Scholarships for Smart Kids with parents that make too much money...What am I missing?

So my daughter applied to 12 colleges was accepted to all and honors colleges for all. Was also awarded the top tier merit scholarships because of grades and ACT score [33]…sounds great right?

Well it’s just not as much as I thought she’d get…she is 16/750 in her class; straight As [1 A- in 4 years] many AP classes. Varsity Athlete but not good enough to be recruited I guess. Many extra-curricular involvements…she’s met with coaches but while no way Div 1 want her, others do but no offer of $ [NAIA, Div II and III].

the biggest Merit scholarship was $26k per year but it was to a college that was $60 k per year…

Outside Scholarships.
She has applied to several outside scholarships like Kiwanis etc. but they are like $1-2 and not necessarily repeating. So am I missing some secret? I have friends who’s kids seem to have almost paid for college based on merit. They also have income too high for grants, etc.

I guess I’m freaking out because she’s my oldest of 3 kids and the most likely to get a scholarship if you know what I mean…so we were kind of expecting to not pay so much for her so we could filter funds down to the other 2 … now I feel like we are screwed.

I am sure this comes across as ungrateful but I’m really just hoping I’m missing something…part of the issue is she wants to be a physical therapist so that’s a 3 year doctorate program…

HONORS Scholarships…I know there are some. She’s been offered $4-12 k total [not per year] honors scholarships for a couple of the colleges in addition to the merit scholarships. We found out yesterday that she missed an opportunity to compete for 5 10-20k total [not per year] honors scholarships. [I’m still ticked about that…she had it all filled out but didn’t submit! ugh]. She was given the opportunity to compete for 12 full rides at one of the colleges [find out this week]. It’s her least favorite and has the most expensive DPT program [it’s a special 3+3 program].

any tips? will more scholarships come? do i reach out to schools and/or track coaches?

If you cannot afford the balance (34k+), then you may be looking in the wrong schools: i.e., private vs public?

There are publics that give merit aid, leaving an affordable balance. What state are you in?

How much can you reasonably spend per year for oldest?

What schools did she apply to?

You’re very late asking this Q. She’s missed MANY deadlines at good schools where she would have been given FULL tuition awards.


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I guess I'm freaking out because she's my oldest of 3 kids and the most likely to get a scholarship if you know what I mean...so we were kind of expecting to not pay so much for her so we could filter funds down to the other 2 .... now I feel like we are screwed.

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She applied to the wrong schools, if your goal was to minimize costs for her education because the younger ones wouldn’t likely get the big awards. I TOTALLY understand that. When we were looking for merit for S1, we thought the same thing because, at the time, younger son didn’t seem to test as well (which later changed, thankfully!!).

She wants to be PT, so she’ll later be in a DPT program.

Do not expect much more $$ to come from the current schools from honors colleges. And, as you mentioned, local awards are often only for ONE year.

At this point, throw an app to Mississippi State Univ. She’ll likely be given full tuition or MORE. They have a big sports program which will provide internships for Pre-PT students.

UAB will also give her a big award, and they do have Div I sports and an excellent DPT program, med school, etc, but not as big in sports as Miss State. If she had applied to Bama before Dec 15, she would have gotten free tuition and had awesome pre-PT internships.

Hopefully some others can chime in with some full tuition awards at schools whose scholarship deadlines have not passed.

I’m guessing that she’s not NMSF? If she is, then there still are some more doors open.

Depending on your finances, you may qualify for aid when you have two in college, so keep that in mind.

Not knowing which schools she was accepted into and offered merit from, it’s hard to say exactly, but the going wisdom of this forum is that if you want merit–

  1. apply to a school that gives merit generously (look that up on collegedata.com)
  2. make sure that your child’s stats are in the top 25% of their pool of applicants
  3. Muhlenberg.

Number 3 is kind of a joke but that school seems to be getting known for its merit offers.

I would add looking at schools where she radiates diversity from their POV.

For example, as a woman she would radiate diversity at a school with too many males. For LACs there are few of those, but Union C in NY is one and St. John’s of Annapolis/Santa Fe (two campuses) might be another. Schools heavy in engineering might be another category, like Colorado Mines or RPI. Finally she would radiate diversity if she is from a far geographic region.

My final thought is that she could look at Agnes Scot, which is a terrific school, offers cross reg at Emory, has a cheaper starting price and offers some merit.

Another school that has a lower starting price tag is Sewanee.

