, we are with a PSP, which is essentially a private school. It’s sort of like hybrid homeschooling. Many of his high school classes were taken outside of the home either locally or online. We submitted detailed course descriptions with his transcript so they could see that. He also did a few other ECs, but only for a year or so each.
His only B was in AP Physics C: Mechanics. He took that online with a very challenging teacher. Wish we had taken it elsewhere.
This year has been so frustrating because he worked so hard and so many schools have changed their scholarship programs midway through the year or have gone test blind.
Do you happen to know anything about departmental scholarships @Twoin18? He submitted the scholarship application for those. He also applied for Eccles.
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I don’t know anything about departmental scholarships, but he might reach out to the department and ask, given the situation. But you’d have to weigh the benefits if it was presented as an alternative to WUE like the other merit. A one off $6K-$10K (not saying they have this money, just an example) would offset some of the non-resident supplement in freshman year, but is only marginally better overall in financial terms.
My assumption is that shortlisting for Eccles will look particularly for strengths in English and social science, even amongst science students, since Jack Newell who leads the program is very big on liberal arts (he previously led Deep Springs College and I expect looks for the sort of student who would have fitted in there too).
I just got an email about merit award! Hopefully they are releasing to everyone today!
I received the President’s Scholarship (80,000 total + 2500 for on-campus). I don’t think I will accept based on other options - hope it will go to one of you! Good Luck!
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My D just received the email too! Presidents Award for OOS.
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Not impressed, Fordham and Ohio State (OOS) are cheaper, and Arizona blew everyone out of the water. It was nice talking with everyone.
My son received the OOS Presidential Scholarship too!
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EDIT: The $2500 housing subsidy appears to be per semester (as in prior years). Assuming that’s available for all 4 years if you take HRE housing then it’s a pretty good deal. Honors housing is great, particularly the MHC apartments on campus, and the Block 44 apartments between campus and downtown are very nice too.
But getting residency after year 1 will be very important to making the most of the scholarship: then it ends up better than the previous 4 year OOS full tuition scholarship. Previously you would have paid about $6000 in mandatory fees over 4 years (these weren’t covered) plus the full cost of housing, now you’ll pay about $11000 extra the first year but nothing in years 2-4 after getting residency, so a $20,000 discount on housing over 4 years will put you well ahead, albeit having to stay the first summer.
You can qualify for residency by taking classes at instate rates (and get on campus housing) or be an orientation leader (free housing and a stipend) or do one of the study abroad options (even ones out of state: the Ecology and Legacy minor with a trip to Chile is particularly popular).
WOW!! Lots of OOS President’s Awards - CONGRATS TO ALL!!! We haven’t heard yet but I’m super curious - will y’all share stats? Thanks in advance! …and congrats again - well done!!
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The $2500 housing subsidy is per semester, so $5000 a year.
Here is the email:
Congratulations on your admission to the University of Utah for Fall 2021! On behalf of all current students, faculty and staff, welcome to the U.
Based on a your outstanding academic credentials, I am pleased to award you one of the university’s premier merit scholarships, the four-year President’s Scholarship.
This top academic award is a renewable scholarship worth $80,000 over four years ($20,000 per year) contingent upon meeting the renewal and enrollment requirements. If you live in on-campus housing, you will receive an additional $2,500 each semester along with your scholarship.
Sorry I say bait and switch. After weeks of waiting (and paying non-refundable housing deposit) Utah days before announcing their merit reduces the oos scholarship by $11-12,000 PER YEAR. I feel like they had no way to select (common data set says over 11% have 4.0 gpa) so they lowered the top award amounts and gave to more people. Utah was 1st school applied to and had been a front runner but no interest in staying over the summer to game residency.
Thanks for that summary! It was very helpful!
4.0 UW / 4.86 W
IB Diploma- HL Math, Physics, English, and Spanish
3 additional APs - Calc BC, APUSH, and Econ
I don’t think they considered test scores, but 35 ACT and 1550 SAT
Thanks very much (and congrats again!).
No problem. I think she aligned with their criteria. There have been plenty of other places where she came up short. It’s a crazy year.
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I agree that this change is way too late and should have been made clear upfront. But I don’t think you should view staying for the summer as an attempt to “game residency”. The ability to qualify for residency has always been part of the deal at Utah, and the majority of OOS students have taken that path (especially in prior years when it seems WUE was less widely offered). The state wants to attract new residents which is why the physical presence law exists. And I can see why from the U’s point of view it didn’t make sense to give the best students more impetus to leave because they hadn’t become residents.
Almost all of D’s friends have stayed every summer, even during the pandemic, and that was still the case even for those who didn’t actually need to get residency.
Thanks for your reasoned reply. This process has been brutal with so many covid changes. Do you know if college student can remain on parents health insurance if change residency and file taxes as independent? What did you do about car registration/insurance? I think I saw older posts that it was helpful to have a car for social purposes. Was your daughter able to remain on your auto policy?
We took the U’s health insurance because it was much cheaper than our own one (~$2000 per year) and obviously their own hospital is in network. I think even kids who are independent can remain on parents’ insurance until 26, so I guess the main question is whether your policy is limited to a specific state. She is still on our car insurance (and it is still registered in CA) because we own the car and she has just “borrowed” it to take to college.
She registered to vote there straight away, which we took as the date of her tax residency in Utah (helpful because state taxes are way lower than CA). You do lose the child tax credit of $500 (and she has to file as independent for 2021), on the other hand she’s now getting lots of stimulus checks which more than offset our tax losses.
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In most cases a child can stay on their parent’s insurance when they are no longer claimed as a dependent.
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