<p>I can add a little insight to ABC as a parent who went through them twice. While it is definitely focused on under represented minorities, they have an income level cut off of 250,000. In my area there seemed to be a pretty good mix of middle to very low income. I did see a few families that seemed upper middle class. In my world $250,000 is upper, upper. But, you still have to qualify for any fee waivers so that they go to the families most in need. We qualified the first year and not the second. The school fairs are open, I saw a few white families there. We are a mixed family and there were plenty of us as well. As a side note, not all ABC kids get accepted. The stats have to be just as stellar as the applicants they are competing against. Also, from what I know a lot of the schools limit how many ABC kids they accept. I dont know if the full pay ABC kids are in that pool as well…</p>
<p>@omgjusttellme This recent post might be reassuring: <a href=“http://www.quora.com/Which-school-is-more-elitist-Phillips-Exeter-Academy-or-Lycée-Louis-Le-Grand/answer/Kevin-Zhen-1?share=1”>http://www.quora.com/Which-school-is-more-elitist-Phillips-Exeter-Academy-or-Lycée-Louis-Le-Grand/answer/Kevin-Zhen-1?share=1</a></p>
<p>Am I the only one on CC living at or below the poverty line?</p>
<p>thanks @stargirl3 that helps 
</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.phillipian.net/articles/2014/01/30/price-andover-education-three-students-difficult-transitions-andover”>http://www.phillipian.net/articles/2014/01/30/price-andover-education-three-students-difficult-transitions-andover</a></p>
<p>thanks Cariar, that’s the article. </p>
<p>Also stargirl3, that was a great link. I had to laugh because one of our options for DD is French private school. </p>
<p>Wow I’m surprised to see this is such a big issue. </p>
<p>I guess it has been kind of weird look at this forum because I fall into this category as an almost full FA student (though we are definitely pushing it haha). I sometimes wonder if i was accepted because of my “potential” or something stupid like that. I did get into many schools, but sometimes I think why did they all give me so much money, especially when a lo of their endowments aren’t that large? I’ve been thinking about this since even before decision day.</p>
<p>Do you all think that being a full FA student means that you are special or a “special case”? And do you think that there is a kind of stigma regarding the full FA kids? </p>
<p>And it’s funny because I truly do not think that I’ve been through so much in my life, or that I’ve just been blatantly poor. I simply think that any family with an income of less than 100,000 a year is going to have many more problems paying for boarding school and college. They just will.</p>
<p>@boardingjunkie First of all, the point of this thread is to talk about the kids who are not just full aid, but are economically disadvantaged. </p>
<p>Second, we’re wondering if it’s possible to be–and how many kids are–accepted from that income * without applying through a program such as ABC.* This is not the first thread where you have left that little detail out. </p>
<p>I forgot to mention that the 2 lunch-program-recipient kids I am aware of with full FA were not part of any program that helped them out. We live out in the boonies and there’s no programs like that around here. One kid I would qualify as socioeconomically disadvantaged (NMH), the other as economically disadvantaged (Exeter). I would also qualify one kid as “special case” and the other as special, given however that all of you are special (which makes no one special, right? ) In other words, one was especially needy, one was especially smart.</p>
<p>boardingjunkie - I would say, having been a full FA kid (at college however, when at least theoretically kids have matured enough to not be as judgemental/swayed by things like, say, the brand of your laptop), the truth is that there are ‘stigmas’. And sometimes it’s the most positive one–that you are especially smart, or especially shiny in some aspect of your life (and that’s why they gave you money)–that can be the most damaging in the long run. The thing is to not let this define you, either because you feel that because they gave you a pile of cash you should live up to their expectations, or because you feel “well, they got here because they have money, but I got here on brains/talent/whatever alone.” </p>
<p>@stargirl3 sorry about leaving that “little detail” out and sorry if my response was terribly out of context. I don’t mean to do these things you know.
And tbh I don’t know if I would have gotten into any schools without ABC. Maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn’t have. Either way, I don’t think this is a very productive forum, in all honesty. It almost seems like it’s asking whether or not students at the poorer end of things deserve to be there. (In my opinion)</p>
<p>Also @notniobe I definitely don’t think I’m any better than people there who happen to have a lot of money, I’m just thinking like are FA aid students looked down upon as if they are not as qualified but because of their financial situation the school took them I as a project so to speak. Again, I’m out of this conversation as if me posing this comment (unless you want to continue I won’t ignore you haha). But it’s obvious I cut in and just sort of changed the subject. Sorry about that. (Also sorry for any typos I say that a lot but seriously I pay no attention to these things)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No. We’re wondering if the deserving poor kids can get in without help from a program. </p>
<p>@stargirl3 You aren’t the only one. I’ve grown up a little below the poverty line, and on top of that, my grandmother has a job that is generally looked down on. So don’t feel alone. </p>
<p>Also, if you do not live in the area it is really hard to get to in person interviews.</p>
<p>@boardingjunkie - I think in some ways, kids who get full FA are obviously something special to the school who’s willing to invest $200K over four years for them to attend their school… I don’t think that means they’re necessarily more qualified, but the schools saw something special about them that made the Admissions committee and financial aid committee want those kids enough to spend big money on them. Hope that answers that question.</p>
<p>As for the stigma, I don’t know about other schools, but the school my son got into has pretty strict confidentiality rules regarding sharing information about FA status. However, I’m sure FA kids stick out in other subtle ways. The brands of clothes they wear (from Target, Kohl’s, JC Penney, as opposed to J Crew, Brooks Brothers, Vineyard Vines…), the activities they can’t participate in because of lack of finances, heck, even the backpack they carry… And I suspect in every school, there might be kids who actually care about that stuff. But I think you will find that most kids don’t care at all what others are wearing or how much money they have. My son has a friend who got a pretty good scholarship to a great school and he says the ONLY time you find out who really has money and who doesn’t is when they go visit friends at their homes, which is rate. The rest of the time, according to him, money doesn’t even come up. I read the article about the PA FA students as well, and I think that was more of how they perceived being “singled out,” rather than any sort of stigma anyone had placed on them.</p>