Merit aid

[Anonymous]

Where can my kid get merit aid? 31 ACT, 3.9 GPA, and average EC's. Can anyone who has a kid with these stats tell me where they got aid?

[Anonymous]

Oberlin.

[Anonymous]

DS got a merit scholarship from GW

[Anonymous]

First, in our experience, merit aid means getting total cost of attendance within 10K of in-state. My DC with similar stats got offers like this from all safeties: Wooster, Clark, McDaniel, Washington College. Similarly ranked schools will do the same.

[Anonymous]

Pitt

[Anonymous]

Did anyone get more than $25,000 off from places like Kenyon and Oberlin? That puts it at about $20,000 more than UMD.

[Anonymous]

If the 3.9 is UW UMASS and UDEl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone get more than $25,000 off from places like Kenyon and Oberlin? That puts it at about $20,000 more than UMD.

My kid got $20,000 merit from Oberlin. Another $25000 FA. That made it less expensive than our state university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone get more than $25,000 off from places like Kenyon and Oberlin? That puts it at about $20,000 more than UMD.

I'm thinking they don't. E.g. Kenyon says merit is between 10-25K. When it's explicitly stated it's going to be extremely rare that anyone gets more. DC got 35K from Wooster which put it very close to UMD, since Wooster is also lower sticker price. The goal of these offers is to lure someone from their flagship at full pay. That's still a good paying customer, and it builds word of mouth. As interest builds the offers go down, and the sticker price goes up. You still have people bragging about merit when it's only 10K at an expensive school.

[Anonymous]

You can get up to $32.5K from U of Denver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone get more than $25,000 off from places like Kenyon and Oberlin? That puts it at about $20,000 more than UMD.

My kid got $20,000 merit from Oberlin. Another $25000 FA. That made it less expensive than our state university.

with similar stats as OP's kid?

[Anonymous]

Does it make a difference if student is URM w similar stats in amount of aid awarded?

[Anonymous]

My kid with similar stats got nice merit aid (making them similar in price to in-state) from Ohio, Arizona, Iowa, and Ithaca. In-state, VCU offered a decent award. A pp mentioned Pitt; DC got nothing there despite applying early...they used to be known for good merit aid but in the last few years there’s a big shift toward more need based aid instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid with similar stats got nice merit aid (making them similar in price to in-state) from Ohio, Arizona, Iowa, and Ithaca. In-state, VCU offered a decent award. A pp mentioned Pitt; DC got nothing there despite applying early...they used to be known for good merit aid but in the last few years there’s a big shift toward more need based aid instead.

I’m surprised there aren’t more posts about how many state flagships often offer “merit” that is just asking OOS kids to pay in-state prices. Obviously not every school will offer this to every kid but it really does broaden a kid’s options. And I’ve known a lot of families who got an offer like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone get more than $25,000 off from places like Kenyon and Oberlin? That puts it at about $20,000 more than UMD.

My kid got $20,000 merit from Oberlin. Another $25000 FA. That made it less expensive than our state university.

So they offered you enough FA that cost of attendance is lower than your state school? Why didn't you qualify for FA at the public? Was this lower than your FAFSA EFC?