<p>I see the phrase “full ride” over and over and over on CC. I am amazed by that. My S has got some merit at 7 schools so far, and we are thankful for anything. However, I can’t believe so many people are getting a full ride everywhere. Many of these don’t say ‘x’ scholarship, but just “full ride.” I am starting to wonder if people are misreading things, as this OP did…</p>
<p>Lyn…I had that same (unpleasant) experience with the financial aid officers at USD. The school was one of my kid’s top choices until THAT conversation. There were many other ways to convey the same information politely. The financial aid officer was RUDE. We were there for an accepted student overnight, and had the opportunity to write an evaluation. We mentioned that person by name. If that IS their policy, they should just put it in boldface ON the award “do NOT ask us to change your award. This is it”.</p>
<p>Lyn… thank you for your kind words.</p>
<p>Many people misuse the words “full ride” or “free ride” scholarship.</p>
<p>In some cases, the “free ride” is all need based aid (mostly grants) and given to low income students by schools who “meet need”.</p>
<p>But some wrongly use it to describe “free tuition” scholarships, and some wrongly describe a FA pkg that is a mix of grants, work-study, student loans, and Plus loans as a “full ride” because they’re not having to fund anything up front themselves. It’s silly because of if you bought a home w/o a down payment, who’d say that they got a free home?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, with so many people wrongly using the terms, it can frustrate others who are wondering why their pkgs weren’t so seemingly generous. </p>
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All schools will be able to claim “Your OOP is $0” if they include Parent PLUS Loans in their financial aid.
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<p>Right.</p>
<p>And Thumper is right when she says that Plus loans aren’t part of the “student award”. </p>
<p>No, but they are available to the family as a means of funding the education, and many aid professionals feel it is important to make families aware of the availability of the PLUS and the amount available. The award letter seems to be a logic place to do that.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion. At no point did I believe all of my costs were being paid for. I misused the term “full ride” in explaining that the financial aid listed as covering all of the costs. I was simply confirming that the “Fed Direct Parent PLUS Loan” was in fact a regular loan, and not money supplied by the school. </p>
<p>I will admit, I didn’t fully read over all of the awards and thought initially that USD was truly offering my a full ride. I was ecstatic, until I read it over and realized that more than half of it was loans. That is simply what I came here to confirm. Talk about going from an extreme high to low, haha. </p>
<p><<<
No, but they are available to the family as a means of funding the education, and many aid professionals feel it is important to make families aware of the availability of the PLUS and the amount available. The award letter seems to be a logic place to do that.
<<<</p>
<p>@kelsmom
the way that the fed shopping guide works is more clear. It doesnt’ sound like USD uses that. It sounds like they include the Plus and then indicate 0 OOP. At least the fed guide states a NET COST…and then later provides options as to pay for that (via Plus).</p>