<p>OK guys i am deciding btw wash U and Cornell. personally i would much prefer wash U. the only detriment against washU is its fin aid relative to Cornell's. no offense to washU because it already has a great package.</p>
<p>Cornell will cover my full tuition based on need. the money comes from the Cornell Grant. WashU will also cover my full tuition. however 2000 of that comes from national merit scholarship and the rest of the money comes from the eliot scholarship</p>
<p>now maybe im just nitpicking here. but it seems like cornell is a lot more definite with their aid-meaning that i will get the moeny for 4 yrs becuase it is totally based on need. washU's says that the money is a combo of need-based and merit-based money. i am worried that i will not get such a good package in the future.</p>
<p>any past experiences? do the aid packages remain the same? do the national merit scholarships last 4 yrs? what should i do?</p>
<p>From the WashU website -
Will my financial assistance award decrease after freshman year?</p>
<p>Your award will probably stay the same or increase while you’re a student at Washington University. The only basis for reducing financial assistance is a major improvement in a family’s financial circumstances.</p>
<p>They also should have sent you a letter saying that they will honor your NMS for the remaining 3 years you are at WashU. And WashU is also one of the few schools that doesn’t have GPA requirement for their merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Yeah, they’re just like, make satifactory progress towards a degree…which is pretty arguable. At the Ervin weekend, they told us it basically means it’s okay to have a bad sememster here and there, as long as you’re not completely failing out, you’re pretty much fine.</p>
<p>princessbell is absolutely right. WashU instituted the policy a few years ago and it has worked out very well. There have been problems with only a few students since the policy was put in place. The administration feels that this policy works much better than demanding a certain GPA from scholarship recipients.</p>
<p>i am still kinda worried becuase there is no written commitment that they will continue paying. is my impression that this is less secure than cornell’s true?</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t know why you’re so uncomfortable with WashU’s scholarship. It’s a great school, they give out great scholarships all the time, with no requirements. They have a reputation for doing so, and it would be tarnished if they just yanked scholarships away mid-degree. Are you seriously worried about this, or is there something else there? It seems sort of like you’re trying to find a reason to not like WashU so you don’t feel guilty turning away an Ivy League school…just inferring?</p>
<p>Have your parents call Bill Witbrodt at (314)935-5765 and explain to him politely and clearly what their concern is. Or e-mail him: <a href=“mailto:bill_witbrodt@wustl.edu”>bill_witbrodt@wustl.edu</a> and do the same. He should be able to give them an answer that will allay their fears.</p>
<p>My D got an Eliot scholarship from Wash U. She also got a full ride to Xavier University. We turned down the full ride to Xavier for Wash U as a direct result of the non-GPA requirement. Xavier has an ascending GPA requirement to retain the full ride which we thought was completely ridiculous. At the end of Freshman year 3.0, Sophomore year 3.3, Junior 3.5 Anyone ever heard of that?</p>
<p>My son (an incoming freshmen) is getting an Eliot Scholarship (covering a portion of tuition) and we also were told it would continue at the initial level absent a material change in family financial circumstances. I checked with the financial aid office about exactly what that means. In response to a specific question, I was told that the scholarship was unlikely to continue during my son’s junior and senior years, even if our family income did not materially change, because my son’s older brother (who currently is a college sophomore) will no longer be in college. </p>
<p>So, it’s not just a matter of family income – the amount of the scholarship may decrease (or, in our case, be eliminated) because our family will have only one (and not two) students in college. </p>
<p>Akward - No, I have never heard of an ascending requirement like that. Wash U is at one extreme and Xavier at the other. My D got full tuition at Tulane, and she has to maintain a 3.0, I think it was, cumulative for all 3.5 years. So Tulane is right between the 2 extremes. Just goes to show every school has their own philosophy about things.</p>
<p>Dorsey - that is pretty typical. It is never really based on income, but on what you can “afford”. So if one son finishes, that opens up the dollars. They can do the same thing if from one year to the next you have a big increase in income like from a big promotion or something. I suppose they would increase the aid if the income level dropped significantly also.</p>
<p>I wonder what they do if he (your older one) went on to med school or law school or grad school and you were still paying? Just curious.</p>