Looking for Merit Aid?

Looking for a Merit Award to reduce the cost of university?   In order to be considered for merit awards, students are usually in the top 15% of the applicant pool at a particular institution.  Often no special application is needed, consideration is typically automatic and based on grades and standardized test scores.

Here are some colleges and universities that we know awarded merit scholarships to our first graduating class.  There are many others out there, but they are not always advertised.   Many Canadian universities offer merit awards automatically based on IB scores.  Research to see if any of these are a good fit:

Boston University
Drexel University
Earlham College
George Washington University
Hofstra University
Lafayette College
Marist College
Northeastern University
University of San Francisco
Syracuse University
Simon Fraser University (Canada)
New York University - Shanghai (China)

If you know of more universities that offer merit awards, tell your Advisor!   More information will be provided in another post on applying for financial aid based on need and on the Davis UWC Scholars Program, which is need-based.

How the College Bubble Will Pop

Richard Vedder ( an adjunct scholar at the American Entreprise Institute, a teacher at Ohio University, and the director of Center for College Affordability and Productivity) and his student at Ohio University, Christopher Denhart discuss how despite education being promoted as the ticket to economic success, college enrollment has fallen.  

The article, titled, "How the College Bubble Will Pop" published in the Wall Street Journal on January 8 2014,  states:

Yet despite such exhortations, total college enrollment has fallen by 1.5% since 2012. What's causing the decline? While changing demographics—specifically, a birth dearth in the mid-1990s—accounts for some of the shift, robust foreign enrollment offsets that lack. The answer is simple: The benefits of a degree are declining while costs rise.

You can read the full story here.  

Thank you to Katie Day at UWCSEA East Library for passing on this article. 

An Inside Look into Yale NUS College, Singapore

Our UAC intern, Mala Swaminathan, attended a weekend event in May 2013 to introduce Yale-NUS  and had this to share:

      The Yale NUS College (YaleNUS) orientation for parents, counselors and 60 admitted students was held at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium at the Education Resource Centre on the NUS campus.

      YaleNUS is the first liberal arts college in Singapore and it is a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore. A total of 11,000 applications were reviewed for the year 2013-2014 of which 4 % of students were accepted. Currently, the student population is 2/3rd Singaporean and 1/3rd international and the college will eventually have a student body of 1,000 and a faculty of 100.

    The campus is adjacent to the NUS’s University Town and has well-equipped classrooms,a great library with rare books from Yale University and state of the art computer rooms. The college is fully residential and all the students can enjoy a comfortable residential life with study spaces, sky gardens, butteries and informal student run eateries. Tuition per semester will range from 7,500 Singapore dollars for Singapore citizens to 15,000 dollars for foreign students, or from $6,000 to $12,000.

      YaleNUS is looking for students with an ‘extra something’ –students who could add to the college community, students who are articulate, interesting and well rounded individuals. While the admissions office does not specify an exact IB or SAT score, they go through a holistic process by considering every aspect of an application. Good academic performance and rigorous coursework are qualifying factors in applying to YaleNUS. Admissions for IB students would consider a student's transcript from Grades 9 to 12 and a student's predicted grades.  Offers are not strictly conditional; however, a discrepancy between predicted grades and final grades can lead to the student’s admission status being revoked. Once the application has been completed online and all the relevant documents submitted, the admissions officer interviews all candidates after which a final decision is made.

      There are three aspects to a degree from YaleNUS:
      - Common/Core Curriculum
      - Pure Electives
      - Majors (15 majors including a double degree in law)

      Students will take a common curriculum in the first year, including courses on literature and humanities, philosophy and political thought, scientific inquiry and social institutions, before selecting a major.Class sizes are limited to 18-20 students. Students, all of whom will be required to live on campus, will also have the option of pursuing a combined undergraduate degree with law, with the law component taught through the N.U.S. law school, or combining an undergraduate degree with a masters in environmental management through Yale.

      All students will also complete a senior capstone project in their final year that will require them to conduct original research. All students are guaranteed: an international experience, internship opportunities and special leadership programs. Some of the special leadership programs include; first summer@yale (only available for students who have been admitted this year), Study at Yale or at one of the NUS overseas colleges (one year), 40 global programs and independent research programs. Students become alumni of three bodies -Yale, NUS,and YaleNUS.

