Really on,y students in the honors college at Rutgers get any merit, and some honors programs, very competitive.
1 Like
Weāve learned the same. All anecdotal, but whereās there smoke, thereās fire!
<<Ahh, loans definitely make a difference. If youāre considering taking out loans, I urge you to make sure that youāre on track to meet your retirement goals and how educational loans might impact that. There are no loans for retirement.>>
Thankfully, weāre on track with our retirement goals. Thatās something weāve been pretty diligent with throughout our professional lives. Automation is a great thing! 
<<Is your son willing to take out the amount of loans allowed by the federal government ($5500 first year, max of $28k over undergrad)? He could minimize those loans by working during the school year and summer. Itās always easier to spend someone elseās money, so if he knows that he has some āskin in the gameā that may determine how interested he is in the college sports experience, and if your family is inclined and financially able, you could assist with the repayment of the student loans.>>
As far as his loans, we have a different plan. Our plan is to have him take his loans out with us paying them so by the time he graduates, heās got a loan paid off. Barring any bad decisions he might make, this would enable him to graduate with a pretty good credit score and no debt in his name. We have a little bit of guilt for not having done more in terms of saving for college. Thankfully, weāre both pretty good earners and can cash flow a good amount of his education, minimizing borrowing.
<<Has he applied for any of the collegesā smaller scholarships (major specific, for students of a particular background, students involved with community service or leadership or whatever)? If thereās a separate app for those, they donāt always get a high level of competition. Earning some at Rutgers or Rowan could make a meaning difference. Ditto for Central Michigan (itās at $21k, but the transportation costs will be higher than at the NJ schools).>>
He applied for scholarships at Indiana, but not anywhere else. We checked Rutgers and all the scholarships I found required 24 credits completed to be eligible. Rowan is out for him at the moment.
<<I know that your son was interested in playing hockey at Ramapo and that your family thought that might make a meaningful difference to his experience there. Has he spoken to hockey players to confirm that?>>
He has spoken to various players on the team and most of the feedback is positive.
<<Does he have any more apps outstanding or any schools from which merit/financial aid offers havenāt been given?>>
He ended up applying to 27 schools in total and has received 20 decisions so far, all acceptances. All of these schools are ones that he saw himself at. We visited all of them (except UNCC), but as time has gone on, his ideas have changed and some of the schools have fallen off. The top 4 schools (realistic) heās considering right now are Ramapo, Miami, Stevens, Rutgers. Funny enough, at the beginning of this process, he didnāt even want to apply to Rutgers and now heās seriously considering it. As far as pending merit discount offers, PSU and Rutgers are outstanding, but we donāt expect much at all. UNCC doesnāt offer merit awards upfront. Kids need to apply for them. Not a very attractive way of doing this, but I suppose they know what theyāre doing.
Decisions still pending are from FSU (decision tomorrow), Syracuse, GWU, Colby, Conn College, Princeton and Cornell. Those last two are his $75 lottery tickets. You gotta be in it to win it!
1 Like
Iāve learned the same. Weāll look at these too. Thanks!
Thanks for this!
Quick update. My S25 just got his Schreyer Honors College decision from Penn State and he didnāt get in, but he also got his IU Hutton Honors decision and he got into that one. He was super excited for this.
Does anyone have any idea what kind of merit comes from getting into Hutton? Every littel bit will help him/us decide. Thanks!
3 Likes
Congrats to him on Hutton Honors!! I hope the $ works out to make IU a viable option. 
4 Likes
Thanks! Weāll see what happens! Time is flying so quickly.
1 Like
My S25 just got 5k in merit from PSU and no honors college. Theyāre out. 
Edit: We were surprised to see that this merit award was actually 24K. Itās the āProvost Awardā or something like that. 2500 semesters 1-4 and then 3500 semesters 5-8. Still not enough though. lol
1 Like
Sounds like you still have good options. 
1 Like
Tons! PSU was one of his top choices, so he was bummed out, but heās already over it. On to the next one!
5 Likes
I have a question about something Iām sure one of you guys has seen before. We appealed the merit award our S25 got from one of the in-state public schools that accepted him and they came back with more merit aid. That was nice, but when we looked at the financial aid declaration they sent us a couple of days later, it showed that room and board was also reduced. At least we think so. The cost of room and board for 2024-25 was about 16,500 for the year, according to their website. Our financial aid doc has it at 9,000 for the 25-26 school year. Iām guessing they lowered the room and board along with the extra merit aid to improve their package as a whole. We sent them a comparably priced public schoolās offer to my son which was almost a full ride, so Iām guessing this was their way of closing the gap.
Iām guessing they lowered the R&B as much as they did, because maybe he dorms there and maybe he doesnāt. The tuition will def get paid if he goes, so theyāll get most of that. This works out for us, because he def wants to dorm at least the first year and the total cost difference between both schools is less than 1K, the only difference being the where the reductions are being made. My question is if we can expect this kind of reduction in R&B pricing for all 4 years. Itās doesnāt say either way on the fin aid doc, so not sure. Weāll def call Admissions, but wanted to see what you guys think.
I definitely think this is an admissions question, and Iād get their answer in writing. It almost sounds like their default was a mid-range room & board option and that they then went to the cheapest room & board option to make their deal look more competitive with the one from the other school. Of course, I could be totally wrong here, but Iād definitely send the admissions office some clarifying questions via email so that youād have the response in writing.
3 Likes
Sometimes room & board costs vary depending on the dorm and/or the meal plan. I wonder if they lowered the cost by restricting his dorm options and/or meal plan options. Just spitballing here.
3 Likes
Thanks for that! Will def ask.
2 Likes
My S25ās college picture is becoming clearer. Today, he didnāt get into Colby and Syracuse gave him 0 merit. Heās got 3 decisions to go and all could be a no, but he doesnāt care. Heās about 99% sure he wants to attend Ramapo College of New Jersey and we couldnāt be happier. It checks off so many boxes for him. They have his major, awesome campus, great dorms, they gave him 15k per year merit for what will be a 17k tuition next year. He canāt go wrong. Plus he wants to play hockey and the coaching staff for the club hockey team has really been chasing him. Itās not NCAA level, but itās really solid hockey and the fact that their team wants him makes him feel good. I say heās 99% sure because if he somehow gets into Cornell or Princeton, as lofty as that dream might be, heāll most likely choose to go there. His Conn College decision will come out tomorrow but heās changed his mind about that school since he applied and doesnāt want to go there. Weāre almost there!
11 Likes
He got into Conn College with 38K annual merit. 
2 to go!
9 Likes
Congratulations! Good choices.
2 Likes
Hi everyone. Been a while since my last message. Final update on my S25ās college choice. Heāll be attending Indiana University for their Cybersecurity & Global Policy program. He committed over the weekend. Weāll be taking on some loans for it, but we have a plan for it that should work (famous last words, I know).
As far as those loans, weāre looking into NJHESAA loans for NJ residents. Gotta start finding out about that this week.
If it wasnāt for this group, and specifically @aquapt, we never would have found this major that seems like it was created specifically with him in mind. Thank you all so much and best of luck to you and your kids!
11 Likes
Congratulations to your son on selecting a school and hoping he has a great experience at IU. Go Hoosiers!
2 Likes