Financial Aid Advice

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I am no expert. I just want to share some information and opinions that might be helpful for those families that need FA to make BS possible. I have one child who went to boarding school 20 years ago and one entering in Fall 2012, both needing substantial FA.</p>

<p>Some of the older schools with large endowments guarantee that if they accept you they will meet 100% of your need. If you are in the ballpark with their admissions standards, I think it’s worth applying to at least one school like this. But in general, these are schools that are highly selective.</p>

<p>These are the ones I happen to know about, others may add to the list:</p>

<p>Phillips Academy Andover—need blind admissions, meet 100% of need including travel, books, etc. 13% of student body is on full scholarship.</p>

<p>Phillips Exeter—guarantee free attendance to families with income of $75,000 or less, including books, computer, etc.</p>

<p>St. Paul’s School says they will meet need of admitted students, usually 100% for families under $80,000. Need sometimes enters into admission decisions.</p>

<p>Deerfield evaluates admission and financial aid separately, about 9% of students are on full scholarship, grants can cover expenses beyond tuition. No promises.</p>

<p>Concord Academy has need-blind admission and while they say they are “committed to” meeting each admitted student’s need, including extras, I personally know someone who was admitted, had significant financial need, but was put on the financial aid waitlist.</p>

<p>Don’t believe everything you read or hear! Factors and policies change and obviously one school’s “commitment” is not how I would define it.</p>

<p>From the opposite perspective, the same student received a very generous FA award from a lesser known school with a small endowment and pretty low average FA award. This student was not an athlete or URM, very creative but no portfolio, just a beginner musician, pretty good grades but not straight A’s, very good test scores and at least one very very good recommendation. Not saying that that is some kind of formula, just to let you know that it’s possible without being an athlete, legacy, or chairperson of a charity.</p>

<p>Vouchers are available for SSAT fees, application fees, and financial aid application fees. They are available to both halves of a split family if both sides are needy. Vouchers seem to have a limited availability so don’t put off requesting them if you think you need them. SSAT and financial aid vouchers cover all the schools you are applying to; I suggest requesting them from the most well-endowed school of the bunch, as they are more able to absorb this cost.</p>

2

<p>Groton offers the “Free Tuition for kids with HHI of $75k or less” too.</p>

<p>St. Andrew’s in Delaware also states that it has a “need blind” admissions policy…pretty sure that SAS and Andover are the only co-ed schools that state this explicitly on any public-facing materials.</p>

3

<p>I think this is a very valuable thread to have and that families need to more about this before applying. BUMP!!</p>

4

<p>I’m going to add that it is these very policies that has helped drive application pools up. So many families hoping for (and counting on) the need blind policies or at least the hope that if their child gets a spot, it will come with appropriate FA. </p>

<p>But the reality is much different. For the top schools, there are now thousands of qualified applicants, many needing FA for only a few hundred spots (or less). The older the student, the worse the odds get because there are so few spots in upper grades. Still the schools will choose someone for those spots - hence it fuels hopes and dreams which are dashed on March 10.</p>

<p>The schools stated above are flooded with candidates. Schools with lower endowments are not - often being treated as safeties and tend to favor the students who really want to enroll as one of their top choices. </p>

<p>So apply to a broad range of schools and consider that the most popular schools are also the hardest to get into. FA or not.</p>

<p>And when you look at the odds, the percentage of FA candidates accepted each year relative to full pay means small numbers. Very small numbers out of the aggregate total of the pool. Which is why so many good families on CC now find themselves on FA waiting lists at multiple schools - and some have no back-ups for enrollment.</p>

<p>So cast a broad net, and just because a school commits to fulfilling need doesn’t mean it will, or can (especially in this economy.) But the “idea” of that leads to increased competition. The same thing happened at my college after they changed the policy to fully fund students under HHI of $75,000. The application pool skyrocketed as the economy tanked and the admit rate became insanely low with next to no pulls from the waitlist.</p>

<p>Just wanted to add the caveat.</p>

5

<p>I agree with ExieMITAlum’s caveat but want to keep this thread an advice thread rather than have it morph into a discussion of the pros and cons of various schools’ FA policies. I find very few hard facts about increases in FA applicants and want to throw out that Exeter, for instance, substantially increased their FA budget when they instituted their $75,000 FA policy, so I’m not sure if or how much competition for FA dollars increased.</p>

<p>That said, anybody with hard facts, I’m very interested, but please start another thread. This thread is intended for practical advice for potential FA applicants, families who have little or no experience or exposure to the FA process and possibilities.</p>

<p>As both ExieMITAlum and I said above, the schools with the most generous FA policies are also the hardest ones to get into, but if you are already going to the trouble and expense of applying to boarding school, and if your qualifications fall in the ballpark at one of these schools, and if you think you’d like to attend that school, it’s not very hard to add one or two of them to your list of schools to apply to. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.</p>

<p>Applying to a range of schools for both admission and FA reasons is always a good idea. But when you look at FA budgets and endowments you will see it’s a tight squeeze at the “hidden gems” too.</p>

<p>Don’t COUNT ON anything. For most/a lot of kids, BS is a dream. You reach for it, you hope for it, but you have to have Plan B. I am not implying “there’s free money out there just for the taking,” but you just might be one of the lucky ones. </p>

