We are one of the families who got a “missing signature” error on my D’s FAFSA that was completed 1/19 and processed 3/19 even though we signed both applications. FAFSA posted an update yesterday that we can make changes(including signatures) in the “first half of April.” I just got off the phone with the Clemson fin aid department and the gentleman I spoke with said they hope to get packages to families mid to late April, including merit. Geez. Frustrating how they wait on FAFSA to distribute merit awards. If someone ends up getting told the same thing, you can confirm. Maybe the person I spoke to is incorrect. The FAFSA is a giant cluster. Not sure we’re going to make it that long to wait on merit. My D loves Clemson and this wait is frustrating.
I also heard that when I was on a virtual engineering tour. It’s a shame cause I likely won’t get money from fafsa, Clemson is high on my list, and merit might change things
I got the message to correct errors but it doesn’t say what the errors are…the whole thing is a giant disaster. In December when things weren’t right they should have just reverted back to the old format and rolled this new one out this coming fall.
Clemson is high on my list but will likely be unlikely unless I get a decent merit amount. On the webpage it says the range for out of state is $500 to full tuition which is a huge range lol I know based on what others have stated that the max for out of state in recent years has been $12,500 so I’m not banking on much, but would still like to know so I can make a decision one way or the other.
12,500, while unlikely would make Clemson the cheapest option on my list and might sway me over Purdue engineering… Clemson must know they’re actively losing out on students by not releasing merit aid earlier right?
12,500 won’t make it cheaper for me over Stetson, and Baylor for me. I have a full tuition scholarship from Stetson, $40,000 from Baylor with a possibility of more from the Honors Program and Trailblazer Program.
Clemson has been my top choice since middle school, but financially I don’t think it is going to be the best choice.
I wish Clemson would send out the merit $ amounts now like South Carolina did. We will be making a decision by end of this month / first week of April and without that information, I’m afraid Clemson will be out of the running.
Same for us. Not sure why they are waiting so long. Our student has kind of forgotten about Clemson at this point because we don’t know if we can even afford it…
Wondering if anyone knows when the kids sign up for orientation and how do they sign up?
Thanks for sharing - this article makes a lot of great points. Hadn’t really occurred to me how many schools are gaming the system by attracting a lot of high-stat out of state kids to apply. Bumps up their admitted student stats, reduces their overall admit rate and no one really cares about the stats of the kids who actually attend the University. Makes it even more difficult to really assess and rank schools. All the more reason to tour schools in person and talk to students who’ve actually attended the college before making any decisions based on rankings or perceptions of prestige.
UGA is a perfect example of what you describe as their ranking reputation has been on the rise the last 7-8 years. Reality is the state of Georgia requires 80% in-state across all counties, and then when combined with the large number of in-state transfers due to free tuition and only requiring a 3.0 gpa, the graduating classes look much different than the admitted stats for 1st year students.
Clemson merit listed in portal. There was no email update. Just checked the portal and it’s on there. It’s a little vague. Ours is $8,000 but it doesn’t say if it is per year or total? Thinking per year 
My D still hasn’t logged into iroar so there may be more detailed info there. If anyone knows whether they listed per year or total, please share. We are OOS. Thanks!!
Check portal, merit listed today.
what did it look like?
It’s right under the first section. Under the financial information. It was blank before…
I dont see anything except the message “aid packages will be available in April” so i guess I didn’t get anything. I would say its because I got deferred but I also got deferred from UofSC and I got money there. I dont know
Yeah, I’m not sure. It’s different than they’ve ever done it because of FAFSA. That’s great you got SC Merit!! Unfortunately, they don’t give much and this news today confirmed what we knew was coming - just wish we could have been notified sooner. Good luck to you!
I got $6,500. I’m assuming it is per year. That still leaves a very high price tag unfortunately.
Congrats on the merit! Do we know how they choose OOS merit students ? I was hoping we would get anything and assuming since we have no update today we aren’t . We are top 5% of class so not sure why . So many wonderful students I’m assuming !