Merit aid - what percent did your dc receive?

[Joan in GE]

Dh was looking at US college costs yesterday. Today he said we can't afford to move back to the US for the next 10 years because college costs are so high. I'm not set on moving back, but it made me wonder what could be covered realistically if my dc are not in the top .02% who get full scholarships (just guessing on that stat - actual stats welcome)

 

So I'm wondering what percent of the total costs people are receiving just for "merit aid"?

 

If you have several children or several offers of merit aid, you may vote more than once....

 

Other insights are welcome....

 

Thanks,

Joan

[MomsintheGarden]

Could you please define total costs? Tuition? Tuition + Room & board? Tuition + Room & Board + Fees? Etc?

 

Thanks!

[Joan in GE]

Hi Moms in the Garden!

 

I was thinking of

 

Tuition + Room & Board + Fees

+ books (though that could be tricky to estimate so maybe best to leave out since it is so variable....)

 

I wouldn't count transport. Are there other big expenses?

 

Should I not be? Is there another way of looking at it?

 

Thanks,

Joan

Edited August 14, 2010 by Joan in Geneva

[MomsintheGarden]

Hmm... from what I understand a "full ride" is usually considered Tuition + Room & Board. Could we just stick with that? Fees are rather hard to pin down, and books vary greatly by major, etc.

 

It's your poll, so you get to decide!:001_smile:

 

GardenMom

[creekland]

I voted, but I added in a couple of local scholarships my oldest won too - not just aid from the college itself. I hope you don't mind. This son is reasonably high in national testing (top 3 - 5%) so that might be worth considering too.

[Alyce]

I know that the cost of living expenses can be higher here than a foreign county but if you had a permanent address here in US you child could attend a public university and it would be cheaper because they would be considered in-state and therefore the costs would be cheaper. As to financial aid it's going to vary by college but one thing that will help is for you to go ahead and do a FAFSA. It will give you an idea about how much the federal government expects that you can pay. The less you have to pay the more the federal goverment will give you in pell grants and in many cases the colleges will follow with more need based grants. Dd did have to get a loan this year but it's from the federal goverment so interests rates are lower. It's for about $5000 but the rest of her school was paid with grants and they can be used to cover expenses like books, school fees etc.

[QueenCat]

I voted based on tuition and books, as ds commutes. He has money left over after his scholarships (all academic, no financially based) that would cover about half of room and board. We're fortunate to live about 20 minutes away from a decent state university. Really, it depends on where your child wants to go, and gets in to.... FAFSA only dictates financial need, not merit based scholarships. Merit based scholarships are dependent on ACT/SAT scores, gpa, and other non-financial factors.

[In The Great White North]

Could you add the names of the institutions that give merit aid ( pure merit, not dependent on the FAFSA)

[Joan in GE]

Hmm... from what I understand a "full ride" is usually considered Tuition + Room & Board. Could we just stick with that? Fees are rather hard to pin down, and books vary greatly by major, etc.

 

Good idea - ok, just Tuition, Room and Board....

 

I voted, but I added in a couple of local scholarships my oldest won too - not just aid from the college itself. I hope you don't mind. This son is reasonably high in national testing (top 3 - 5%) so that might be worth considering too.

 

That's helpful to know about national testing rank... and I guess it should all get counted...though it might not really apply for us if we were just moving into a community (with no connections or knowledge of local scholarships) but could be useful for others...

 

I know that the cost of living expenses can be higher here than a foreign county but if you had a permanent address here in US you child could attend a public university and it would be cheaper because they would be considered in-state and therefore the costs would be cheaper.

 

Actually the cost of living is higher here, but university fees are $1,400 year for a very good school. My husband is comparing the costs for colleges that would be equivalent to what my ds2 is getting here (from one of those international college rating guides). The state colleges that were on the list where not in the state where we would probably settle. Thus I thought it best to try to understand the possibilities of Merit Aid first.

 

 

As to financial aid it's going to vary by college but one thing that will help is for you to go ahead and do a FAFSA. It will give you an idea about how much the federal government expects that you can pay. The less you have to pay the more the federal goverment will give you in pell grants and in many cases the colleges will follow with more need based grants.

 

Can this be done a year in advance just to try to get an idea?

 

Dd did have to get a loan this year but it's from the federal goverment so interests rates are lower. It's for about $5000 but the rest of her school was paid with grants and they can be used to cover expenses like books, school fees etc.

