<p>And by "talk to one another" I mean, to the point of colluding? I am really perplexed. My child applied to two art schools in NY -- the first one's name begins with a P and it isn't Parsons. Accepted at both schools in December. Gets a letter in the mail, a hard copy letter, from "School One" stating that a Presidential Merit Award of $12,000 a year is being awarded, provided a 3.0 GPA is maintained. We are thrilled! </p>
<p>The second school awards no merit scholarship. I called the second school yesterday to inquire about any matching program they might have. (I read about one on their website, but wasn't sure how it worked.) I told her about the other scholarship from School One (and from two other art schools in Boston that also accepted my child.) The admissions officer was super nice, offered to give the portfolio another look, etc. </p>
<p>But lo and behold...the very next day, an e-mail arrives from School One apologizing, but the scholarship was awarded "in error". I have heard of acceptances being awarded in error by e-mail, but never a hard copy money award being sent in error. Perhaps I am too suspicious a person, but could the two admissions offices have conferred? My child is definitely leaning towards the second school, but art school costs something like $64k all in, so we figured it wouldn't hurt at all to ask if there was any matching program. Did we somehow trip up on some unwritten rule that they will collude and do unethical things like revoke offers under the guise of "a mistake"? I think this is very poor form; I know it's a business, but come on. I was being honest -- if they didn't believe me, they could have just asked to see the letter. But the timing is just too coincidental. I don't know. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? Anyone ever have something like this happen to them? Thanks. </p>
<p>It’s possible school 1 did find out and thought you were playing them and shopping their scholarship to get a better deal elsewhere. Somewhat shocking they would rescind the scholarship. </p>
<p>Did your daughter meet the qualifications for the merit scholarship at school #1? If not, then an error probably did occur, and it was just weird timing.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys: Well, “playing them” or "shopping their scholarship to get a better deal elsewhere " was not the intention in my phonecall to the second school. Their website mentioned a matching program, and I called to ask for the specifics. The admissions counselor explained that they would only entertain matching for third party scholarships, not a private merit scholarship. One could not tell that from the description on the website. I didn’t think I wasn’t supposed to call and ask. Why do the admissions counselors tell you to call if you have questions, if, by doing so, you are risking up to $48,000? That’s just outright wrong if that’s the case. Shocking, as you said. </p>
<p>KKmama, the merit scholarship qualifications for art school are much more subjective – they assess a student’s portfolio along with their grades and scores. Since this same portfolio and credentials also scored merit scholarships at the two other competitive art schools applied to, it’s not as though we had reason to believe this was some strange fluke and we should have expected something like this. </p>
<p>I do think the fact that the scholarship offer came in the acceptance package, in a personalized letter as opposed to some e-mail, makes it very odd that the school could have made a genuine mistake. That’s a pretty large error to make – not something like, “We told you $12,500 but it should have said only $12,000.” They told us $12,000 when they really meant zero!</p>
<p>This does not make me feel good about either school, to be honest. It seems unethical to do this to a 17 year old. I am torn between writing to the school and telling them this and just forgetting about the whole episode. I have heard about schools sending e-mails in error to convey acceptances, but never something like this, which involves so much money and was not sent electronically (i.e., to be chalked up to some kind of technological glitch). </p>
<p>I did think I should post here to make others aware, and to find out if anyone else had ever heard of such a thing. If the New York Times were still running that blog called “The Choice” about college admissions, I would certainly have written to its author to alert them to this “mistake”. Thanks. </p>
<p>The withdraw of the scholarship offer is certainly unusual. Like you said, it isn’t like a mass mailing error. I don’t know how you would approach the college about that. But I don’t think you can quite jump to the conclusion you did. </p>
<p>No conclusions, BrownParent. Only questions due to the timing. If this happened to several other students, then we’d know this was not targeted retribution, but an actual administrative error. Of course, the award letter came in December – why three entire months to discover the error? </p>
<p>Since the school is off our list now, I might just call and ask, “How many others had this happen to them,?” and “Why did it take three months…?” Or not. I’m not sure. </p>
<p>I have not been through the college process before, so I figured I’d just throw it out here and see the reactions. Thanks to all for your feedback. </p>
<p>OP, I would be upset about this, too (who wouldn’t be?) and would also wonder about the timing. I think it was unfortunate and irresponsible of them to rescind the offer, but my gut feeling would be that it had nothing to do with the phone call. Maybe I’m wrong, but schools do offer more merit money than they have, I assume, since such large numbers of potential recipients decline the admission offer and go elsewhere, so shouldn’t be swayed by one parent trying to be a good consumer. Heck, “the books” advise calling school B after school A has made an offer to see if they can match it. Seems to me that P school played it badly, unrelated to the phone call. I hope this makes sense; I’ve had only one cup of coffee.</p>
<p>Thanks, DarwinKnew! Yes, your response makes a lot of sense. The award letter states that if there are discrepancies in the major applied to or the status of the student (i.e., a transfer instead of a freshman, for example), the scholarship could be “adjusted.” And that the deposit must be received by May 1. WWe certainly didn’t run afoul of any of that.</p>
<p>I did write a polite letter earlier this morning asking for more information. I asked about the extent of the error in terms of students affected, whether there were other students who went from a certain amount to absolutely nothing, and why it had taken three months to discover this. I stated that I needed to talk to the guidance counselor about this, since they track the amount of awards given to the seniors, and I wanted to be able to explain it to her. (I hope that sentence will give them pause about ever doing this again to anyone else…don’t they depend on guidance counselors to recommend their schools?) </p>
