Please share if your high school senior received a large college merit scholarship

[calypso*a*go-go]

My son has a 3.95 GPA, 5's on a bunch of AP tests, leadership positions at school, musical prowess, and lots of community service, but got nothing from the state school he wants to attend.

I feel certain I know what school you are referring to and can say there's no one I know that recently received their acceptance letter that was offered any monetary incentive to attend. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine called because her son was also accepted to another in-state that offered him a $10K scholarship renewable for four years, she asked if they would match it or do anything at all to sweeten the pot...they basically said "No, we don't have to because we only accepted 22% of the students that applied." Rather blunt, but to the point!

 

[NewCrew42]

I am hoping that good ACT scores continue to help students receive merit based scholarships. I just had my 10th grader take the ACT in Feb. He made a 32. I hope if he studies he can increase that next year.

 

[Debbie7452]

I don't know much about the ACT, since it's not that popular in my area but I KNOW how important the PSAT is in the 11th grade year...I would definitely start prepping now for that test next year. It is different in style from the ACT (32 is great) so I hope you prep for that too. My DD actually took the real SAT in October (week before the PSAT) as a practice for the PSAT. I know it sounds backwards but it really worked for us. Now she is done testing and we can relax a little!

We also took the PSAT every year since she was a freshman, so I knew she was capable of getting the score she needed for National Merit.

 

[juliebean]

Are we talking about the Univ. of Washington? Just curious. Honestly, I grew up in the NW and would have liked to have gone to UW, but even as a Natl. Merit scholar, I couldn't go there because my parents couldn't come up with the 1/2 of tuition I'd still need to pay. And their taxes were a mess, so I couldn't fill out the FAFSA. I ended up going to the Univ. of Idaho, and although it wasn't my first choice, it ultimately ended up being a great place to go. I think it's important to keep things like that in perspective, even though it's hard to do when you are 18 and all your friends are going to this school or that. I also think going to CC for 2 years and then transferring is a way to go to college that is really a great way to go for many kids.

My son still has a couple of years - but we certainly hope that he will consider both U of I and WWU - they are both great options for kids who can't get in/afford UW. My husband went to the UI too, and is an actuary working with people with degrees from NYU and Oxford. They all make the same money, regardless of where they went.

It's important for those kids who are not the top 1/2 of a percent to know that not getting scholarships doesn't mean they won't succeed at college. It can be disappointing.

 

[disykat]

He got into U of I. That is actually where I would prefer him to go, but it's not his first choice. We're still in discussions. U of I gave him a bunch of merit aid, but for some reason he hasn't recieved WUE. He may call on Monday and see what the deal is with WUE since we thought it was pretty much a given with his gradepoint, but I doubt it will change his mind.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Yes, UW is what I was referring to. My DD wasn't interested in applying there as they don't offer the degree she's interested in. Almost all of her friends had UW as their first choice, some were accepted, some weren't...but they were all disappointed that none of them were offered any scholarships. The same friend I mentioned in my earlier post also said they told her most of their $$$ went to sophomores and higher. I guess they don't want to give money to kids that might not succeed their first year and won't be back.

 

[Pixieflip]

DD got the following offers this year-$10,000 at a private school in NY, $15,000 from an upstate NY private, half tuition (sorry, forget how much) from a private school in RI, full tuition as an oos student to a large Southern public university, full tuition plus a $2500 one time stipend for research/travel to our state university (only offered to some valedictorians and salutatorians) (please forgive my spelling), and $25000 from a private school in PA. Her ACT score was pretty high; her SAT not so much--we used her ACT scores. Interestingly, all the schools offered grant money also, which also varied widely. The most expensive school, in PA, gave her the largest grant and met nearly our full need, with the fewest loans. The other private schools left gaps of about $12000 to over $20000. If I had to do it over again, I would filter schools before visiting by % of need met.

I would love to know how to do that search. Anyone know how?

We have a junior who scored nearly perfect on the PSAT as a sophomore and then not so good as a junior. (Teenagers! ) He's an amazingly good test taker, so don't know what happened there. So, on to the ACT and other scholarships.

It just feels so overwhelming. GC's at school have so many students, they also just refer us to fastwebs. No help. I actually learned more in reading this thread than I have all year from school!

I'm so overwhelmed, I don't even know what questions to ask. How do you find the great scholarships?