 

If the grants were merit-based (I hope I'm not throwing these terms around too loosely) then you could vote to show that percentage...I think my dh does not want dc to be taking out loans for education (he was just reading about college debts being the next bubble to burst)....

 

I voted based on tuition and books, as ds commutes. He has money left over after his scholarships (all academic, no financially based) that would cover about half of room and board. We're fortunate to live about 20 minutes away from a decent state university.

 

Sounds like a good deal.

 

Could you add the names of the institutions that give merit aid ( pure merit, not dependent on the FAFSA)

 

Was this a question for others (I hope so as I have no idea)?

[In The Great White North]

Quote:

Originally Posted by In The Great White North

Could you add the names of the institutions that give merit aid ( pure merit, not dependent on the FAFSA)

 

Was this a question for others (I hope so as I have no idea)? __________________

 

Yes, for everyone who said their dc got some merit aid.

[KnitWit]

Belhaven University

University of Mississippi

[Carmen_and_Company]

100% Tuition plus room & board, but Taz had a bad roommate experience his first year and moved back home.

 

University of St. Thomas-- 100 % of tuition, room & board & depends on major & department.

Wabash--but did not cover 100% of need, as we had a gap of about 14K per year for tuition/room & board-- not to mention books, transportation, and other basic needs.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Carmen_and_Company

[creekland]

Could you add the names of the institutions that give merit aid ( pure merit, not dependent on the FAFSA)

 

Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA, but my son also got offered merit aid from Union University (TN) and Calvin College (MI). All three are Christian colleges.

[Halftime Hope]

dd had a variety of merit aid offers that would have covered 1/2 to 1/3 of *total* expenses, all from Christian colleges.

 

Her top three options offered a full-ride + (state uni), full tuition (I answered the poll for that one; roughly 60% of total cost, and it's at a college that has a fixed price tuition guarantee for 8 semesters--yay!) and a third choice offered 60% of freshman tuition, but tuition increased every year. (The last school would have been my dream school for her had it been within our means, but she's very happy where she's going.)

 

I hope that helps.

[Miss Marple]

From various scholarships (school as well as professional societies and corporations) my son is going to school this year totally free and actually making a little extra. He is covered for tuition, books, fees, room & board. His first year he was covered for tuition and a little extra. In his sophomore year, he received about the same as his freshman year, but because of his performance in those 2 years and investigating scholarships we had not known of before, he was awarded enough to cover it all for the next 2 years. I believe that he could have received more in his freshman and sophomore years if we knew more about how to "market" him.

 

I believe the extent of his merit aid is directly dependent on his chosen profession. There is a great need for petroleum engineers and the corporations and professional societies (as well as the school) are truly trying to encourage the best and brightest - and his performance has totally blown me away! I would never have dreamed he would perform so well.

 

There is a lot to be said for doing well in college - that's what clinched the majority of ds's scholarships.

 

FWIW, he applied and was accepted to a private LAC in the state and received a merit based scholarship that was just under 1/2 total (tuition, fees, room & board, books).

 

He was not even close to National Merit status - he did well enough on the ACT/SAT to be in the honors college, but nothing stellar.

Edited August 16, 2010 by CynthiaOK

[TerriMI]

Georgetown College, KY

 

She also had offers from a state university, Baylor, and Centre

[Hannah C.]

I have roughly a half-tuition scholarship based purely on merit from the University of Dallas. I would have received a full scholarship from the University of North Texas, and probably quite a few other public universities. However, I am a National Merit Scholar. UD was therefore "obligated" to give me a certain minimum scholarship, and public universities love NM kids.

[Joan in GE]

From various scholarships (school as well as professional societies and corporations) my son is going to school this year totally free and actually making a little extra. He is covered for tuition, books, fees, room & board. His first year he was covered for tuition and a little extra. In his sophomore year, he received about the same as his freshman year, but because of his performance in those 2 years and investigating scholarships we had not known of before, he was awarded enough to cover it all for the next 2 years. I believe that he could have received more in his freshman and sophomore years if we knew more about how to "market" him.

 

I believe the extent of his merit aid is directly dependent on his chosen profession. There is a great need for petroleum engineers and the corporations and professional societies (as well as the school) are truly trying to encourage the best and brightest - and his performance has totally blown me away! I would never have dreamed he would perform so well.

