I am getting confused. Even though I have 2 kids in college and a Senior in HS - there is a ton of discussion regarding a new term that I am not familiar with - tuition discount.
It doesn’t seem right that schools can call a “discount” a scholarship but apparently that is how schools “market”. I can’t imagine a car dealer saying you could get a “scholarship” on your $60,000 car?
The net price really is what matters and scholarships that are real - seem to be those that use foundation money not just the tuition paid by other students. Does anyone agree or have experience in dealing with this?
I could envision a tax difference. Scholarships can be applied toward Room and Board, or towards student fees. A tuition discount applies only toward the tuition itself.
Since some forms of higher education savings - like bonds - cannot be used toward R&B without triggering an income tax, this might be a sneaky way that states are trying increase their tax revenues, while still proclaiming to be “helping” toward the high cost of college education.
It sounds a lot better if you get a scholarship for your ‘meritous’ grades than if you get a tuition discount. I don’t care what the call it, I just want it!
For tuition purposes, its a distinction without a difference, as long as it is ‘free’ money that does not have to be paid back.
Colleges may also call it a ‘grant’ instead of a scholarship. Both just reduce the tuition due from the student. But as PoP noted above, a really large scholarship/grant (exceeding the tuition amount) could also cover housing, books, and other fees, the so-called ‘full ride’.
Also wanted to add that some states may offer tuition discounts for their own state residents, instead of calling it a surcharge on out-of-state residents.
In New England there is a program for tuition ‘discounts’ from other NE state schools (only certain majors are eligible and its based on both which state you are coming from and which school you are attending). It lowers your tuition to something between IS and OOS. I know there are other similar ‘regional’ programs, so it could be one of the uses of the term you are coming across.
This tuition break is on top of any merit aid you may be getting (so it’s ‘stacked’). Unlike merit aid, it has no minimum GPA associated (except of course the school you are attending probably has a GPA policy regarding ‘adequate progress’). Also unlike merit aid, if you change majors to one that is not eligible, you lose the discount going forward. And yes, it only applies to tuition.
I haven’t heard this term, but a simple google search seems to imply it’s another name for the grant aid from a school (i.e. not merit scholarships but simply need based aid).
Sidebar: I usually think of grant as need based and scholarship as merit based. But some schools call the need based money scholarship as well.
I used to work at a university - for us, it was a matter of how it was funded. For example, scholarships came from a specific named fund. A donor gave money for a named scholarship, and those monies were disbursed to students. We also had tuition discounts, such as out-of-state to in-state tuition waiver. They did not receive a specific scholarship to off-set the difference, instead we were giving them a discount if they met certain conditions (lived in a border state, enrolled in a certain number of credit hours, maintained a minimum GPA).
Our Finance area was very specific on how it had to be entered/coded in the system, because of auditing requirements.
Another way of thinking of it: you go to a grocery store and purchase an item. It’s on sale and it’s discounted from $2 to $1.50. On another item, it costs $2 but you have a coupon for .50 off the item. Same bottom line, but what you were actually charged is different. The first item you were charged $1.50, and it was discounted. The second one you were charged $2, but you had a “scholarship” for .50.