<p>My family makes too much to get financial aid but not enough to be able to afford prep schools. I was wondering if there were any prep schools that give merit scholarships. I haven't seen any so far. Has anyone else?</p>
<p>Also our family pays a lot of money to taxes. Do prep schools consider that when giving FA or is it just the regular family income?</p>
<p>An earlier thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/631220-scholarship-opportunities.html?highlight=merit[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/631220-scholarship-opportunities.html?highlight=merit</a></p>
<p>I recommend you also search this forum for the word “merit.”</p>
<p>Given the financial crisis, some of the scholarships may be smaller, so it pays to do your research.</p>
<p>I am also in the same situtation. And after much research, here are some of the schools that offer the most generous merit scholarships:
Perkiomen School
Baylor School
Suffield (half tuition)
Portsmouth Abbey
Culver Academy</p>
<p>I know that SPS, Kent, Choate and Portsmouth Abbey offer great Merit Scholarships.</p>
<p>I am on one at Kent, and I love the group of kids that got them(We all are really different and I think the idea of giving merit scholarships instead of straight up FA in some cases is a great idea).</p>
<p>SPS is more related to geographic area and subjects(Classic scholarships I think?).
Kent has two general scholarships; High Honors and Honors. Honors are usually $10k-$18k. High Honors are anywhere from $20k-Full. </p>
<p>Please note… For Kent… Some of the kids that get academic and athletic scholarships have a legitimate Financial Aid need, but the school feels like a merit scholarship is a better idea. The merit scholarship+FA I got from Kent was almost double the FA I got from Andover, Choate or Hotchkiss. </p>
<p>I think that Choate has a similar policy… Not sure. So remember that when you look at the average amount issued. Just because a place grants big merit scholarships doesn’t mean that they are truly 100% merit and not partially based on need.</p>
<p>that is one of the reasons why i didn’t list Choate. when techinically you can afford boarding school, the ones that are offered to fill your need are not very useful</p>
<p>I’m interested in the SPS classics scholarship, but I can’t find it. Anyone have a link?</p>
<p>wickedcrazy</p>
<p>SPS Classic</p>
<p>Contact SPS Admissions & let them know you are interested.</p>
<p>I believe last year my son had to fill out a post card request form that Listed his current instructor’s name and contact info. His Latin Teacher then received a letter from SPS. SPS coordinates with your current teacher to proctor the exam & return to SPS.</p>
<p>Notnim, thank you!</p>
<p>I have been taking Latin for a few years and have had some experience in Greek-- do I need to be fluent or whatever the classic equivalent is, or what?</p>
<p>My son only had a few months of Latin experience when he took the test.</p>
<p>I believe the test is the same for all but is then “graded” in relationship to your level – ie, similar to SSAT % based upon grade level.</p>
<p>Son said it was a mix of vocab, grammer & readings</p>
<p>I am a parent of a SPS waitlist last year, so I am no expert on any of this – Post on the SPS thread & someone more knowledgable may be able to tell you more</p>
<p>Q. Does St. Paul’s School offer special-interest scholarships?<br>
A. Yes. St. Paul’s School offers special-interest scholarships through specific programs, all of which have a preference for financial need. The Walker Scholarship is for African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students; The Cook Scholarship is for students from the state of Montana; The Ross Scholarship is for students from Northern New Jersey; The John Kaul Greene Scholarship is for students from the state of Alabama; and The Classical Honors Scholarship is for outstanding Latin and/or Greek scholars. St. Paul’s School does not offer athletic scholarships. With the exception of the Classical Honors Scholarship, all applicants are automatically considered for these scholarships; there is no separate application. Please contact Tim Klika, Director of Financial Aid, at (603) 229-5639 or by e-mail at <a href=“mailto:tklika@sps.edu”>tklika@sps.edu</a> for more information.</p>
<p>I have a few questions about the Classical Honor Scholarship:
[list=a]
[<em>]Does it also have a preference for financial need?
[</em>]Must it be Greek or Latin, or can it be another nationally (and internationally, I believe) recognized classical language, especially if one has two of them.
[/list]</p>
<p>PrincipalV - Verbatim from my post above:</p>
<p>Please contact Tim Klika, Director of Financial Aid, at (603) 229-5639 or by e-mail at <a href=“mailto:tklika@sps.edu”>tklika@sps.edu</a> for more information. </p>
<p>St. Paul’s School offers special-interest scholarships through specific programs, all of which have a preference for financial need.</p>
<p>The Classical Honors Scholarship is for outstanding Latin and/or Greek scholars.</p>
<p>EGO vindicatum is est vicis disco Latin.</p>
<p>Why do you “is” in there if you are speaking latin?</p>
<p>St. Paul’s is a needs-blind school. If you can get in the school will make it possible for you to go. I would thus question the op’s premise that the family makes too much money to qualify for financial aid but too little to send him/her to prep school. If for the right reasons you want to go to a prep school like Exeter/Andover/ SPS send in an application and be prepared to pay what their FA approach deems to be a fair family contribution.</p>
<p>That being said, Classical Honours is THE signature programme for Saint Paul’s and the classical honours scholarship is used to attract outstanding scholars to the school. The latin test is a means for the school to judge how serious an applicant is about the classics. Obviously if a 3rd form (grade nine) applicant says s(he) is keen about the classics but cannot yet read any latin , s(he) is not going to be very successful in a competitive examination for admission and/or the scholarship. For applicants who have never taken latin in school and who want to prepare for the exam I would recommend HA Orberg, Lingua Latina, volume 1 a world famous self teaching latin course developed in Denmark in the fifties and now available from focus publishing for about thirty dollars. An intelligent grade eight student could probably work through this in a few months and for all practical purposes read latin at the level of Caesar and Livy at a grade twelve level in the schools. In any case at a more than adequate level to demonstrate the talent and interest required by the school.</p>
<p>While they are a needs blind school, which means they will admit you without knowing if you applied for FA or not, they do not guarantee to match that FA to your needs. None of the schools do.</p>
<p>I cannot speak to how financial aid works at other schools but my experience at SPS is that if you can get in they will enable you to go.No one should be deterred from applying simply because they think that they cannot afford to go. The only sure way not to get in is not to apply. Obviously again the school wants to attract talented students into its signature programmes and everything else being equal they likely will apply restricted funds such as the Classical Honours scholarship to FA applicants who also qualify for the classical honours programme. But I have no personal knowledge of this. I do have personal knowledge that the schools FA policies are extremely generous. So again, if you want to go, apply</p>
<p>Do you think it would hurt your chances for just plain acceptance if you took the classic scholarship test and didn’t do very well? Is it worth doing it for the chance that you might make it, or will not doing well hurt you so much it isnt worth the risk?</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help everyone! This has really helped me so far. </p>
<p>But paleozoic I don’t think SPS is need-blind?</p>
<p>From Saint Paul’s School’s website:
Q. Will applying for financial aid affect my child’s chances for admission?
A. St. Pauls provides need-based financial aid to all admitted studentsh who demonstrate need, but the admission process is not 100 percent need-blind. In limited cases a familys need for financial aid may influence an admission decision.</p>
<p>To my knowledge Andover is the only Boarding School which is currently practicing a Need Blind method of admission. Other day schools, such as Roxbury Latin, are also doing this.</p>