<p>It’s decision time, and my DD has received several admission offers for which we’re grateful, along with a few academic merit scholarship offers which we hope to maximize. I’ve read that we can ask for a “review” of her FA award and part of that request can include mention of offers from peer institutions. In the list below, which are the “peer” institutions?</p>
<p>Michigan State Univ. - Honors College (in-state)
University of MI (in-state, no admission decision yet)
University of Oregon (out-of-state)
Pacific University
Albion College
Mount Holyoke
Scripps
Oberlin</p>
<p>Specifically, is it reasonable to think that Pacific University and Albion College are peers? That Mt. Holyoke/Scripps/Oberlin are peers? What about MSU/U-MI and UofO? Or does the residency status make such a difference that they cannot be compared as peers?</p>
<p>What about MSU/U-MI and UofO? Or does the residency status make such a difference that they cannot be compared as peers?</p>
<p>Are you talking about comparing need-based aid or merit offers? </p>
<p>MSU and UMich wouldn’t be peers. UMich is much higher ranked.</p>
<p>OOS publics like Oregon wouldn’t likely consider the offers that you get from UMich or MSU because state schools are often more generous to their own instate students. Did MSU offer merit? How much? Do you qualify for need-based aid from Umich? </p>
<p>OOS publics tend to expect OOS students to pay the high prices since the parents don’t pay taxes there. However, if your D has very high stats for Oregon, then maybe they’ll offer her a merit scholarship for her stats. Are her stats well-within the upper 25% of the school? Does Oregon give large merit scholarships? Is she being considered for their honors program?</p>
<p>I don’t know how those privates would consider each other’s aid pkgs. Have you gotten any aid offers from those schools?</p>
<p>Thanks for trying to answer my questions despite the lack of detail.</p>
<p>You mentioned that state schools are usually more generous with their in-state students, which is what we were hoping for. At MSU, DD has been accepted to the Honors College but with no merit award. (Well, she had a $10k merit award when they thought she was out-of-state, but after she was reclassified as in-state they took that away and didn’t replace it with anything.) There’s no answer yet from U-MI, so we can’t consider that yet. Specifically, we’re wondering if MSU would be willing to consider that DD got a $12k merit award from U of Oregon.</p>
<p>As for the privates, DD has a $20k merit award from Albion, and a $23k merit award from Pacific University. We’re interested in seeing if Albion can increase their award slightly.</p>
<p>The last three schools gave similar need-based aid which we don’t plan to appeal.</p>
<p>We’ve received adequate need-based aid from all of these schools, but due to income changes we’re not expecting that to continue after the first year. (The higher income won’t be available for tuition, though, as there are debts to pay off from when parents were underemployed). We want to avoid loans. Since DD is in the top 5-10% of the incoming class at the schools mentioned, we’re hoping to maximize the merit awards that she qualifies for, as they will remain constant as long as she meets their academic requirements. I hope this all makes sense, and thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>You mentioned that state schools are usually more generous with their in-state students, which is what we were hoping for. At MSU, DD has been accepted to the Honors College but with no merit award. (Well, she had a $10k merit award when they thought she was out-of-state, but after she was reclassified as in-state they took that away and didn’t replace it with anything.) There’s no answer yet from U-MI, so we can’t consider that yet. Specifically, we’re wondering if MSU would be willing to consider that DD got a $12k merit award from U of Oregon.</p>
<p>Some, not all, publics have scholarships that are only for instate students. And some require lower stats for instate students. However, you can’t compare instate and OOS awards. </p>
<p>I don’t think that MSU will consider the Oregon offer since it’s not unusual for an OOS school to give some merit to somewhat mitigate the OOS portion. MSU is going to view that Oregon offer as an attempt to lessen the OOS sting. </p>
<p>Looks like MSU offered some merit at first to lessen the OOS portion. Once she was reclassified and got the lower rate, the school likely felt that giving her a $10k scholarship wasn’t “right” because that would give her nearly free tuition…right? However, if her stats are strong, you’d think that they would have given her maybe $5k or so. </p>
<p>For instance, at our flagship, if you’re instate and have an ACT 30, then you get free tuition (but that’s only about $10k). If you’re OOS and have an ACT 30, then you get a 2/3 tuition scolarship…but that’s about $14k. IF you have an ACT 32, then you get a full tuition scholarship at $22k. But if you’re instate and have a 32, you don’t get $22k…you still only get the $10k. This philosophy is kind of common (even if the award amounts aren’t). </p>
<p>What are your D’s SAT scores (including breakdown)? Merit is usually based on the M+CR portion of the SAT or the entire ACT composite (do not superscore any of these.)</p>
<p>Wow…I just looked at the instate vs OOS tuition for MSU. Is that right? Instate is about $12k and OOS is about $32k? IS that right? </p>
<p>If so, then I can see why they offered a $10k award as an OOS student. That still left $22k for tuition which is still much higher than instate. Once she was classified instate, the $10k award would have been “too much” of a tuition discount in their minds.</p>
<p>That makes sense, thanks. We’ve heard now that in-state awards are still being made, and a lot of kids with my DD’s stats get offered $2k during the summer. Her test scores were decent but not outstanding - just slightly below the Honors College 1380 (CR+M) cut-off; she got into the HC based on her GPA & extremely challenging high school program.</p>
<p>I think we’ll be grateful that she’s done well, got accepted into some good programs, some of which we can afford, and leave well enough alone. She’s content with her financial safeties - but as parents we want to be sure that we’ve covered all the bases. :)</p>