Bancroft-Rosalie will start ACT test prep with the juniors in February. We use the John Baylor test prep program. If students complete the John Baylor program, the school will pay the fee for students to take the April test. If students get their ACT test homework done for every session, they will receive a $20 gas card. These costs are paid for by the EducationQuest grant, which is $5000 a year for four years. We are in the second year of the grant.
Why does the school take the ACT test so seriously?
In-state colleges and universities: most students can get in without ACT Preparation, but increasing that score can mean thousands of dollars saved.
UNL, UNK, UNO: students need a 20 or higher to get in (average score in Nebraska is a 22.1). But students typically need at least a 27 to be considered for the NU Honors College-- worth $500 per year plus the Honors Dorm and Honors Courses, meaning fewer and more capable students per
class. A Regents Scholarship usually requires at least a 30 for consideration-- a Regents means free tuition for all 4 years or about $32,000 saved by the family. So 30 is usually the magic number (depending on GPA and class rank) for big scholarship money within the University of Nebraska's 3 campuses.
Peru, Wayne, Chadron: students need at least a 17 to get in typically. A 25-26 (or higher) usually means 4 years of free tuition or about $24,000 saved. So 25 or 26 is often the magic number (depending on GPA and class rank) for big money within the state colleges.
Nebraska's private colleges are now about $28,000 total a year, with Creighton charging about $38,000 annually. You're in usually with a 20 or higher, but each point typically is worth about $500 a year in financial aid. So a student is admitted with a 22, but if she jumps her score to a 25, that's about $1500 more in aid a year times 4 years or $6000 in savings. The exact scholarship formula for Dana, Doane, Wesleyan, Midland Lutheran, Concordia, Hastings, St. Mary's, etc... differs slightly for each school, but the $500 per year per ACT point is typical (below is the exact formula used by Wesleyan for scholarships based solely on ACT scores-- these amounts are the dollars saved each year for 4 years). The $500 per point per year is a rough estimate for Nebraska's private colleges and actually can understate the impact of score increases. For example, just a 1-point jump from a 28 to a 29 for Wesleyan means an increase in annual aid from $7500 to $9000.
ACT Composite Score Class Rank Scholarship Award
32 and up NA Board of Governors Scholar Award $11,500
29-31 NA Wesleyan Scholar Award $10,000
27-28 or Top 10% Fredstrom Scholarship $8,500
24-26 or Top 25% President's Scholarship $7,000
22-23 or Top 33% Recognition Scholarship $5,500
Merit-based aid at Nebraska's private and public colleges usually is only earned in high school. Once enrolled in college, a student typically cannot qualify for or increase her merit based aid based on college grades or performance.
Out-of-state colleges desperately seek small town Nebraska students-- a rare commodity in the nation's pool of potential college applicants. Thus, small town Nebraska students enjoy geographic affirmative action in the high stakes, out-of-state, selective college admissions process. This advantage over students from Omaha-- not to mention Connecticut, Illinois, and California-- is significant. The further away a college is, the more it wants rural Nebraska students for diversity's sake. However, because of distance, out-of-state schools may not fully appreciate the other elements of the application-- GPA and extra-curricular achievement. Thus, the ACT score weighs heavily in both admissions and financial aid decisions at out-of-state schools.
Simply put, for Nebraska colleges and universities, most students can get admitted with a 20, but raising that ACT score is absolutely the best paying job a high school student will ever have. For out-of-state colleges and universities, it's critical for both financial aid and admissions.
