Congrats to those accepted for boarding and prep schools for next year!
We are gonig to apply this fall. I am wondering, do you think Prep / Boarding School students get just as many (or more / less) scholarships for college than Public School students?
I am asking because if we spend the $ on BS (even with say half scholarship), this is coming out of our college fund. We wouldn’t qualify for need-based aid, so need merit-based. DS is a top student at a strong public HS, high PSAT scores (already taken as freshman, will take again in 10th, applying to BS for 11th). He is extremely brainy with computer science (could be a hook if this IS a hook anywhere? anyone know?) top student in all Math/Science, and strong across other subjects. We are considering BS so he grows socially, has well rounded education and finds intellectual peers (which has been difficult at public school). He is very mature and independent.
There are younger siblings (who will stay at LPS), and we cannot break the bank with child #1…ie, if colleges perceive BS students to be wealthy and not need college scholarship merit aid, we should probably save the $ for college and not spend it on tuition for BS.
From what I have seen and heard, colleges do not base merit aid awards on perceived financial need. They make financial aid awards based on what the FAFSA tells them the family can afford to pay. They use merit aid as enticements to land the students they really want. Lots of boarding school students become Jefferson scholars at UVA, Morehead scholars at UNC, etc.
You really have to look at each kind of merit-based scholarship differently to answer that question. Some have absolutely nothing to do with the school your child attends. Some might be specifically earmarked to a “qualified student” which has a particular intellectual interest or expertise and is going to a specific college or university. And boarding schools have some specifically for their graduates (as do public schools–that information is out there).
Fundamentally I think you are asking a variant of the “is LPS worth $60k more (in terms of savings) per year than Boarding School for a better college outcome?,” and I think the consensus is that, on a purely economic basis, no it’s not–you are probably going to have a similar result unless your LPS is particularly weak or your child has a truly unusual skill set that is very well matched to a particular boarding school. Being Math/Science brainy is tremendous, but not unique.
While there are exceptions (such as sports PGs who have a pretty concrete expectation in mind), most kids that go to BS are doing it because it’s an opportunity enjoy a wider variety of choices (academic and extracurricular) in a very specific kind of environment, but not necessarily to change base-case college outcomes.
I’d suggest that your son stay in LPS. Especially if he plans to study CS in college. Most of the colleges with strong CS program that offer merit aid are public universities, and at least some of those scholarship programs are strictly GPA / test score based. Grading in BS often times doesn’t help. As for the “perception” concern you mentioned, I think it’s only relevant with some merit aid considering need. In that case, your finincial ability has more relevance than the perception I think.
Merit scholarships are for students that the schools want to entice to attend, presumably to improve the overall stats/quality for their freshman class. I don’t think that BS vs. LPS really plays into it – positively or negatively – just whether your kid is one that they want.
Based on my (limited!) experience, the same student may be offered no aid from some schools and over $100,000 for 4 years from others. In our case, the highest awards came from slightly less prestigious (but still very good) schools that are on very much of an upswing right now. Having said that, there were a couple of “better” schools that offered aid and a couple of “lesser” that did not. None were “full rides”, and we do not qualify for FA, so even where aid is offered, we’ll be writing large checks every year. Which is all to say, in short, yes, you can get merit aid if you don’t qualify for FA and no, you really can’t predict how much or from whom.
If you think that your son would benefit from the BS experience, go for it. But if you’re doing it simply to change the outcome on college admissions and merit aid, that’s a very risk proposition.
Thanks, very helpful. We DO think he would benefit from the environment, but had a feeling it would not change the outcome. He is a very academic kid that loves learning. The problem with LPS – even a very good one – is finding students like him – most are just checking boxes and resume building… I’m sure students like him exist, but may be quieter, like him. Also, we are moving next year (before Jr Year) and he feels it would be a step back to attend LPS where we used to live (where we are moving back to). Other option is a catholic prep school (day), which does have good/excellent college placement.
I do think he will be well qualified for his major (computer science) and is looking to go to a top program in that major.
Last option is doing Jr/Sr year homeschool / virtual school and trying to supplement at a university…any thoughts?
In CS, your son could be working right now. He can take on freelance programming projects. Sean Parker, president of Facebook, was making $80k programming in his senior year of high school.
CS is one of the few majors that one can be quite successful without ever going to college.
Boarding school can be a disadvantage. By the time January of Senior year hits, you have to pretty much tie the student down to get them to fill out scholarship applications. If they are miles away, they simply won’t fill out as many- trust me!
Getting experience in industry and through university courses would prepare him well with good experience and practice in CS; but going to a boarding school will increase human interaction and leadership skills.
