A Rant On Boston University and Its Financial Aid

[prospect1]

Good points, @dodgersmom. I would still like to know the average award provided to all accepted students who sought aid, not just those students who ended up matriculating. Yes, it would include students who might have asked, but had no need and therefore no FA was given. But it would still be a useful metric for people to see. And it would open people’s eyes to the paucity of aid offered at many schools, thereby removing the stars from these kids’ eyes and bringing them back down to earth.

At the best schools, such as BU featured in this thread, the 75th percentile thing doesn’t really help. They get so many apps from kids with stellar stats that the unmeasurable intangibles come into play. My kids applied ONLY to colleges where they well exceeded, by good margins, the 75th percentile in gpa and scores, and merit awards ranged from full to zero anyway (with full being RARE and zero being the NORM despite their stats). I don’t think my experience is uncommon from what I read on these boards. With each kid, a wider and wider net has had to be cast. If things keep on this trajectory, I can’t imagine how many apps a kid will need to fill out in five years.

[excanuck99]

BU is notorious for awarding aid to those students it really wants, and severely gapping those who it ranks lower. They apparently rate applicants and award financial aid accordingly. As for Michigan, they now offer excellent financial aid to oos students. I got almost a full ride. NYU is equally terrible, as is USC. They, too, award financial aid according to some sort of ranking.

[prospect1]

@excanuck99-so true-I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. If YOU are the one these schools want, and YOU get the big FA or merit award, then the school has been very generous! Again, need to cast a wide, wide net to figure out which college prizes YOU over all others…

[tomofboston]

BU is notorious for awarding aid to those students it really wants, and severely gapping those who it ranks lower.

Shame on a school for giving a lot of aid to students that it wants!

[adkdad]

My Ds decision on BU was very easy after getting the financial aid info.

[dodgersmom]

I absolutely understand the complaints about BU - especially from the OP, who’s a student who was really hoping to go to school there.

But if everything posted in this thread is true, then you’ve got to give BU credit for one thing - whether by generosity or stinginess, at least it makes everyone’s decisions easy!

[lookingforward]

It’s funny to see such blame placed on the schools for marketing info or selective aid practices…and the implication left on the table that the families didn’t know or assumed. If FA is of supreme importance, you can’t settle for assumptions and risk disappointment. And then get angry. One thing you can do, besides run NPCs, is be a little freaking more dispassionate about choices. “Honey, this depends entirely on the aid we get.”

[twoinanddone]

^^ And it keeps people talking about BU. Free advertising.

[WaterRising]

Update: I got into Columbia and I’m extremely happy with my aid. I plan on going there next year.

[sybbie719]

The one thing about BU, is like it or not, they have always tried to be transparent when it comes to financial aid even to the extent that they don’t guarantee to give you any, even though you may be eligible. BU even states that

@BU

As you might expect, academic excellence counts here. Whether you’re a candidate for a merit or need-based scholarship, we’ll consider your academic performance.

Unfortunately, we’re not able to offer aid to every eligible applicant. But we make every effort to extend our resources to as many students as we can. Our goal is to make it possible for you to enroll at BU.

http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/incoming/

A few years ago there was an article where BU’s financial aid director specifically spoke about financial aid at BU. Some of the things she said were:

The reason is that every college has its own approach and goals in offering money from its coffers. Aside from a relative handful of elite colleges that admit students regardless of their financial need and then award enough aid to cover it, most colleges are like Boston University, using financial aid — both need- and merit-­based scholarships — to lure the best students.

**Translation: The strongest students in a pool of applicants (maybe this is your safety school) will probably get more aid than the weakest applicants (maybe this is your reach school).

“We’re saying, ‘We love you,’ ” to those offered the best packages, says Laurie A. Pohl, vice president for enrollment and student affairs.**

Bottom line, Dr. Pohl says, is that “we’re going to meet full need out of the box for our best students who have financial need.” All told, about 200 students in each incoming class receive scholarships for half the tuition, and about 100 for full tuition, whether they need it or not.

B.U. may be need-blind in admissions, but like many colleges, it is not talent-blind in financial aid. When the admissions office accepts a student, the file gets a rating before going to the financial aid office. That rating, Dr. Pohl says, is based on a holistic read of the application: factors like leadership, talent, motivation and personal character are weighed as well as grades and test scores.

They get a number that is not a calculation,” she says. “It is not a tally. It is a label. It could just as easily be colors or letters. What it tells us internally is their relative strength, how competitive they are within our pool.” With that rating and the office’s calculation of “need” — indeed a relative term — a formula is applied to reflect, as Ms. McGuire puts it, how “encouraging” the school will be to an accepted student.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/finaid-pappano-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0