@Eeyore123 thanks. The coaches never said S19 would get merit money. I understand that it’s not their place to do so. If S19 gets merit anywhere, it will be based on his academics and his other ECs not his running.
Because it’s an obvious resource – and therefore probably already considered – I haven’t mentioned it, but U.S. News offers two rankings categories oriented specifically toward the thread topic:
What schools choose to spend their money on can change after the student begins. Some schools may decide to reduce merit in favor of need based aid, while other schools might begin construction projects that will never benefit our own kid, etc. We received some FA for part of my daughter’s early years in undergrad ( she is still there) due to having two kids in college …her school meets full need. I hope the families there don’t hold it against us; I would like to think that she brings something beneficial to the campus. On the flip side, I am happy to pay full fare for her remaining time there as a full pay student…glad to help those who need it and eternally grateful for my daughter’s opportunity to attend and grow as a person.
It’s very difficult to predict the career path of an 18 year old physics major…they change a lot. We have science teachers in our HS who went to Harvard, Duke, etc.
Let’s throw in that S19 is truly undecided on major and could very well end up something like a history or government major. That’s another reason I think resources like career centers and alumni networks are important. If he ends up with a degree that’s maybe less lucrative right after undergrad, it would be best for him to have all sorts of resources to support his job search. Ps. I doubt he will be a teacher…
I’ve had children attend both Bowdoin and Kenyon. The support, resources, facilities and opportunities offered by both were equivalent, despite differences in endowment.
As a side note, I do think that a real question is that, like hospitals, where the money actually goes is so opaque, and the rise in fees is so startling (multiples of increases over COL), that reasonable people can ask ‘where, exactly, does all that money go?’. When you add in the dramatic increase in adjunct profs- making academia a staggeringly hard career path, which has long term repercussions that the educational system hasn’t really come to terms with yet- it is even more of a question.
So, OP, I am onside with you when you ask 'where does all that money go 
So, any idea where to look to see where schools have spent and are spending their money?
Coming back to your question, you need to look at what is available to your kid that he wants. If he doesn’t ski, Midd’s hill is worth a hill of beans to him. If he doesn’t swim, who cares about that gorgeous pool? If he’s interested in science, high tech labs will matter. (For my kid, they did not.) Free music lessons? You can put a price tag on that if it matters to you. Funded travel or research? And don’t assume that the expensive prof is necessarily the best. Or that because a school has something that your kid can access it. That ice rink isn’t open to students for free skates a lot of the time…
The differences at these schools will not be significant for most things, but there could be differing value to different students based on how they want to spend their time and energy.
It’d be nice of a single calculation could tell you where to go, but it’s going to be harder than that!
^^Ask each college for budget information.
@homerdog You can take a look at each school’s financial statements, as a starting point. They are pretty high level, and you don’t really know what’s included in some expense lines such as auxiliary enterprises and institutional support for example, but still worthwhile to take a look. Here are links for some of the above mentioned schools:
https://www.kenyon.edu/directories/offices-services/accounting/audited-financial-statements/
http://www.middlebury.edu/offices/administration/vpfin/-finance-office-/finance-office/controller/finrpts
https://www.bowdoin.edu/finance/financial-documents/index.html
My friend’s son graduated from Carleton in May and is home…he was a history major and is still figuring out what to do next. He is doing some office work now to earn some spending money. My family member’s daughter will soon be graduating from Hamilton…some kind of art major. She has not visited the career center. Not once.
These are obviously very good schools, but we have to be careful and understand that success at any school falls on the student and what he/she takes advantage of. The resources …alumni …etc might be there…but they don’t knock on your door.
I agree that you could ask each school for their budget info. Once you have that information you could start to narrow down what your son wants. Post 107 gives some good, practical advice.
Most institutions make public their financial reports. You could start by doing a search there. Many times the first few pages are summaries of institutional priorities.
