Are there other schools my son should consider if looking for merit money?

Paying for College
21

My kid – going for merit aid…we did not qualify for financial aid – received $20,000 a year from Northeastern, $25,000 from BU, $15,000 from UMass Amherst, $18,000 from Pittsburgh, $20,000 from Rhodes, full tuition from UA. She was accepted but received zero merit aid from uchicago, tufts, unc-chapel hill.

Her stats were lower than your kid’s. however she had interesting work & life experience and very strong endorsements.

22

You mention that you have not read his essays, which is fine. But some trusted adult should review them and provide feedback. Even the best student writers don’t always understand how some things come off to an admissions officer…

23

We initially went for merit but she will be attending a school that meets full need ( no merit, just FA). My kid received $18,000 from Ohio State, $15,000 from UConn, full tuition from Pitt, half tuition from Lehigh, $11,500 from UMD-CP.

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D’s GPA was lower (3.7something) SAT 2300 and my thread details our search for urban, warmer weather merit: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1661738-dd-got-2300-we-had-no-idea-p1.html

In summary:
Tulane: accepted EA with 30,000 merit aid/honors program
Emory: accepted w/ 20,000 merit
Rhodes: accepted w/ 20,000 merit

New info:
WashU: waitlisted - then accepted with no merit or FA
American U: accepted w/ 20,000 merit/honors program
UMD: accepted w/ 5,000 merit (In state) and scholars program
Rice - waitlisted

She’s going to Emory. :slight_smile: Good luck!! There’s money out there, just remember to show interest

25

OP: Have you visited the Hispanic Student forum here on CC I have been a regular poster there and there is a lot of great information. Here is the link: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/ Be sure to read the sticky thread at the top. There is a collection of colleges that are generous for merit money for the hispanic student. My son was an NHRP about 5 years ago and we were the same as you money-wise. It took a lot of research on my part and quality applications by my son, but he ended up with two full-rides and about $750k in scholarships from colleges on his list.

I have a couple of recommendations:

  1. In order to get the most merit money, have your son apply early action to as many of those schools as possible. Money for NHRP is most generous in the early rounds. I second the Tulsa recommendation. For NHRP, students can get a diversity-fly (if you do not know that term then look it up on the hispanic forum) and and will get some money and be eligible for a full-tutition scholarships.http://admission.utulsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/12/presidential-scholarship-app14-15.pdf Nebraska is another college generous to NHRP. Same with Arizona (you get full tuition and a laptop). You son will start getting mailings and emails about NHRP, be sure to review them carefully since the scholarships for NHRP will be discussed in those mailings. Northeastern last year gave $30K for NHRP but it was not automatic for all candidates. http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/cost-financial-aid/scholarships/ Always ask the college if they have a diversity fly-in and/or NHRP scholarships. Some colleges do not list it but do have money for it. Also some schools do not strictly interpret the top 10% requirement so apply if your son is close.
  2. Have your son show demonstrated interest for the colleges on his list. I think the reason my son did so well for merit money is that he showed the "love" to every college on his list. He did diversity fly-ins (many of those applications are due now).
  3. Look at the colleges that change lives group at ctcl.org. Alot of them are on the east coast. Again, ask them about diversity fly-ins and scholarships. With your son's georgraphic area and ACT scores, those colleges I bet would be interested in him. You could potential get enough to bring it to the $30K level.
  4. See if you son is interested in state colleges. Even with tuition surcharges for out of state schools, OOS colleges usually run between $35-$42K. With a scholarship you can get it down to your level. For example Ohio State would award him the National Buckeye Scholarship of I believe $12K a year. With his test score and being Latino he could apply for the Morrill scholarship which would be in-state tuition. They allow you to combine the Buckeye scholarship with Provost or Trustee. http://undergrad.osu.edu/money-matters/scholarships.html Plus your son could apply to the Honors Program (another thing you should look at for every college). Honors Colleges make big schools small and give a very personalized education. Miami of Ohio is another great school (very east coast like) that would give enough merit to make it affordable. You want to find schools where the price point is lower so that the addition of a scholarship makes it affordable. Try to find colleges that are actively interested in raising the diversity at their college. Look at the college partners listed over at imfirst.org. I know colleges like College of Charleston is trying to be more diverse and it is a great college. Unfortunately the Northeast is not the best area for looking for merit money for a Latino. Instead the South and Midwest are the best places. Even schools like Seattle University are good places for him. I have a Latino student there who got $20K in merit and then received an addition Costco Scholarship of $10K administered by Seattle U. What is great about Seattle U is that the merit scholarship of $20K is automatic for a student with certain grades and test scores. Dennison in Ohio has a good diversity fly-in program and good diversity scholarships. New Mexico is another college that with the Amigo Scholarship makes if very affordable.
  5. In creating his list, first make sure every school on it is affordable and then apply early to it. It is pointless to apply to colleges that are not affordable. If he applies to Duke, then make him understand that Duke is only feasible if he gets one of the few merit scholarships. My son had Vanderbilt on his list, he knew that school was a "yes" only if he got the one merit scholarship for Latinos.
  6. If my memory is correct, American gave my son $20K a year. I know GW is giving up to $30K a year if they really want you (most usually get $20k). What you son has going for him is that he is a Hispanic male wanting to study something other than science or engineering (Latinas are valued in those area of study). Rice has a diversity fly-in and some merit. I would only put it on his list with the understanding that he doesn't go if he doesn't get that money. Here is one diversity fly-in list and as you can see there are a lot of east coast schools on the list. http://matermiddlehigh.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=139084&type=u&termREC_ID=&pREC_ID=407159 A better list is always on the website "getmetocollege.org" which is primarily devoted to Latino students. http://getmetocollege.org/hs/2015-free-diversity-college-visits It has been my experience with my own children that attending diversity fly-ins helped them gain admission and good scholarships so I strongly suggest your son apply to some of them. Always ask, some schools have them but are not on this list.
  7. Don't forget about private scholarships for Latinos. Private scholarships are tougher to get but my youngest has been really successful in getting them to close the gap for her. Hispanic Scholarship Fund is one. Have you son apply now to the student awards from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. My youngest won that one and it has open a ton of door for her. Again there is a list on the sticky thread in the hispanic student forum.

