sweetpeasmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,573
Jun 27, 2014 14:04:01 GMT
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Post by sweetpeasmom on Aug 23, 2019 20:56:00 GMT
DS has started his senior year. He won't be going to a 4 year collage but a 2 year tech/trade school. What I am wanting to know is a good site to find a concise list of scholarships to apply for.
While I'm at it, dd is starting her sophomore year. She will be going to a 4 year school. Is there a site that has a list of requirements to get in - GPA, testing scores, AP classes needed (if any), etc?
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Post by pinkgreen on Aug 23, 2019 21:06:46 GMT
Your best and most reliable information will be directly from the schools your children plan to attend. Each school has different requirements and scholarship programs. Admissions counselors may be aware of other scholarship opportunities from other sources. Your high school guidance counselor is also a good place to start.
Good luck! It can be quite the process to navigate!
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Post by Patter on Aug 23, 2019 21:12:00 GMT
Yes, I second looking directly at the schools your kiddos want to attend. Much easier that way. And my girls applied to their respective universities as soon as their senior year started. They were accepted by October and knew where they would be going so the rest of their senior year was quite relaxed because we didn't have that worry (wondering where they would go). They were homeschooled though.
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mvavw
Full Member
Posts: 344
Jun 25, 2014 20:21:43 GMT
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Post by mvavw on Aug 23, 2019 21:19:37 GMT
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sweetpeasmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,573
Jun 27, 2014 14:04:01 GMT
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Post by sweetpeasmom on Aug 23, 2019 21:44:19 GMT
Thank you! I had forgotten that one. I just book marked the page.
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Post by ~summer~ on Aug 23, 2019 21:46:37 GMT
You should find out if your high school uses Naviance - it will be extremely valuable.
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Post by Basket1lady on Aug 23, 2019 22:52:09 GMT
Yes, I second looking directly at the schools your kiddos want to attend. Much easier that way. And my girls applied to their respective universities as soon as their senior year started. They were accepted by October and knew where they would be going so the rest of their senior year was quite relaxed because we didn't have that worry (wondering where they would go). They were homeschooled though. Agree. DD had all her acceptance letters by Nov 1. But being her normal self, waited until May 1 to declare her school. DS had most of his letters by Feb 1, which was a bit of a pain IMO. And then Notre Dame didn’t get back to him until April 20 or so. Good thing he had already decided, as we couldn’t have afforded ND (they don’t give any merit aid). For your DD—don’t be afraid to explore private schools. Both of my kids got whopping scholarships and then money for being out-of-state students. Both have/will graduate debt free, which saves their college funds for grad school. DS is in grad school now and it’s like pulling teeth to get info from the school about anything. I’m not sure if it’s because they are experienced students or because it’s a large state school. But it’s annoying!
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Belle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,309
Jun 28, 2014 4:39:12 GMT
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Post by Belle on Aug 23, 2019 22:57:49 GMT
If you google Common Data Set along with whatever college your DD is interested in, you will get a TON of info on that individual school. You can see what the average gpa is for incoming freshman, if they require SAT subject tests, how many kids live on campus plus the financial info such as tuition, room and board, books etc.
Common data set Harvard or common data set UCLA etc....
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Post by Patter on Aug 24, 2019 10:33:32 GMT
Yes, I second looking directly at the schools your kiddos want to attend. Much easier that way. And my girls applied to their respective universities as soon as their senior year started. They were accepted by October and knew where they would be going so the rest of their senior year was quite relaxed because we didn't have that worry (wondering where they would go). They were homeschooled though. Agree. DD had all her acceptance letters by Nov 1. But being her normal self, waited until May 1 to declare her school. DS had most of his letters by Feb 1, which was a bit of a pain IMO. And then Notre Dame didn’t get back to him until April 20 or so. Good thing he had already decided, as we couldn’t have afforded ND (they don’t give any merit aid). For your DD— don’t be afraid to explore private schools. Both of my kids got whopping scholarships and then money for being out-of-state students. Both have/will graduate debt free, which saves their college funds for grad school. DS is in grad school now and it’s like pulling teeth to get info from the school about anything. I’m not sure if it’s because they are experienced students or because it’s a large state school. But it’s annoying! Oh yes, definitely look at private schools. Can be much cheaper. My girls went to a private school, and all got great scholarships. Now one is in a private medical school (though they don't give any aid at that level). And my other daughter is in a private school getting her Master's.
