Hello, I am a transfer student that has applied to two different schools: a backup that I have already been accepted into (Eastern Oregon University Online) and just waiting on San Diego State University to get back to me in March. I am a local San Diego resident.
HOWEVER, I am finding it extremely frustrating that every institutional scholarship SDSU offers has a deadline in early February, before their admission decisions roll out. I figured “well surely, you wouldn’t be automatically out of the running for all the many institutional scholarships you applied for if you don’t get accepted, right?” Wrong. I contacted their scholarship department and they told me that is exactly how it works. I find that extremely unfair and quite frankly rigged. I have applied to about 20 SDSU scholarships so far and to think that that it’s potentially all completely useless and a loss of my time and potentially earned money, really rubs me the wrong way. Why would they not organize this differently for incoming students? It really didn’t occur to them that they should make the scholarship deadlines AFTER I know if I can even go to this school or not?
Is this typical of most universities? I was informed of my EOU acceptance long before any of their scholarship deadlines. And I have of course been applying to several local scholarships as well just to play it safe, but it’s a shame that my efforts with these SDSU scholarships could all be a waste if I get denied. Sometimes I think universities get some type of joy out of watching students struggle, lol. Only explanation I can figure for it. Either that, or they care more about what’s more convenient for them and not the student.
Rant over.
I’m not sure why you are ranting. Most of the time students apply for forms of aid, scholarships included, before they know if they are accepted. You also apply for need based aid before you are accepted.
Just do the applications…how hard is that?
If you don’t want to waste your time, don’t apply, but then you’ll receive none of them. It’s no different than applying to 10 colleges when you don’t know if you’ll get into your favorite, or filling out the FAFSA or CSS before you know which school you’ll attend.
You both have missed the point entirely. Think about it this way: those already accepted into SDSU, say they’re in their senior year, can apply to these scholarships and know for a fact that they won’t be disqualified due to not being accepted into the school. They have a fair chance of winning these scholarships. Me on the other hand, I might have essays that the scholarship committees love over those seniors, but I won’t get chosen because I got denied to the school. So it’s an unbalanced playing field compared to those already enrolled at SDSU.
If you are a San Diego resident, you will have to complete a FAFSA application before the deadline of March 2nd to qualify for California State funding like Calgrants and Blue/Gold. That deadline is before you are accepted.
SDSU has over 40K+ students, and they have to go through every single FA application to develop scholarship packages. Plus, they have to assume and estimate Calgrant funding.
Eastern Oregon University apparently has 2700 students. (Googled) That is a big difference, don’t you think?
Either accept Eastern Oregon’s FA package, or bite the bullet, and pay full fees for SDSU because you don’t want to fill out paperwork. (Suggestion: Don’t go to SDSU because the workload and paperwork for everything is just beginning; if you can’t handle it now, you may not be able to handle their workloads later).
@polarrrize
I think you are missing the point. If you want to be considered for these scholarship awards, adhere to the deadlines…just like you do with the FAFSA. If you want your scholarships info, or need based aid info, it’s prudent to get your applications done ASAP.
Many students file their FAFSA forms and Profile (if required) in October LONG before they have any idea if they have been accepted.
It’s your choice…but if you don’t adhere to the school deadlines, you are guaranteed to receive ZERO dollars in merit scholarships that have those missed deadlines.
So all the scholarship deadlines should wait until you are accepted and then those who are already in the school can apply? They should be delayed in finding out if they received the award because of a transfer student’s schedule?
Don’t apply if you don’t want a chance at the scholarships and you think the timeline is unfair to transfer students. The school needs to have a schedule for admissions and for scholarships and you don’t like that schedule because it may cause you to write essays for scholarships you will never be eligible for if you don’t get accepted to the school. That’s true for freshmen applying for scholarships when they are seniors in high school too. Many schools have earlier applications for scholarships than for admissions, and almost all have scholarship deadlines before admission decisions are issues. Often the scholarship application deadline is Dec 1 and admission decisions are not made until March or April.
Sorry that life is so unfair to you.
I’m not sure I am understanding the problem. SDSU’s job is to fill it’s spots as soon as it can with the most qualified applicants it can. So suppose they mailed out acceptances, then had to wait for accepted students to apply for scholarships, it would be another month or two before students would know if they got a scholarship (or not) and how much, and thus if they could afford to attend. At which point they would send a deposit (or not). Transfers such as OP and waitlisted kids are already at the back of the line, and this would drag things out longer, no? Not to mention that some highly desired applicants might get stressed out with the wait and enroll elsewhere.
Also, by having everyone who needs aid apply for it early, colleges can set appropriate budgets for the following year and more accurately and fairly apply need aware policies to admission decisions.
I can understand OP’s frustration with doing extra and potentially unnecessary work, but the potential payoff is pretty big.
