<p>Great post, weenie.</p>
<p>Ooops I should have posted here rather than starting a new thread - I'll get the hang of this when I've made enough mistakes! What stikes me through all this is that despite massive research there remains a big random element both in the admissions and the merit aid process. I'm reading 'The Gatekeepers" (Barnes and Noble $1 sale) and am astonished by the role HS counselors at private schools apparently play in this process throughout HS. H & I did not grow up in the US thus HS norms and undergrad applics have been a new experience for us. Kid goes to the local rural HS and the more I read these threads, the better the state U looks to me! Thank you for all the information posted and all the digging you've done - it's really helpful</p>
<p>Geez. The Northeast seems like no bargain as they have so many schools unwilling to give merit aid and are, on average, more expensive then the rest of the country. Does cost follow value? In other words would you be better served coming up with the money for say, Holy Cross, or grabbing a merit scholarship at a comparable southern school ie., Rhodes. Obviously the Ivy League may be worth it, but the other northeastern types???? I don't know, is northeastern prestige worth going into heavy debt for? Also what advise would you give to public school parents whose kids may be limited as to the amount of apps. they can put in. Don't GC's at public high schools limit apps to 7 or 8? If so the scattershot approach may be in trouble.</p>
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Don't GC's at public high schools limit apps to 7 or 8?
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<p>Is this common? Do they refuse to send out more, or will they send more for a fee?</p>
<p>Is even the Ivy League worth it?
Enough students have gone to a good state school for Undergrad and still made it into an Ivy for Grad school. Also, enough students have gone to a state school for both but still lock horns with Ivy grads and perform brilliantly in the workforce.</p>
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I don't know, is northeastern prestige worth going into heavy debt for?
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<p>Well, obviously, that depends on the family...</p>
<p>Neither Willamette (#61) nor Lewis and Clark (81) are on your list of giving good financial aid and they should be. Makes me wonder how many other schools on the west coast are also missing?</p>
<p>(Pssst. It's a conspiracy. This site is owned by Eastern pointy headed liberals and it's been designed to lower the profile of all schools west of Altoona. It is called ...."The Altoona Plan", all very hush-hush. I heard about it on O'Reilly. )</p>
<p>Will looks like the real deal. Avg. merit award over 10K, and over 30% get it.
<a href="http://www.willamette.edu/admission/financial_aid/about_finaid.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.willamette.edu/admission/financial_aid/about_finaid.htm</a>
L+C doesn't seem to offer as much but what they do offer looks nice.
<a href="http://www.lclark.edu/dept/sfs/meritscholarshps.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.lclark.edu/dept/sfs/meritscholarshps.html</a></p>
<p>Top awards at both schools are tuition and fees. No full-rides.</p>
<p>(Look for the stats at L+C on top scholarship winners, pretty stout stuff since they are looking for ec's , too.)</p>
<p>Hey curm:
Can you re-do the list at this point? I'm afraid to make a mistake on it. Thanks!!!</p>
<p>Curmudgeon,</p>
<p>Don't want to join the conspiracy theorists, but from D#1's experience, I agree that Willamette and Lewis & Clark offer good merit aid. D#1, now entering her 3rd year at a different Pacific NW college (which gave her merit aid but not as much) was offered $12,000/year by Willamette and $10,000/year by L & C. Tuition at the time was in the mid-20,000 range. </p>
<p>My nephew, a recent Willamette grad, received 1/2 tuition merit scholarship. </p>
<p>And for those of you unfamiliar with Oregon place names, Willamette is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, not the first (Wil am' et).</p>
<p>:eek: Y'all are just killing me. ;)</p>
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<p>I then listed 27 schools putting an * next to twenty of them. </p>
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<p>LOL. How much clearer can I make this? It is not a complete list. I didn't say it was the top ranked merit schools or even the best merit schools. Just that this was My top twenty. I would hardly have expected agreement. It is MY list I had compiled while researching for my D .</p>
<p>I had hoped that others would chime in with their favorites and we could compare. Some have, and Willamette looks like it should make everybody's list. Thanks for posting. It does us all a service. </p>
<p>There was no desire nor grand design to shut out the Pacific Northwest , or any other section of the country. I admitted MY bias going in, or at least I sure thought I did. LOL.</p>
<p>Merit safeties, matches, and reaches. The college process is all new to our family. I do think that my son will me able to get some merit $.If we look in the right places. I 'm not sure how to break down his safties, matches and reaches. 1420 sat's 2130 new sat's. He'll be in 11th grade in Sept. He is planning on taking sat's again. I'm sure he'll be able to bring them up some. He's got the whole package, I just need to guide him in the right direction. I'm very impressed with all I'm learning and I'm glad I found CC> Thanks Curm. We're from NJ so alot of the colleges are just to far away. 5-7 hours away will be the most he's willing to go and really would like to be only 3-4 hours away. LAC English Major ,Minor in Theater any suggestions?</p>
<p>Give me a hint how far can you get in 3 or 4 hours. In most of Texas I could go a loooooong way. In Houston I could make it across town.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply. NY, PA, NC,SC, VA, DC, more north if need be. Every thing seems to cost over 40,000. If our EFC is 16,000 does that mean he needs 24,000 in merit to attend. When I read that they look at thing need blind, where does the money come from? If I pay 16, merit is 13 that still leaves me with a gap of 11.</p>
<p>C Of William and Mary SAT 50% 630-730 , 630-710 .31 % Admitted, Would you think this is merit match or reach?
