Merit Scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a really dumb question, OP.

Why? This not the same as need based aid. I want to know what schools are good at discounting the full sticker price with merit aid.

It is 100% dependent on your student's stats.

Some schools don't give any merit aid. If you need merit aid to afford college, cross all of those schools off your list.

[Anonymous]

As someone with a rising college freshman who just went through this process, it's not a stupid question at all. My DC got a lot of merit aid from some schools, none from others, and anecdotally word got out about schools that give out quite a bit. The links shared by an early PP have some good leads on schools. The two biggest tips I can share are that: 1) Review the online "Common Data Set" for schools in which you're interested, and scroll to Section H2A -- this will tell you how many freshmen, who had no financial need, were awarded merit aid, and the average amount of such aid. (In section H2 you can see data on students with need who additionally received merit aid.) To find these reports, just google "Common Data Set" and the name of a college, e.g., "Common Data Set Case Western," and you will usually be brought to a page on the college's site that has links to their CDS reports. 2) IF a school gives merit aid, your student is most likely to be in the running when their stats place them in the top 5-10% of their admitted students' profile. For schools with high % of students getting aid, perhaps a slightly bigger pool? Generally speaking, you need to target schools ranked a bit lower ranked than their dream/reach schools, unless they are an exceptionally top applicant, then you're looking at a different set of scholarships/schools/merit aid targets . . .

[Anonymous]

My DD got lots of merit at schools she didn't want to go to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone with a rising college freshman who just went through this process, it's not a stupid question at all. My DC got a lot of merit aid from some schools, none from others, and anecdotally word got out about schools that give out quite a bit. The links shared by an early PP have some good leads on schools. The two biggest tips I can share are that: 1) Review the online "Common Data Set" for schools in which you're interested, and scroll to Section H2A -- this will tell you how many freshmen, who had no financial need, were awarded merit aid, and the average amount of such aid. (In section H2 you can see data on students with need who additionally received merit aid.) To find these reports, just google "Common Data Set" and the name of a college, e.g., "Common Data Set Case Western," and you will usually be brought to a page on the college's site that has links to their CDS reports. 2) IF a school gives merit aid, your student is most likely to be in the running when their stats place them in the top 5-10% of their admitted students' profile. For schools with high % of students getting aid, perhaps a slightly bigger pool? Generally speaking, you need to target schools ranked a bit lower ranked than their dream/reach schools, unless they are an exceptionally top applicant, then you're looking at a different set of scholarships/schools/merit aid targets . . .

Your methodology is sound but that's not what OP is asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone with a rising college freshman who just went through this process, it's not a stupid question at all. My DC got a lot of merit aid from some schools, none from others, and anecdotally word got out about schools that give out quite a bit. The links shared by an early PP have some good leads on schools. The two biggest tips I can share are that: 1) Review the online "Common Data Set" for schools in which you're interested, and scroll to Section H2A -- this will tell you how many freshmen, who had no financial need, were awarded merit aid, and the average amount of such aid. (In section H2 you can see data on students with need who additionally received merit aid.) To find these reports, just google "Common Data Set" and the name of a college, e.g., "Common Data Set Case Western," and you will usually be brought to a page on the college's site that has links to their CDS reports. 2) IF a school gives merit aid, your student is most likely to be in the running when their stats place them in the top 5-10% of their admitted students' profile. For schools with high % of students getting aid, perhaps a slightly bigger pool? Generally speaking, you need to target schools ranked a bit lower ranked than their dream/reach schools, unless they are an exceptionally top applicant, then you're looking at a different set of scholarships/schools/merit aid targets . . .

Your methodology is sound but that's not what OP is asking.

OP is asking for anecdotes, which are useless in the absence of hard data/statistics re: students who got merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

You'll learn when you've done this as many times as I have - There is a ton of scholarship money out there. Merit aid doesn't always come from the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

You'll learn when you've done this as many times as I have - There is a ton of scholarship money out there. Merit aid doesn't always come from the school.

