<p>Okay, my question is, what are the best schools that I should be able to fairly easily be able to go for free (as in merit scholarships)?</p>
<p>I have some colleges picked out, but I think my stats are good enough that there <em>should</em> be someplace that I can definitely go to for free. Can anyone help me out?? Thanks, any pointers or information would be extremely helpful. Just think, your help could vastly improve my future… don’t hesitate to post!!</p>
<p>Info:
</p>
<p>Montana State might give you $60,000. Not sure what the COA is, though. [Scholarship</a> - Admissions - Montana State University](<a href=“http://www.montana.edu/admissions/scholarshipsnonres.shtml]Scholarship”>http://www.montana.edu/admissions/scholarshipsnonres.shtml)</p>
<p>Your family income is low that you might get to go free at most school. Last year someone on CC received full tuition from Cornell with family income about $60K.</p>
<p>Try Alabama Fellows, they will give u Free tuition , a Laptop, and like 6,000 a year stipend, and the fellowship program is as good as and hard to get into as the IVYs, oh and even if u dont get into the fellowship, ur a lock for the Computer based honors program, which will also give u free tuition</p>
<p>Your best shot for a merit full ride would be in the Southeast. You’d have a shot at the University of Georgia fellowship. Alabama like adil suggested is a possibility. I got a full ride at LSU with probably a slightly less impressive resume.</p>
<p>What about UIowa/ISU?</p>
<p>The Univ. of Alabama Honors College.</p>
<p>Stanford is free to anyone under 60K. It’s a crapshoot, but you have great stats. Send your ACT, not your SAT unless you can raise it.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is such a thing as a guarantee of going anywhere for free. No matter how impressive your stats are. Your statistics are impressive. Maybe you should make your decision on the basis of the what you want to do. If you go to some place like Montana state, when you graduate, you will have a degree from Montana State. It sounds like all of your value is wrapped up in potential, hopefully you won’t waste it for the sake of saving a few grand a year (consider partial scholarships if you are so lucky to get them)</p>
<p>Private schools give better fin aid, so a private school might actually be cheaper for you than a public.</p>
<p>“Private schools give better fin aid, so a private school might actually be cheaper for you than a public.”</p>
<p>If you’re looking for a full ride, that’s a myth.</p>
<p>A full ride’s not a myth. I had a full ride at my undergrad college – tuition, fees, room and board. “Full ride” doesn’t mean “they pay for everything,” it means “tuition, fees, room, and board.” You will always have to pay for something. Some colleges’ full rides include books.</p>
<p>I have a couple of recommendations for you:</p>
<p>-If you have ever been interested in the military, you can apply for an ROTC scholarship. Personally I suggest the Navy ROTC scholarship program or the Air Force’s, if we’re talking about service. You are certainly competitive for it. The ROTC scholarship will pay your tuition and fees, and give you a monthly stipend, no matter what college you decide to go to. In addition, some colleges and universities – and some really good ones, like Boston University – will “match” the ROTC award and cover your room and board as well. In exchange, you serve for eight years after graduation. Four years on the active duty, four years in the Inactive Ready Reserve. Service academies are even better bets, if you can get in (that representative you volunteered with may know someone who can nominate you) – that is literally a free ride and you don’t have to pay for anything, not even your books. Incurs the same service agreement as the ROTC scholarship, but you are one rank/rate (and pay-grade) higher when you graduate.</p>
<p>I had friends in ROTC in college (I received it as well, but turned it down only because my actual institution offered me more money) and their lives were normal college student lives. They had to do physical training twice a week and they registered for one extra class each semester, and they wore their uniforms on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The starting salary in the services is about $50,000.</p>
<p>Anyway, most people I talk to make a face when I suggest ROTC or service academies so I’ll move on to other scholarship programs:</p>
<p>-Coca-Cola scholars. I would hurry though, their deadline is fast approaching.</p>
<p>-What I did was apply to schools a tier lower than I knew I could gain admission to. I knew that I could get into the top schools easily, but because I would be the ‘average’ student there, money would be a crapshoot. So I applied to mostly schools in tier 2, with a tier 1 school as my “maybe, maybe, maybe” school. That top school didn’t even give me enough to put a dent in my debt, whereas every other school I applied to gave me AT LEAST full tuition, and most of them gave me a scholarship that covered those four basic expenses. These were schools that were still in the top 100; I just knew that I figured in the top 5-10% of their applicants.</p>
<p>-Also, look at public schools. For example, the University of Georgia has a competitive Foundation Fellows program. You have to have at least a 3.7 to apply. If you get it, they cover tuition, fees, room, and board, and you are admitted to their honors college program, which is rigorous and you get the opportunity to work closely with professors and researchers at UGA. They like geographic diversity in that program and so your hailing from rural Iowa may be a plus. There are several large state universities that have programs as such, and I would keep an eye out for them.</p>
<p>-Also – I don’t know what belevitt was trying to say exactly – of course there’s no such guarantee of going anywhere for free, and even with a full scholarship I still have small undergrad loans (that I borrowed for books, mostly). But I disagree that you’d be “wasting your potential” to go to a lower-ranked school or a public university (some of which are much better than some private universities) to save “a few grand a year.”</p>
<p>First of all, maybe some people can afford to throw around a few grand a year, but I come from a similar income background as you, and I know my parents much appreciated me saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. At a school where tuition is even only $15,000 a year as mine was, tuition alone will cost you $60,000 (not counting tuition hikes every year), and the total cost of attendance will easily exceed $100,000. It’s nice to have a degree from a top 50 school, but it’s even nicer to have a degree from a top 100 school and less than $10,000 in debt.</p>
<p>Cooper Union in NYC. they give free tuition to all admitted students.</p>
<p>Not merit scholarship but you could go for free (not sure about room/board) to many top schools. For example, for Harvard, Yale, Stanford, if you get in, you don’t have to pay tuition. Your stats are definitely good enough (I agree with the poster who says to send the ACT and not the SAT) and then take others’ suggestions as safeties.
You have tons of options!</p>
<p>Knights09: I applied to U of Iowa already and (obviously) got accepted to honors and business early admittance (not too high of standards to get into either of those things). However, U of Iowa only gives out 20 Presidential scholarships (basically full tuition) out of like, 17,000 people. So, the chances are low. Though, I know I would definitely be in the running for it; I just need super-awesome essays!!!</p>
<p>and to the people talking about need-based, stop 
I am talking about merit scholarships. I wouldn’t have included parental income, but I copy-pasted from my chance topic lol</p>
<p>Shameless BUMP :)</p>
<p>Your question is “What is the BEST school I can go free?” So the answer would include the incredible financial aid programs offered by the best schools in the country for which you are clearly eligible. The FACT is, at most schools you will be eligible for in excess of full tuition in need based aid and you would be very foolish to ignore that fact. But you have said you are not interested in that advice. Okay.</p>
<p>To find schools that would offer you merit aid, look at the lower-ranked schools - second, third, fourth tiers - and apply there. Go to the financial aid and scholarships forum - there is a mom there who wrote a thread about finding full rides for her two kids by looking only at the lower-ranked schools. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-i-ve-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=what+I’ve+learned+about[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-i-ve-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html?highlight=what+I’ve+learned+about</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Alamemom is right. If you want a truly “free” merit ride (that is, covering room/board in addition to tuition/fees), you will probably have to look at lower-ranked schools. Although your stats are very good, they are not great and you are not likely to be competitive for the handful of really-big-dollar merit scholarships that top universities and LACs typically give out. </p>
<p>But alamemom is also right about need-based aid in addition to merit aid. Your family income would qualify you for need-based aid at many schools.</p>