<p>I want to share this information for other families who might decide to go this route. For my family, the best choice was to aim for the best college possible that offered a full-ride, which means tuition, fees, room, board and sometimes books. These are scholarships that are institution based and are renewable for 3 more years. Son #1 entered college in 2005 and son #2 will enter in 2006. There is no one place that lists all merit-based scholarships so it took a long time to gather this information. Here is the way I gathered it. The book Honors Programs and Colleges/ Thomson Peterson's 4th edition lists honors programs and colleges (which frequently offer scholarships). A section is included about merit scholarships for each college. A parent on this board wrote about googling words such as "SAT 1410 university scholarship). This surprisingly provided some useful lists and information. And the hard way but the most thorough way was to search university webpages school by school. I checked honors program and academic scholarships. I then followed up on all the good posibilities by telephoning the college and asking to speak to the scholarship coordinator. I wanted to find out the $ amounts offered, the stats of the students who recieved the awards in the previous year and the GPA necessary for renewal and the number of scholarships offered.
From that master list my son and I composed a list of colleges to apply to. Both sons applied to 11 colleges. The single most important factor that most of these scholarships consider is SAT/ACT scores as an initial cutoff. On another thread in this forum a parent wrote about the strategy of looking for colleges where your student is in their top 5% or even top 3% of all applicants to a particular university. This is true. Also, for the most part, if your student is just meeting the minimum SAT and GPA cutoffs for the scholarships, he/she probably won't have a strong change of being successful. Son #1 had only a 1250 SAT to work with but he was successful in obtaining a full-ride plus books for 4 years at a 4th tier public that suits him because of its location and program. He is part of the honors college there. Son # 2 has a 1410 SAT which gave us more to work with. He applied to 4 4th tier schools and 3 3rd tier school, all with honors programs, and to 2 regionally ranked privates in the top 15, and 1 nationally ranked private. So far he has full-ride offers at 2 of the 4th tiers and 2 of the 3rd tiers. One of the 4th tiers and 1 of the 3rd tiers are off the list because they did not offer full-rides. We are waiting to hear from the remaining 5 schools.</p>
<p>I would be happy to provide other hints and answer other questions about the full-ride method. The only thing I do not want to do is provide information that could identify my sons.</p>
<p>Not to be ovely antagonistic, but why were you so sure that spending a few bucks (or perhaps getting some need based aid) and attending better schools might not have some advantages?</p>
<p>I am sorry but a kid with a 1410 SAT is not going to be challenged at a 4th tier school...that is ridiculous. Student loans and financial aid exist for a reason.</p>
<p>I know that this method is not the way all or even most families would want to go, but it is a viable possiblity and thus I present it on this forum. The key to the 4th and 3rd tier schools is the honors programs that places students in classes with academic peers, and the wonderful benefit of merit scholarships is that my sons will graduate debt-free and ready for their next pursuit in life without financial constraints. Really, I don't mean to sell or defend this method, but I would like to share how to make it work with those who might see its value. I have learned a lot in my 3 years of searching and reading, especially from CC and I want to be able to give back, so to speak.</p>
<p>Challenging or not, the difference between a full ride at a Kent State or UTEP and paying full price at a BC or Georgetown is $35,000 a year. Good choice.</p>
<p>Your approach is so different from that of many of us that it might be helpful for you to share, without necessarily proselytizing, why you would want to do this. If a college is giving your child room and board, without need, don't you imagine you are giving up anything valuable? What use of your financial resources is more important to you?</p>
<p>Hey MominTExas, I really appreciate you sharing this info with us and stretching the usual CC bounderies. We are looking at opportunities for DS, to widen his choices beyond UT-Austin (which would cost us $15,000 a year, and is SO big). For a kid with good numbers but little in the way of EC's, these free-ride opportunities are a godsend!
Thanks again!</p>
<p>Just to lay our cards on the table, without whining about it, our family expects to be one of the poorer ones to pay $200,000 for a kid's first-class education. We wouldn't accept $200,000 Profit, let alone free, to send this kid to a 4th or 3rd tier college. Don't challenge me on how low we wouldn't go, even for an honors college.</p>
<p>I agree with joev. For some people, the benefits of graduating debt free with $ still in your pocket is a blessing. If you plan to go to medical or law school this becomes even more important. Schools like U Florida will give free rides to NM finalists, and their honors programs are quite rigorous. I'm being a bit hypocritical perhaps, but I'll only graduate $6000 in debt- a compromise we were willing to make. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info, momfromtexas. I'm done with the process, but my sister's getting ready to start the search! :)</p>
<p>Not all are destined for a top 50 or tier 1 schools - and if finding what is acceptable/doable at a tier 3 or 4 - power to you - and with good scholarship $$ - go for it - not all are destined for greatness in the competitive power schools and are just as happy - and educated.</p>
<p>MOMfromtexas - it is a uinque - but very effective - approach you managed - and successfully so - you and your kids will be very lucky to be debt free when all is said and done. Many are not so lucky to be able to afford a $150,000 education - but all should have a shot at being educated. Congrats to you.</p>
<p>It is interesting how criteria varies for families.
