Where could I get a full ride (parents not willing to pay)?

College Search & Selection
1

My parents have told me they’re not willing to pay for college, so I would like to know where I could a full-ride or pay as little as possible (while I work). My prospective major is MechE.

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2380 (super), 2290 (single)
ACT (breakdown): 35 ACT, 22 writing (dunno if this hurts)
SAT II: 800 Chem, 800 Math 2, 780 World History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.97
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/500
AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio, Stat, Chem, USH, Spanish, Macro - 5
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Spanish Exam (Gold), Commended National Merit, regional math comp 2nd place, Science bowl Nationals, Science Olympiad Nationals, lots of State SciOly Medals

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate (pres), SpanishNHS (current Treasurer), VP of MathOlympiad and Sci Olympiad
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Lots, 600 hours
Summer Activities: research internship, summer school
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9/10 CA
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 10/10
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 9/10
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 11/10
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant): GA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public, large
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender:
Income Bracket: 150k, but parents not willing to pay
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

2

University of Alabama.

3

How can you be 'commended ’ for NMF with a 2290?!

4

University of Alabama in Huntsville would give you housing too (and of course full tuition).

http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships

5

@SouthFloridaMom9 @TomSrOfBoston Thank you.

@MYOS1634 I took the new PSAT and didn’t do so well on that. I did well on the old SAT.

6

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
The names say it all. There are a few options commended scholars in the last link
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
Hope that helps! :slight_smile:

7

http://blog.prepscholar.com/79-colleges-with-full-ride-scholarships

That was the first article that came up. Google full tuition scholarships. Your academic credentials make you qualified for many of them. Congrats on your great scores and good luck!

8

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ lists the following (but check their web sites to verify, since some have changed):

Full rides:

Tuskegee: http://www.tuskegee.edu/scholarships/freshman_scholarships.aspx
Howard (first come first served): https://www2.howard.edu/admission/tuition
Florida A&M (unclear if this year covers out-of-state): http://www.famu.edu/Scholarships/Scholarship_Criteria_2016_2017August_17_2016_LGBS_and_DSA_2.pdf
Prairie View A&M: http://www.pvamu.edu/faid/home/types-of-aid/scholarships/university-scholarships/

Full tuition or better, but not full ride:

Alabama: http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
Alabama - Huntsville (plus housing): http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships
Louisiana Tech: http://admissions.latech.edu/tuition_fees/scholarships/freshman-scholarships.php
Mississippi: http://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8

In addition, http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/ lists non-automatic-for-stats large scholarships.

If you are interested in these schools and scholarships, check deadlines, since some of the deadlines are coming soon.

Also, be aware of renewal GPAs that you must earn in college to continue the scholarship. A 3.5 college GPA is typically significantly harder to earn than a 3.5 high school GPA.

9

I know Cal Tech and Vanderbilt are highly competitive but they also offer merit aid. Consider those schools if you want prestigious at a lower price tag.

10

Don’t you qualify for the Zell Miller scholarship? That’s close to $10k for Georgia Tech. Is there someone your parents respect who might be willing to go to bat for you on Tech? The prestige of GA Tech engineering is considerable in GA (I grew up there) and the prospect of your going to a school with such a high earnings potential might sway them if for no other reason than their own self-interest.

Assuming that doesn’t work, follow the Alabama advice above. They would love to have you and Huntsville’s historic ties to the space program give it some solid cred in mechEng.

Don’t worry about the ACT writing. It seems to be output by a random number generator.

11

@DryMango, this student needs a full ride, not just a lowered price.

12

@intparent Vanderbilt offers full rides. Cal Tech may not offer full rides, but the student did imply that he was willing to work, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to recommend literally one of the best schools in the world which would be a good match.

13

U Alabama is full tuition plus, not a full ride. It might not be affordable for a student with no parental support.

Try U New Mexico, U Mississippi, U Georgia, U Kentucky, Louisiana State, lots more in the links below.

For a guaranteed full ride: Florida A & M, Tuskegee, Prairie View, North Carolina A & T

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

14

I think more information is needed. Are parents unwilling or unable to help. What is your efc?

15

Hurry because often the deadline is December 1st.

I’m sorry about the new PSAT.
But your stats are superb even without it, so you should fortunately have a lot of possibilities.
Have you applied to Gtech and UGA Honors? You qualify for Zell Miller and may get merit on top of it.

16

@Otterma @MYOS1634 I apologize for my deception, but I only said GA as to protect anonymity. I do not actually live there. Looking back, I should’ve just left that blank.

@sensation723 Parents have cut me off at 18 in all but housing/food. Not willing to help. Parents have lots in assets, just unwilling is all.

@ucbalumnus thank you for the resources.

I’m kind of lost on the issue of financial aid. If parents are explicitly unwilling to help, how does financial aid work? I presume that willingness is not taken into account.

17

Basically, you need to get the remaining cost down to what you can cover with federal loans ($5,500 first year, assuming that they will fill in the FAFSA) and work earnings (probably a few thousand dollars first year for a part time job) in order for the school to be affordable. Parental unwillingness to pay has no effect on need-based financial aid, so you need to find a full ride merit scholarship or a full tuition plus merit scholarship that leaves a residual cost lower than the limit mentioned previously.

In some states, there may be large scholarship opportunities available to in-state residents only, so you may want to check for those as well.

18

It is not taken into account. If they are willing to fill out the FAFSA, you can borrow $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph year, and $7,500 jr and sr years. If they are high income, you won’t be awarded any need based aid; only merit aid will help you.

19

NC A&T full ride scholarships (Alumni and Dowdy) do not appear to be guaranteed for stats, since essays and recommendations are used. However, the minimum threshold for consideration does not appear to be that high, so they may not be super-competitive.
http://www.ncat.edu/admissions/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/fresh-students.html

20

Apply for ALL full ride scholarships with Dec 1st deadlines. It means dedicating every waking hour (even if you have homework - you"'ll have to wing it in class, sorry, this is more than risking a bad grade) today and tomorrow, and perhaps taking a day off from school, because on Friday most good opportunities are lost.