      Please visit the following websites to learn more about YaleNUS:

      http://www.ync.nus.edu.sg/learning.html
      http://yalenusblog.com/2012/10/17/why-university-students-need-a-well-rounded-education-by-james-bradshaw/

Tuition Fees: Home Status and Overseas Student Status

After our presentation to Grade 11 parents on the application process in the UK several questions on tuition fees and the fee structure for International students and domestic students have cropped up.  With this post, we hope to point families to some resources as they start researching universities and the fee structure. Please note that policies and fees change, and at the time of writing this post, the details are correct. We encourage families to peruse individual university websites and also to contact university representatives directly, for clarification and up-to-date information.

Broadly speaking, all country destinations have two categories: International and Domestic. Domestic students are termed as those who hold a passport of that country. So you could be an Australian citizen, having lived in Singapore your entire life, and you are still considered an Australian national for university fees. This is also true for Canada, most European destinations, New Zealand, and the US (in-state tuition for State Universities has an additional category; we will speak with students one-on-one about this).  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published an e-book, this has a section on tuition fees policies for OECD countries for 2012.

The education department of the UK Government decides the categories of student fees. There are two broad categories however,  UK/EU known as “home” and Non-EU or “Overseas”.  The fees increase in the UK, for domestic students from £3,000 to £9,000 has everyone talking; even British Intellectuals are discussing the increase in tuition fees.  With the increase, families are more concerned about what category they will fall into.

As mentioned earlier, usually universities look at a student’s passport and citizenship. However, in the UK, a student’s citizenship and residency status are evaluated. If you are an EU passport holder or a UK citizen, you may not instantly be considered “home status.” Usually families have to prove that they pay taxes in the UK or an EU country and have records of this for three years prior to a student enrolling in university. In addition, if you already hold citizenship of an EU country or the UK, and a parent works for a UK or an EU-based company, this will benefit the student’s claim for home status. Finally, if the family is only outside of their home in the EU or the UK (for two years or else), this should be highlighted to gain home status.

However, the classification of “home” fees can be complicated and we recommend that individuals contact specific universities to clear doubts. Families should also visit the UK Council for International Student Affairs website for detailed information on Home status vs. Overseas status

To assess whether someone is viewed as “Home” or “Overseas,” students may be asked some questions and will need to provide some information:

·           Do you have permanent residence in your current country?

·           Give details of countries in which you have lived with the dates.

·           Do you own property / pay taxes / have medical insurance in the UK?

·           Is your father’s / mother’s work contract temporary?

·           Is your father’s / mother’s employer UK / EU based?

Please note that documentary evidence will be required for all claims.

According to Education UK average costs, per year, for International students are:

·         Arts courses: £7,000 to £9,000

·         Science courses:  £7,500 to £22,000

·         Clinical courses: £10,000 to £25,000

 

It is important for families to understand that a university can charge different fees for different courses. It is up to the university to decide what fees it will charge for the courses it offers. However, the Guardian University League Table lists the minimum and maximum tuition fees charged by each university for domestic and International students for the academic year 2012-2013.

The next question may be, is there financial aid available in the UK?  The UK government wants to ensure people are not deterred from enrolling into university because of lack of funds. Bursaries and scholarships are forms of financial help for International and home status students.  Students will have to look at individual universities to see if there are bursaries they are eligible for.

Home status students can also apply for a loan. The Students Loans Company administers all student loans. It manages student loans to EU students from any national UK student finance company. Students must apply to the Student Finance Company that is in the area they are from (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales).  There’s also information on Student Loan Repayment.

Deciding where to study and what course to enroll in is a difficult task. Add to the mix the complication, for some, on fees category, and the university application process becomes an emotional and financial journey.  We encourage families to find out all information about fees and additional costs (accommodation, transportation, food and so on) as students explore their options. To make it a little less difficult, we ask families to ensure they have open and frank discussions about several factors: location, course of study, and definitely about finances.

Good luck researching university options!