Price was one of the things we considered- but her whole academic career unofficially was pointing towards being the first generation college student in our family.
We were prepared and willing to pay the EFC. While she had a school that met 100% of EFC on her list, it was a reach, and we also had schools that offered merit as well but were still good matches.
Some kids do fine if they are the top of the class, but D recognized that she needed to be pushed a bit by her surroundings and her peers.
Because we had always tried to procure for her the most appropriate education available, whether it was when she was 5 or 15, it just wouldn't have made sense for us, to consider cost first when looking at colleges.
None of the schools that we considered offered anything near a full ride, I have to say, but college didn't come as a surprise, and while we didn't have as much saved as we would have liked, all the schools on her list were doable.</p>
<p>Eh, what about Duke, eulenspiegel? I'm a Duke freshman. :confused:</p>
<p>momfromtexas, if you don't mind, could you add the schools to the Master</a> List of Merit Aid Schools? I'm sure others would be interested in your great finds. :)</p>
<p>You are good enough for Duke but others should stoop a little (or maybe a lot) and save the money? Don't get me wrong, saving money while attending an appropriate school is a great idea.</p>
<p>Instead of looking for full ride scholarships from schools, couldn't you apply to scholarships that weren't so restrictive to which school that you must attend? There are a lot of scholarship programs that allow you to use the scholarship money at any college of your choice.</p>
<p>And I am a bit dubious about the caliber of education at these honor colleges in the third and fourth tier. I was offered a full ride scholarship at a second-tier state college, but ultimately declined the offer because the academic rigor wasn't comparable to that of the top universities.</p>
<p>Thanks for the perspective, TexasMom. My son is a NMF & applying to 2 schools that offer full-rides to NMFs. He's also applying to some other schools & we'll see how everything sorts out come April. It's good to have conversations & options.
For our parts, hubby & I both scored high on the SAT & went to state Us & did just fine. My sibblings & in-laws also were good students & scored well on the SATs & all went to in-state U & did fine & ALL got into the grad programs we wanted (law school, masters in special ed at UMichigan, med school).</p>
<p>There are many routes to getting what we want & need. I loved going to the OOS large U. I enjoyed creating an honors program in my major, working directly with faculty in my major, being a teaching assistant as a sophomore, holding a national office in the YWCA, co-chairing the Board of Directors of campus Y & so much else. I honestly don't believe I or my sibs were short-changed by going to public Us, even if they didn't have the "rank" or "tier" of privates & even the UCs. Wouldn't have traded my college experiences for anything!
We all were able to begin our careers after college & grad school nearly debt-free, so we could save to buy homes of our own, etc.</p>
<p>My brother who went to top tier private for 2 years as transfer undergrad & got his BS there felt UCSF was fine med school, where he matriculated & graduated (tho he was accepted EVERYWHERE--including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, etc. he applied). Upon graduation, he got into every residency & internship he applied for & also got every job he's ever applied for.</p>
<p>She's giving advice--folks can choose to take it or ignore it. She's not FORCING anyone to agree with her advice or values but dumping on someone because their values differ from yours is very UNCOOL! I think folks at CC are wise enough to recognize their own values & decide for themselves whether advice is consistent or inconsistent with those values.</p>
<p>Hmmm, why thumbing your nose at a free ride at a full ride at a Tier 4 school? Schools listed in that category are not exactly community or junior colleges!
Why criticizing momfromtexas for solving her admissions puzzle in a way that fits her budget and seems to make her children happy? Is she handicapping her children for life by sending them to a finishing school? Hardly! </p>
<p>Do we look down at athletes who PICK a Tier 4 school because the school are powerhouses in specific sports. One such school -also named in this thread- is UT at El Paso (UTEP.) Yes, the school that is shown in the latest feel-good basketball movie. While attending a school in that forgotten little tip of Texas is not for everyone, there are thousands of students who enjoy the school and the possibility to stay closer to their families. What might be less known is that such Tier 4 school DOES have a number of very solid departments that send hundreds of very well prepared students to graduate schools or well paying jobs. For the record, one of my uncles went straight from UTEP to Harvard Medical School. </p>
<p>There are different ways to climb a mountain, even the highest ones!</p>