<p>“It’s been like this forever, you needed a 1500 for the past decade or so to get a full ride; this wasn’t a change because of the budget cuts.”</p>
<p>This is not true. I am a current TCNJ student and when I started in 2003 you only needed a 1450 and a rank in the top 5% of your class for the full ride. The cuts to what they call the Outstanding Scholars Recruitment program are definitely a direct result of state budget cuts to higher education. Some of our funding was restored this year compared to last year, and they are hopeful they will continue to get increased funding, but I don’t think anyone knows for sure at this point.</p>
<p>As for the question about out of state students, I can only say that I was out-of-state and I received the full ride, without writing any essays (but again this was in '03). </p>
<p>For people who wondered about when you hear, I was notified when I got my acceptance, but I would not be at all suprised if they are being more cautious this year because they have to be much more careful with funding as a result of the drastic budget cuts.</p>