| My daughter got a grant from Elon, I think a couple of grand, she also tried for the fellows program but was turned down. Her SATs were in the 1300's, 3.5 cum plus excellent ecs. So I suspect you need 1400 plus to get these kind of awards. She loved Elon and we were very impressed - the best college we visited - but no financial aid. To their credit, they were quite up front about that. Elon's price tag has increased rapidly over the last 5 or 6 years. It was 15 grand or so, below NE flagship states, but now its in the 25 grand range. While we were visiting we ate at a Japanese restaurant and the guy at the sushi bar next to us was back for a trustee meeting. Rising cost of attendance was his main concern. Elon plans to develop their endowment to provide money for aid, but so far it just hasn't happened. Their goal at the time we visited was to get their SAT average over 1200. Without a sizable endowment that's going to be difficult. Kids from moderate income backgrounds with scores above 1200 are far more likely to choose their flagship state, like PSU, With state aid and a small grant it's under 15 grand and a lot closer. To really compete Elon needs to raise money specifically for student aid.
PS Elon came to national prominence in one of the early NSEE surveys. Elon along with Wabash, Sweet Briar and Beloit was named one of the colleges with the best student satisfaction. Elon has certainly ridden with that, I don't know how the others have done. BTW, the NSEE has stopped indentifying and comparing colleges in their public releases, but Elon got a great plug |