<p>Sorry 1 Down, I don’t know what the blind reference means.</p>
<p>I just looked at schools work study details and they are need based. I am assuming from our EFC they will think he has no “need”. Little do they know. :/</p>
<p>BUT, there is good news…I just ran over the estimated costs and they included about $5K for personal and transportation. His transportation will be a bike unless he gets a job off campus. (He’s not taking a car because once it’s moved, he may never find a parking spot again.) And we are hoping his personal cost will not be that high. He is a very frugal kid.</p>
<p>TNMom - I feel your pain. My older D didn’t have stats as high as your son, but really wanted to attend the honors program of our StateU. She was the h.s. class president all 4 years, voted by faculty best math and science student, val (4.0), amazing ECs, state level single tennis player, etc. I will never forget the look on her face when she opened the letter with their scholarship offer enclosed - she was stunned. It was paltry when compared to what other schools (that she didn’t want to attend) were offering. We contacted the scholarship office and they said that they gave out many more scholarships to upper classmen who were excelling at the university. That made sense so D soldiered on. She applied for several of these scholarships throughout her time there and only received one. She saw them go to the children of professors (who had lower test scores, GPA, etc.), athletes, etc. The school gives 4 year free rides to NMFs (I know because they offered one to our younger D - which she turned down). Older D had many NMFs in her scholarship hall housing - they took the free rides, didn’t participate in the honors program, joined no clubs, held no offices, and their GPAs were much lower than D’s who WAS in the honors program. What really burned me up was when these students would get “remainder checks” in LARGE AMOUNTS ($800 - $1,300 PER SEMESTER) from the scholarship office. Their COA of attending was actually LESS than the scholarships they had been awarded so they gave them the money for their own personal use!!! D had several small outside scholarships that completely paid for her first semester and we paid for most of the rest. Thank goodness our StateU is very reasonable and our cost for her four year attendance was @ $35,000 (less than ONE YEAR of the private school her younger sister attends).</p>
<p>D graduated with highest honors, 4.0 GPA, top student in her department, Phi Beta Kappa, president of her major’s honor society, president of her scholarship hall, joined several clubs, studied abroad, had a quality internship every summer (all of them with a salary), and was one of only 10 Chancellor’s Scholars (out of 3,700+ seniors graduating). She is working a year and has applied to graduate schools for the fall. The offers from these graduate schools is nothing short of amazing after what she received during undergrad. Offers of $60,000 - $75,000 a year (including paying tuition, stipend, insurance, travel, etc.). After all the huge $$$ offers her sister received just for being NMF, we are really happy to see older Ds accomplishments FINALLY recognized.</p>
<p>Life isn’t fair. It is what it is. I had a friend give me some tough love when she said no one else owes YOUR child an education that is your responsibility. Yes, but . You wouldn’t have wanted to be the StateU endowment rep on the other end of the line when they called me for a donation after she graduated!!</p>
<p>I will echo those who said the college may have determined that it was not necessary to offer your son a scholarship in order to get him to enroll.</p>
<p>We were told by everyone, including our well-informed school counselor, that our state flagship offers no significant merit money, even to top students. Most kids sign up for the state u as soon as they are accepted, in order to secure housing. In my daughter’s case that was not necessary because she was planning on going abroad for a gap year before college, and she waited until the May deadline to make her decision. Surprisingly, in April several large merit scholarships were offered by the state u. I have often wondered if this was simply because she waited so long to respond.</p>
<p>We had filled out the FAFSA early, and I recommend submitting that as well.</p>
<p>Same with our State U, but the State Us are pretty lenient with AP credits, while many of the privates were not.</p>
<p>BTW: I’ve always seen the transportation cost as including transportation to and from home and school during the year. If you don’t live that far from the school, that amount could be negligible.</p>
<p>Although there have been some harsh responses, I think this is an extremely important thread that should be featured.</p>
<p>There are wide differences from state to state in the qualifications required to get the $$ available to kids at their state schools. In some cases, top kids could possibly get a better financial deal at a private.</p>
<p>However…this is the school that this kid really wants to attend. I don’t agree with some who have said he tipped his hand too quickly. If this is where he really wanted to go, it was right for him to say so from the beginning.</p>
<p>Perhaps there will be departmental scholarships. I also hope that you are pursuing all local scholarships…not just the ones from you school, but perhaps there are some offered by your county, or an organization that you or you son belongs to. Also…if you really want to save money, it looks like your child, with an extra course load 1 semester or a mid-term or summer course, could graduate in 3 years versus 4. That’s a huge savings…if $$ are really tight.</p>