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Post by trixiecat on Aug 24, 2019 11:24:43 GMT
I am just curious by how much cheaper a private school is. Here is PA alot of the state universities are in the very low $20K - all in. And also what is someone is an average student are they going to get those deep discounts still? I know there are alot of variables that go into it, but I was just curious. My daughter's boyfriend comes from a family of 7 and he will have to pay his entire way through college. They have no money. He is hoping to play baseball at a division III school and get grants, financial aid, etc. But when the private universities are $40K-$60K per year, can they really be discounted down below $20K? Again...just curious.
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Post by happymom on Aug 24, 2019 12:09:02 GMT
I am just curious by how much cheaper a private school is. Here is PA alot of the state universities are in the very low $20K - all in. And also what is someone is an average student are they going to get those deep discounts still? I know there are alot of variables that go into it, but I was just curious. My daughter's boyfriend comes from a family of 7 and he will have to pay his entire way through college. They have no money. He is hoping to play baseball at a division III school and get grants, financial aid, etc. But when the private universities are $40K-$60K per year, can they really be discounted down below $20K? Again...just curious. My son went to a 70,000 private school. It was a full tuition scholarship so it increased when tuition went up. We paid room and board which was less than 18,000. The younger kid at our flagship state school has a $3,000 scholarship. We pay about 19,000 a year. His travel expenses are much less.
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sweetpeasmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,573
Jun 27, 2014 14:04:01 GMT
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Post by sweetpeasmom on Aug 24, 2019 12:15:21 GMT
If you google Common Data Set along with whatever college your DD is interested in, you will get a TON of info on that individual school. You can see what the average gpa is for incoming freshman, if they require SAT subject tests, how many kids live on campus plus the financial info such as tuition, room and board, books etc. Common data set Harvard or common data set UCLA etc.... Thank you for that.
Agree. DD had all her acceptance letters by Nov 1. But being her normal self, waited until May 1 to declare her school. DS had most of his letters by Feb 1, which was a bit of a pain IMO. And then Notre Dame didn’t get back to him until April 20 or so. Good thing he had already decided, as we couldn’t have afforded ND (they don’t give any merit aid). For your DD—don’t be afraid to explore private schools. Both of my kids got whopping scholarships and then money for being out-of-state students. Both have/will graduate debt free, which saves their college funds for grad school. DS is in grad school now and it’s like pulling teeth to get info from the school about anything. I’m not sure if it’s because they are experienced students or because it’s a large state school. But it’s annoying!
Thank you for that feedback.
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Post by Patter on Aug 24, 2019 12:34:26 GMT
I am just curious by how much cheaper a private school is. Here is PA alot of the state universities are in the very low $20K - all in. And also what is someone is an average student are they going to get those deep discounts still? I know there are alot of variables that go into it, but I was just curious. My daughter's boyfriend comes from a family of 7 and he will have to pay his entire way through college. They have no money. He is hoping to play baseball at a division III school and get grants, financial aid, etc. But when the private universities are $40K-$60K per year, can they really be discounted down below $20K? Again...just curious. I will tell you what it was for my girls. Their private school was $35K a year. That included food and dorm for the year. We paid $24K per year for each girl. We homeschooled them from 7-12th so we weren't sure what they could get. They didn't have all of the "stuff" that most kids have when applying. They only had SAT scores which were average. They are horrible standardized test takers BUT they graduated with: DD#1: Magna cum Laude, Bachelors in Chemistry, Bachelors in Forensic Science and a minor in Criminal Justice in 4 years DD#2: Summa cum Laude, Bachelors in Computer Science, Bachelors in Biology and a minor in Chemistry in 5 years DD#3: Will graduate in December cum Laude with a Bachelors in Special Education. She has many medical issues so she had to take time off but she did it in 4 years just broken up. So, they weren't the "best" applicants to universities but still got scholarships and ended up being REALLY great students. DD#2 is in the top 20% of her medical school class. DD#1 has a 4.0 right now working on her Master's Degree full-time while working as a police officer full-time. Some kids may not have everything everyone else does when applying but private schools are more willing to help IMO. My girls THRIVED at their small university and it has now taken them very far in their graduate work. They learned really well how to study when homeschooled and it paid off in college. Hope this helps a bit.
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Post by trixiecat on Aug 24, 2019 12:49:00 GMT
Thanks Patter and I can tell how proud you are of your girls. The figures you give are sort of what I was expecting. I know there are so many variables...merit scholarships, financial aid, other scholarships, grant money, etc. My daughter is a horrible standardized test taker as well. And we will not qualify for any financial aid. So I think she will end up going to one of our state schools. She really likes one of the "out of state", state schools, but out of state tuition is triple of in-state and the "all in" figure is $48K. They give $1,500 off of tuition I understand. So unfortunuately, that school is off the list. I think I would like for her to explore the private school route a little and see what she thinks. She doesn't want to go to a school with 2,000 kids, but something more like 8-15K kids.
