Your EFC is $60,000? Holy hell! 
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Deleted.
“I couldn’t have cared less if the colleges that fit the bill gave the discount ‘unearned’ versus them thinking our daughter walked on water.”
I am not of the same mindset. My son got a very sizable “discount” for being underrepresented in the student population. He was, as I was, unimpressed. He got more for how he identified than what he achieved. No essays, no nothing. Just have over
3.0 and identify as this or that and the discount is yours. In the end, it is the end price that matters, but how you arrive there makes a difference. At least to my son it did. He didn’t understand that this part of who he is is worth more than what’s he’s accomplished.
And trust me when I say, my son is not Gods gift to every college. I’m not saying that at all. No one is expecting him to walk on water.
Check most $80K schools. 1/2 the kids are full pop.
I cannot afford what the government says I can…but that’s neither here nor there.
Was simply pointing out that, if I go to Outback and I made $100K, they don’t charge me $20 for a steak. But you make $50K so they charge $10K.
That’s what these colleges are doing. I get it - so you can help the less fortunate - and that’s great. But it still stings - maybe someone who has an EFC of $35K would choose Charleston or Pitt (they match Pell) because of the extra money. But they don’t go there even if desired - because they couldn’t get enough (whereas another kid did…just based on their FAFSA.
Colleges rightly want economic diversity - and if their endowments are large enough they can get there. But it’s a bummer for these kids who did everything right and still lose.
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Hey, please share the deets on this, we are always looking for schools we may not know that might work for our next children (2 more in the college search in the next 3 years).
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There are many people in this EFC range, especially in high cost-of-living areas where salaries are a bit higher. EFC doesn’t take your location into account. So, you can be solidly middle or upper middle class with a large EFC.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/#/landing suggests that a family of 3 with 1 in college in California will get a $60k FAFSA EFC at around $208k parental income.
The best school for merit- hands down - is Washington & Lee - because 10% of their class gets EVERYTHING - tuition, room & board, and $7K. They also have other tuition only scholarships.
But there’s so many affordable publics with good grades too.
If someone went to WVU instead of UVA…if someone went to Ohio U instead of OSU, etc. they’d do ok.
UAH / UAB anyone??
Schools usually do this after they have achieved the goals that the merit aid was established to achieve. Once a college has attracted enough highly accomplished students that it becomes very popular among highly achieving students, that popularity will often continue. So first high achievers attend because it is the best financial choice, but then, when the college is full of high achievers, it starts attracting many students because it becomes known as a college for high achievers. That makes it attractive to both high achievers and to wealthier students, since part of a college’s prestige is related to the number of high achievers who attend that college.
Once a college has achieved the level of prestige that draws high achievers, regardless of merit aid, it can start recruiting low income students. This has multiple advantages. Popular colleges are scrutinized a lot more for their equity than less popular colleges, but becoming more popular also means that there is an increase in the number of high income students at the expense of lower income students. So recruiting low income students helps offset this both in terms of PR, and also in terms of the prestige that being a “full need met” college brings.
Also, high achieving, low income students are a great investment for any college. The only alumnus who is more loyal than a fifth generation legacy is an extremely successful alumnus who feels that they owe their success to the college.
Yes I tend to be cynical sometimes. Why are you asking?
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I hope you don’t mind me quoting your words. 
IMO, it cannot be said enough!
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No, what colleges are doing is not the same as your Outback example. A more apt comparison would be when your kids go to the high school cafeteria and and pay for lunch. You kids are paying more for lunch than kids who get a discount or even free lunch because of family income. It’s the same principle.
Even private universities can’t be considered the same type of business as Outback because private universities receive special tax-free status, receive huge gov’t funding through various other forms (grants, loans, etc) and receive other benefits.
Your example is probably appropriate for for-profit universities.
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As far as I can tell (US DOE statistics) there are aprox. 26.7K high schools in America. If we arbitrarily decide that we are ONLY interested in the Val and Sal (even at schools that do not designate as such) as are talking about roughly 53 thousand “top kids” who have done everything right. And if those 53 thousand graduates are chasing spots at the “top” 250 colleges- with “top” merit awards- well, you can see that mathematically, the numbers just don’t work.
I remember when an acquaintance of mine was in disbelief that her kid did not get into Dartmouth early. Lovely kid- I had met him a few times. But as the mom regurgitated his stats (he was indeed Val) it became apparent that this was a serious case of over-reach. Not a reflection on how hard her son had worked. Not a reflection on whether or not he should have worked so hard in HS (presumably the work brings its own rewards). But in a mythical land where every val of every HS gets to choose which of the top 250 colleges they are going to land- this kid’s nice application was NEVER going to land at Dartmouth.