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Granddaughter #1 just got four years at 75% paid tuition.
. . . not need-based
. . . based totally upon grades through Junior year
. . . no strings
. . . covers tuition, fees, books, computer, etc
. . . room/board is self-pay
. . . our 529 plan easily covers the balance, with lots left over

2) Two caddies from our country club just got 4-year free rides
. . . Evans Caddy Scholarship
. . . had to get good caddy ratings to qualify
. . . one going Ohio State University (pre-med), one to Miami (engrg)
. . . full ride including tuition, room/board, books, fees

 

[walkdmc]

Guess what? I just spent $20 on my entire family's underwear at Burlington.

Did anyone see this commercial? If you didn't, this post might seem out of place, just a little.

 

[jlima]

There's a huge list of free ride or close to it schools for National Merit Finalists on College Confidential.

My former employer here in Las Vegas funds one of these scholarships at UNLV. All you have to do is be a National Merit Finalist or Semi-finalist and you get a four year free ride.

 

[cepmom]

my DD received a $6500 annual merit scholarship from her private college; she had to have between a 3.0 and a 3.49 to receive this level of scholarship and she must maintain at least a 3.0 to continue to receive it each year.

 

[linnylu]

I also did not realize the importance of PSAT, ACT, and SAT for scholarship money. I knew these scores were important for admittance to a college, but was surprised how much they determined merit aid. And this was the norm at most colleges. DS and my nephew have the same GPA and are both in similar ECs (actually DN is in more). DS scored a 32 on the ACT and DN a 24. Both applied to the same college. DS received a $26,000 scholarship and DN a $14,000. The school is $48,000. Of course DN could have retaken the ACT or taken a prep class, but this expensive private school was not his 1st choice. My younger children will definitely take a prep class.

 

[okeydokey]

Yes, they really have-and good luck to your son! Did you know Dr. Wayne Alderman? He was an accounting professor and became head -or something!- of the scholarship office when DD started. (He was my favorite professor!) class of '83

No I don't know him. I worked in the engineering department in the early 90s. We loved our time at Auburn and would love it if my son was able to go there one day. As FL residents, we would certainly need scholarship help to make it happen.

 

[taximomfor4]

Waiting in agony here, dd is heading to Ohio State in the fall. She put all her eggs in that basket after researching Actuarial Science programs. She graduated from high school at 16, is finishing up tough course load at the community college, etc, with a 4.0...but she is a GOOD, not EXCELLENT test taker. Took AP classes in high school but didn't take the exams because of this. Graduated with a 3.4-ish GPA. ACT was a 28 I think. I did the FAFSA for her, and know what our EFC is. It will be tough to nearly impossible to pay it...and searching for % of need met at OSU like a pp mentioned, just saw that Ohio State only meets about 58%. OUCH OUCH OUCH.

I don't know what to tell dd. Through her year at the community college, she worked as many hours as she could. She has been paying the community college and banked about half of the EFC. I just KNOW it's not going to be enough. I'm sick, waiting for the letter to come, dreading telling her she will have to not go. Funny, if I go to college, I get Pell Grants because I can "claim" dd's in college on the FAFSA, but on her FAFSA, I don't count so no Pell Grants. Seriously, my student loans are on the Income-Based repayment plan and my monthly payments are $0. But we qualify for no Federal Grants.

So, so sad. And dd really thinks it will all work out. I've tried to talk to her about joining the military, ROTC, other things but she "knows" this path is right.

Sorry you all have to put up with my moment of dread and self-pity. The past 4 years, so many things have changed, and not in a good way. I thought I'd be working by now. SIGH.

 

[Debbie7452]

I'm sure prep classes are great, but they are $$$. If you are like us, you can do it yourself without a prep class. Of course this depends on the effort your kid will put into it. Some kids need the enforced structure a formal prep class would provide. Here's what we did. My DD took the PSAT since freshman year, I signed her up for the free college board SAT question of the day emails, she signed up for dictionary.com word of the day emails, and our school gave a summer school SAT practice test. We also did an additional practice test put on by Kumon to sell their services. DD said the daily emails were the most helpful and really improved her score. She would work the questions in batches when she felt like it. She did not keep up with them daily.

Failed things I tried was buying the big practice guide (never touched) and a SAT practice DS game.

 

[QT Pooh]

My senior son applied to SUNY-Buffalo as his stretch school for their chemistry program. He has been a very average student (3.0 GPA) but has outstanding SAT and SAT Chemistry Subject test score. We were surprised that he was accepted first of all (they have a 52% acceptance rate), but were floored when they offered him a $7500 per year merit scholarship...conditional on maintaining at least a 3.0 average for all 4 years of attendance.

