Did anyone get a lot more merit in their final financial aid letter than what you were told initially?

[Anonymous]

We just got our financial aid information from Clemson. Initially, we were told that we would get $8k in merit and so I didn't expect much more. However, in the financial aid letter, we ended up getting double in merit. Outside of the merit, we also ended up getting need based grants (which was surprising because at every other college, we did not qualify for any need).

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it's addressed to your kid?

Joking. Congrats, OP!

(For us the merit aid did not change from first annoucement to final.)

[Anonymous]

Maybe they originally meant 8K per semester? Either way, GREAT news. Congrats to your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure it's addressed to your kid?

Joking. Congrats, OP!

(For us the merit aid did not change from first annoucement to final.)

Honestly, I was thinking the same thing. I really thought it was a mix-up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they originally meant 8K per semester? Either way, GREAT news. Congrats to your kid.

Thank you - yes, it came out to $8k a semester, but in the original notification, the portal just indicated that we would be getting $8k.

[Anonymous]

Dufus

[Anonymous]

Congrats! Are you strongly considering Clemson as a result?

[Anonymous]

What is clemson? never heard of it

[Anonymous]

Someone on College Confidential wrote something simliar with Clemson. They were initially told that they would receive $6500 in merit, but later ended up getting an extra $17500. So maybe Clemson's merit is still pretty generous. I remember reading from facebook and here that Clemson was no longer generous with its merit.

[Anonymous]

Yes, from Pitt. Got merit $ with acceptance last fall. Then fin aid offer also included "Panther Pride" $. Was told by FA office that Panther Pride is for OOS.

[Anonymous]

That's great, congrats! Yes, we got a nice bump from a couple of smaller schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, from Pitt. Got merit $ with acceptance last fall. Then fin aid offer also included "Panther Pride" $. Was told by FA office that Panther Pride is for OOS.

That's great!

[Anonymous]

I thought that I read that Clemson stopped giving a lot of merit.

[Anonymous]

Yes. We received more merit than originally offered from most schools because of financial need. DC was selected for some named scholarships. Not just DCUM poor—DC was Pell-eligible for 1st and 2nd year.

[Anonymous]

Newbie question - Do these extra merit letters come out before you have accepted? Is it to entice your student to attend or is it b/c the school just had more $$ to give? If you ED, do you have no chance at more merit?