@twogirls yikes. Our kids know that it’s expected that they visit the career center starting freshman year and work hard to find summer internships. I cannot imagine having a junior in college who hasn’t been working hard to look for summer employment between junior and senior years. And, of course, working hard to find a job during senior year as graduation approaches. We expect our kids’ interests in careers to evolve over their four years of undergrad but they know to be working towards employment.
Both at Kenyon and at Bowdoin, they made it clear that they like students to get to know the career centers early and visit often.
Yikes is right #-o
Re post#77 (why are even safeties $70k privates?)…Safeties are a fascinating topic
…for safeties do u pick the same type of college as your dream schools, just easier to get into? Or do you shift gears completely to get a good experience, overall or at least in one area?
Like if Williams is your dream, & you’d be content with Bates, and you get in neither, would you rather have a safety of another (easier to get into ) small New England college like Wheaton, Connecticut College, or Clark U, or do you say, “Screw it, if I’m not going to get my top-notch New England LAC, at least give me good weather (U of Miami or U of Hawaii) or bigtime sports (U of Alabama, U of Kentucky), or a locale overflowing with internships in every field (Southern Methodist, Virginia Commonwealth)”?
In other words, if you can’t get your perfect college, should you go for one that’s a watered-down version of your dream school, or should u go for a college that at least maxes out some criterion (e.g, weather, sports, internships)?
Also, the $70k safety would only seem to make sense in those few parts of the country where it’s dogma that smallish & private always beats big & public. In most flyover states, where the best college in the state is often big & public, $70 per year doesn’t even make sense for your dream school, much less a safety.
@moooop we struggled with the idea of a safety school. At our high school, most kids use UIUC or Iowa or Indiana as their safety but S19 was bent on small classes and a small community from the very start. So, we looked for other LACs that were more safe. I did manage to convince him that William and Mary, although not an LAC, is very focused on undergrads and he can live on campus all four years. We visited and he liked it but still felt like it might be too big. And it’s more of a low match than a safety.
I get why someone could change their idea of the kind of school they want for a safety. Would it have made more sense long term for him to go to Wisconsin instead of Grinnell or Dickinson? At this point we will never know. Also, he’s very undecided on major. If he wanted comp sci or engineering, then a Big Ten school would have most likely been his safety. I just couldn’t see him at a big school with fewer resources dedicated to advising since he will need some guidance as he decides what he’d like to do. And, as I mentioned, he was adamant about small class sizes. He wants discussions in every class. Wants to go to dinner with professors. I know there will be some on CC who will say he could have gotten all of that at a big school but we did that investigation and know a TON of kids at Big Ten schools and they are not getting personalized attention. So the small LAC is how he went for his safer choices as well.
Some of the public LACs are significantly lower cost, even for out of state students. Of course, suitability for prospective major needs to be checked, but “LAC” does not necessarily require being “private” and “expensive”, despite common perception around here.
@ucbalumnus true. S19’s stats are pretty strong and his ECs may set him apart too. We used Naviance to figure out what his chances are at the LACs on his list. He didn’t have to apply to lower ranked LACs (like an Illinois Wesleyan) in order to get into a college. Would he have received more merit there? Sure. He would have gotten more merit at a lot of places- Alabama, ASU, UTD, Miami Ohio, and lots more. We just all chose not to go that route and looked for best fit for him.
I don’t get the sense kenyon is a fit for @homerdog . I think the ranking that is close for what OP wants is basically endowment per kid.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent
for example I read that Amherst uses endowment to subsidize even full tuition kids.
Might as well wait til march to see where kid gets in. OR try to figure out career paths which help decide colleges more than “ROI”
@anon145 agree that we just need to wait. I’m just killing time for the next eight weeks until we start getting info back from schools. He will have a tight turn around time to make a decision so I’m trying to scope out a few things in advance. Honestly, I’m beginning to think it’s not worth it. I think he will be making a decision based on his gut during spring visits!