 

There is a lot to be said for doing well in college - that's what clinched the majority of ds's scholarships.

 

FWIW, he applied and was accepted to a private LAC in the state and received a merit based scholarship that was just under 1/2 total (tuition, fees, room & board, books).

 

He was not even close to National Merit status - he did well enough on the ACT/SAT to be in the honors college, but nothing stellar.

 

How interesting. So it is possible even if the person is not in the top of the top if their major is highly needed.

 

When you said that he did well in college, you mean from college courses he did while in high school?

 

When I looked at the most needed professions in the future, I did not see petroleum engineers, but I guess that is because they do not need huge numbers of them? Any idea where to find the needed fields where they don't need huge numbers of people? And how did your son get interested in petroleum engineering? It sounds a little unusual.

 

 

Thank you to all others who are responding!

 

Joan

[Joan in GE]

dd had a variety of merit aid offers that would have covered 1/2 to 1/3 of *total* expenses, all from Christian colleges.

 

Her top three options offered a full-ride + (state uni), full tuition (I answered the poll for that one; roughly 60% of total cost, and it's at a college that has a fixed price tuition guarantee for 8 semesters--yay!) and a third choice offered 60% of freshman tuition, but tuition increased every year. (The last school would have been my dream school for her had it been within our means, but she's very happy where she's going.)

 

I hope that helps.

 

Thanks for answering Valerie. I can see it is difficult when you have various offers. Maybe it would be ok to vote more than once due to the different offers, to reflect what was possible. So it sounds like the one you least wanted offered the most aid? Was that also the lowest priced?

 

Joan

[Miss Marple]

How interesting. So it is possible even if the person is not in the top of the top if their major is highly needed.

 

When you said that he did well in college, you mean from college courses he did while in high school?

 

When I looked at the most needed professions in the future, I did not see petroleum engineers, but I guess that is because they do not need huge numbers of them? Any idea where to find the needed fields where they don't need huge numbers of people? And how did your son get interested in petroleum engineering? It sounds a little unusual.

 

 

Thank you to all others who are responding!

 

Joan

 

My son eventually decided that he wanted to be some sort of engineer. Then he looked at the different types of engineers to see which would fit his preferred work environment. He did not want to be stuck at desk, but he wanted to use his math and science abilities. Also, we happen to be in an oil/gas geographic area which helped in narrowing his focus. When we started researching petroleum engineering, we found that within 10 years, 90 percent of the existing PEs would be retiring (I think those were the numbers). Anyways, the corporations saw the need to resupply the field as well as have young PEs learn from the older ones before the older ones retire. These companies believe they will see a great return on their investment. Ds was awarded an internship this summer that paid very well (on top of the scholarships) and was offered a return internship for next summer. If that goes as well as the first internship, he will probably be offered a job prior to completing his senior year - so he'll finish school knowing he has a job waiting for him. And PEs have the highest starting salary of all engineers.

 

As a high school student he took concurrent college courses - graduating with 35 credit hours. He had a 4.0 in his college courses as well as in his home courses. His transcript looked great because of the dual credit. But the fact that he has stayed in the top of his class with his PE courses has led to the additional scholarships.

 

We spent some time doing online "career assessments" and focusing our research on math/science careers. Although both dh and I are in medical fields, this particular son is definitely not cut out for that (weak stomach for blood and such).

 

He has said that he thinks one of his other brothers (ds3) should consider chemical engineering.

[Joan in GE]

My son eventually decided that he wanted to be some sort of engineer. Then he looked at the different types of engineers to see which would fit his preferred work environment. He did not want to be stuck at desk, but he wanted to use his math and science abilities. Also, we happen to be in an oil/gas geographic area which helped in narrowing his focus. When we started researching petroleum engineering, we found that within 10 years, 90 percent of the existing PEs would be retiring (I think those were the numbers). Anyways, the corporations saw the need to resupply the field as well as have young PEs learn from the older ones before the older ones retire. These companies believe they will see a great return on their investment. Ds was awarded an internship this summer that paid very well (on top of the scholarships) and was offered a return internship for next summer. If that goes as well as the first internship, he will probably be offered a job prior to completing his senior year - so he'll finish school knowing he has a job waiting for him. And PEs have the highest starting salary of all engineers.

