I applied to almost all private schools where my scores make me competitive for scholarships. I was awarded the highest scholarship available at several schools, the only problem being that this still leaves me having to pay 30-50k a year depending on the school. When my mom talked to the admissions counselor at one school, they hinted at “extra money,” but would not be any clearer. I am wondering if private schools offer better packages as May 1 gets closer to entice students? Is this a common practice at all? Should I hope for larger offers or just make plans for other schools seeing as I won’t be able to afford the private ones I applied to.
One more question, what happens if you don’t go to a school and they’ve offered you a scholarship? Like, when is the person who it gets passed down to notified? Is there any chance of this happening? (I was offered 2nd highest scholarship at 1 school where highest scholarship is full ride. Is there any chance that if someone passes this up it could be passed down to me before the May 1 deadline?)
Did you and your mother run the Net Price Calculators at each college/university website? That should have given you a notion of what your aid package would look like. You could have crossed a whole bunch of these places off long before applying if you’d had that information.
I don’t know of any institutions that have “unlisted” scholarships.
Some places will award a scholarship to person #2 if person #1 turns it down. Others don’t do that. They have Category 1 scholarships and Category 2 scholarships, so if you are in Category 2, that is where you will stay. You would need to ask the college/university in question about your specific scholarship situation.
How much more money do you need? If it’s $30,000, I doubt you will see that sizable an increase in your scholarship aid. You might…might get an additional couple thousand dollars, but you aren’t going to get a full free tuition or free ride if you didn’t already qualify for it.
My S got a very good scholarship at a large midwestern U. Although we never called, they really wanted him and ended up finding an alum who was willing to sponsor a scholarship to bring the total to full tuition. Other students told S they call the school and were offered additional money too. I think there is sometimes additional money if they really want you. I am sure each school is different, can’t hurt to give them a call.