Full tuition scholarship in sustainibility is being offered by Green Mountain College $200,000 scholarship. Marlboro college is a CTCL, small and lovely, and offers the Renaissance Scholarship to students from diverse regions of the country.

Maybe it’s too late for child #1, but for your next children also look at the Macaulay Honor’s program at CUNY. It attracts students with Ivy stats and offers full pay. Or Child #1 could take a gap year and try for next year

Best of luck

The answer to your question is you’re not missing anything. This is the way it is. We went through similar befuddlement with our first too.

i am so mad at myself for not figuring this out sooner…everyone was like…oh she’ll get great scholarships, etc…lol…which i guess she did…

don’t need division 1 … she’ll study exercise science at undergrad level.

are there scholarships for grad school? maybe that is something i can explore now…oy.

NMSF no she did average on psat.

not sure what UAB is?

are you kidding me?? full tuition? what? any in midwest? that’s where we were leaning.

this is to mommdc

Taylor
Anderson
Purdue
Miami Ohio
Indiana Weslyan
Belmont U

schools w 3+3 Physical Therapy
U indy
St Louis U
Evansville

I can’t remember a couple more…they were smaller private schools.
she really likes Evansville, Purdue, IWU and maybe Taylor

I think that’s the problem…only big school was Purdue. It’s a great school with low in state tuition.

FEW scholarships for grad school…she’ll be offered loans… Merit is rare and often small. A few med schools will give huge merit to tippy top MCAT scores to poach them from top meds.

University of alabama at Birmingham. It’s not the flagship, it’s the Univ with the med school, dental school, DPT program, etc. It is known for being very strong in the health sciences. My son is at the med school there.

Yes, she needs a school with sports for internships. Not necessarily Div 1

https://www.uab.edu/shp/pt/dpt/dpteap

This is the link for the direct admit to DPT program at UAB.

I was hoping to be about $50k knowing graduate school would be at least $60k…
none of the UG will be $50k as of right now.

Purdue while only $23k in state only offered her $4k per year merit scholarship.

There are still schools accepting apps, some might be due today, with automatic full tuition. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com

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everyone was like…oh she’ll get great scholarships, etc…lol…which i guess she did…
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Many folks are very naive about this…they assume that colleges reward all great students with huge awards…not true at all in most cases.

And, some will hear “$20k per year” in merit and think, wow!!! They’re forgetting that there’s another $40k to pay.

Throw apps to UAB and Miss State Univ. She’ll get free tuition to both.

sigh…i guess it doesn’t matter at this point what i could have done. i didn’t. what options going forward do i have? none? thanks.

You do have options, link above ^^^

I didn’t check the deadline but you should contact admissions an dsee if this in-state tuition matching program works for you. Near a good airport so pretty easy to get to. Gorgeous part of the world.

https://go.umaine.edu/apply/scholarships/flagship-match/

If she wants to start college this fall, she has to move quickly. However, if she would consider taking a gap year to re-think her list, then she might end up with more affordable options. That gap year would also allow her more time to think about her longer-range goals - for example, if she would decide against completing her DPT, what other careers are interesting to her? That might make a difference in her college list.

Is Miami OH still open?

@TnTWalter …I gave you good suggestions as to what to do NOW…

AND…UAB has a direct admit program! (Also very close to an int’l airport)

University of Alabama-Birmingham
Application Deadline: May 1st (December ACT/SAT)
Award: $15,000/year (Full tuition for up to 25 credits per year)
Requirements: 3.5 GPA, 30 ACT or 1330 SAT (CR+M)

https://www.uab.edu/students/paying-for-college/scholarships/act-gpa-based-scholarships-out-of-state

Ok…while the above appears to cover a little less than full OOS tuition for an ACT 30+…I am almost certain that for an OOS student with an ACT 33, MORE will be awarded. I have seen it over and over…and UAB wants more high stats OOS students.

MSU doesn’t list their award as assured, but I’ve never seen an ACT 33 get less than full tuition…usually get more.

What do you mean by $50k, per year? Or for all 4 years?

Look at DPT tuition, it might well be $30k or more per year. Loans mostly, she can take those out and pay them back after she gets a job as a DPT.

My D is looking at pharmacy school, she is going to take out loans for the last two years (has scholarships for first 4). We try to help with undergrad, but have other kids, so grad school will be mostly on her.

There are not a lot of schools with huge scholarships in Midwest.

So is Purdue affordable? Did she apply to Butler?
U Toledo is also a possibbility. Maybe Duquesne?

But those will stil leave $20k plus to pay, even with merit.