We have sent 2 to college. The Ivys offer little to no merit aid. We have seen merit aid primarily based on GPA and SAT. If your son would benefit from the BS experience - as it sounds like he would- I would not let this affect your decision.
The school our son attends for college- gave him a higher than anticipated merit award- even though his boarding school GPA was lower than it would have been at LPS. As they understood the differences in the GPA structure.
Also every BS is different in how they grade etc, what unique experiences they provide. Acceptance rates are low for many- so no decisions need to be made until your child is accepted. I never made the decision about what our kids education until we had actual offers in hand- from BS or college.
If merit based aid is mandatory, it’s helpful to find out what the requirements are for the merit scholarship programs of colleges with strong CS programs (CMU, UCB, UIUC, GTech etc.). You will have some idea how the scholarship recipients are selected.
Do you live in a state with a public STEAM boarding school? NC, TX, SC, IL, LA? Even AL has 2. There are others too. It would give your kid a set of true peers without breaking the bank.
National Merit award levels are set by state. Boarding schools are a separate category. The bar is set at a high level for boarding schools–on a level with the strongest states. If your home state is not as competitive, it would be easier for your son to qualify for NMS from your home state. There are (still) a number of colleges and universities that offer automatic merit scholarships for NMS and NMF.
I would be very reluctant to empty the family’s college savings for the oldest child. You could be setting up decades of resentment on the part of your younger children.
Depending on its cost, the Catholic day prep school could be a good solution. There are also summer camps which offer the chance to befriend other serious students. Summer camps can be pricy, but they are not nearly as costly as boarding school.
Have you run the calculators yet on whether you would qualify for aid? If you are not yet applying, this is a good time to fill out the forms to find out: http://sssbynais.org/parents/. Don’t assume you would not qualify before going through this step.
Also remember that your son will be old enough to drive himself soon. Are there programs at local community colleges, for example, to which he could eventually drive himself?
@Periwinkle Thanks for detailed response. Looking at the university and comm college programs now. Hard to do it on a catholic day school or even LPS schedule though. But maybe summers. I’m not a huge fan of the $5000 camps, becuse I think they are gouging and I keep hearing from admissions officers those just “prove your parents have money” and almost work against the student.
My son is very good at self-teaching…he taught himself all the programming he knows…and got a job working for a company doing programming, on his own (it’s very flexible, they just pay him each month for “contributing”, but they will pay him more starting at age 16 if he documents his hours. I do worry that if at BS, his time would be more scheduled, and he wouldn’t have time to pursue his computer passion as much…unless we find a place where that is valued…after all Gates and Zuckerberg both went to BS.
Once they realize what he knows, they may want to give him a scholarship (he is also well rounded academically; and a solid competitive swimmer)…So figured it couldn’t hurt to apply.
@sunnyschool – There are free and low cost summer camps. For example there is the Army’s GEM program where the camper actually receives a stipend. There is a thread on CC about low cost camps. It is very helpful.
@ItsJustSchool Interesting - thanks - I wondered about that…WHEN can they fill out all the college applications if at BS?! And how much input does parent have vs. counselors? And yeah, at LPS…the seniors have a lot of flexibility.
However, he DOES need the human interaction and social skills development…which is hard to get when the brainy kids aren’t at LPS or even catholic prep school (jock oriented), and he is on computer in free time. sigh…
My problem with LPS is they didn’t “get” kids like DS, because he is quiet. They reward the louder, popular, jock kids that are “pretty smart” instead. Our HS had good record of getting “scholar-athletes” ie, LAX players that are pretty bright/have good grades/somewhat subjectively into Ivy or second tier colleges; but didn’t know how to handle brainy kids (ie, no Science competition, math competition, math honor society, etc.) The school in FL does offer those things…but we need to move in a year. I think he could make NMS in FL (it’s lower); the NJ scores are close to BS but he has a chance.
Beleive me if your son wants to pursue opportunities to continue to develop his CS skills he can do that at most BS. My son has friends that attended Exeter with him that made $30K over the summer working for big name companies. They developed and marketed apps and websites as well- all from their dorm room. One is at Stanford now and more at MIT and Harvard. This was not because they went to BS- it is because they were passionate and hard working. They would have been as successful wherever they went. Many did find peers and collaborate on projects while at BS for instance- check our Sponsrus - started by Andover and Exeter students.
@vegas1 Thanks! That is awesome abou tthose kids. Yep that is what he wants to be doing. He collaborates online now, but would be nice to be with other kids in person doing this; while also getting a balanced education. Ding ding, maybe if he makes $30K in the summer, he can pay for BS…haha! I can see you get what I am saying…
Not sure if we should go for “the best” schools like Exeter/Andover, or more 2nd tier schools closer to home. He also swims so need the school to have a pretty good swimming program too.
I can see you get what I am saying…