 

[linnylu]

My senior son applied to SUNY-Buffalo as his stretch school for their chemistry program. He has been a very average student (3.0 GPA) but has outstanding SAT and SAT Chemistry Subject test score. We were surprised that he was accepted first of all (they have a 52% acceptance rate), but were floored when they offered him a $7500 per year merit scholarship...conditional on maintaining at least a 3.0 average for all 4 years of attendance.

QT Pooh, is your son going to SUNY-Buffalo? My ds also applied here and was accepted. He got a $12,000 year merit scholarship since we are OOS. This school would have been reasonably priced for us, but ds chose another school. I may go look at it for dd. Did you and your ds go visit? What did you think?

 

[QT Pooh]

QT Pooh, is your son going to SUNY-Buffalo? My ds also applied here and was accepted. He got a $12,000 year merit scholarship since we are OOS. This school would have been reasonably priced for us, but ds chose another school. I may go look at it for dd. Did you and your ds go visit? What did you think?

We did go and visit last summer. They have a very good science program, which is why he was most interested in the school. However, he has also selected another college. The campus is decent but very large (for us), spread out and housing is not guaranteed for freshmen. We come from a small town and he's always been in small schools...we thought the transition to such a large campus would be a little overwhelming. His hopes are to blow the doors off his academics at the college he is enrolled at and transition there in his junior year...which of course is all subject to change as time progresses!

We also thought the school is very reasonably priced for out of state students. With the merit scholarship it would have made it equal to state tuition...hard to pass up but hopefully he'll get another opportunity at it!

 

[juliebean]

Waiting in agony here, dd is heading to Ohio State in the fall. She put all her eggs in that basket after researching Actuarial Science programs. She graduated from high school at 16, is finishing up tough course load at the community college, etc, with a 4.0...but she is a GOOD, not EXCELLENT test taker. Took AP classes in high school but didn't take the exams because of this. Graduated with a 3.4-ish GPA. ACT was a 28 I think. I did the FAFSA for her, and know what our EFC is. It will be tough to nearly impossible to pay it...and searching for % of need met at OSU like a pp mentioned, just saw that Ohio State only meets about 58%. OUCH OUCH OUCH.

I don't know what to tell dd. Through her year at the community college, she worked as many hours as she could. She has been paying the community college and banked about half of the EFC. I just KNOW it's not going to be enough. I'm sick, waiting for the letter to come, dreading telling her she will have to not go. Funny, if I go to college, I get Pell Grants because I can "claim" dd's in college on the FAFSA, but on her FAFSA, I don't count so no Pell Grants. Seriously, my student loans are on the Income-Based repayment plan and my monthly payments are $0. But we qualify for no Federal Grants.

So, so sad. And dd really thinks it will all work out. I've tried to talk to her about joining the military, ROTC, other things but she "knows" this path is right.

Sorry you all have to put up with my moment of dread and self-pity. The past 4 years, so many things have changed, and not in a good way. I thought I'd be working by now. SIGH.

Encourage her to stay at the CC for a year - work hard, get A's - particularly in math classes, get a job & save - and then transfer to a 4 yr school. There is nothing wrong with transferring after two years. Once she is a transfer, her HS gpa and test scores will matter less.

Also, have her start taking the actuary exams - you don't need a degree to take them. Look at colleges without an actuary program too, my hubby is one and didn't go to an "actuary" school, he just has a math degree with an economics minor. You just need a 4 yr degree from somewhere. BTW- He loves it, and for someone good at math it's a great career.

 

[ctinct]

I would love to know how to do that search. Anyone know how?

We have a junior who scored nearly perfect on the PSAT as a sophomore and then not so good as a junior. (Teenagers! ) He's an amazingly good test taker, so don't know what happened there. So, on to the ACT and other scholarships.

It just feels so overwhelming. GC's at school have so many students, they also just refer us to fastwebs. No help. I actually learned more in reading this thread than I have all year from school!

I'm so overwhelmed, I don't even know what questions to ask. How do you find the great scholarships?

Hi...

I actually ditched the internet and went to Barnes and Noble to purchase a few books about colleges. That way everything was all in one place. I think the one we relied on the most was a princeton Guide to Best Colleges in the Northeast. As I said, I should have paid more attention to % of need met. Their figures turned out to be remarkably accurate.