I was interested in finally getting around to starting school this Spring, but the schools I have been looking into really only have scholarships for freshmen entering in the Fall. I hear this is very common, but I wanted to know if there are any schools at all that offer aid to freshmen starting in the Spring.
If there isn’t would it be a better idea to: enroll in Community College and transfer later (which to my knowledge would restrict the financial aid available to me due to lack of good aid from most schools for transfers), or wait until Fall 2017 to enroll and try to do something productive like americorps for Spring/Summer 2017.
You might have to wait until next fall. Don’t take any college classes anywhere to preserve freshman status, if you would qualify for a merit scholarship.
Well, this is awkward, as my experience is very different from those saying to definitely not lose frosh status. I took a few classes after high school as a non matriculated student, so when I applied to RIT for the spring 2017 semester I didn’t know what FA would look like. I got accepted, and they are considering me a transfer for housing purposes (which means I can live off campus and save money!) and not only that but they gave me merit and grant aid totaling $30,000 per year. ($21 000 grant + $9,000 merit)
After government aid and the school aid my per semester bill will run at about $2,000 for tuition and fees.
I’m waiting to see what RPI will offer me/if they will offer me anything.
I only post my experience to show that there are, in fact, cases where schools are generous even to us spring admits.
I guess it depends on your definition of “a lot,” because I know of quite a few schools that offer spring admission and their financial aid policies make no distinction between those entering in the fall and those entering in the spring.
The Florida state schools have a lot of spring admits. I do think they reserve some of the state ND federal money knowing this is the plan for a number of students. In fact some of those spring admits know the summer before that they are admittedfor the spring.
The OP asked about SCHOLARSHIPS, not Financial aid.
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their financial aid policies make no distinction between those entering in the fall and those entering in the spring.
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FA policies based on NEED are very different. That said, many schools run out of certain types of aid so spring admits do not get the same amount of aid.
Many, many schools state that their scholarships are for fall admits only. And many offer much smaller merit awards for transfer students.
That may be so, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are quite a few schools that offer spring admission and their financial aid policies make no distinction between those entering in the fall and those entering in the spring.
Those schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need and that also admit students for spring matriculation. It’s probably a fairly large list (depending on what your definition of “large” is in this context).
I don’t think many/most of us consider “scholarships” to be need-based aid.
Scholarships are typically merit-based.
Grants are typically need-based.
I think the student is asking about merit-based scholarships based on his other thread:
[QUOTE=""]
So I am applying to a bunch of scholarships, which i've never done before, and I don't quite know how to respond to one the the essay prompts. I was hoping you guys could give me a little insight on how to answer/start it.
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Please submit a 1,000 word essay on your academic goals and plans after graduation. Please be sure to include why you feel you've earned this scholarship
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Scholarships, similar to grants, do not need to be repaid. Scholarships come from state, educational institutions, and private agencies. Scholarships can be awarded based on merit, financial need, student characteristics (such as gender, race, religion, family and medical history, and the like), creativity, career field, college, athletic ability, amongst other categories.
The College has a comprehensive program of financial aid that provides assistance in the form of scholarships and grants, loans, and student employment. In the 2014-15 academic year, Amherst students received need-based financial aid totaling approximately $54,290,000 from all sources.
Scholarships and grants represent money that does not need to be repaid and account for approximately 87% of all financial aid packages. All Hamilton scholarships are need-based and awarded based on an annual review of your financial aid application materials. The average Hamilton scholarship for 2015-16 academic year was $41,170.
I could find many other examples, but I think you get the point.
Yes, it’s semantics. But many colleges and universities use the terms grants and scholarships interchangeably as components of a need-based aid program. If discussions on CC don’t reflect that reality, it can be a potential source of confusion.
The OP is talking about starting community college, not about going to Harvard or Vandy or other ‘meets full need’ schools. He’s looking for $3000, not $70k.