<p>I’m for full ride but H originally wasn’t. After a year of discussion (and lots of research and CC) he has come to realize that big state schools with great honors programs are really the way to go (with merit scholarship, otherwise, couldn’t afford it). It took awhile for H to admit to our financial reality. Luckily, our son really liked Barrett at ASU ( a bit expensive) and we’ll soon see U of Oklahoma ( closer to a full ride). It’s nice to have choices. I’m grateful for all the people, posts, and discussions on CC, that’s for sure! So, yeah, no loans if possible.</p>
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<p>If that were the case, most NMF finalists would be sending their kids to U of Alabama. And they aren’t… Some leverage that status to a significant amount of merit aid (but not full ride). And some don’t, preferring schools that have a large applicant pool of high stats kids that don’t give much or any merit for it.</p>
<p>If you want ice cream, it doesnt matter how cheap the jello is, unless you can convince yourself they are similar enough.</p>
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<p>Lots of other schools offer full tuition or greater scholarships for NMFs:
<a href=“NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<p>Flagship-level schools in that list:
Arizona
Arizona State
Nebraska
New Mexico
North Dakota State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas A&M
West Virginia</p>
<p>Full ride trumped everything for me! </p>
<p>It was between picking a school where you’re paid to attend, get paid to travel and receive specialized internships…or a school where you’d have to take out loans. </p>
<p>First one won. :)</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, the point is that even if you add up the NMFs at those schools, it isn’t a majority of the NMFs in the country. U of Alabama is the one that gets a lot of discussion on CC, though.</p>
<p>I’d give Oberlin the edge over Brandeis too - though it might depend on the major. We were lucky enough to be able to afford to send our kids to any school. My kids did not apply to schools that would offer full rides - and one of them had the stats for the usual suspects.</p>
<p>And yes, my older son chose ice cream and never looked back. He’s in his dream job and even if he’d needed loans, he could have paid them back within a few years at most.</p>
<p>Emerald, you crack me up! Best post of the day.</p>
<p>I really think we should stop talking about Brandeis/Oberlin. It doesn’t matter in the context of the original question… Start another thread if you want to discuss more (“get a room” 
). (Wow, I hate the new emoticons!)</p>
<p>The reason I post our full ride vs ivy story is so parents and students can see what happened. </p>
<p>I really sweated him turning down Cornell and Duke. Swarthmore was an excellent program but way too small. </p>
<p>He deserved the best after all. NMS, 12 ap courses, summer program, great SATs . Awesome hardworking brilliant guy! He deserves the best! ( moms chants in her head )</p>
<p>Personality wise he is a gracious, kind human being. He would not be one to fight for attention. He would not be one to demand he gets certain treatment. He is not a competitive person. </p>
<p>So being in honors at his college helped. He had perks handed to him. He had 52 college credits before he set foot on campus thanks to their generous AP policy. </p>
<p>He was inducted into phi beta kappa as a junior. Yup, same one as Cornell, Harvard etc. He crushed his GRE and Physics GRE tests. </p>
<p>So all my worry that we should have pushed the better schools ( paid $200,000) was for naught.</p>
<p>He made out great.</p>
<p>One kids story.</p>
<p>@Intparent, you stated “If that were the case, most NMF finalists would be sending their kids to U of Alabama. And they aren’t… Some leverage that status to a significant amount of merit aid (but not full ride). And some don’t, preferring schools that have a large applicant pool of high stats kids that don’t give much or any merit for it”</p>
<p>Would you please elaborate on how one could leverage NMF status to other colleges for merit aid? I have never heard that merit aid can be leveraged like financial aid. I am really interested if this is being done successfully.</p>
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<p>Didn’t he go to one of the best schools for his major anyway?</p>
<p>I am just saying that if you choose a second tier college (just for example, someplace like Kenyon, Oberlin, Dickinson, Mount Holyoke, etc) that offers merit aid, your odds go up of getting a good package if you are NMF. They may not officially call it an NMF scholarship, but they do love to brag that they have them – so they will often sweeten the pot with merit aid to try to get you to come. For example, my NMF D was offered $25K/year at Mount Holyoke plus funding for a summer internship last year, and I am sure her NMF status was helpful in getting that nice merit aid offer. It wasn’t an official NMF scholarship, though.</p>
<p>@intparent, so you didn’t mean that one can go back to “negotiate” a higher amount of merit aid after a package was offered, right?</p>
<p>If you have something significant to update, like a new award or recognition, then you may do so. That leaves the door open to adjust your offer.
But unless it is clearly stated as such, remember that awards aren’t necessarily repeating for subsequent years.</p>
<p>You can ask for more merit aid after the initial offer, but I agree with EK that it rarely works unless you have some significant new information that makes your student more attractive to the school – since that is what merit aid is mostly about is attracting the students they want the most. That never worked for us, and we did try a couple of times… I will say that most merit awards from the college themselves are for multiple years, although some have GPA requirements to keep them.</p>
<p>To circumvent the whole prestige debate, a school with a more intelligent and driven student body, and a better credentialed and vibrant faculty, is more valuable than a full scholarship at a school with a mediocre constituency (SAT average 550 or less) and unimpressive nondescript faculty: “… hard to soar with eagles when surrounded by turkeys”, and I mean this sincerely.</p>
<p>The U that S most wanted to attend (and graduated from) did slightly increase it’s merit award to match the merit offer S received from competing U. All the merit offers S received were renewable for 4 years if GPA and degree progress requirements were met. Actually, S got more merit and research funding the longer he attended his U. </p>
<p>Yes, Arcer, but money doesn’t grow on trees. If people don’t have the money for the first, what are they supposed to do? </p>
<p>Our DD turned down a full-tuition scholarship for a private LAC in a different part of the country. The school seemed a better fit academically for her and she just wanted to try living in a different part of the country. She was undecided in her major, so that was not a factor.</p>