How much of this information is shared with the counsellor of your student’s high school?
The counsellors are asking documentation of all merit and financial aid offers, even if they are not accepted.
Is this the norm?
We were asked to provide this information for ALL of the colleges our kids applied to and got accepted to.
We graciously declined.
It’s really NO ONE’s business.
I mean think about it. If a family gets significant need based aid…it’s almost like asking their annual income.
We had to go all the way to the principal to get them to finally leave us alone. I was prepared to go to the Board of Education.
I should add…our kids got only merit aid. I still didn’t think it was anyone’s business how much we were paying for college.
In our area the schools only ask for merit aid information and it seems to be used as an advertising tool–“our seniors were awarded $15million in scholarships!”
They want it because they then claim “George Washington high school students earned $10M in scholarships.” That may be that one person earned $500k of which he can only use $100k to one school. They may also want it for scholarship night, to give recognition. My kids provided some information but not a complete picture. The one who received the biggest amount never turned it in so wasn’t invited to Senior Award night. Her sister turned in one small award so I was invited to the award ceremony, and it was fairly ridiculous as there were tons of kids who had scholarships but weren’t invited, and many who had one or two were recognized but not the other scholarships. Some were called up for scholarships they weren’t accepting (and there was a big awkward pause as they weren’t in the audience. We had one class member going to Navy and her ‘$480,000’ scholarship was included in the senior awards, the athletic awards, and the military awards totals. Same ‘$480,000’ included 3 times.
It’s up to you to provide the information or not. Some schools include it on the graduation program.
We were asked for a list of acceptances and merit awards - this info gets printed in the school paper. Information regarding need based aid was not asked for or reported. Most kids gave the information but some chose not to.
Our high school GC asks, not for advertising, but for the counselors to have an idea of what their students are getting. I don’t have any issue sharing merit, it helps her advise the next class on what to expect, at least based on history. I have a good relationship with daughter’s GC, so I often share what I learned in the process if I think it will help them help someone else - nothing like being in the trenches to know what is really going on.
DD reported only merit from a smallish HS. we did this because the counselor had been really helpful with recommendations…
They announced the totals of scholarships at graduation. It was like the other poster mentioned. Roughly 1/4 the total amount reported came from one student.
I can only guess it was due to most of the graduates applying to our state big 10 school, which is absolutely miserly with scholarships.
My kids’ HS gives out some local scholarships at graduation (sponsored by businesses like the district’s legal firm and engineer, groups like the Soroptimist’s Society, etc.) To be considered, you fill out a form listing your FAFSA EFC and all merit awards received. This was due in March IIRC.
Soon another firm will be due asking for final choice and a copy of the merit award(s) letter from that school. The name of the award (not the $$ amount) and school is announced at graduation. If you don’t want your info announced, you don’t submit the form. Merit only, no need-based, which is why they want the letter to “prove” what kind of award it is.
It’s really kind of silly. My kid, who is a very average student attending a great-for-him but but not at all prestigious OOS public, could have his college and awards announced; but his buddy, who’s heading to MIT, wouldnt get any recognition since MIT offers no merit.
And since the GCs can’t discuss money, it’s not like my S’s awards are helpful for future students-- meaning that next year his GC can’t say to a kid with stats like my S’s, “You might look at Duquesne and Xavier if you’re looking for merit.” But as mentioned above, they will add his totals to the Class of 2017 cumulative awards as a bragging point.
In NC, there is a perception that no private school is ever going to be as good or as affordable as an in-state public U. While NC has incredible and affordable public options, I provided info for both kids to show that merit aid at private schools can bring the cost down to equal or below public options. This does not mean one is better than the other - but it does show there are choices. For my kids, out of state privates were what they wanted, and they received significant merit aid that brought costs to less than the better in-state options.
I’ve had other parents comment that they didn’t really believe this was possible. So from that perspective I found this helpful.
From the “our students were awarded XXmillion in scholarships” - yeah, that is kind of meaningless.
absolutely NOT.
Did not report SAT/ACT scores either.
We were asked. We didn’t provide it.
We were not asked. We offered it to the CC. We were the beneficiaries of data collected from classes before us; it seemed the least we could do to help those following us.
I’m not sure what S was asked nor provided. The U was aware that a large number of its graduating class were awarded Presidential Scholarships from USCal, based on their NMF status and were matriculating there. They did ask what U each student was matriculating at, so it could be included in their records and they printed the graduation program listing each student’s intended U, I believe, as well as one of the magazines they publish quarterly.
I have never seen the private HS our kids attended tout the total amount of scholarships their students have been awarded, since such a number doesn’t mean all that much, especially if it includes funds to Us that the students didn’t attend, multiple awards for students, etc. I have seen it mentioned in ads by other private HSs and have seen it in articles by the public HS as well.
when s15 graduated, it was kind of a “thing” to garner as many merit scholarships as possible, even if the kids knew they were going to end up there. Some kids had ridiculous amounts in scholarships after applying to 20 places or so. I thought that was silly. the school liked to talk about the trillions of $ in scholarships brought in (or whatever).
@bluebayou - why didnt you send your school the kids ACT/sat scores? i thought you had to.
^^test has nothing to do with the HS. Just left the HS code blank when kids’ registered.
I agree with @CADREAMIN Providing the merit info helps the guidance office steer kids looking for merit in the right direction for the next year. Don’t think it is necessary to share financial aid offers, but merit would be very helpful for the guidance office to have.
@bluebayou - if you did not share ACT/SAT scores, do you think that hindered the advice you got from the gc?
We were asked and we shared…I think that the information was used in the aggregate. (e.g., ABCHS students’ received $1.2million in scholarships!"
We shared merit aid with the HS as it gave the guidance counselors a sense of what was out there to help guide future students. IMO any need based aid is a private matter.
In a California public HS with a student ratio of nearly 700/1, there was just no need to engage the GC. Both kids had the obligatory meet at end of Junior year to tell him/her that yes, UCs were on the list, and that was that.
We received all the advice we needed from the parents on cc!
Our school asks for it merit scholarship information. I didn’t mind giving it. They use it to brag about the total $ amount of scholarships for the class (helps with marketing and fundraising) and include it in the graduation program (no $ amounts are listed). To encourage kids to turn in this information, they give out prizes to the top two kids.