<p>Some top ranked schools that offer merit money are Duke, Rice, Emery, Vanderbuilt, UVA, UNC.</p>
<p>And the University of Chicago. Thanks ConanFan for bumping up this thread.</p>
<p>my s is a freshman on a full ride scholarship at Washington and Lee–he also got tuition awards at tulane, tufts, brandeis. but he decided to take the full ride, along with an open mind and a whole lot of gratitude. I couldn’t be prouder of his maturity and his ability to see the gift of the scholarship for what it is…an opportunity to graduate without debt and have more opportunities for graduate education. He also is gaining an openness to new experiences, people and enjoying and adapting to being 16 hrs away from home. I am a big believer in each of our children finding their way, they really do know what is best for them.</p>
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<p>Hear, hear.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee offers full rides? I thought they capped merit awards at full tuition…</p>
<p>I didn’t think Tufts had merit. Must be new this year?</p>
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<p>Stanford also does NOT give merit aids. Any non full pay students there receive financial aid or NEED based scholarship. These scholarships are based on the parents’ income. I agree it can be misleading, scholarships sound better than financial aid.</p>
<p>Current junior D was offered a nearly full ride to Washington & Lee. Our out of pocket would have been about $2000 per year. She turned it, and some other very nice merit awards, down for Rice with NO merit aid offered. When asked, FA office told her she didn’t qualify. We realize that NMF/Vals are a dime a dozen there, but it was still a blow to the ego. </p>
<p>Need based aid at Rice has varied each year due to financial ups and downs. This year’s aid is based on a down so Rice is chipping in about 1/2 of the total COA.</p>
<p>What happens when you turn down the top school for the best scholarship, you end up like me. I’m transferring.</p>
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<p>Tufts does NOT offer UG merit aid.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee</p>
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<p>I’ll be! Was this around in 2006?</p>
<p>My S also turned down a very large scholarships plus a little FA on top totaling $41,000 per year at Washington & Lee in order to go to an Ivy. We have not had any second thoughts about the wisdom of that decision.</p>
<p>D graduated HS in May 2006. I think it was a George Washington Honors scholarship. I clearly remember signing the paper turning it down = $180,000 for 4 years. While is was difficult to sign away that kind of $, we knew immediately after her multi-day visit that it wasn’t the school for her. </p>
<p>We’ve made some major sacrifices for a Rice education, but it’s been worth every penny spent so far - she LOVES it there.</p>
<p>I have posted earlier in 2007 that daughter turned down a full tuition merit scholarship at a competitive small LAC, even in today’s difficult economic situation we still feel we made the right decision to pay full fare for her to go to Cornell.</p>
<p>I want to clarify that I am speaking of my own family situation only. I’m not judging others as no one can tell from the outside what the financial reality is of another family. </p>
<p>Personally, my willingness to go in debt or allow my child to go in debt was greatly influenced by in-laws (both Father-in-law and brother-in-law have MBAs from Harvard.) For my family, going into that amount of debt is not a possibility at this point in our lives. But even if it were, or we were willing to allow our son to do it, I would be heartless in crunching the numbers keeping in mind my child’s personality and his field of study. Both of them value the education they recieved yet they also both reject that it was “priceless.” </p>
<p>On the other hand, I am willing to pay to fly my son back and forth to a college if it is a good match for him and it fits in our budget. That is an expense that parents can very reasonably decline to accept. </p>
<p>In otherwords, different families, different choices.</p>
<p>I agree with you pubmadkate. I attended an ivy league school and from my personal experience do not think it is worth taking out loans for. If you can afford it without loans, then terrific. Maysixxmom, my D took the same GW scholarship your D turned down and has loved her time at the school. Each student and family has to make the decision that’s best for them. There’s no right answer.</p>
<p>To clarify, my D has always loved Rice and it was always her 1st choice. However, had she not been accepted into the Rice/Baylor program, she would have gone to her 2nd choice, Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. There she would have pursued the same undergrad degree with the added bonus of playing on the D3 volleyball team.</p>
<p>Interesting to see this thread resurrected after all this time; I remember following it closely last year during my D’a application process. Her experience: five applications, accepted at all. Totally surprised H and me by turning down what we had assumed were her top choices (Brown, Penn and Michigan) for her state school/safety – University at Buffalo (SUNY) Honors College with full tuition scholarship. H and I were dazed and confused :), she was tranquil and absolutely certain about her choice. And it WAS her choice; We were prepared to figure out the $$ if she’d made a different choice. So far she’s extremely happy with her decision.</p>
<p>^
Interesting! :)</p>
<p>Did she tell you what motivated her choice?</p>
<p>D never bought into the idea there was only one “dream” school. I agreed. So, her plan was to apply to several schools she really liked. After that, she said she’d choose the school that chose her if fortunate enough to get a merit offer. That’s exactly what she did, and I’ve never seen her any happier – or my bank account. :)</p>
<p>Question Quest^^</p>
<p>She just felt extremely comfortable at UB, she liked the “vibe” better, she said. This was not a kid who fell passionately in love with any of the schools she explored, nor did she have a “dream” school. She liked all the schools on her list, and could have seen herself at any of them, for various reasons. But she did express certain criteria that UB seemed to really satisfy. She wanted big, she wanted a lot of diversity of all kinds, she didn’t want to be in an uber-competitive, hothouse intellectual environment. She told us that being accepted at the higher ranked schools was an accomplishment that she was proud of – it recognized her hard work, talent and achievements in high school – but when it came time to actually making the choice, she selected the school based on what she felt was the best fit for her, not just the dazzle and satisfaction being accepted to the higher ranked schools.</p>