GETTYSBURG 43% Admitted SATS 50% 600-670,610-670 MERIT SAFTY or match?
S 1420 SAT,2130 SAT
Living in NJ I can see many other states in a few hours time. S does not want to go to school in NJ.</p>
<p>uhhhh, let's start over. Hi.</p>
<p>Your EFC is your Estimated Family Contribution or as I refer to it "Every Freakin' Cent". Your EFC can be determined by basically two methods- the Profile or the Fafsa. All schools use Fafsa, some also use Profile. This "number" is what you come up with. The remaining amount of money is your need as calculated by someone other than you, who doesn't know you and hates your dog. . Some schools meet 100% of need for everyone. Some meet 100% of need for some. Some gap everybody, or at least it seems that way. </p>
<p>So in your $40K COA example, EFC of $16,000 and need of $24,000. If you receive merit aid it REDUCES YOUR NEED , NOT YOUR EFC until and unless the need is gone. It will serve to turn loans and workstudy aid to cash $ though. Your need is met in different ways by different schools and is made up of grants , loans, and work study. The last two are called self-help. Some schools also look for a student contribution from summer earnings. A typical package for $24K would be about $3,000 in loans, $2,000 in workstudy and a $19K grant. </p>
<p>So to recap -y'all write a check or borrow $16K, your kid borrows $3K, your kid works for $2K, and the school gives him $19K , assuming the school is meeting 100% of need. Are you lost yet?</p>
<p>Search for posts by veteran poster sybbie , she has the Profile and Fafsa differences down.</p>
<p>So if your kid got a $10K merit award , then the merit aid award would take away the loan and the workstudy and then $5K of the grant in most cases at most schools. The merit award would need to be more than $24K to make any difference in your EFC, or more precisely in what you pay of your EFC. There are some (but very few) exceptions to this rule. It's pretty uniform.</p>
<p>William and Mary would be a merit reach for Stephen Hawking ;) (meaning a merit reach for everybody as they have a very limited number of awards and lots of competition) .</p>
<p>HI,
This is a lot to figure out, but I'm trying. I'll check her out.I'll keep reading and see where it takes me.I'm sure I'll be in touch. Keep my S in mind. Thanks so much.</p>
<p>See sybbie917's post number 8 on this thread <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2686429&highlight=Difference#post2686429%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=2686429&highlight=Difference#post2686429</a></p>
<p>I promise it's not really that bad . Sorta. Well, O.K. maybe it is ;) but you have found your way here and sybbie917 and NSM and calmom and others can dang sure help you through the need aid part . I kinda goofed that up it seems.</p>
<p>Well, Curmudgeon, no good deed will go unpunished. Actually, I find this one of the most interesting discussions. For those of us who are neither homeless nor Bill Gates, Merit Aid is a key consideration. I admit - I started the Willamette conspiracy trying to suppress information since my D is applying there - Don't need any of those darn Williams/Amherst/Smith applicants coming west and destroying our chances! (This is supposed to be a joke.) I agree with the person who brought up Illinois Wesleyan as I am an alum and I went there for about $15, but that was in the late 19th century (class of 1892 or something like that). OK, a while back, anyway. </p>
<p>One other thing to consider financially - if you're starting at $44,000 all in vs. $37,000, it doesn't take an 800 on SAT Math to figure out that the lower priced school could give less aid and still be more financially viable. OK, this may be a stupid observation, but I'm just saying people should look at the final cost. Now if I can convince my D that Brown is not the only school on Earth.....</p>