Do people really get 60K full scholarships?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My daughter did. She was a National Merit Scholar. No sports. But high test scores. She had colleges fighting to give her money.

Well she can only go to one college at a time, right?

I feel kind of embarrassed for your daughter that you're here bragging about that.

But also impressed with HER that she worked so hard and got a good deal.

PP is simply answering the question asked. You don't sound very bright.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Harvard has deep pockets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Harvard has deep pockets

Harvard has great financial aid - and meets full need at a much higher salary level than many other universities - but they do not offer any merit aid.

That's true of all the Ivy League. There are no academic or athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

[Anonymous]

Yes, for both sports or academics but DKs must be at the highest level for either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or when they say that do they mean full tuition scholarships? Even that seems huge. Well, unless you have sports or some unique story.

I notice a lot of low and middle class kids brag about their "full scholarships" when it's really just financial aid.

The T20 universities give really really really generous aid packages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My daughter did. She was a National Merit Scholar. No sports. But high test scores. She had colleges fighting to give her money.

That's awesome PP! Do you have any more information that you can share on the types of schools that your daughter got into? Or anything else that made her attractive for the scholarships? (Please ignore the very jealous PP from above!)

.

Sure! Our other kids are just your typical average college kids. We didn't do anything different with our daughter - no test prep or supplementing, ever. She is just very smart, works hard, and tests well. It's nothing we did. She got into all the schools she applied to. Two Ivys and three good state schools. The public schools are the ones who threw money at her. She was involved in chorus and drama, but no leadership roles to speak of. Her GPA was high - 3.95. But it was her test scores that won her the scholarships. She accepted a full ride at University of Florida. Not where we thought she would end up, but she loved it! And it was free, so we loved it too.

My DD is like that too. She wants to go to a competitive school though and not state so we'll see. Did the private schools offer any scholarships? Like 20k or something?
Also, DD got 98th percentile - was your DD more like 99?

We told DD if she went somewhere on scholarships we'd take a nice family vacation which she finds appealing after years of paying for private school(which was good for her - she got a great education).

What did your DD study? Is she going to grad school?

The vast majority of "competitive" (read: highly-ranked) private schools give zero merit scholarship money. A couple of exceptions are e.g. Johns Hopkins, Carnegie-Mellon, and U. Chicago (off the top of my head).

My DC had a 4.2 weighted GPA and perfect SAT scores and got zero merit aid at Hopkins.

The trick to getting a big merit package is having GPA and test stats that far exceed the average at the school in question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or when they say that do they mean full tuition scholarships? Even that seems huge. Well, unless you have sports or some unique story.

I notice a lot of low and middle class kids brag about their "full scholarships" when it's really just financial aid.

The T20 universities give really really really generous aid packages.

Correct. But I think that OP is asking about merit scholarship money. The T20 universities give no scholarship money, so families who do not qualify for need-based aid yet cannot pay full price cannot send their kids there, without going into big debt.

[Anonymous]

yes, plus monthly stipend. who says athletics sucks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, plus monthly stipend. who says athletics sucks?

I think we are talking merit scholarship. Not athletic scholarship.

[Anonymous]

DD got 60K ish from 2 or 10 schools. Also got 3K, 10K or nothing. All from schools in the same tier. Apply widely.

[Anonymous]

Full ride merit scholarships are typically called Presidential Scholarships. Alabama's out of state Presidential Scholarship is probably most well known -- worth approx $110,000.

[Anonymous]

Many colleges post $60k sticker prices for tuition, but the average student does not pay that much. The sticker prices is set ridiculously high so they can offer "scholarships."

It's become a game where you have to find a school where your SAT/GPA is competitive enough for them to give you a scholarship. Rich people have the option to pay the full sticker price in order to get into a school that doesn't offer them a scholarship, and effectively subsidize tuition for middle class/poor students with better grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Harvard has deep pockets

Harvard has great financial aid - and meets full need at a much higher salary level than many other universities - but they do not offer any merit aid.

That's true of all the Ivy League. There are no academic or athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

But Harvard and a number of other Ivies, maybe all of them, also have a program whereby if the Household Income is less than $60,000 than the child attends the school for free (absolutely no charge for tuition or room and board). It is a great program and they definitely do it, not just talk about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or when they say that do they mean full tuition scholarships? Even that seems huge. Well, unless you have sports or some unique story.

I notice a lot of low and middle class kids brag about their "full scholarships" when it's really just financial aid.

The T20 universities give really really really generous aid packages.

I'm a PP, and the student I was talking about absolutely did not qualify for aid ... not by a long shot. Didn't even ask for aid or money or anything. The full scholarship offer was a happy surprise. So yes, there is real merit $$ out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Harvard has deep pockets

Harvard has great financial aid - and meets full need at a much higher salary level than many other universities - but they do not offer any merit aid.

That's true of all the Ivy League. There are no academic or athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

But Harvard and a number of other Ivies, maybe all of them, also have a program whereby if the Household Income is less than $60,000 than the child attends the school for free (absolutely no charge for tuition or room and board). It is a great program and they definitely do it, not just talk about it.

Follow up - I am not disagreeing with the prior poster. Because Harvard does not offer merit aid and none of the Ivies offer scholarships (academic, arts or athletic) but Harvard, Yale and other Ivies do offer a program for those students whose Household Income is below $60,000.