Thanks @Mysonsdad for clarifying. Our classes are also weighted, but with 462 students in my son’s class the likelihood of a tie for Val or Sal is very remote. They will announce ours after the end of exams and first semester. He’s currently ranked 4th, so who knows. I just know he’s very invested in his academics , and I’m proud of what he’s accomplished so far.
Waiting for announcement of another EA decision tomorrow at supper time. It’s very expensive to attend, so a significant of merit would be required for him to attend. Thankfully, son I financially responsible and does not have his hopes up to attend this school.
@Mysonsdad I just posted something…anything…to get us off 666 and on to 667.
@carolinamom2boys Hoping you get the news you’re looking for tomorrow!
@Mysonsdad The semester here is not done until last week in January…so there is homework and projects that will need attention over break while trying to get some of the early January apps completed as well.
@Skates76 Not to be discouraging, but we have found with S11 and D14 that many schools did not close gap (at all, or very much) with outside scholarships. Some schools will use it to offset expected students contribution and the loan portion, but then will reduce the “need” component of the FA offer (the rationale is that if there is additional money from outside scholarships, then the family’s “need” is not as much). There were a few schools that just stack the outside scholarships on top of any college FA offers…but those seemed to be the exception, not the norm.
Thanks @ChicagoSportsFn . I think my son is trying to stay positive, but money is an issue. We have visited several other schools, and while this particular school has always been his “dream” school in the past, he has realized that he would be equally as happy going to any of the schools on his list, and each one has it’s own strengths.
@4kids2graduate That’s my understanding with need based aid as well. Do you know if that also applies to merit aid ,too?
Congratulations to the acceptances and scholarships in the last few days. Virtual hugs to those who are dealing with deferrals and denials. I’ve missed a few days of posts, and probably will never catch up…
Last week, DS was deferred from a school that was a low match and where he had a hook. Needless to say, we were a little frantic and he was pretty upset. (Yes, right in the middle of finals). Today he got accepted with generous merit to a high match with no hook. Which reinforces the total randomness of all this.
Congrats to your son @Almondjoy1 . I was just commenting to my son last night how random this all seems. Very unsettling at times .
@carolinamom2boys I have seen it both ways, depending on the school. The magic word is “stack” some colleges stack scholarships, and others do not. Through the years I have encountered a couple of schools that stack to the point of giving a refund to the student a couple weeks into each semester (I don’t think any of the more highly competitive schools do this - at least I haven’t found any so far). Most of those say they will “stack” up to the COA. That means even if you get a full ride (tuition, room and board) from the school, outside scholarships will cover those other expenses (books, travel, miscellaneous, etc. that colleges list when computing COA).
S11 spent alot of time applying to MANY scholarships (anything on the internet), and we found it to be a waste of time in our house. We only had success with local and regional ones such as local fraternal organizations, local credit unions, local union groups etc. The rest of my kids have applied to only a few that seem to have a higher chance of success. We had to weigh the odds against the time and effort required.
I haven’t even mentioned outside scholarships to D. They seem like too much effort for the payoff in general. We have “scholarship” night in early January at the HS where they tell the kids about all the local scholarships. Seems pretty likely to get a few thousand out of that, but when the price tag is creeping up to 70K, hard for anyone to get really excited about those amounts. That said, I did remind my D that $1000 is an awful lot of hours spent lifeguarding and nothing to turn her nose up at. So she’ll apply for those.
Doing my part to move us on to #667
Yes to outside scholarships dilemma - worth doing for time, energy and effort? Maybe for the local and regional ones. I have to admit to being a bit bitter about the way our high school and local foundations “distribute” them – inevitably it seems like every kid gets one – sort of like you get a medal for showing up to play on the soccer team – but the truly outstanding kids – yeah, they get one $500 scholarship and that’s it. They’re more concerned about sharing the scholarship money than truly rewarding those who have really worked hard. Stepping off my soapbox now. Sorry for the rant.
Mrs. Skates and Grandma Skates are the biggest proponent of outside scholarship money, partly based on some genealogy based scholarships DD is eligible for on her maternal side of the family. We have also experienced and learned that some schools will allow stacking and some won’t and the difference between stacking internally and externally as funds go, and it does seem to be a hodge-podge, as are merit rewards in general. I am more of the ‘here is the opportunity’ if you want to pursue it parent, allowing DD to gain rewards or consequences by her own choices, while DW is a bit more insistent. I think we average out to be a pretty decent team at that, lol.
I did a bunch of research on scholarships and came up with about ten that I think D has a reasonable shot at. One from my husbands employer, a few that are major specific are the largest and are local ones about $500/$1K. I also discovered that the larger ones tend to have the earlier due dates. The one from my husbands work has a early January deadline.
Whee! D16 got excepted to the most “selective” college on her list…although we figured out a few months ago there is no way for us to afford the premium cost of a Boston school’s room and board, even if she gets full tuition granted.
Now, just one school’s decision of the 13 apps is unknown. No matter what, we have to wait until April for all the financial aid award letters to come.
S got into his EA school today with $22.5K merit! I thought he would but I confess to being relieved. He still hasn’t heard back from the state flagship although many others at his HS have but now that really doesn’t matter as he would pretty the EA school to the flagship. He will have 3 RD applications, one of which is already submitted. He is working on 3 more essays for the other 2 schools. Hoping to submit one more app tomorrow or Monday and the last one when we get back from visiting relatives for Xmas.
@dyiu13 Congrats on her acceptance. Fingers crossed for April to bring good choices for your D!
@momofzag Congrats to your S. I have had those moments of relief and some of shock, lol. The merit is nothing I would ever take for granted until I see it in writing, so YAY!
Ouch! Deferral to Northeastern
Yay! Acceptance to Case Western
Grand total thus far for my D: 1 rolling acceptance with great aid, 1 rolling acceptance with good and the possibility of great aid, 1 rolling acceptance with don’t-know-yet-but-probably-not-enough aid, 1 ED deferral that should be viewed as a polite no thank you, 1 EA with a somewhat baffling deferral, 1 EA acceptance with good aid, and 1 mom who will be replacing the half-n-half in her coffee with Bailey’s Irish Cream for the foreseeable future.
Onto the RD round. So excited. Please read the previous sentence in your most sarcastic tone.
*accepted…not excepted 