Common Data Set Question

I could put this in the school forum, but I think this will get more comments here.

Franklin & Marshall says they meet full need and offer no merit money.

https://www.fandm.edu/financial-aid

This is the link to their most current CDS

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/0B42uoy-l_R4rfkQwY29rVVBYOGhkOW4zOFBEYWFmNUZxcjUwdkdmYXJZVTRzd0lHdTdaX1U?usp=sharing

It appears in section H1 that 92 freshmen (347 total students) were awarded a total of $338K in non-need-based aid.

If a school gives no merit money, I’m wondering how the non-need-based money is allocated. Might it be something like a full tuition Posse scholarship to those who doesn’t have - “full Tuition” levels of need? Or could this be stipends for summer internships? This year they announced two full scholarships to sophomores, but I don’t know if those have a need component.

Any thoughts?

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that $338,000- compared to 46,000,000 -is a TEENY, TINY portion - less than 1 % - of the total FA awarded by F and M.
so a few tip top students are awarded an endowed scholarship- meaning the $$ came from an OUTSIDE source, instead of from the colleges “pot” of $$ .

D3. No athletic scholarships. (The athletic scholarship line is $0).

Well…some of it could,have been the $5500 Direct Loans that any student can get.

When one of my Ds was accepted by F and M several years back, she was awarded a small research award as part of her financial aid package. Perhaps these types of awards are considered as merit aid.

Nope, F&M is division 3 so no athletic scholarships. Maybe its’s merit money that the students bring with them but is distributed to the school?

I was looking at the CDS for my daughter’s school over a 2-3 year period and I think a lot of stuff gets put in the wrong category or is double reported. One thing I thought was off were the number of part time student (1? just 1 for an entire year?) or categories that change a lot in a year. Perhaps one person doing the report one year interprets the question one way and the next year someone else puts the numbers on a different reporting line?

“This year they announced two full scholarships to sophomores”

there is nothing to stop a college from granting outside $$ to outstanding CONTINUING students that they want to support.
$60000 x 5 students total =$300000

Adding… the $338k is institutional non-need based money. The number of students receiving non-need based aid (92 fresh/347 total) may be receiving aid from any source (I presume this means outside scholarships).

@thumper1 …thanks. But the federal loans are a separately line, and divided into need based and non.

@menloparkmom unfortunately the scholarships from outside sources are a separate line. Approximately $1mil used to meet need and $1.2mil to those without need.

I may actually have to ask someone at the school…but I feel that could make me um, unpopular.

“the scholarships from outside sources are a separate line. Approximately $1mil used to meet need and $1.2mil to those without need.”

so $338000 shared by 347 student amount to what- $3000/ student?

yes, contacting someone at the school about a small amount of $$ will not go over well.
I suggest you move on.

edit- less than $1000/ per student.
not worth calling about.

I would assume no merit from them as a working assumption. Not sure it is worth the time to pursue it further.

We are full pay and kid is already at FM. I’m a bit of a rule follower, so if the PR says “we give no merit”… it is surprising to see merit.

The $338k is probably a combination of Posse scholarships (not all have need) and the 4-6 upper level scholarships I’m aware of. The 92/347 count is too large to be the Posse and upper level scholarships recipients.

I looked at Harvard’s most recent CDS and they have $187K in the non need based aid line, but Zero in the line for the number of students receiving non need based aid. That makes me think they are topping-up some aid.

I think @twoinanddone has good ideas on the variances in reporting.

There are two people on campus I may ask when I see them at a tailgate.

I am not sure what this means. Are there any folks who can corroborate that F&M gave their child grant money totalling the difference between cost of attending and EFC?

Hey, my teacher is giving us the opportunity to ask for a nomination for posse. However, I am unsure whether I should ask for it or not because I am only interested in one of the posse partnered schools. Should I ask for a nomination even though I really only like/favor one school?

I think Posse has its own message board under the Financial Aid and Scholarships forum.