Disconnect. Your kid may be the bee’s knees where he or she is right now. But the level of competition from the “top kid” in the other thousands of high schools is something that a parent cannot gauge.
And once you get into the scrum for heavy merit awards (not the 5-10K discount level) you are looking at serious contenders.
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Why is changing from merit to need based aid a slippery slope? Low income students can be high achievers too. Students still need high stats to get into colleges that offer generous need based aid. The only difference is that now they have to show financial need too.
joshsmother: Also a terrible disincentive for future students. Aim for a higher ACT, take that extra AP class, rank in the top of your class so you can get next to nothing…I will never agree that the highest achieving kids shouldn’t have more equity allowing them more options. If not, again I’m not sure of the point. Be upper middle achieving. You yield the same result.
What some schools may lose out on are high stats students from middle and upper middle income families who decide to look elsewhere. But there are lots of great colleges out there and those students will still have options. Without need based aid low income students won’t.
High stats students from middle/upper middle income families do have more options than lower performing students. They wouldn’t get into these selective schools without them. But it’s a mistake to assume that being a high achieving student means they deserve tens of thousands of dollars as a reward. Having high stats is expected and it’s the bar all students have to meet to be eligible for admission.
Students who challenge themselves just to get into a certain tier school are missing the point and probably aren’t a fit for these schools anyway. And if they aim for just “upper middle achieving” they’ll lose out on the merit aid at the colleges that offer it to attract high achieving students.
Tsbna44: Was simply pointing out that, if I go to Outback and I made $100K, they don’t charge me $20 for a steak. But you make $50K so they charge $10. That’s what these colleges are doing.
Yes, Outback charges everyone the same, but the difference is that if you can’t pay, you don’t eat. Colleges have a different mission. They want low income students to have a seat at the table.
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Most of these schools spend even more on each student. One of them apparently spends nearly twice the amount of full tuition (and breaks even on R&B) on each student. So these 1/2 the kids who are full pay are also getting a significant “discount”.
The issue is really the cost. The question is how to reduce that cost if we all expect these colleges to “keep up with the Joneses” by offering all kinds of services, all the esoteric or remedial courses, all the new and/or interdisciplinary fields of study, the study-abroad programs, the small classes, etc.
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Let me be clear…I am myself from a low income family and the only reason I was able to go to college and grad school was through pell grants, work study, various patched together scholarships, working FT and ultimately student loans which took me 22 years to pay off. Because I’m a social worker. I take great offense to ANY insinuation that I’m suggesting that low income kids don’t deserve aid. And that low income, high achieving should have a full ride. That is not who I am and that is not at all what I’m saying.
It isn’t black/white, either/or. I’m suggesting that it could be BOTH. Why is it unreasonable for a high achieving middle class kid to get little to no merit? (For the record, we’re not talking about elite schools, not even remotely). You guys are acting like I’m taking college dreams away from needy kids because my kid got a high GPA. That’s asinine and insulting. I’m saying this…that’s it…that I thought it would have been worth more. I never expected a full ride…never. I thought it would be worth more. If he had gotten lower stats (within reason) his “discount” would have been no greater. I’m watching the valedictorian of my son’s class go through the same thing. First generation immigrant, impeccable stats and EC. But he’s from a middle class family and, like the rest of us apparently, applied to the wrong schools. He should’ve applied to University of Evansville, not DePaul.
And Hudson and Holland at IU was the scholarship I referenced earlier.
And with that, I’m done.
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If your kid applied to the wrong schools how can you blame the system, which is essentially what you are doing? My kid and every kid I work with has gotten lots of merit for their stats and high school effort.
I haven’t blamed anyone. I said I thought it would be worth more. Literally, I’ve said that multiple times.
Because we didn’t know. Yay you that you work with your kid and others to help them through the process. Yay you that your kids got lots of discounts.
There are lots of us out here muddling our way through with zero guidance. Blame me for not knowing. I’m sure that’s coming next.
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Don’t apologize for being disappointed -that’s a totally normal reaction when hopes aren’t fully realized. The college admissions game can be soul crushing in this day and age.
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I think those with first time students don’t realize the amount of high stat kids not only applying, but due to the cost of college, how many choose a “lesser” college for more merit. I have twins this year, one higher stats than the other across the board with gpa, scores, EC’s, rigor, and yes, it does make a difference in merit. From my experience, a 3.9 UGPA 34 act gets them $5000+ more in tuitions costs over in state, same with most of the privates my kids applied to. That’s is, at least for the colleges in our area.
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Exactly. Thank you.