Did your child get a Full Ride to College?

[jsmith]

Originally Posted by Tinijocaro

I'd love to hear from people whose kids got full rides to college.

Public or private? Public-Clemson University ( for matriculation in fall term 03)

SAT and or ACT scores SAT 1560 on the 1600 scale ACT 34

Class Rank 1 of 460

Extra-Curricular activities Orchestra, Football, Basketball, Track,Cross Country,LINK leader,Odessy of the Mind, Volunteering with our Catholic Youth Organization, Coaching Youth Sports


What do you think was the biggest factor in your child receiving a full ride?Being just incredibly motivated to succeed-and selecting a low density major with lots of scholarship money available

This full ride was just that-the only thing we paid for was airfare home for the holidays and driving him out.. Unforunately he was a rather young college freshman and chose Clemson because it met his criteria of being far enough away from home he couldnt just come home to do his laundry (we live in colorado) and being in the south. What he found out was that the culture in the south was different than what he expected and he really didnt want to leave the mountains-he stayed one year and then transfered back to CU.

[Buckalew11]

Originally Posted by ctinct

I think when people talk about full rides, some people mean just tuition and some mean tuition, room/board. Also, the tippy top schools generally give free rides only to those with the most financial need, and that's based on what they think you can afford, not what you think you can afford. Most people are surprised to learn that the Ivies and top LACs don't give merit money.

I was gratified to see that a few people have received true full rides. That is truly wonderful. I did know about Bama's generous scholarship for NMFs. My daughter was not a NMF, but she did get free tuition based on her ACT score. I think it has to be at least a 32 to receive that award, and there was also a minimum gpa requirement. She also received full tuition from our state flagship, but that was not based on scores. She was #2 in her class, and all vals and sals in the state are eligible for it, i think.

In the end, she turned both of those scholarships down. Bama was our financial safety. We never visited it, although we would have if it looked like she might have had to attend there. Who knows? She may have loved it. She was really looking for something much smaller and closer to home, though. She turned down UCONN because of its size, also, and because the school she ended up attending, while not awarding her a full scholarship, ended up being pretty close in total price. UCONN has a LOT of fees that aren't counted in the tuition, and the room and board are very high.

To the op and anyone else interested---I don't remember the name of the school, but there is a school in Kentucky that gives out ten or so truly free rides a year, and I think there is even a stipend for travel abroad. I wish we had discovered it before it was too late for d. I think the name begins with a "D"--no wait, I found it. Centre College in Danville, KY. I think Washington and Lee in VA has full rides too, but they are extremely competitive.

I'm curious ...of those who did receive full rides to public schools, were they limited to in-state students? Bama is not; UCONN is.

I have a client who went to Centre College (big rivals of ours, lol) She loved it and the area is beautiful!

[LisaR]

My daughter is just starting to hear back from some schools.

So far, all of the small private schools are offering $18,000 - $20,000 each year. That seems to be the norm both in state and out of state for the schools she has applied to. That all sounds well and good but they are $45,000 - $55,000 a year.

The state schools haven't offered anything but she does qualify for our state scholarship. Our state schools for tuition and room and board minus the state scholarship will be about $12,000 a year. Compare that to the private schools that will be between $25 - 35,000 a year and it looks like it will be a state school for her. We are also paying for her graduate degree so we really need to make the best financial decision for our budget.

I used to dream of a full ride but reality has set in.......

[Southernmiss]

Originally Posted by LisaR

My daughter is just starting to hear back from some schools.

So far, all of the small private schools are offering $18,000 - $20,000 each year. That seems to be the norm both in state and out of state for the schools she has applied to. That all sounds well and good but they are $45,000 - $55,000 a year.

The state schools haven't offered anything but she does qualify for our state scholarship. Our state schools for tuition and room and board minus the state scholarship will be about $12,000 a year. Compare that to the private schools that will be between $25 - 35,000 a year and it looks like it will be a state school for her. We are also paying for her graduate degree so we really need to make the best financial decision for our budget.