 

As a high school student he took concurrent college courses - graduating with 35 credit hours. He had a 4.0 in his college courses as well as in his home courses. His transcript looked great because of the dual credit. But the fact that he has stayed in the top of his class with his PE courses has led to the additional scholarships.

 

We spent some time doing online "career assessments" and focusing our research on math/science careers. Although both dh and I are in medical fields, this particular son is definitely not cut out for that (weak stomach for blood and such).

 

He has said that he thinks one of his other brothers (ds3) should consider chemical engineering.

 

Thanks Cynthia. Very useful. My ds3 has another weak stomach. Dh has been trying to steer him towards chemistry (being a chemist himself), though he's leaning towards landscape architecture....

 

Do you have a career assessment site to recommend?

 

Joan

[TravelingChris]

I guessed and put down 30% and that was true for all the places my son applied to or even lower. He was living overseas at the time and I do think this made it more difficult for him to get more merit aid. He got half tuition and this was offered at a few schools. He was a commended scholar and would have been a NMSF if he wasn't in the hardest group of scores (overseas) and instead in one of the regular states like Florida where we are permanent residents.

 

If you mean your husband thinks he has to work overseas to make enough money for college, that may well be true. Unless you move to a state with a state college with low tuition costs and housing costs, you can wuite easily be looking at 20K and up for state college and up to 55K for private.

 

For all those suggesting need aid, most middle income families are not eligible particularly if they do not have large families. When my husband was a lower rank, we were only eligible for a small student loan. With an increase in rank, we aren't eligible for anything and neither are most middle income earners in much of the US and certainly overseas if not a missionary.

[Kareni]

My daughter attends a college which gives only need based aid (thus no merit aid at all). At least that was true the year she applied; I believe that last year they changed that policy to give some merit awards.

 

As I recall, the other colleges she was accepted to offered merit awards ranging from about twenty-five to fifty percent of tuition.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Halftime Hope]

to give a more accurate picture.

 

Thanks for answering Valerie. I can see it is difficult when you have various offers. Maybe it would be ok to vote more than once due to the different offers, to reflect what was possible. So it sounds like the one you least wanted offered the most aid?

 

No, not the least desirable of the entire pool she applied to (7, plus one she hadn't applied to but was heavily courting her), but it was the least desirable of her last remaining three choices.

 

Ironically, the amounts offered were pretty close. But there was a huge spread in what she would have had to pay out of pocket. One would have, in essence, been free; for the second she would have had to work and exhaust her college fund; and for the third she would have to add $35K of debt (total for four years) to working and using up her college fund.

 

Was that also the lowest priced? Yes

 

Joan

 

It might also help you to know the "odds", IOW how many of the scholarships are available: the full-ride at the uni was one of five or six offered (approx 6K incoming freshmen), the full tuition was one of five or six offered (out of ~550 incoming freshmen), and the 60% tuition offer at the third school was one of sixty offered (probably btwn 500-600 incoming freshmen), and not their highest award--they also offered full tuition to six students, but she didn't make the cut. (I would have been concerned about her being able to maintain the 3.6 GPA required to renew it though, so it's a relief not to have it offered.)

 

All of these scholarship offers also have minimum ongoing GPA requirements to renew the scholarships, usually a 3.4 or 3.5 to be renewable; they aren't just given away! The state uni had the least favorable renewal policy; if you dip below the required GPA, you flat out lose *all* your merit aid, every penny of it, forever; no probation. The school she chose drops you to the next lower merit level for which you still qualify--much more generous!

 

Whew--there is so much to know!! HTH

[Joan in GE]

I guessed and put down 30% and that was true for all the places my son applied to or even lower. He was living overseas at the time and I do think this made it more difficult for him to get more merit aid. He got half tuition and this was offered at a few schools. He was a commended scholar and would have been a NMSF if he wasn't in the hardest group of scores (overseas) and instead in one of the regular states like Florida where we are permanent residents.

 

Thank you for this important info...would it be immoral to fly to the US to take the PSAT? Are the high scores meant to keep out foreigners?

 

If you mean your husband thinks he has to work overseas to make enough money for college, that may well be true. Unless you move to a state with a state college with low tuition costs and housing costs, you can quite easily be looking at 20K and up for state college and up to 55K for private.

 

For all those suggesting need aid, most middle income families are not eligible particularly if they do not have large families. When my husband was a lower rank, we were only eligible for a small student loan. With an increase in rank, we aren't eligible for anything and neither are most middle income earners in much of the US and certainly overseas if not a missionary.

