Potstickers
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2015
- Messages
- 146
There are quite a few National Merit awards that aren't directly National Merit Scholarships. In many of those cases, being a National Merit Semi-Finalist and then a Finalist qualify you. (The only students who don't advance from NMSF to finalists are those with a bunch of C, D, and F grades, significant disciplinary violations at schools, or who fail to fill out the finalist paperwork and submit a qualifying SAT score. I think last year more than 90% advanced.)
Fordham's award can cover up to full tuition. I have a student on that right now. U. of Southern Cal covers half tuition. A number of public universities -- especially in the south -- give major awards to students who qualify. None require interviews or tap dancing.
But there are lots of other ways of getting great merit award besides National Merit. A number of Texas public universities have a deal where if a student earns a $2K or more a year scholarship from the university they also qualify for in-state tuition. I have a student at Texas A&M paying $3K less than in-state tuition, and loving it.
You have to look at the right schools. If Bigfuture shows you that the college does not give merit scholarships (non-need based aid average is shown as $0) then it is not going to be a good merit opportunity no matter how smart your kid is. If your student has stats similar to those in the top 25% of students admitted at a college that gives merit money, your student will probably get some decent merit money. If your student is in the top 5-10% by stats, he or she is more likely to be in line for the largest merit awards.
Buying an education is like buying anything else. It is completely legitimate for students to ask questions of admissions officers about merit awards and what kinds of test scores and GPA's generally qualify a student. It helps, of course, if the student first checks the college website because many of these criteria are listed right there.
Fordham's award can cover up to full tuition. I have a student on that right now. U. of Southern Cal covers half tuition. A number of public universities -- especially in the south -- give major awards to students who qualify. None require interviews or tap dancing.
But there are lots of other ways of getting great merit award besides National Merit. A number of Texas public universities have a deal where if a student earns a $2K or more a year scholarship from the university they also qualify for in-state tuition. I have a student at Texas A&M paying $3K less than in-state tuition, and loving it.
You have to look at the right schools. If Bigfuture shows you that the college does not give merit scholarships (non-need based aid average is shown as $0) then it is not going to be a good merit opportunity no matter how smart your kid is. If your student has stats similar to those in the top 25% of students admitted at a college that gives merit money, your student will probably get some decent merit money. If your student is in the top 5-10% by stats, he or she is more likely to be in line for the largest merit awards.
Buying an education is like buying anything else. It is completely legitimate for students to ask questions of admissions officers about merit awards and what kinds of test scores and GPA's generally qualify a student. It helps, of course, if the student first checks the college website because many of these criteria are listed right there.