<p>My D didn’t get a merit award,her college didn’t offer any.
She had her need met by a endowment dedicated to do that,presumably funded by people that donated money for need based scholarships.</p>
<p>I also didn’t say I wouldn’t accept a big discount from the school, I just didn’t Know it was even a possibility!
;)</p>
<p>It is an interesting phenomenon that there are many, many people who do not expect to pay the actual cost of a college education. This is not the case for just about any other thing you buy.</p>
<p>Hunt-I rarely pay full price for anything. I buy pretty much everything on sale.</p>
<p>Maybe we need Priceline for college.
You tell it what you will pay, they tell you where you will be going to school.</p>
<p>
But I’ll bet you rarely pay less than what it cost the seller. That’s what’s different here. Even full-pay students don’t pay the full actual cost.</p>
<p>
Yeah, but I tend to think of that as more like something you earned, since it’s based on some performance criteria, rather than as some kind of “handout”. </p>
<p>Ek, it seems that you meant that you didn’t realize you might get additional funding from the school, rather than that you feel getting need-based aid is somehow wrong?</p>
<p>EK4: *Maybe we need Priceline for college.
You tell it what you will pay, they tell you where you will be going to school.
*</p>
<p>Too funny but so true. Only give $$, major, GPA and test scores and see what you get.</p>
<p>
Well, I think even there it depends on who gives it to you. If it’s from a third party, I agree with you. But if it’s from the college, I think it’s kind of like a club letting attractive women in for free so more men will pay the admission charge. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.</p>
<p>*A god-daughter of mine was admitted this year to XYZ-topLAC in NY. Total cost was 52,000. After grants, she will have a total of 24,000 to pay back in loans, for ALL four years, assuming she doesn’t flunk out. That’s less cost than a low-end automobile. She had the grades, though. Going to a state school would have cost her at least double.
*</p>
<p>Sounds like she had a LOT of need, great stats, and doesn’t live in a state that also gives aid. </p>
<p>She could have the same amount of need, lower stats, and not have that lots-of-grants opportunity. </p>
<p>Or she could have much less need, great stats, and the parents have to pay more than a state school. </p>
<p>Finding the best value can largely depend on individual situation of income, how much the family can pay, stats, and how generous state aid can be.</p>
<p>
Hey, we attractive women work hard for those perks! ;)</p>
<p>^^^
Dang straight!!</p>
<p>*It does not seem to work for us this way. DD’s GPA is 3.6 unweighted, combined SAT 2170. We ran the calculator for a number of privates on her list, and have yet to find one where the estimated out-of-pocket costs will come below 40K. I think it’s a combination of factors: </p>
<p>1)her stats are good (but not good enough to get full tuition or even half tuition)
2)our income is too high (but not high enough to pay those costs). *</p>
<p>if you’re looking for financial safeties for your D, look at the auto scholarship and full tuition scholarship threads. There are good schools that would give your D free tuition for her stats.</p>
<p>Post #80 has the best list
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html</a></p>
<p>Ek, it seems that you meant that you didn’t realize you might get additional funding from the school, rather than that you feel getting need-based aid is somehow wrong?</p>
<p>Yes. Re college, I had heard about savings bonds, buying insurance annuities, and later the GET credit program through the state to pay for college.
I assumed that the reason those things were pushed so heavily was to pay for college.
I knew, very, very few people when I was in high school who went to college. Probably about seven. Four went to community college, three including ones who came from wealthy families, attended an instate university- not the flagship.
When I attended community college, if I had heard about financial aid, I didn’t think I would have qualified even though I was living on social security. ( I had been living on my own since I was 17)
I had tried to apply for food stamps, but was turned down, because my mother and grandmother had pitched in to get me a car that they wouldn’t have to worry about.
Apparently for the food stamp people it was too new. ( it was a year old dealer demo)
They told me I could own a car that was worth $400. ( still a beater back then)
My previous car had cost more than that & if my car was worth that little, I couldn’t have afforded to keep it runnng!</p>
<p>No one in my extended family spoke about college costs or how to pay for them. My H’s family doesn’t “believe” in college, and I was the oldest out of my siblings with the oldest grandchild, no cousins. My brother had a degree, but he had joined the service to pay for school & it took him about fifteen years to graduate.</p>
<p>A lot of people still are in the dark about further education. I used to volunteer at my Ds high school and it wasn’t unusual for students in the spring of jr year or fall of senior year to come inthe office and say they were thinking about going to college.
This was without course planning with college in mind and knowing their family didn’t share their interest.
It was exciting that they were seeing themselves as capable of going to college, but frustrating with so many other obstacles.</p>
<p>"It is an interesting phenomenon that there are many, many people who do not expect to pay the actual cost of a college education. This is not the case for just about any other thing you buy. "
-Kind of not so different if you consider that one could pay whole mortgage at the beginning (because they might have worked hard to accumulated the money) and not pay it while living in the house. It also requires to buy only certain house, not any house. The same here. Kid could have “earned” certain amount of Merit scholarships (since they are mostly coming from private donations, at least it was the case with my D. who attended public state U on full tuition Merit award, that included about 10 different scholarships primarily from private donors). She would not have nearly as much, not any close, if she decided to attend other schools, at some she would not have any at all. On the other hand, she also recieved Merit from one private UG that was close to full tuition. So, it depends on how much the kid accumulated (how high his/her stats) and which college he/she decided to attend. Money were not an issue when D. was choosing her UG. She has chosen her UG based on higher priority item, and it just happened that it was tuition free, which we did not anticipated, She happened to choose to apply only to schools that would give her some Merit package and every school did. She did not apply to any that would not give her any Merit. But again, it was not a priority item.</p>
<p>I like to tell my kids about one of our friends who has won a Nobel Prize…what college did he go to…HYP? No, Juniata College - no offense to Juniata alum out there but it’s probably on very few lists of prestigious institutions. You can find success at any college if you work hard!</p>