<p>I also hope that MidwestParent’s post is encouraging. Although they may have had out of pocket expenses that were more than they had hoped for undergrad, the hard work and perserverance of their child continued through college, and will “pay off” in grad school.</p>
<p>Don’t know if any of CC"s sleuth researchers have summarized the amounts available and qualifications for various “highest” scholarship opportunities at state flagships…but…for someone who has time…it would be a very helpful post.</p>
<p>Thanks for the words 2boysmama. Needless to say we ARE feeling pretty “stupid” at this point. I didn’t realize college was a cat and mouse “game”, or it was much like playing hard-to-get in high school romances. This IS the school he wanted and we obviously were too honest up front to say that it wasn’t. It has definitely been an eye opener. He still has two or three colleges persuing him but this is STILL the one he wants. </p>
<p>The good news is after going over the expected cost of the school about $5K of what I previously thought to be total tuition is travel and personal expected expenses. He won’t take a car for the first while because we only have two, it would stay parked most of the time (if he ever moved it, he would spend alot of time trying to find another parking spot) and we’re not prepared yet to let our second car go. He will have a bike and is actually kind of excited at the idea of having a place to ride. There are a lot of bikes on campus from what we saw. Of course in the spring we will look at the situation again and either sell him our second car for a little of nothing or he will choose his own. He expects his personal expenses to not be nearly what they estimate, but I have told him that they have to get these estimates from somewhere and we shouldn’t expect much less. However, this is my frugal child. He has high expectations of earning money in engineering…and saving as much as he can. (I’ve told him it’s not that easy…but as with everything lately…he is learning) </p>
<p>I realized on the FASFA that the workstudy/student loan question was “don’t know”. I have gone back today and changed that to “yes”. Which leads him to another question: IF he applies for federal student loans, does he HAVE to accept them if he gets most of his financial need? We can help with some…maybe $3K a year but he does not want loans if he can keep from that. Is student loans “a game” also?</p>
<p>Congrats on your s’s stats and acceptance, Tnmom!</p>
<p>Could you kindly clarify something? Was your S hoping for a 4 yr full ride (which included room/board etc) or a full tuition scholarship? Are you saying that he will have to pay $12k/yr OOP (which now looks like you are saying $7K with the transportation $$ you noted that you wont need to spend). If so, that sounds like a pretty good deal. True, it isnt FREE, but its still a very nice package. </p>
<p>It certainly doesnt hurt to ask the FA office for a reconsideration, especially if there are need issues. You can ask if there are other school scholarships that he can apply for, though its probably a bit late. Did he apply for any of the eagle scout scholarships? What about outside scholarship $$ for his inteneded major? You might want to scour fastweb for scholarship $$. Good luck</p>
<p>In response to your loan question. No, he does not have to accept the loan if he no longer needs it. When the school sends out the financial aid package he will be able to accept or reject any part of it.</p>
<p>jym…thanks. He is a great kid, and we’re proud of him. I guess we’re just a little out of “sorts” trying to figure out what we’re doing and how much we’re actually looking at. It would have been better I think if so many people (teachers, friends, etc) had not said “he’s looking at a free ride” so often. We weren’t sure what to expect and I can only blame ourselves for letting the imagination run wild. To answer your question, we never expected to scholarships to pay for books, personal things or meals, but were kind of hoping for tuition and housing. Our older son wasn’t an Eagle, but had a 32 and was Stuco pres, too and did get a free ride (smaller state school). I guess that’s what we were reflecting on.</p>
<p>We still haven’t given up hope…he’s applied for many merit scholarships on several scholarship search engines including Fastweb. He will apply for the Eagle scholarship as well as local ones. According to what scholarships consider “financial need”, we have none. That doesn’t mean that we can afford the total shortage. However, my son is more optimistic than after first receiving the letter and tells me he can pay back a college loan, although he doesn’t want one. If he gets out in three years and a half years instead of four (due to earned credits), it will help. Either way, this is a test of character and we will all learn from it.</p>
<p>“Need blind” admissions is a policy at many selective private universities and small liberal arts colleges. It means that these schools do not consider an applicant’s financial situation in making their admissions decisions.</p>
<p>A “need blind” policy often goes hand-in-hand with a “full need” policy. Schools that follow this policy attempt to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need of every admitted student. The amount of need generally is determined by the FAFSA application process. </p>
