My daughter was interested in the navel academy but I believe she isn’t qualified due to celiac (she’s in amazing physical shape).
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Yes, to answer the original question, by the time the deposit check is sent in, most people understand how the system works. The high schools don’t-- so shame on them- because they are still banging the drum at graduation that “Susie, our valedictorian, got a full ride scholarship to Princeton” (If Susie got a full ride to Princeton, do her parents necessarily want it announced that their need was so great that she’s paying $250 a year for Princeton?) The GC’s don’t, because they are still insisting that “colleges will work with you” to make it affordable (affordable for whom?). The Superintendent of schools doesn’t understand, because in many cases, the districts policies make it harder for kids to get “big merit” (weird weighting systems for GPA’s so that kids who think they are competitive with a 5.3 GPA are actually applying with a 3.3 because the college are going to calculate their own number and no, they don’t care that you got a 5.0 in gym because in addition to gym class you get a boost for being on a team, and no, Yearbook is an EC not an academic subject, etc.)
But all it takes is one kid- and then you understand how it works. Lucky kid #2!
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Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."
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This is especially true if a student is from NYS and is eligible for PELL and TAP (NYS Aid). these are entitlements that can reduce the amount of institutional aid (~$12000 if a student gets full TAP and full PELL) that the school will have to use hopefully freeing this money up for someone else.
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Do you mind specifying the two reasons? I have a guess but don’t want to assume… and I’m not sure how “major” they will be so I could be completely off base.
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No one has said anything disparaging about any job or profession. To the contrary all posts seem to suggest that there are a lot of well respected ways to find your way beyond the traditional routes of higher education.
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THIS is a public good!
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Since a user deleted her post within the allowable time frame, the posts responding to the now deleted post make no sense out of context, so I’ve deleted them all.
That said, let’s move on from the OT conversation of how we need and love trade schools, electricians, Waffle House, etc.
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I don’t know the specifics either, but there are things on the horizon that can only be discussed in the Politics Forum.
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To answer the original question. I had no idea how merit aid worked and its relationship to selectivity until I started reading this forum actively, which incidentally was after my D22 had been admitted to college. I knew merit aid existed, but not how to find it or “chase” it.
I think that I didn’t know for a couple of reasons: 1) I don’t think it is at all obvious to most families unless they have gotten advice from someone who understands how it works or a guidance counselor/college counselor and 2) Many families that I know have so much money saved/earned that they’ve felt comfortable being full pay OR they have not much morey at all and have been focused on need based aid. I know many students who have been gapped by their college even after financial aid and students loans. And in those cases, their parents have chosen to borrow or the kid has chosen a more affordable school, but I don’t think that most of those families tried to find merit aid in the first place.
Similarly, the ins and outs of the need based aid process has been a frequent topic among my real life friends, but I haven’t had any detailed conversations with IRL people who have pursued merit. Friends sometimes mention that their kid received a merit scholarship in passing, but they never shared that they were strategizing about the merit during the application season. Mostly, I only heard the good news after the fact. Everything that I’ve actually learned about merit aid has been here and not within my social circle.
And to be honest, until fairly recently (maybe five or so years ago), I was unaware of how very competitive college admissions has become at so many colleges. I knew college tuitions had skyrocketed, but I wasn’t really aware how much the admissions process as a whole had changed. I don’t think that I am that unusual.
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Schools want students to get a Pell grant or other money that is ‘free to the school’ if they qualify. Why? Well, it’s free to the school and the school gets to count that student as a Pell recipient for reporting purposes, which helps their ranking for things like USNWR. When Obama was president he and Michelle had a big campaign to have every high school student complete the FAFSA and Illinois made it a graduation requirement (this was of course before the Obamas would have had to complete the form so they weren’t thinking that some people wouldn’t want to disclose all that info). They came to some schools in Florida and gave away prizes for those who completed the FAFSA. A few schools gave small grants to any student who filled one out ($500 or $1000)
There are definitely a lot of private scholarships that are merit based but have a need component. Questbridge, Posse , even the Evans scholars (a scholarship for golf caddys) are merit scholarships but with a need requirement. We have two in Colorado that go to the top students but have a need requirement - Boettcher and Daniels (Daniels is a ‘last dollar’ so they want you to get every dollar from all other sources first).
Schools can require the FAFSA to be filed if they want to. They can require the forms to be handwritten, or filed on a Tuesday, or have 12 LOCs or 300 hours of community service. They control the money and most of us will do anything they require to get it. I didn’t care if they called it a scholarship, a grant, need based aid, talent aid, athletic aid, an alumni scholarship, a room and board assist or anything else they wanted to call it, we accepted it.
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Illinois still has it as a graduation requirement to fill out the FAFSA or fill out an exemption waiver to not fill out the FAFSA.
I think FAFSA (or waiver) is required in several states. It’s required for seniors here in CA.
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I had a conversation recently with a hospice worker who was sure her S would not qualify for a Pell grant or other non-loan aid, and she indicated that she wouldn’t be able to afford to send him to college. She volunteered her income, and I asked her why she thought she wouldn’t qualify for aid. She told me that her friend’s S didn’t qualify. And all he was offered were loans, which she doesn’t want. The thing is, she absolutely qualifies for Pell … and with the new Pell rules, her income automatically qualifies for full Pell. If she hadn’t happened to mention it as a passing comment while checking in on my MIL, she might have decided that her S shouldn’t bother completing a FAFSA or applying to schools next year (plenty within commuting distance for her S). THIS is a big problem! Yes, there are people who would qualify for Pell who don’t compete the FAFSA.
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I understand that. But what I asked up thread is: wouldn’t a low Income applicant (whether they’re aware of their Pell grant eligibility or not), ask for need based aid and therefore file FAFSA?
What would lead to Pell grant applicants to not file FAFSA?