<p>The PR angle of this was atrocious – just a two line e-mail. Not even a phonecall. Like I said, I have a much different opinion of the school and its integrity after this. After watching a segment on it on PBS’ “Treasures of New York” recently, I thought it was such an upstanding institution, built by a philanthropist, etc. Hmmmm…</p>
<p>And I hope the second school did NOT call the first school to ask. That would make me feel terrible about paying them $256,000 over the next four years. I’m sure I’ll never know exactly what happened. Thanks again. </p>
<p>@haveaharp I think you should go with your gut impression. You received this award THREE months ago, and the very day after you call a competing school about matching the award, the original award is rescinded. Many admission officers know each other - I think the one you called contacted the original school. An unprofessional person decided to take the award away - using a two line email! (even if it was an “error,” which I don’t believe, they should have “eaten the cost.” Their actions are unacceptable.I think what you wrote was brilliant - they will now be on alert that this story will be spread - your guidance counselor will know all about it! (and she’ll tell the other counselors who will tell others, etc) I think that you should:
let your guidance counselor know what’s happening - it’s an unheard of situation
forward the email to the Dean of Admissions - not just to the admissions office
perhaps let a new york times, huffington post, or other major news outlet know about this “human interest” story - it will be interesting to a reporter and other readers.</p>
<p>Thanks, I feel very uncomfortable about the whole thing. I’m not an anti-trust lawyer, but I’m pretty sure other industries are not permitted to change “prices” like this after they confer. (Assuming that’s what happened.) I don’t want to raise a fuss and make any kind of legal case, but I know that today, your “brand” is everything, and this school should think once, twice, three times about yanking a merit scholarship again due to their "mistake’. I will see how they respond to my inquiry and then figure out what to do next, I guess, in terms of exposing what happened. </p>
<p>Even if it’s a legitimate mistake – completely administrative, the admin just sent the letter to the wrong child – I do think the high school guidance counselor should know that the school expects the student to suffer the fallout for their incompetence. They can warn other parents and students who apply to this school that a merit award in writing may be completely ephemeral. You need to ask for other assurances, etc. And if the guidance counselor had told me that about this school? I would have thought, “Ick. Who needs them in our life for the next four years? Where’s the integrity?” </p>
<p>If this is some kind of widespread error that affects more than just my child, I would think it is newsworthy. There may be people out there who were planning on attending this school and relying to their detriment on these award letters – what do they do now? When Vassar sent acceptance letters out (via e-mail) by mistake, it was covered in the New York Times. </p>
<p>Interestingly, when the letter came with the award in December, my father-in-law asked nervously, “Was it in hard copy, or just an e-mail? Is it a personalized letter? You know what happened at Vassar with those e-mails, right?” I said, “Oh, no worries. We have it in writing.” Yeah, um, well…
. </p>
<p>I think there are two separate issues here. One, if the 2 schools colluded, and two, the withdrawal of the merit.</p>
<p>I’m puzzled by how school 1 benefits by withdrawing merit if the reason is a conversation with school 2. They offer merit to give you a discount so that you go to their school, and they pocket the rest of the money that you do pay. If they take the merit away, you don’t go to the school, and they lose. The whole point of your calling school 2 was to see if you could get money. If school 2 tells school 1 that, I just don’t get the logic of school 1 changing its mind – since you clearly want money. Given the Ivy collusion agreement of several years back, I really doubt that colleges are having these type of conversations about individual students. </p>
<p>Now, the withdrawal of the merit award. Yes, I think it’s fishy. Three months is a long time to go before realizing a mistake. You received the acceptance in December. What would have happened if your kid had accepted, paid a deposit and withdrew applications from elsewhere? Then s/he would have accepted under false pretenses. </p>
<p>I would call the school and talk to someone about this. Or have your kid make the call. </p>
<p>What school is it? If you are thinking about going public, start here. And if this school has a forum on CC, I’d go there and see if this happened to anyone else. </p>
<p>And for $64,000/year, I’d look very seriously at the schools who did offer merit. </p>
<p>School One’s actions are inexcusable, whatever the reason. If you awarded a scholarship in error, a two-line email three months after the fact is an unacceptable way to address the problem. </p>
Perhaps School 1 offers merit because they want to entice you to come to their school, not because you need it. They want you to enroll there. But if they heard you were trying to get money from School 2, they may think that you prefer school 2 so they will offer the money to somebody who has School 1 as a top choice since clearly you don’t… </p>
<p>haveaharp: You might want to read this old news story about the Ivy collusion ban: <a href=“8 Ivy League Schools Sign Collusion Ban”>8 Ivy League Schools Sign Collusion Ban; (don’t laugh too hard at the idea that an $18,500 annual cost is expensive). I think all colleges know about this case, and know they aren’t supposed to conspire about financial aid.</p>
<p>Yes, DebmomNY is our winner today! It is indeed Pratt. I feel badly because I had such a good feeling about the school and was kind of pushing my kid towards it. I spoke to various Pratt alum I knew and heard great things. This just made me do a 180 on my opinion, and it just feels…awful. </p>
<p>And fireandrain, you are absolutely right that there are two issues. I guess School 1 benefits because they can give the money to someone else if they have reason to believe the student is not going to accept. Since this was an early action acceptance, maybe they’ve seen portfolios they like more, or students with better grades, and they’re just having Buyer’s Remorse? </p>
<p>If that’s the case, then do what some other schools do and do not award merit until you have everyone’s application. SVA does not announce merit until March, even for Early Action acceptances. I completely get that. But to take it and then yank it? I hate to think it’s because they’re not being shown enough love early on. </p>
<p>But isn’t the whole point of merit to make a school more attractive to a specific student? Just because a school is not a student’s number one choice doesn’t mean the student won’t ultimately attend. The odds of my daughter attending her number one school are slim and none. For us, the decision is going to come down to merit money or state school. I don’t think that’s an unusual choice for a student to have to make.</p>