This doesn’t really have much to do with determining financial aid packages, seeing as I’ve never had the option to see how much aid I will receive for a school UNTIL I have already enrolled in that school after admissions are given out?? Heck, like I mentioned, I got accepted into EOU already and still don’t know what my aid is going to cover for that school’s tuition! I wouldn’t know unless I actually begin the enrollment process. And I am waiting to hear back from SDSU before I make my decision, obviously. So that argument isn’t even valid. All of you defending this are probably parents that aren’t in my position, maybe never even have been in my position. Obviously I’m applying to these scholarships regardless on the off chance that I will make it in, but TELL ME how it’s fair for students who are already putting in an insane amount of work for scholarships and applications etc. to be flat out disqualified EVEN IF they had the best essay in the whole competition. That’s my whole point here. Any other scholarship that isn’t institutional would not leave me to be disqualified if certain circumstances don’t pan out. The results don’t hinge on anything other than the quality of my entry. Get what I mean?
The deadline for the scholarships is XXX. The decision date for transfers is ZZZ. They really don’t have anything to do with each other. The admission date is determined by the admissions office and is on their timeline, considering things like the academic schedule, when they can get grades from the students wishing to transfer, etc. The scholarship program is on its own timeline, and deadlines are set so that the review committee(s) can review the applications and make decisions. Two different groups of people.
I really don’t see how it is different from freshmen applying to schools and scholarships in the fall when they won’t know if they are even accepted to the school until March.
@twoinanddone it’s not different, they are both equally flawed and leave freshman and transfers at a disadvantage.
My DD spent hours…many hours…in a scholarship application for a college. She did this in November well before she was accepted. The deadline for this very generous school scholarship was submission before December 1. She complied. Eventually she was accepted…but the scholarship awards didn’t come out until about 6 weeks later.
She had met the deadline…and got the award. But if she hadn’t met the scholarship deadline, she would have gotten…nothing…at all.
This is the way it is. The scholarship application deadlines appear to be before you get your admission decision (which is usually the case, BTW). You have a choice…you can either apply…or not…your choice.
Why didn’t you ask about costs before you applied? Would you go to a store and expect to be given the price only while paying at the register?
The Net Price Calculator is something you should have accessed BEFORE applying to any school.
Each university has a NPC on its website. It gives you a pretty good estimate of what you are expected to pay and what you will probably receive. Since you already seem to know that you’ve
you would receive, it’s on you as a college level student to seek that information out.
https://static.eou.edu/net-price-calc/
https://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/financialaid/netpricecalculator.aspx
FYI, many of us parents went through this ourselves, and or, have children currently going through the process. We/they find out if they get a scholarship or not. They don’t have a lot of money, so 1-2 students may be the lucky ones. You can’t expect that you should be the only one to receive any funds because you filled out the paperwork.
My children filled out and continue to fill out lots of applications. If they receive something, we consider them lucky.
If you don’t expect to have the grades to get admitted to SDSU, why did you apply?
The net price calculators are likely not going to be accurate for this student who is a transfer student…unless the NPC specially asks if you are a transfer. Most don’t.
@“aunt bea”
@“aunt bea” I am well aware of the costs, lol. What student isn’t? Where did you even get that notion? It’s the aid that’s unclear. My FAFSA tells me my EFC, how much I might get for my Pell Grant (And doesn’t that also vary greatly depending on the cost of the school?), and that’s it. I don’t see anything about state grant amounts either, so seems to me as though students are left in the dark until after the fact of enrollment. Trust me, I’ve done my fair share of research and there are still gaps that go unanswered. I have a 3.88 GPA, generally considered competitive, but guess what? So do TONS of other students! Did you know that as a transfer level psychology student applying to SDSU, there is only a 9% chance of getting accepted (according to Fall 2018 stats)? You could have awesome grades but that school is so impacted that it’s almost a lottery at that point. There’s no way to guarantee that you’ll make it into a school, and it’s foolish and ignorant to blame someone for not being able to guarantee that they have “the grades to be admitted.”
The net price calculator is the roughest “estimate” ever.
The Pell Grant is based on your FAFSA EFC.
Are you Calgrant eligible…and have you completed any necessary paperwork? Has your CC done whatever they need to do?
You would also be eligible for a $7500 Direct Loan as a third year college student.
What was your FAFSA EFC.
What is your family annual income? Is it below the threshold to qualify for a Calgrant?
What do you want the schools to do? They could move the transfer application date and decision date to early Dec app with a decision in Jan, then the scholarship apps due on Feb 1? That might be great for you, but what about the transfers who aren’t ready to apply in Dec?
Really, it’s inconvenient for someone no matter how they do it.
If you are so embittered about the process at SDSU, go with Eastern Oregon.
Problem solved.
@Gumbymom
If this student is Calgrant and Pell eligible…wouldn’t the tuition costs at SDSU be covered.
What does this transfer student need to do to be Calgrant eligible.
@polarrrize your FAFSA EFC…is it $0? Is it less than $6000?