There are a couple terms you should be familiar with; Full Ride Scholarship, Full Tuition Scholarship and Partial Tuition Scholarship. These titles have varied meanings at different colleges. So when a recruiter or counselor or another parent throws out these titles, know what they are referencing.

To me, Full Ride is the coveted scholarship and means that the scholarship covers everything expect for some pizza and spending money and maybe you will have to come up with money to cover an airline ticket out to the college. Other than that, everything else is covered.

Full Tuition, to me means that it covers 100% of tuition which at one of the in state colleges is around $10,000 per year. Books, Fees, Meal Plan, Room and Board are usually not included and must be paid by you or rolled into a loan. This could be as much as $15,000 to $20,000 that is not covered in the Full Tuition Scholarship.

Some Recruiters will throw around Full Ride when they really mean Full Tuition.

Partial Tuition Scholarship is exactly that, it covers a percentage of tuition. So in the case of one of the in state colleges, a 25% tuition scholarship could be around $2,500 per year. A 40% Tuition Scholarship at a Private college where the Tuition fees are $42,000 would equal about $17,000 in scholarships.

Don’t throw out a college based solely on the sticker price until you have run all the numbers because some colleges have been known to be very generous and it could be less expensive in the long run.

Know before you go.

Review the Online Lesson #4 Leveraging Statistics at for further detail on this. (Login and password required to view this video lesson.)

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Uncategorized by J.D Wyczalek