<p>FAFSA, PSAT… how perfect are either of these?</p>
<p>I think it’s fine to have some money given out based totally on performance. I just think we need some other way of identifying these kids besides how well they did on one Saturday morning.</p>
<p>The PSAT is only the first step. They also have to submit SAT scores, and an essay, and I think maybe there was also a teacher rec, but I’m not sure about that. I know it took up a lot of my daughter’s time when she was also writing essays for college apps, and essays for scholarships. The PSAT only got you into the running.</p>
<p>Another little point I have:</p>
<p>For a relatively privileged kid to be rewarded a little money for doing well in something academic is not a bad thing!!! I think it can teach the value of earning for good work, and also can give the parents a chance to pull out from their financial support a bit, and say, "Hey, look at this YOU are contributing something to college- how great! Thanks, and GOOD for you!</p>
<p>^^My son found it took no time at all to do this. He just used the current draft of his Common App essay and copied all of his ECs from the Common App too.</p>
<p>Yes you need to corroborate your score with a decent SAT, but you can’t even get into the race without a good performance on that Saturday morning.</p>
<p>“And there are not enough places at the most “prestigious” schools for all that might do well there, as judged holistically, which is a process that, among other things, looks at the individuals in the context of their environments.”</p>
<p>I would argue that their “achievements” are not stellar enough, then. </p>
<p>The ability to pay for such an education is a limiting factor in this equation, emilybee:</p>
<p>That is what financial aid is for.</p>
<p>eb,
I respectfully disagree. HYPS et al often say that they could create multiples of equally excellent classes.
I do not use college admissions as a perfect flag for superiority.
Obviously FA is there to help those who cannot pay, but I argue that is does not get to everyone that cannot afford college, for a number of reasons. </p>
<p>The system is not perfect AT ALL.
The question is whether money should be given to high performers regardless of their ability to pay.
And, if so, how to measure who gets this money.
One could argue that those who DO qualify for FAFSA aid should recuse themselves from a competition for money based on just performance, because they already qualify for and get aid… to level that playing field.
Just another thought…</p>
<p>There are more schools than HYPS that,imo, are considered top schools and for which one needs an excellent resume to get accepted to. </p>
<p>Anyone can get FA, it just might be in the form of loans. If these students are as high an achiever as this test would have you believe then they should do well enough in college to get a job which allows them to pay back (over time) whatever they need to borrow.</p>
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<p>Well, in a way, that proves the point. If your son was not an accomplished student, he wouldn’t have a good essay ready and lots of ECs to report.</p>
<p>Yes, I see your point that the PSAT is just a snapshot of one day. So, what workable standard would you substitute, if you feel that is not a fair gauge of merit?</p>
<p>And yes, I can see where awarding money to people who are already very wealthy might seem wasteful to some. But most wealthy children DON’T qualify as NMSF. How would you reward the ones who do? </p>
<p>Also, there are many people (the less wealthy?) who get edged out of real financial aid (I mean actual granted money, not offers of work or loans), but whose income still makes paying astronomical tuitions a hardship. How do you incentivize the top students from those families?</p>
<p>I personally think it benefits our great nation to produce students who are very smart and hardworking. I think it is good policy to do what we can to provide incentives for families to encourage and support this behavior.</p>
<p>'you can’t even get into the race without a good performance on that Saturday morning. "</p>
<p>You are mixing up the PSAT with the SAT. The PSAT is administered during school hours. The SAT is given on SAT mornings AND can be repeated.</p>
<p>“I think it’s fine to have some money given out based totally on performance.”
And that is ALL that NMF is about- Identifying top students[ using PSAT AND SAT scores, essays and teacher recommendations] Many colleges want that those type of students on their campuses and are financially willing and able to offer them merit money .</p>
<p>With the exception of institutionally based schoarships just about all of the other “outside” scholarships are need based. My wife and I are both teachers. With our combined incomes we make too much for any significant financial aid and/or need based scholarships. There is no way, however, that we can afford 50-60 thousand dollars per year for top tier schools. We have a high stats NMSF son. He has applied and will be applying to schools that indicate that they offer substantial merit aid to NM finalists. I am eternally thankful that the National Merit program does exist. This is about the only program left that “high income” families can use to widen the college possibilties for their kids.</p>
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<p>Well yes, and no. 95% of all Semis move on to finalist. It is a very low bar to clear once one has aced the Saturday morning test. In essence, the psat IS the “competition”.</p>
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<p>Obviously, NYU disagrees. 
NYU must not feel that the program offers any benefits to them. Because in reality, it is the colleges themselves who really benefit from this program. Colleges participate so they can attract high stat kids and “encourage” them to matriculate.</p>
<p>From what I heard here (but have no concrete data), it is almost automatic to go from NMSF to finalist as long as you send in all the required materials and essay. Something like upward of 90%+ makes finalists and many don’t make it because they don’t send it the follow up materials.</p>
<p>Another not so fair aspect is that certain states have a very high cutoff point while many others have relatively much lower cutoff point.</p>
<p>“But most wealthy children DON’T qualify as NMSF. How would you reward the ones who do?”</p>
<p>Admission to one of their top choices is the reward. </p>
<p>Most kids don’t qualify for NMSF, period. </p>
<p>Many private schools offer their own merit aid having nothing to do with NMS. Those that need the money should apply to schools which offer merit, then. </p>
<p>My son did dismally on his PSAT - somewhere around 1400 (M, CR, & W) but by the time he was applying to colleges he was offered large sums of merit aid ($30K/yr, $27K/yr, down to a low of $18k/yr) at every school he applied to except our state school. Several of these school are in the top 50. In the end he chose to go to a school which doesn’t award based on merit as their philosophy is everyone who gets accepted is meritorious.
So instead he got a boatload of money in the form of a institutional grant (way above what we assumed from our EFC.)</p>
<p>admission to a “top choice school” that is unaffordable is a hollow “reward”.
Middle class parents of tip top students can’t always afford a top choice school costing 50K+/ year, [ especially if their kids didnt make it into HYPS]. And saddling an 18 yr old or their parents with thousands of $$ of loans is also not a viable option for many families. </p>
<p>You seem to have a “let them eat cake” type of attitude.</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t see it as a hollow reward as they can take out loans to cover the cost and again, if they are such high achievers, they should be able to graduate and get a job which affords them the ability to pay back their loans. </p>
<p>I also don’t know what income you consider “middle class?” My husband earns over six figures and my son got institutional aid.</p>
<p>eb-
How can you think that loans are the equivalent of money???</p>
<p>What is being missed here is that the National Merit Award is pretty minimal. We are talking 1-2 thousand per year. What the detractors are really upset about is that this also opens up other merit awards for these kids.</p>
<p>What, exactly, is the argument that NYU should be giving merit money to NMFs? Why would it be in the interest of NYU to do that? I can understand why the University of Alabama does it, but why should NYU?</p>
<p>I mean, it would be nice if every bright kid could go to the college he or she wants to, even if it’s expensive, but these are mostly private schools we are talking about–an education at one of them is a luxury item, like a nice car.</p>
<p>Well, at least Natl Merit attempts to level the field by having the cutoff different in each state. </p>
<p>FAFSA does nothing to level the field for COL in each region.</p>