<p>crazed - I agree that both are great schools with great reps. But nowhere did S4Eyes say that their kid was a top student. In fact in the Tulane thread of this same topic S4Eyes stated that both Miami and Tulane would be a reach. So significant merit would be unlikely.</p>
<p>Since the full COA at Tulane is nearly $54,000, even the top “routine” scholarship of $25,000 leaves a big chunk to pay. By routine I mean that what Tulane does is automatically consider all accepted students for merit scholarships of $7,500; $15,000; $20,000; $22,000 and $25,000. At least those were the amounts this past year. There is a competitive full tuition scholarship that only 75 students are offered, and this requires a separate application and extra materials. Even that still leaves about $15,000 to be paid. Other than athletes, the only full ride scholarships are the Hainkel, of which there are 2 and only Louisiana residents are eligible.</p>
<p>So while the term “financial safety” is always relative to an individual family’s monetary circumstances, it would only be true for schools like Tulane in a relatively small number of cases. Obviously there are families out there that can easily pay full fare at Tulane and so every school is a financial safety. As the term is usually used, it doesn’t generally apply to Tulane. However, you are absolutely correct that Tulane is very generous with merit scholarships and so becomes more affordable for a lot of students and their families than otherwise. The thrust of your arguments are correct, I just want to make sure anyone reading this realizes exactly what the circumstances are regarding Tulane and affordability.</p>