I used to dream of a full ride but reality has set in.......

The numbers you quote for offers and tuition are exactly what we saw last year when DS was in the thick of ths process. He had several "dream" schools he would have loved to attend, but we had to go with the $ and where he could get his undergrad without massive debt.

People (general people, not you) just do not realize that college is really expensive and the scholarships are not plentiful or easy to come by these days, even for the bright students.

[Feralpeg]

In Florida, we have Florida Bright Futures. Scholarships are awarded based on a combination of test scores and grades. You can qualify for various levels. My daughter qualified for a 75 percent Bright Futures scholarship. In addition, she got a scholarship from Florida State. Between the two, it covered her tuition and housing in full for her four years at Florida State.

[Boston Tea Party]

Originally Posted by supercarrie

I turned it down to go to UCLA instead, and have not regretted it for an instant. My UCLA degree has opened doors (both internationally and in CA) far more than a Cal State degree would have.

In my opinion, simply getting a full ride isn't a reason to choose a school. If going to that school would not provide the best opportunities, and there is a school you can reasonably afford which would offer more opportunities, it is far better to pay a bit.

Absolutely.

And that is why DD is at USC.

Hey, it is only money!

[Becky2005]

Originally Posted by polly p

Both my kids chose their schools based on how they felt on campus. Both felt at home and very comfortable. Money or not, if your child doesn't like the atmosphere of where they need to live for the next four years you will have a miserable child.

This is so very true & it is why we threw in the towel and decided to start from square 1 for my DD. She didn't have a full ride but a very generous offer to the private school she would have gone to. It is about a 40K school & we would have had to come up with 14K out of pocket for the year. Most of the money we got was basically needs based & federal grants/loans.

I think it is rare to find a 100% free ride where books, housing, dining plans, fees and everything else is included. I got a scholarship to our community college which paid the tuition but I was on my own for books.

We are re-looking at colleges now for DD while she takes classes at the Community College. It certainly wasn't her first choice to do that but her grades weren't fantastic in high school Senior year and not havnig gone through the college stuff, didn't know what we were looking for. We have found talking to some places, transferring in will be easier than coming straight from High School as it is different criteria they look at.

Now our goal is we wish we could find the program of the school she was going to in a different location setting. LOL! Not easy to do as she loved the program but the size of the school & campus was not for her.

[LisaR]

Originally Posted by Feralpeg

In Florida, we have Florida Bright Futures. Scholarships are awarded based on a combination of test scores and grades. You can qualify for various levels. My daughter qualified for a 75 percent Bright Futures scholarship. In addition, she got a scholarship from Florida State. Between the two, it covered her tuition and housing in full for her four years at Florida State.

Wow! I just don't understand how the scholarship process works. My daughter qualifies for the whole Bright Futures. That means her scores were higher than your daughters. I don't mean that in a snotty way at all but BF awards based on score - the higher the award, the higher the scores. Based on that, I would think if your DD got a 75% award and a free ride, mine should get a free ride since she got the higher score. Not so, Joe! In fairness, she hasn't heard back from FSU yet. She just sent in the application last week. Of the two she has heard back from, one offered her $500 and the other one offered nothing!

Maybe it is dependent on your major?

Was your DD's all merit aid or was there financial aid involved?

[disney1990]

DD was not a great high school student. Following high school, she went to Community College and excelled. She then transferred to SUNY-ESF for her undergraduate degree.

Public or private? Public - SUNY-Environmental Science & Forestry

Full Ride for her Master's in Entomology
Plus she worked as a Lab Assistant & a Teaching Assistant for one of her Professors. She was sent on a month long fully paid research trip to China to do research on invasive insects.

Contributing Factor - Good grades for her Undergraduate Degree in Biology at SUNY-ESF and her Professor wanted to encourage her in a field that not a lot of women pursue.

[christineann]

My daughter was offered a full athletic scholarship, and when she declined it, she was offered a full academic scholarship at the same school. She chose a different school (public university out of state) based on the facilities for her major and received a very generous scholarship given to 26 out of 2900+ freshman. She then received an additional scholarship given to a couple of those 26.