Np- ROTC? I don't consider that merit scholarship. It's an advanced payment for future service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

You'll learn when you've done this as many times as I have - There is a ton of scholarship money out there. Merit aid doesn't always come from the school.

Np- ROTC? I don't consider that merit scholarship. It's an advanced payment for future service.

There are tons of private organizations that offer merit aid. Larger organizations often offer merit aid to the children of employees. My daughter's high school offered a very generous merit aid scholarship to ten students. The money is out there. You just have to be willing to look for it.

[Anonymous]

^op is asking school sponsored merit scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

You'll learn when you've done this as many times as I have - There is a ton of scholarship money out there. Merit aid doesn't always come from the school.

I have two in college and one applying this year. Most merit scholarship money is awarded by schools themselves. This is a fact.

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/seven-things-to-know-about-scholarships/

[Anonymous]

See also

[i]1. Private scholarships don't represent the biggest source of college cash. I suspect most families believe that private scholarships, which students can earn from organizations like the Rotary Club or by creating a clever prom outfit out of duct tape, is where most of the money for college is hiding. Not true. The biggest source of scholarships and grants is the federal government and then the colleges themselves. Private scholarships represent the puniest source.

Here is the breakdown of sources of college grants: federal government (44 percent), colleges (36 percent), state governments (9 percent), employers (7 percent), and private scholarships (4 percent).[/I-]

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2011/02/01/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-private-scholarships

[Anonymous]

Grinnell College 15K per year for total of 60K
Luther College 22K per year for total of 88K
Mt St Mary's: 22K per year total 88K
Macalester: 12K per year for total of 48K

Our HHI knocks us out of any aid besides merit from the schools.

He's going to Grinnell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

You'll learn when you've done this as many times as I have - There is a ton of scholarship money out there. Merit aid doesn't always come from the school.

Np- ROTC? I don't consider that merit scholarship. It's an advanced payment for future service.

There are tons of private organizations that offer merit aid. Larger organizations often offer merit aid to the children of employees. My daughter's high school offered a very generous merit aid scholarship to ten students. The money is out there. You just have to be willing to look for it.

This maybe factually correct but misleading. Corp sponsored scholarships are often times one time award and often times not enough to make a significant difference. Big money comes from school awarded scholarships.

OP - DC's scholarship award even though I don't see how it can be useful to you. We are in MD.

UMD - full ride
UMBC - almost full ride
UPitt - full tutiion
NEU - 25k/year,
UMiami (FL) - full tution
USCarolina - can't recall but significant
Few other schools I don't remember...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got $40,000 ($10,000 a year) at University of Florida. We were Florida residents so she also got the Bright Futures Scholarship. She was a National Merit Scholar finalist. She graduated last year and is teaching in DC! I have a son at Univ. of Colorado. $8,000 a year merit. I have another at Ole Miss. Full ride.

Nice!

Thanks Those three were our easy kids. We have one that enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. We are super proud of her. She wasn't a great student, but she has turned out to be a really good Airman. We're hoping she'll be more ready for college when she gets out. The military will pay which is nice. Our youngest wants to go to MIT. He had better pray for merit aid.

MIT doesn't award any merit aid.

You'll learn when you've done this as many times as I have - There is a ton of scholarship money out there. Merit aid doesn't always come from the school.

Np- ROTC? I don't consider that merit scholarship. It's an advanced payment for future service.

There are tons of private organizations that offer merit aid. Larger organizations often offer merit aid to the children of employees. My daughter's high school offered a very generous merit aid scholarship to ten students. The money is out there. You just have to be willing to look for it.

This maybe factually correct but misleading. Corp sponsored scholarships are often times one time award and often times not enough to make a significant difference. Big money comes from school awarded scholarships.

OP - DC's scholarship award even though I don't see how it can be useful to you. We are in MD.

UMD - full ride
UMBC - almost full ride
UPitt - full tutiion
NEU - 25k/year,
UMiami (FL) - full tution
USCarolina - can't recall but significant
Few other schools I don't remember...

What were his stats?