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Post by Basket1lady on Aug 24, 2019 17:23:19 GMT
I am just curious by how much cheaper a private school is. Here is PA alot of the state universities are in the very low $20K - all in. And also what is someone is an average student are they going to get those deep discounts still? I know there are alot of variables that go into it, but I was just curious. My daughter's boyfriend comes from a family of 7 and he will have to pay his entire way through college. They have no money. He is hoping to play baseball at a division III school and get grants, financial aid, etc. But when the private universities are $40K-$60K per year, can they really be discounted down below $20K? Again...just curious. DS went to a $65k a year university and he received about $28k in scholarships. It was all merit aid. DD goes to a $60k a year school and gets about $31k in scholarships. Both schools have the info online with the ranges for merit aid. If your student is active in a club or sport, that will help. B students get aid, too. It was a combo of GPA, ACT/SAT score and after school activities. Most private schools are looking for diversity, so if your child has that to offer it helps. My kids were military kids from out of state. DS’s school’s goal is to have a student from every state and he was the Virginia student early on. And it’s not too soon to start looking. We looked at schools starting the summer between their sophomore and junior years. It helped to know what they were working towards and to know the expectations.
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peaname
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,389
Aug 16, 2014 23:15:53 GMT
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Post by peaname on Aug 24, 2019 17:52:21 GMT
I’ve heard if you are interested in a private school to list your state school as your #1choice in Naviance and apply there to encourage the private schools to give you an offer that would be comparably financially.
As for scholarships look for local or regional businesses, organizations parents or students belong to, field of study, religious scholarships, heck even the fall clubs offer scholarships to tall students. Leave no stone unturned and don’t be afraid to be honest with admissions my son wrote a heartfelt letter explaining our situation and his why he lived the school and he ended up getting an additional merit scholarship.
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mvavw
Full Member
Posts: 344
Jun 25, 2014 20:21:43 GMT
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Post by mvavw on Aug 24, 2019 18:59:57 GMT
Also, ds goes to a private college and found out about a theater scholarship on his tour by talking to the student who led the tour. It's a tech school that was looking for diverse students and he received around 20k over his 4 years for his involvement in HS theater. There was info on the school's website, but it was VERY hidden.
So, the two takeaways are to ask about scholarships when you're on tours, and to REALLY look at the websites for scholarship info, not just the financial aid pages.
Other places to look are clubs/organizations you and your kids grandparents belong to. My ds got a scholarship that helped with books from my dad's professional organization. My husband's hs alumni club offers scholarships, but he wasn't an active member long enough for ds to qualify.
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Post by playingcinderella on Aug 24, 2019 23:47:36 GMT
Many schools have a counselor or support person who focuses on college. Be sure to reach out if their schools have one - they can be a wealth of information.
Also be sure to find out about out of state tuition scholarships/waivers if your DD is looking at out of state schools. I ended up getting my best scholarship/financial aid offer to a public/state university in a different state. I picked my schools to apply to by searching for automatic academic scholarships. I knew my parents couldn't pay for school and I would need scholarships and financial aid so that's where I started.
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sweetpeasmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,573
Jun 27, 2014 14:04:01 GMT
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Post by sweetpeasmom on Aug 25, 2019 1:40:42 GMT
I’ve heard if you are interested in a private school to list your state school as your #1choice in Naviance and apply there to encourage the private schools to give you an offer that would be comparably financially. As for scholarships look for local or regional businesses, organizations parents or students belong to, field of study, religious scholarships, heck even the fall clubs offer scholarships to tall students. Leave no stone unturned and don’t be afraid to be honest with admissions my son wrote a heartfelt letter explaining our situation and his why he lived the school and he ended up getting an additional merit scholarship. What is Naviance? I think someone up post mentioned that too.
The scholarships from odd places, organizations, etc is what I am looking for. We do have something for in state schools here but it's doesn't cover it 100% (but every little bit helps). Do you know of a site that has random scholarships to apply for?
Many schools have a counselor or support person who focuses on college. Be sure to reach out if their schools have one - they can be a wealth of information. Also be sure to find out about out of state tuition scholarships/waivers if your DD is looking at out of state schools. I ended up getting my best scholarship/financial aid offer to a public/state university in a different state. I picked my schools to apply to by searching for automatic academic scholarships. I knew my parents couldn't pay for school and I would need scholarships and financial aid so that's where I started.
What do you mean by searching automatic academic scholarships?
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