She had good SAT's and graduated from a very competitive high school that doesn't rank other than first and second honor graduates (she was neither).

I think what helped her get the best scholarship was that she had very good grades with plenty of APs, lots of extracurriculars and a part time job as a tour guide on non-bball weekends and during the summers when her club team wasn't playing. She's very shy and respectful, and her teachers offered to write recommendations before she asked them. As she puts it, "Nerds rule!!"

She also got involved in work study in her department, and those professors nominated her for scholarships and research grants for enrolled students. I think the work study played a big role in the additional scholarships, as she got to know the professors outside of the classroom.

[Buckalew11]

Originally Posted by LisaR

Wow! I just don't understand how the scholarship process works. My daughter qualifies for the whole Bright Futures. That means her scores were higher than your daughters. I don't mean that in a snotty way at all but BF awards based on score - the higher the award, the higher the scores. Based on that, I would think if your DD got a 75% award and a free ride, mine should get a free ride since she got the higher score. Not so, Joe! In fairness, she hasn't heard back from FSU yet. She just sent in the application last week. Of the two she has heard back from, one offered her $500 and the other one offered nothing!

Maybe it is dependent on your major?

Was your DD's all merit aid or was there financial aid involved?

I'sure Peg will come back and answer but I'll just something that we found. My nephew is a JR in college and he and several kids from his HS were offered a full academic scholarship at DD's college. Now, this year, they did not give any full rides for academics (only that 1 or 2 in music). Things changed quickly!
Of course, my niece finished college 1.5 years ago and when she was looking, DD's college was 10,000 cheaper! That's seems like a big jump also!

[disykat]

I was going to say the same thing. In the last several years things have changed dramatically in terms of scholarships.

At the school my younger son will probably attend, three years ago the Regents scholarship was full tuition and fees. Now it's 4K off of 12K.

The school that my older child goes to is a state school, but very selective. It's been quite controversial the last few years because there are large donor alumni whose honor students didn't get accepted.

From what we're seeing - the stakes are rising all over!

[donac]

My dhad most of his tuition paid for but we had to pay for everything else.

He went to a state school. We didn't look at any private schools.

He was #11 in his class and his SAT's were good but the top.

He saw that his brother just missed out on some scholarships so when he went to high school he worked his tail off to get this scholarship.

He appllied to just 3 schools , they all offered him money. The one he went to is the one he wanted to go to and they offered him the most money.

[DisneyMomx7]

DS was offered a full ride to Seton Hall University. He graduated from High School in 2002. His SAT scores were 780 in the English portion and 740 math.
He had 4s in AP English, AP US History and AP Europeean History. I don't recall his class rank. His extraciricular activities were: Student Government, Peer Leader, Football, Honor Service Religion Leader and Debate.

He turned it down for a half ride at American University!

He really wanted to go to college in DC.

Here's the crazy part - his younger brother (graduated from coolege in 2004) did go to Seton Hall on a half ride - how I wish he had been the one to get the full ride!

[LisaR]

Originally Posted by Buckalew11

I'sure Peg will come back and answer but I'll just something that we found. My nephew is a JR in college and he and several kids from his HS were offered a full academic scholarship at DD's college. Now, this year, they did not give any full rides for academics (only that 1 or 2 in music). Things changed quickly!
Of course, my niece finished college 1.5 years ago and when she was looking, DD's college was 10,000 cheaper! That's seems like a big jump also!

Originally Posted by disykat

I was going to say the same thing. In the last several years things have changed dramatically in terms of scholarships.

At the school my younger son will probably attend, three years ago the Regents scholarship was full tuition and fees. Now it's 4K off of 12K.

The school that my older child goes to is a state school, but very selective. It's been quite controversial the last few years because there are large donor alumni whose honor students didn't get accepted.

From what we're seeing - the stakes are rising all over!

You guys are probably right. It might just be a sign of the times.