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If your student graduates high school in May, your family is already talking about how to pay for college. Around $100 million in scholarship money goes unclaimed, and the FOX 5 I-Team’s Dana Fowle looks at how you can see if you can get some of that cash.
ATLANTA – If your student graduates from high school in May, your family is already talking about how to pay for college. There are grants, aid, loans, and scholarships. But did you know that $100 million in scholarship money goes unclaimed?
There’s a new, free service called Merit Aid Grids. It will show you available merit scholarship money. Merit means it’s not income-based, but 100% based on a student’s scores. And we are talking about a wide range of scores, not just the top of the class.
Let's look at the University of Georgia's website. Between tuition and fees, room and board, books, and living expenses, expect to pay $28,862 a year. That's more than $115,448 for four years.
Some families can pay out-of-pocket. Most though fill out FAFSA and CSS forms to see if they qualify for aid and grant programs. But here's where the middle class gets boxed out. They don’t qualify for aid, but they also can’t really pay for what is being asked.
Brian and Dr. Silvia Eufinger own Edison Prep. It tutors students to perform better on the ACT and SAT. Doing this, they saw a lot of money being left on the table, so they used their resources to add a free guide to the mix.
"The number given to (families) for what they're expected to pay bore no resemblance to what they could actually do without putting themselves in financial jeopardy," Brian Eufinger said.
Enter the merit scholarship. It’s based 100% on scores: GPAs, ACTs, and SATs. Most schools nationwide offer these scholarships, but sometimes they’re hard to find. So Merit Aid Grids finds the money trail for you. It shows exactly what schools offer. It lets you know quickly if you can afford the school you’re checking out.
"A certainty of getting this much aid to make it affordable or the certainty, with the massive discount, this school is not financially feasible," he added.
Because Georgia offers the HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships for good scores, it doesn’t fit snugly into the formula. So, let’s say your child didn’t get into the coveted journalism program at UGA. The University of Missouri is another big name in that field. It's out of state, so that’ll cost more. But look at the merit scholarship opportunities.
Brian Eufinger explained it this way.
"If we have an 1130 SAT or a 23 ACT, low as that is, it's a top 37% score. You can get from Mizzou $34 grand with a top 37% score."
"And, if you can get to a 12% score here in the dark gold, you can get ($84,000.) Eighty-four grand of after-tax dollars."
Auburn, out of state, with a 3.5 GPA and a 29 ACT will offer $7,000 a year in scholarships. Much of the Southeast shows big financial opportunities on Merit Aid Grids.
"Auburn has one. Tennessee has one. Alabama has one. Utah, Wyoming, Michigan State, Mizzou," Brian Eufinger rattled off.
Here’s something else to consider. Let’s go back to Mizzou’s chart because it’s so clearly laid out. You can see how much improving your score can also save money.
Let's say you have a 27 ACT score combined with a 3.9 GPA. By getting 20 more questions right on a 215-question test, you can get a lot more merit aid from that school.
"You save mom almost $50,000 in after-tax money. Each question is literally $1,400," Eufinger figured.
The grid is new and still populating college merit scholarship data. Feel free to submit any information that may help the site grow.
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