<p>TNMom - I feel your pain. My older D didn’t have stats as high as your son, but really wanted to attend the honors program of our StateU. She was the h.s. class president all 4 years, voted by faculty best math and science student, val (4.0), amazing ECs, state level single tennis player, etc. I will never forget the look on her face when she opened the letter with their scholarship offer enclosed - she was stunned. It was paltry when compared to what other schools (that she didn’t want to attend) were offering. We contacted the scholarship office and they said that they gave out many more scholarships to upper classmen who were excelling at the university. That made sense so D soldiered on. She applied for several of these scholarships throughout her time there and only received one. She saw them go to the children of professors (who had lower test scores, GPA, etc.), athletes, etc. The school gives 4 year free rides to NMFs (I know because they offered one to our younger D - which she turned down). Older D had many NMFs in her scholarship hall housing - they took the free rides, didn’t participate in the honors program, joined no clubs, held no offices, and their GPAs were much lower than D’s who WAS in the honors program. What really burned me up was when these students would get “remainder checks” in LARGE AMOUNTS ($800 - $1,300 PER SEMESTER) from the scholarship office. Their COA of attending was actually LESS than the scholarships they had been awarded so they gave them the money for their own personal use!!! D had several small outside scholarships that completely paid for her first semester and we paid for most of the rest. Thank goodness our StateU is very reasonable and our cost for her four year attendance was @ $35,000 (less than ONE YEAR of the private school her younger sister attends).</p>
<p>D graduated with highest honors, 4.0 GPA, top student in her department, Phi Beta Kappa, president of her major’s honor society, president of her scholarship hall, joined several clubs, studied abroad, had a quality internship every summer (all of them with a salary), and was one of only 10 Chancellor’s Scholars (out of 3,700+ seniors graduating). She is working a year and has applied to graduate schools for the fall. The offers from these graduate schools is nothing short of amazing after what she received during undergrad. Offers of $60,000 - $75,000 a year (including paying tuition, stipend, insurance, travel, etc.). After all the huge $$$ offers her sister received just for being NMF, we are really happy to see older Ds accomplishments FINALLY recognized.</p>
<p>Life isn’t fair. It is what it is. I had a friend give me some tough love when she said no one else owes YOUR child an education that is your responsibility. Yes, but . You wouldn’t have wanted to be the StateU endowment rep on the other end of the line when they called me for a donation after she graduated!!</p>