| My daughter received a full tuition scholarship from American U. She didn't have to apply, it just came in her acceptance. If you are a very strong student, I think American can give you lots of money. When she was looking for schools, we told her what we were willing to pay. She could have gone to some top 25 schools, with no money. She decided to go to St. Louis University, which also gave her a full tuition scholarship. (SLU has 30 Presidential scholarships a year, which cover full tuition. It is renewable for 4 years. The finalists who don't get the Presidential do get a half tuition scholarship)
She won an additional scholarship, so our out of pocket expenses are less than $5,000 a year. However, because she won those scholarships, we are able to help her do other things with the money we had available. We are funding her IRA for a few years. We are paying for trips and other things that we would have been unable to pay for if she had gone to a school with no merit aid. She will walk away from college with no debt. The older she gets, the more she appreciates it.
She is looking to attend law school after graduation. While we always told our children that we gave them money for just 4 years of school, I think we would help her with some of her law school expenses because we are not having to pay for much in the way of her undergraduate expenses.
All three of our children received some merit aid, and we are pleased that they all graduated (or will graduate) with no debt. They are so grateful for that. |