<p>I come from a good family, money wise. However my parents are refusing to pay the super high tuition that most prep schools have. And I was just wondering if they ever actually give out financial aid to families in the upper income bracket or if it's pretty much hopeless.</p>
<p>Here's a table from Hotchkiss' site.</p>
<p>Gross Family Income Number Receiving Assistance Average Award
$0 - $59,999 44 $31,690
$60,000 - $79,999 27 $27,155
$80,000 - $99,999 20 $26,833
$100,000 - $124,999 21 $22,233
$125,000 and over 51 $17,047
Total 163 $24,992 </p>
<p>My family fits either in the high part of $100,000 - $124,999. or the low part of $125,000+</p>
<p>May I ask what schools you are applying to?</p>
<p>P.S. - My friend moved to Rogers, MN about a year ago. Have you heard of it? This June he moved to Bemidji. He hates it. lol He misses Mpls so bad...</p>
<p>so your family could actually afford it, they just feel the cost is too high? When you need FA, you know how parents have to fill out those financial statements, well I think if the school sees you can actually afford it, they might not give you a lot of aid. I don't know for sure but it seems like common sense to me... sorry if i'm wrong, it's just a thought.</p>
<p>Also, you should maybe consider schools that offer merit based shcolorships. they don't look at how much families make with these.</p>
<p>I agree with FV. If your family can afford it, but they just don't want to pay, I don't think boarding schools would offer much, or any aid since you don't even really need it.</p>
<p>Ehh, how not fair. I really want to go, and I have really good stats. but like I said my parents think that public school is good enough. </p>
<p>I think I've heard of Rogers, umm... I think there was a really bad storm there yesterday.</p>
<p>Yup.. tornadoes. One of my friend's friends was in the hospital. A lot of roofs were torn off and stuff...</p>
<p>What are your stats? You can PM them to me if you want.</p>
<p>FA is a bit more complicated than what the numbers show. Other things are taken into account, such as savings, investments, investment properties, etc. You can conceivably make 80k a year and not qualify if you have the other things I talked about. You can also make 150k and qualify if you have nothing else other than your income and you have other children in prep school.</p>
<p>sorry, see i said i really wasn't sure.</p>
<p>sugar_sweet,</p>
<p>the real question it seems to me is when an elite prep school is looking at two equally qualified candidates - say you and "candidate B" - except that candidate B's family is really struggling to make ends meet, while your family is very well off...</p>
<p>do you really feel that you deserve to receive that financial aid over the legitimately needy, in this case, candidate B - who has no way of attending without serious FA help?</p>
<p>Sugar. I have no idea about your public school, but it is at least possible that your parents may be right that it is plenty good enough, or even better than the prep schools you are considering. Also, many parents object to sending their kids away- they think that living at home is more important than any supposed advantages of the prep school. More important is to discuss with them your college options. Here the potential pay off to investing in a elite private is easieer to argue.</p>
<p>Of course, it is also possible that, given their obligations, your parents may not have as much money as you think. It can be difficult to predict future financial needs, taking into account the changes in the economy, stabilty of a job...</p>
<p>What if your somewhat wealthy family is already paying a necessary 30,000 a year? Will the schools take that into account?</p>
<p>Sonja, yes they will. As I sated before, they consider a number of factors of which having other kids in private schools. This is why you'll see someone with 150k salary get aid and a 80k salary not get aid. the lower income family may have tons of investsment, investment properties, etc.</p>
<p>I think they also may make adjustments if you live in an area where the cost of living is more expensive. If you make 90k and live lets say in NYC vs making the same amount of money and living in the midwest.</p>
<p>I think the best thing to do is contact the school, or fill in a PFS(or whatever it's called,sorry i'm not sure). The school will evaluate your situation better than any of us can, also many people are applying for FA, i'm not sure you'd get priority...because it sounds to me like your parents can afford it pretty easily but don't see it as a worthwhile investment in your future. The school will probably give you partial FA if this is the case.</p>
<p>Anyway, you say you have good stats-What are they? Good enough for a merit scholorship? You should consider this...doesn't anyone else think this is a good option for sugar sweet?</p>
<p>A merit scholarship to prep school? Is there any such thing?</p>
<p>In life you get what you can afford. Your family can afford prep school but doesn't value it enough to pay. Of course no school will give you financial aid.</p>
<p>Suze, there are a number of prep schools that offer merit scholarship. St. Paul's is one, portmouth Abbey, Westover, Etc</p>
<p>Parents are responsible for the payments and choices of highschools AND colleges. Your parents income is what generates the financial aid. Though there is merit aid at some colleges, what merit aid I have seen in prep schools have all been merit within need.</p>
<p>Sorry, I posted before I finished. The only high schools I have seen that give merit aid are catholic high schools. I think you have to call each school that is a possibility for you and ask right out if they give merit scholarships. I know in New York, Regis is a full tuition catholic highschool and that Fordham does give out a few merit awards, most of which are a bit of the tuition but one or two, maybe that are full tuition. The independent school, particularly the better known ones, I know do not give more than small amounts for merit, that do not make a dent in the tuition. The other money is given as merit within need.</p>
<p>In our experience preps vary widely on how they assess a family's ability to pay.
In our case, we were given a range of packages from no aid at all to one covering 1/2 the costs including a book allowance. I think there is a factor of how much they want your kid to attend.</p>
<p>Momofaknight-which school are you talking about, just wondering? Do you give full tution ever?</p>