<p>“Full need” usually does not translate to a free ride, at most schools. There is an expectation that the student or the family still makes a significant contribution. However, there are a few exceptions. Yale, Stanford and Harvard in recent years have adopted zero tuition or reduced total cost policies for low and middle income students. Tuition has been free of charge to all students at Cooper Union for many years. Olin College grants every admitted student a 4-year scholarship covering the full amount of tuition. A few other schools have similar policies; the challenge is getting admitted at all.</p>
<p>Yes, and what you are describing represents a very distorted market for college admissions and aid. By “distorted market”, I mean something like the old Soviet market for cars and washing machines. It is not regulated rationally by supply and demand, or entirely by merit. </p>
<p>The basic problem is that too many highly qualified students are clamoring for spots at the same 50, or 100, of the most selective colleges and universities. Almost all of them were founded prior to 1900, some of them even in the 1600s and 1700s. We are not building enough new universities to keep up with demand (because we are squandering our national wealth on a lot of other crap). So, the schools resort to all sorts of distinctions that have little or nothing to do with real intellectual merit.</p>
I don’t know how many scholarships your son’s college gives out and what the exact requirements are, but that statement makes it seem that you are confusing the bare minimum required for eligibility with a high likelihood or guarantee of getting the award. And that, to me, seems like a misunderstanding of the process.</p>
<p>Let’s say there are 10 scholarships to give out and 100 applicants, and the scholarship is awarded only to students who have at least a 3.8 high school GPA and score of 30 on the ACT. If you look at the “requirements” as equating with getting the award, then it makes sense that someone might think that a kid with a 3.98 GPA and a 35 on the ACT is sure to win it… </p>
<p>but you have to keep in mind that in my example above, there are 100 kids competing for the scholarships, all of whom by definition have GPA’s and ACT scores above the minimum required. And it is very likely that, beyond those minimum requirements, the scholarship committee is looking at a lot of subjective factors, rather than grades or test scores. Financial need might be a factor – or demonstrated leadership – or the fact that a particular kid brings something that the school is looking for. </p>
<p>I don’t think there is more that you or your son could have done, other than to understand more fully that it is a competitive process. It is never something that you should have banked on getting.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that with the current financial situation, there’s a lot of belt tightening going on as well. If the college doesn’t guarantee to award a certain number of scholarships, they may simply be cutting back - maybe last year they could afford to offer 10 scholarship, and this year it is only 5.</p>
<p>Ellemenope, I am so tired of hearing those friends, teachers, etc. say that my son will get a free ride based on SAT, GPA, ECs, etc. Even one of the college counselors said that. Well, guess what? He has two, full tuition scholarships, but they are not from big-time colleges. One is from National Merit. The other, a small LAC. Now, one of the college counselors says that he should take the best academic deal – do not worry about loans. That’s nice … if you never worry about money. My son plans to major in economics – glad that he does understand money if when his college counselor doesn’t.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I remember the days when D1 was going off to college! People assumed that D was getting a scholarship and I would answer that she was–The Scholarship of Mom and Dad. :-)</p>
<p>OP- if it were my kid, I would encourage him to keep an open mind about those loans.</p>
<p>A frugal kid with plans to study engineering should view loans as an investment in his own human capital. Nobody knows what the economy will look like in four years, but a modest amount of loans to bridge the gap to make attendance affordable at his first choice school sounds like a good bet to me.</p>
<p>We discovered that many of the local merit scholarships were merit wrapped in need. Our kids applied for many, got a couple, but only one was really “worth it” from a financial perspective. An award of $250 from the local Realtors is very nice, and certainly helps buy books for first semester, but since it wasn’t recurring and involved both the time to apply, have an interview, appear at the annual lunch meeting, write thank you’s to all the trustees, etc. it wasn’t a very good investment of time. </p>
<p>I’d say keep filling out those applications for all the local scholarships, but assume that your son will need to borrow to plug the gap.</p>
<p>Just two schools? Man, you really were playing with fire. Better would have been to be a bit more flexible. Maybe once you had a Big Aid at schools 3-10 (the ones to which your child didn’t apply), your child would have felt differently about what he did and didn’t have his heart set on.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t get the idea “I don’t want to bother with the paperwork of applying to a lot of schools.” Now he is stuck with the paperwork of applying for a bunch of scholarships to piece something to gether.</p>
<p>Anyway, chin up. You have a bright kid who is going where he wants to go. You are miles ahead of the game. Focus on the positive, and you guys will find a way.</p>