 

I was kind of getting this feeling, but wasn't sure as people don't normally state their income. But that's why I thought it good to ask about Merit aid....

 

Ironically, the amounts offered were pretty close. But there was a huge spread in what she would have had to pay out of pocket. One would have, in essence, been free; for the second she would have had to work and exhaust her college fund; and for the third she would have to add $35K of debt (total for four years) to working and using up her college fund.

 

It might also help you to know the "odds", IOW how many of the scholarships are available: the full-ride at the uni was one of five or six offered (approx 6K incoming freshmen), the full tuition was one of five or six offered (out of ~550 incoming freshmen), and the 60% tuition offer at the third school was one of sixty offered (probably btwn 500-600 incoming freshmen), and not their highest award--they also offered full tuition to six students, but she didn't make the cut. (I would have been concerned about her being able to maintain the 3.6 GPA required to renew it though, so it's a relief not to have it offered.)

 

All of these scholarship offers also have minimum ongoing GPA requirements to renew the scholarships, usually a 3.4 or 3.5 to be renewable; they aren't just given away! The state uni had the least favorable renewal policy; if you dip below the required GPA, you flat out lose *all* your merit aid, every penny of it, forever; no probation. The school she chose drops you to the next lower merit level for which you still qualify--much more generous!

 

You are right about needing to know the odds. I'm looking for patterns here....The state uni sounds very unforgiving re GPA - I guess that is in TX?

 

Whew--there is so much to know!! HTH

Yes, thanks for helping everyone figure this out.

 

Thanks Kareni...

[Jane in NC]

While wearing the counselor hat for my son, I found private colleges could often be categorized as follows:

 

--Colleges that provide need based aid only.

 

--Colleges that provide a small number of "free ride" scholarships, little merit aid, but grants to cover the difference between the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and the college cost.

 

--Colleges that provide a number of merit aid awards which are roughly one third to two thirds the cost of annual tuition.

 

Merit awards are given for four years, provided students maintain their end of the deal. This is often a certain GPA, although the college my son is attending (College of Wooster) only requires that students make progress toward earning their degree. This school and one other to which he was accepted both stated that they do not want students to feel they cannot take risks because they are worried about their grade point.

 

Our EFC is high so we are grateful for merit aid. Everyone's financial situation is going to be different; further, everyone has different comfort levels regarding the amount of debt they or their student will want to bear at the end of four years. If your EFC is low or your income and assets are large, then the cost of a specific college may be immaterial. If you are in the middle, then I think you need to weigh the cost of public universities with the cost of private schools that are known to be generous with merit aid. US News has a list of schools which report giving significant non-need based aid here. Note that this list reports the percentage of students receiving aid--could be large or small. That is not reported.

 

I have never found official reports of how grants are given at specific colleges. One of my son's friends was offered a generous package at a liberal arts college where he plans on being a science major. He was offered a small amount of merit aid (maybe $5000) and a significantly larger grant. I suspect that his performance will determine whether the latter is renewed. His package also included Stafford loans and work study. You do not have to take the loans, but do not expect the college to replace them with grants.

 

Hope this helps.

Jane

[Halftime Hope]

Info:

 

Thank you for this important info...would it be immoral to fly to the US to take the PSAT? Are the high scores meant to keep out foreigners?

 

I don't think there is anything immoral at all about taking the PSAT in the US. You can arrange to take the PSAT at any school that will let you take it there; you have to make the arrangement with the school itself, not with the CB, although there is a list on the CB website of all the schools that are offering the PSAT, and on which date. For the SAT, OTOH, you can register at any National Testing Center, and they accomodate you. If you are really looking for stellar PSAT scores, I'd have your student take it overseas as many times as possible, then do the junior year PSAT wherever you chose. (I'd try to do it someplace that seems reasonable for your family though, not just fly to a random, low-scoring state. I'd have to be able to sleep at night. :) )

 

 

The state uni sounds very unforgiving re GPA - I guess that is in TX? Yes, and this info is just for UT, Arlington. I don't know about the rest of the state's public unis.

 

 

[Joan in GE]

While wearing the counselor hat for my son, I found private colleges could often be categorized as follows:

 

--Colleges that provide need based aid only.

