My child received some offers but probably s/he graduated HS a year early and that has probably made things more difficulty- s/he didn’t have a junior year so though 1500 SATS and an almost straight A average with as many AP Courses as possible- wasn’t a National Merit Scholar nor a National Honor Society. Is there an opportunity for scholarships once already at the school- or are the merit scholarships only available upon entry? Would welcome any insight
Depends on the school. However, if offered, typically far fewer and smaller than those available to entice admitted students to enroll.
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Best of luck to your student and congratulations on having multiple acceptances to choose from. Are any affordable?
Some schools don’t offer any merit scholarships at all (only need-based aid). The ones that do offer merit typically include it with the admissions decision as an enticement to get the student to enroll. The majority of merit scholarships are offered to incoming freshman.
Some schools offer departmental scholarships in later years but those are typically small amounts.
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This will be highly school dependent. I would say to check your local area for scholarships, as that’s where my kids were successful. However, most of the them for the upcoming year would have been awarded already, or the applications deadlines passed. Some are available for non-freshmen, but graduating seniors/students had the most options.
That being said, my niece has done very well at Virginia Tech. Going in, she had strong grades, not a strong test score, never took calculus, and was an engineering major. She didn’t get anything when she deposited. Sometime over the summer before her freshmen year, they gave her something. I can’t remember if it was $1000 or $3k. In any case, she is a real go getter and has done remarkably well there. Each year, she’s been given more $$$ and in her final year, I believe the tuition was almost free. And she was offered free grad school plus a stipend. So, you never know.
But I will say, this is not the norm and your experience may vary…
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Congratulations 
on acceptances after only 3 years of HS.
The best scholarships are provided to freshmen. A few small scholarships can be added on, enough to pay books or supplement a job, but not to cover tuition/fees/R&B.
What are your child’s stats, where were they admitted, what’s your budget and what’s the net cost where they were admitted?
With the data we can help you figure sth out (or a plan B - the NACAC list of colleges that miscalculated yield or for any reason still have places has just been released.)
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