<p>... describe the amount of aid or scholarship gotten at each college, instead of the net cost at each college. I.e. they typically write:</p>
<p>"College A gave me $10,000 in grants and scholarships, but college B gave me $20,000 in grants and scholarships. [various reasons to prefer one or the other] Which should I go to?"</p>
<p>Instead of:</p>
<p>"College A, which is an in-state public for me, costs $15,000 after $10,000 worth of grants and scholarships, but college B costs $30,000 after $20,000 worth of grants and scholarships. [various reasons to prefer one or the other] Which should I go to?"</p>
<p>I have to agree, I think it is because it sounds more prestigious to say I got “X” scholarship money vs they gave me $10,000 but I still have to come up with $45,000…that and if someone post that their final net cost at one school is $5000 and at another school $10,000, most people are going to say go to the $5000 school:D.</p>
<p>eastcoascrazy–I don’t think getting a “full ride” is rare at all. What is rare is to get it in one award. I know very few kids that are paying much, if anything, for college after various scholarships, etc. (most are taking fed loans though). We live in an area were 'prestige" of a school don’t mean all that much so a lot of kids are applying to good, solid LAC and state schools where merit aid is plentiful though. In other places, the name on the sweatshirt is more important than not having to shell out big bucks so in those areas you aren’t going to see a lot of “full rides”.</p>
<p>Net cost is key. Value in terms of caliber of education for the price you end up paying is key. Room & board costs after freshman year in the dorms can vary widely, and must be factored in. And travel costs to and from that school over four years is something that usually isn’t an upfront consideration, but should be.</p>
<p>One element involved is the student feels appreciated when s/he receives a scholarship. The schools are looking at the bottom line when they offer the FA/scholarships while the student feels a $20K gift means they are more valued there than a place where they only received $10K.</p>
<p>SteveMA, I agree with you! I explained to son it is the bottom line that counts. I kept looking at the 35,000 school as the one that offered 15k prior to the merit aid offer (lower COA than the $50,000+ schools to begin with) PLUS whatever merit aid was offered!</p>
<p>“I’d take $10,000 at a $15,000 school any day over $20,000 at a $54,000 school.”</p>
<p>I’m sure you would. Others wouldn’t. It depends on the student, the school and the family situation. </p>
<p>And I agree with Erin’s Dad - people report their scholarship offers because it makes them feel valued. They will, eventually, get to the reality that they still have to pay for the rest of it, but for at least a little while, they want to bask in the glow…I don’t begrudge them that bit of pleasure, but of course, that’s not how you make a decision.</p>
<p>SteveMA: “I know very few kids that are paying much, if anything for college after various scholarships, etc. (most are taking federal loans, though).”</p>
<p>The term “full ride” gets thrown around a lot, but even here on CC we don’t agree on the definition.</p>
<p>To me, “full ride” means tuition, room, board is paid for four full years. No loans.</p>
<p>Yes, it could be put together using a variety of grants and scholarships, but it implies no monitary repayment. The student might owe TIME to, for example, the military, but not have loan repayments.</p>
<p>^^That’s how my S1 did it. He had an ROTC scholarship in addition to two merit scholarships at our big state u. Everything (including books) was paid for with no loans or debt upon graduation unless you count serving in the military after graduation which was his dream job/plan ever since middle school anyway.</p>
<p>It is nice to be able to write, brag that your child got so much in a scholarship. I have to admit that when my third one got $30K+ from Fordham, it really gave me a great feeling…until I came back down to earth and realized how much we still had to come up with. Wow, that was a downer, To still owe that amount even after getting what I feel is a very nice, huge award. It didn’t even cover the whole tuition. Sad and scary.</p>
<p>I don’t like to reveal specifics. I typically say, son#2 got a really nice 4 year merit scholarship, but his school is still ridiculously expensive. And son #1 has saved us a bunch of money by attending community college and transferring to our very reasonable state university.</p>
<p>Upon reflection, I believe son#2’s merit award might be more than son#1 total cost of attendance.</p>
<p>I heard many statements like this when attending the senior award ceremony at my kids’ school:</p>
<p>“Student A receives a scholarship of X1 amount from college U, X2 amount from college V, and X3 amount from college Y. A will attend the college Z next year.”</p>
<p>And at the graduation ceremony, the school principal boasted that “our graduates received several million of dollars for colleges”.</p>
<p>That annoys me, coolweather, when they add up all the offers like that. As far as the OP, it is a nice feeling to get that money offered and report the amount. Both my kids in college have the same amount of scholarship $, but one child’s school costs $10,000 more overall per year. I am equally proud of both of them, and they are both where they belong! And oldest D turned down bigger awards at cheaper schools, no regrets. (She also turned down schools that offered her less or no merit money.)</p>
<p>"And at the graduation ceremony, the school principal boasted that “our graduates received several million of dollars for colleges”.</p>
<p>My husband told me that when he graduated high school, the school was boasting that the graduates received over a million dollars for colleges (a long time ago, obviously). What is hilarious is that they were counting him going to the Air Force Academy, which even then was valued around a million dollars. So the vast amount of that scholarship money was purely for one person! Apparently the way they calculated the cost of the academies is something like total operating costs vs number of students, to get that ridiculously high number.</p>