 

--Colleges that provide a small number of "free ride" scholarships, little merit aid, but grants to cover the difference between the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and the college cost.

 

--Colleges that provide a number of merit aid awards which are roughly one third to two thirds the cost of annual tuition.

 

Merit awards are given for four years, provided students maintain their end of the deal. This is often a certain GPA, although the college my son is attending (College of Wooster) only requires that students make progress toward earning their degree. This school and one other to which he was accepted both stated that they do not want students to feel they cannot take risks because they are worried about their grade point.

 

Our EFC is high so we are grateful for merit aid. Everyone's financial situation is going to be different; further, everyone has different comfort levels regarding the amount of debt they or their student will want to bear at the end of four years. If your EFC is low or your income and assets are large, then the cost of a specific college may be immaterial. If you are in the middle, then I think you need to weigh the cost of public universities with the cost of private schools that are known to be generous with merit aid. US News has a list of schools which report giving significant non-need based aid here. Note that this list reports the percentage of students receiving aid--could be large or small. That is not reported.

 

I have never found official reports of how grants are given at specific colleges. One of my son's friends was offered a generous package at a liberal arts college where he plans on being a science major. He was offered a small amount of merit aid (maybe $5000) and a significantly larger grant. I suspect that his performance will determine whether the latter is renewed. His package also included Stafford loans and work study. You do not have to take the loans, but do not expect the college to replace them with grants.

 

Hope this helps.

Jane

 

Thank you so much Jane. That is the organizational framework that I needed. The article is interesting too. I see their point about all the meritorious students deserving aid....

 

So "merit aid" is given by the school and grants are given by foundations, businesses, wealthy individuals, etc? or does the school also give grants that are not counted as "merit aid"?

 

Thanks Valerie. No, I wouldn't send him to an unknown place. He does need to sleep before the exam as you say, otherwise he might just do better here...

 

Joan

[Jane in NC]

 

So "merit aid" is given by the school and grants are given by foundations, businesses, wealthy individuals, etc? or does the school also give grants that are not counted as "merit aid"?

 

Joan

 

Merit aid is often used as a carrot by admissions departments to attract students with good test scores, a solid GPA and interesting extracurriculars. Potential applicants sometimes need to fill out extra paperwork--although not always. Some schools will put all applicants in the merit aid pool. Merit aid scholarships often have names, i.e. Dean's Award or Presidential Scholar, with specific dollar amounts attached to them for four years of study.

 

Many schools provide grants that are not counted as "merit aid". Grants are more fluid. All of those colleges that say they will meet the financial needs of students are usually giving grants of some form to bridge the gap between the EFC, loans and work study. Some of these grants might come from targeted funds. For example, if a school wants to grow a particular program, they may have a reserve for students in that discipline.

 

But grants can some from other sources like the ones you mentioned. Whether the money is called a grant or a scholarship, the key thing is that it does not have to be paid back.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Jane in NC
missing words

[Halftime Hope]

Thanks Valerie. No, I wouldn't send him to an unknown place. He does need to sleep before the exam as you say, otherwise he might just do better here...

 

Joan

 

Joan, what I meant in the earlier post that you responded to here, was that when I have read the College Confidential boards, I've learned about people exploiting the College Board rules in many different ways to eek out any possible advantage they could for their children.

 

You are in a unique position since you can, legitimately, pick the state in which he takes the PSAT. :)

 

Were I in your shoes, I would take the differences between the states' scores into consideration, but since "I have to sleep at night" (in other words, I, Valerie, have a somewhat overactive conscience--LOL!) I'd purposely chose something that I felt was reasonable given my family's history. I hope that clarifies what I meant.

 

 

And yes, you're right, the student should be comfortable with the environment as well. :lol:

 

Just FYI, we've found that the local universities have worked well for SAT testing, while the local public high schools have a reputation for being a rather miserable place to take any high stakes testing. Our local private schools have been very welcoming for the PSAT and ACT.

[Joan in GE]

"I have to sleep at night" (in other words, I, Valerie, have a somewhat overactive conscience--LOL!)

....

Just FYI, we've found that the local universities have worked well for SAT testing, while the local public high schools have a reputation for being a rather miserable place to take any high stakes testing. Our local private schools have been very welcoming for the PSAT and ACT.

 

:laugh: I know what you mean about an overactive conscience. But since I didn't know you, I wasn't sure what you meant.

