State of residency may also matter, since some states’ state universities may have full ride merit scholarships and/or generous need-based financial aid for in-state residents only. But some states may have neither.
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Absolutely, we are asking because we are curious, not because of any specific goal or expectation.
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Don’t just concentrate on full rides. Many schools will let you stack scholarships and grants, and even add outside ones to their own merit. My daughter had athletic and merit from the school, but was able to then use some state grants, federal money and even student loans for room and board The first year she got $2000 from my father’s fraternity.
I went to awards night at her high school and learned about a lot of small awards other students were getting. Some were pretty good size but others were $500. Still it all helps. Have your son check in with the guidance office for local grants (art, government, American Legion, photography) There was one in our community by a safety council and 3 boys made a (really dumb) video about shining lasers onto passing aircraft. Clearly they knew about it, did a little work, and submitted. My daughter’s friend won a couple of art competitions and essay contests. I think a lot go to kids who know about them and make sure to complete the requirements by the deadline.
There may be some through your/spouse’s employer (friend’s daughter won $500 because her mother’s name was drawn from a hat for all employees with kids going to college), through a sport (a country club sponsoring a local golfer or tennis player), etc. One daughter went to a school with a lot of alum scholarships for certain majors or departments.
If you child has an interest in STEM, there are some federal govt scholarships but have a lot of requirements so do require some early research to make sure those get completed before the application deadlines, which could be junior year.
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Are you thinking here specifically of the handful (okay several handfuls) of no-loans colleges? Though I think even those typically require some work-study from students, and expect contributions from a summer job (which in my mind falls short of a “full ride.”)
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There are still some full rides out there but they are typically harder to get than getting into the most competitive school out there. To be competitive, the student has to generally have high stats and standout in some way, which is very hard to do. We targeted full rides back in the day and my DD what a good many and got interviews for almost all to which she applied.
If you are flexible on where you attend you’ll have better luck with scholarships. Look up a few universities and go to the section where it lists freshman scholarships. Some will have charts showing how much they give based on specific GPA, SAT/ACT scores. Troy University, University of Alabama, and Ole’ Miss are a few known for good scholarships. Some private universities have a few full ride scholarships as well but they typically are invitation only and require additional essays and interviews-those will be listed on their website.
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Agree that these are getting harder to find. D18 won a full ride but a couple of years later her college restricted it to instate students. Generally speaking it’s more than just stats (though those have to be very strong), what that “more” is depends on the applicant and what the college is looking for. But unusual ECs and standout writing definitely help in terms of getting picked out for the interview stage. Typically those are some of the same characteristics that would get you admitted to a tippy top school.
FWIW D18 had good success applying for ballet with very strong academics, more so than her twin brother with similar or better academics but more conventional ECs and major.
also important to note that many of the merit-based “full scholarships” i’ve seen are full tuition and don’t include room/board/fees
Googling I found a list of 40 colleges of varying selectivity
Can see a variety of criteria, depending on your state.
Clemson, NC state for engineering, have competitive full rides.
Miami University in Oxford OH still has full ride.
Can see link to each state’s agency for higher education, which in turn may list merit scholarships for public colleges or children of teachers or first responders, etc.
https://www.nasfaa.org/state_financial_aid_programs
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Texas high school teacher here. I have had several students awarded full ride (0 tuition and fee) scholarships from UT (not Austin) and Texas A&M (not college station) schools via various competitions such as eSports, cybersecurity, engineering, etc. The common understanding among my students is that if you are the best in state (sports, arts, whatever else the colleges may value) then there’s a good chance some college wants you and would give you full ride.
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I was not in fact excluding need-based offers that would require federal loans and work study to meet the full cost of attendance from the definition of “full ride”, and I agree if you do then the availability of offers under the more limited definition goes way down.
Not all full rides are highly competitive if you are willing to forgo a big name school. My D got a full ride to a regional, non selective, university in our home state. Not a school anyone talks about on CC but was solid for her intended major. The OP should look in their home state to see what’s available.
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Yeah, I think people use that term to mean different things. To me it’s literally zero out of pocket expenses. My son just got a four year full-tuition scholarship, which I still wouldn’t call a “full ride” because it does not cover room and board.
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I consider my son to have a full ride. But it’s not literally zero out of pocket. We contribute about $800/year for additional food and we pay for plane tickets home. Maybe $1500/year for that.
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I meant out of pocket in terms of bills issued by the institution that need to be paid for by the family.
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That would be tuition, fees, room, and board. Of course, there are other actual costs (books, travel, and misc expenses) that are not directly billed. But then it is possible for a college to cover tuition, fees, room, and board while the student still has to use a direct loan and/or work earnings to cover those not directly billed costs.
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Yes, I am aware of that. I was responding to a comment above about a situation that I would consider to be a full ride. Colleges that “meet need” by including, for example, a requirement that a student contributes $X via work-study is not, in my mind, a full ride.
However, if you define “full ride” as covering billed costs only, then you may have a situation where the FA / scholarship covers the billed costs, but some work earnings or loans are needed to cover the remaining costs.
For example, Net Price Calculator | Harvard lists a maximum FA situation for a low income MA resident as giving $82,866 grants with $3,500 of student work expected to cover the $86,366 total cost which just happens to be $82,866 in billed costs and $3,500 in other costs ($1,000 books and $2,500 personal expenses). “Full ride” or not?
This is splitting hairs, but to me, if the books were covered (still institutional costs) but personal expenses were not, that would be a full ride.
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Oh brother.
Does it really matter if some people use “full ride” to mean “most of the costs with just work study requirement” or “all of the costs except if the student wants a higher tier of housing” or “tuition only but it will stack with need based aid so that there’s just a modest family contribution left”??? Or that it’s EVERYTHING except for what Pell covers? Which seems to me to be quite reasonable btw…
Trying to figure out what y’all are so preoccupied about!
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