Good luck. I am confident your son can get accepted to a college that is affordable, but it will take work. Do the research, have him work on his applications now and submit them. My youngest was done by Oct. 30 and it made for a very nice senior year. We are a middle class family and neither child has any loans and we did not take out any loans. People may ask our children why they did not apply to the ivies, but we knew those kinds of schools were affordable for them. Each has ended up at a college that we never thought of when they were first in high school, but both love their colleges and can’t imagine themselves any place else.

26

I forgot to mention two other good resources I use. One is the website DIY College Rankings. This website collects data and organizes it on spreadsheets. Look at colleges on that list who give merit because that is where you will find money. You want your son applying where his stats are better than the average applicant. http://diycollegerankings.com/50-50-college-listing-intro/

The other source I love and used for each of my children is the book and website, “The College Solution.” The advice on that website is spot on in terms of finding the most affordable colleges. http://www.thecollegesolution.com/schools-that-award-lots-of-merit-scholarships/ Spend the time to read eveything on this website and facebook page. It is really valuable.

27

Just wanted to say hi to itsv! Long time no see. I haven’t been on the Hispanic forum in a long time, but there is so much good advice over there.

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Sorry, here is a really good article that explains a lot about the scholarship awarding process. It is http://www.thecollegesolution.com/scholarships-for-students-with-a-3-4-gpa/well worth the read.

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So as you can tell, I love doing research and also think this article is really good too. http://www.thecollegesolution.com/thinking-outside-the-college-box/ It explains the DIY website as well as other good research tools. I also want to second both University of Southern California (now Latinos are not rare there but the alumni group is good at raising $$ for Latino students) and the other USC- South Carolina which gives $95K to NHRP students. https://sc.edu/admissions/apply/costs_and_aid/oosscholarships.html

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FYI
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=prv_univ
There are separate lists for 4-yr Universities and for LACs.

Pay attention to the columns for “Avg non-need-based aid” and “% of non-need-based aid”.

Some colleges spread smaller amounts of merit aid among many students, and some college (i.e. Duke) give full-rides to a handful of students but nothing in between.

31

Here is the information to the Student Awards from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. http://www.hispanicheritage.org/programs/youth-awards/ They are updating the website but it should be back on soon. I love the video towards the middle of the page. It is very inspiring for Latinos (plus I get to see my DD about six times in it). What my DD has discovered is that she only really has to do one really good essay that she then tweaks to fit other applications. The award from HHF lead to other scholarships for my DD and your son’s stats are better.

32

I was away from the Internet for a while. Thanks for all the responses. I am researching the many great suggestions!

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I’m the original OP back with an update. Maybe this information will help future applicants. DS is an NMF.

He was awarded the following merit scholarships (amount is per year).

George Washington-$25,000 Homors
American-$19,000 Scholars
University of Maryland CP - Honors but no money
Fordham-full tuition NMF scholarship (about $47,000) Honors
Boston University-$20,000 Honors NMF
Brandeis-$17,500
University of Texas-Liberal Arts Honors (instate and no merit money)
George Mason-$10,000 Honors

I am very thankful I understood our full financial situation before my DS applied to schools. We received no financial aid from any schools.

Thanks CC!

34

I hope he will be taking advantage of the Fordham scholarship!
Congratulations!

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Congratulations on your students’s many achievements. The key thing to consider is that he is not the only highly qualified student. Selecting a variety of TYPE of schools is critical to attracting merit dollars vs. looking for them. Are you sure that your selection of schools is diversified?

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@“The College Sage”
I posted his results. My DS’ lists was not at all diversified so it was a bit risky. His choices and results worked for us but I’m sure there might be better lists.

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Would be shocked if he wasn’t admitted to Northeastern. I had a 35 ACT, similar GP, a handful of AP’s and was given $20k in Dean’s plus financial aid. NMF/Hispanic Scholars are an auto $30k scholarship I believe.

38

Congrats to your son. It sounds like he has some great choices.

39

Well done!

Thanks for the update and I’m delighted for you and your son.

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Let us know where he decides to go!