Understanding Merit Aid Possibilities OOS
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Anonymous
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My kids are younger so I have not been in this world yet. (yes, I am ignorant, please be kind!) I am trying to help out a friend. She wants a better understanding of how merit aid can help her son. We are in NY.
Her son is a sophomore. He's a bright and talented kid. He was top 10 academically entering HS, went right into the "honors" wind symphony which is kind of rare, he's a 3 sport athlete who plays on travel teams. All honors and I think AP Human Geo last year. But, his grades went down a bit in 9th grade (~mostly As but some Bs and maybe one C). He was more focused on sports and his GF. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, his parents are not uptight and while they want him to do well academically, they are very supportive of him having a well-rounded life. I feel like there's an element of him feeling like he's falling behind the top students-- his parents again are okay with this, and they want to encourage him to do the best he can. But it's a slippery slope. We were talking about PSAT/SAT, it's not on his radar at all and he said, "If it's not required, I'm not taking it." His parents said: "Actually good scores will help you with scholarships so yes you will be taking the SAT." I hope what I'm saying makes sense. It's like, OK we're not aiming for Ivies here, but that doesn't mean you can stop trying. The parents want to start touring SUNYs. Which are a great option IMHO. But he wants to go away. Money is an issue. They may have saved some but there is also debt. I think they would prefer he's not really far; we are in NYC suburbs. What else.... he was on a STEM track but had a bad experience with a mid-year replacement teacher in an elective and now wants to give up on that. Probably not relevant lol but his GF dumped him over the summer and he's kind of bummed in general. 
I know there are opportunities to go away to great state schools, and they provide guidelines for what you need to achieve to get merit aid. Can you please recommend resources to look into this or even schools worth looking into? Thank you so much. |
Anonymous
| University of Alabama publishes merit guidelines. Just Google “University of Alabama out of state merit” |
Anonymous
Anonymous
| If he’s bright he will probably do well on the psat/sat which will make up for the meh grades. There are so many great SUNY schools. Hopefully others here will help with other options. |
Anonymous
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Generally the publics don’t offer a lot.
I know you are proud of your kid but the sooner you realize he’s a dime a dozen in the application pool the easier it will be to manage your expectations |
Anonymous
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On the topic of tours, ideally I would wait until fall of junior year. However, I understand the idea that they may be trying to motivate him a bit and that he may be capable of high stats. Maybe take him to one likely affordable school with a really nice campus (something along the lines of Bama perhaps?)
How much is the annual budget? If they can pay into the 40s or so, that may open up private universities in other parts of the country that offer merit and are ranked somewhere between 50-100. |
Anonymous
| ^and are unlikely to care about that one C freshman year. |
Anonymous
| Unless you go far down in prestige, very few will get in state tuition. If WVU or Alabama are not good enough, stay in state. |
Anonymous
| Would suggest studying hard for the PSAT. So many scholarships and a lot of merit is determined by the PSAT score. Most people seem to be unaware of all the possibilities that are unlocked by a high PSAT score. It's like a life hack for informed families. Do well on the PSAT and money and opportunities follow. |
Anonymous
| How about U of Kentucky or U of Mississippi? |
Anonymous
OP here. Thanks everyone for posting. I think they want to start touring this year because they have challenges taking time off from work so better to spread it out over a longer period of time. I don't know their finances but I don't think they can pay into the 40s- thanks for bring this up, that's very helpful. Maybe in state is the best option for them. |
Anonymous
Is this true only in 11th grade, but in 10th grade too? Thank you. |
Anonymous
+1. As the kid discussed in the OP might be potentially high-scoring, they should prep next summer for a fall junior year SAT (usually Aug), which also preps them for the PSAT at the same time. He'd need to score very high, but National Merit would be the goal. Also may need to temper the number of Cs in high school, though I'm not sure what the GPA criteria are. OP, check out these examples of large packages for National Merit: https://afford.ua.edu/scholarships/national-merit/ https://utulsa.edu/tuition-aid/scholarships/nmsf/ |
Anonymous
Omg no OP SUNY school not Alabama. No one in their right mind chooses a school in Alabama over SUNY. As for merit it works like this If your kid is offered merit because the college sees a need for some skill the6 have or academic achievement they will off money . That off only stays if the keep a certain gpa usually 3 . 0 If you want to minimize cost community college or some small religious college which I would never recommend over one SUNY school |