 

And there is jet lag to take into account too, plus sleeping in a different bed, etc...I have to really calculate whether it would make a difference for the state where I was raised...

 

Thank you so much for that advice about local universities being better. I had read some terrible stories about American high school testing situations but I didn't know university sites were an option.

 

 

Jane - thank you too for that additional info!!! I'm slowly starting to get the picture...

 

Joan

[Joan in GE]

I just wanted to thank everyone who participated in the poll and made comments. :001_smile:

 

While I know there are all kinds of variables involved, the answers did provide concrete material to discuss about what is even faintly possible. No final decisions made yet...

 

And we ended up signing ds up for the PSAT here...the logistics of going home seemed like they would defeat the purpose. Then it appears, from another thread, that it would not even count anyway.

 

Joan

[JFSinIL]

OK, ds's college, Augustana in Rock Island, IL, gave him the top merit scholarship - $16,500 (more than most places we looked at had as top prize) and a $500 grant...then another $500 for early filing of FARSA...and ANOTHER $1000 for attending a scholarship competition. So that is $18,500 right there. Then ds won another $2,000 in outside scholarship. All these are renewable if the grades stay up. And come to about 60% of the total cost of attending.

 

He also got a loan and work study. The w.s. will cover books, pizza, and guitar strings ;-)

 

This was one of only two schools that ended up coming in UNDER our EFC in remaining cost to us.

 

 

A strong competitor for ds had a similar offer - BUT half the merit money was a GRANT that might not have been offered each year. Felt far safer to go with the full scholarship offer from Aug.

Edited September 15, 2010 by JFSinIL

[Orthodox6]

50% merit scholarship. Does not include board because he lives at home. The school also offers to all students the valuable additional "perk" of free metroplex bus and train fare (which is how he gets to-and-from).

[FaithManor]

DD - 50% percent tuition only scholarhips at every college she pursued. Applied to 7, was accepted to all seven, did not pursue one of them at all - found out some negative things after being accepted.

 

Room and Board at many of these colleges was nearly as much as tuition. Since most were not within commuting distance, this made the costs too great for her to attend. We did not qualify for need based aid...DH makes just above the cut off but that isn't enough to make a $1000.00 per month payment to the college for four years.

 

It used to be that a full ride or half ride scholarship covered all costs. In many cases, this is no longer true. They are tuition only, no books, no dorms, no fees covered.

 

Faith

[Sandy in Indy]

DS was offered a full ride at a state school, but he turned that down to attend a private school. He got just over 25% in merit aid there BUT only 2% of their pre-pharmacy students are offered any merit aid--and he was offered the max for a pre-pharm student. So, I guess I can't complain.

 

(He turned down the full scholarship for a school that has an auto-advance into the professional pharmacy school. For him, the security of knowing that he'd get in was worth the $$ he has to borrow. He'll make 6 figures in another 5 years [providing the bottom doesn't drop out under our new health care...].)

[Joan in GE]

Thanks to the last posters for adding to the data!

 

Joan

[Gwen in VA]

One thing to explore -- if your child receives an offer of merit aid, does the merit aid increase as the college tuition and costs increase over the four years?

 

At some colleges, they give the merit aid as a specific percentage of the tuition, or they give the merit aid as a specific amount that increases as the tuition and costs go up over time.

 

At some colleges, a student can receive a scholarship but the scholarship is for a given amount, and if tuition increases 10% per year (which is not entirely unreasonable), the family will need to pay significantly more for college by the senior year.

[Barb_]

One thing to explore -- if your child receives an offer of merit aid, does the merit aid increase as the college tuition and costs increase over the four years?

 

At some colleges, they give the merit aid as a specific percentage of the tuition, or they give the merit aid as a specific amount that increases as the tuition and costs go up over time.

 

At some colleges, a student can receive a scholarship but the scholarship is for a given amount, and if tuition increases 10% per year (which is not entirely unreasonable), the family will need to pay significantly more for college by the senior year.

 

:iagree: This happened here. The first year, oldest daughter's scholarship was enough to cover tuition, room and board, fees and books at ASU. Now int the 3rd year, we're closing in on a $2000 per semester shortfall. Still very grateful, but a little shocked at how quickly the bill is growing compared to the "full ride" she was offered Freshman year. Wasn't expecting that but forewarned is forearmed for future children.

 

Barb