<p>Keep in mind, budget-wise, that even if you receive a generous FA award, there will be other expenses you’ll have to cover. There is another thread about unexpected BS expenses (“Unexpected add’l BS costs besides tuition, room & board”). If you live far away, travel will be a big expense, and not just airfare. At more out of the way schools you have to use a limo service to get to and from the airport at a cost of $100 or more each way. </p>

<p>You can investigate travel expenses on schools’ websites looking for a link like “student travel” and/or downloading the student handbook or doing some googling. If this is a critical issue for you, call the school and get firsthand info about travel arrangements and cost. You will probably have to call the limo company to get cost estimates.</p>

6

<p>Fresh from the application and FA cycle here’s what I learned - you never know until you know. First I will say that our experience was mostly with schools that are rarely discussed on this forum (with a couple of exceptions). Also, we were not in the category of needing 100% FA.</p>

<p>If you are thinking about applying next year I strongly recommend completing the PFS now and seeing what your family report tells you is the amount they feel you can pay. In my experience, the amount you think you can pay doesn’t really matter that much - the PFS determines the amount. </p>

<p>If your child really wants to go to boarding school and absolutely needs FA, then apply to a good number of schools but be sure they are schools you would attend if accepted. We visited 10 and applied to 8.</p>

<p>If the PFS number is significantly more than what you can pay, there is a section where you can explain any extenuating circumstances and I highly recommend you do so. That was advice given to me by a director of FA who was kind enough to call me early in the game to discuss. Then it is up to the school to decide what, if any, amount they are going to offer. </p>

<p>The offers we received had nothing to do with the size of the endowment. Two of the most, um, well endowed schools offered completely different things (zero vs substantial). The highest offer was from a school with a modest endowment. Some schools follow the PFS exactly but offer unsolicited or solicited merit scholarships (both happened to us). When admissions at the well endowed school received our decline we were encouraged to send copies of other offers (with names redacted- remember FA awards are confidential) and appeal. We chose not to since, fortunately, the offers in hand were from the schools DC liked the most. I mention this because it is possible to appeal and I heard this from several sources.</p>

<p>Exie is right - cast a broad net. There are some amazing schools out there with incredibly cool kids and teachers and they might be really excited to have you and you may have opportunities to really stand out in ways that wouldn’t necessarily be available to you at some hyper-competitive schools.</p>

7

<p>This is from the website of St. Paul’s School in Concord NH:</p>

<p>“St. Paul’s School offers special-interest scholarships through specific programs, all of which have a preference for financial need. The Walker Scholarship is for African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students; The Cook Scholarship is for students from the state of Montana; The Ross Scholarship is for students from Northern New Jersey; The John Kaul Greene Scholarship is for students from the state of Alabama; and the Heinz Scholarship is for students from western Pennsylvania. St. Paul’s School does not offer athletic scholarships. All applicants are automatically considered for these scholarships; there is no separate application.”</p>

<p>This is just an EXAMPLE. These are full ride scholarships. If SPS has all these dedicated scholarships, it’s a sure bet other schools do too. These are often started by an alumnus for kids from his/her home area which may be somewhat underrepresented in the student body. You may be able to find a school that has a special offer for someone like you. Remember that it’s still a long shot but it probably increases your chances. I happen to have personal exposure to one of the above-mentioned scholarships and there were years when the number of qualified applicants was shockingly low. The applicant pool has increased in recent years but I’m pretty sure it’s still way better than what you would guess from generalized FA stats.</p>

<p>Conversely, if your profile is similar to the majority of the student body at a given school, it may negatively affect your odds. The emphasis today is on diversity and using FA to round out the student body. But I still encourage you to go for it, work for and hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.</p>

8

<p>

Nicely said @alooknac</p>

<p>I totally agree. There was a student here on the boards who was waitlisted or declined at every school. He applied a second year and got a full ride (unhooked, non-URM). Good things do happen. Two other students got last minute reprieves from good schools over the summer (both with full aid - both unhooked, non-URMs). My D has always wanted to travel abroad - discovered that a school scholarship had gone unclaimed for several years in a row. The year she applied she was stunned to find 50 students in the same room who’d heard the same news. Undeterred, she kept her thoughts positive and received the award.</p>

<p>Our family philosophy is to try for a goal despite the odds because if you do the odds are a “maybe.” But to not try at all is a definite “no.” So what do you have to lose?</p>

<p>Life is about risk. Sometimes it ends in a good reward.</p>

9

<p>I don’t have a lot to add, but just for the sake of international students, if you’re thinking of applying to St. Andrew’s School with FA, they have clearly stated in their website that they very rarely provide FA for international applicants and the most is 50%. </p>

<p>I was considering SAS but gave up on the idea after reading this, even though SAS is a really good school, from what I’ve heard.</p>

10

<p>@sallyfour: SAS is not alone in this regard. Here is some verbatim info from the Groton website:</p>

<p>Q. Does Groton award financial aid to students from foreign countries?
A. Financial aid is available primarily to citizens of the United States and Canada. International students are eligible to receive financial aid. However, Groton has limited funds available for this purpose.</p>

<hr>

<p>Exeter and SPS have similar “limited funds” language. Note that in my cursory search for similar info on the Andover site, I could not find it. If they in fact do not have limits on aid for internationals, I think Andover may be unique among US school in this regard.</p>

11

<p>NEED BLIND
Need blind means that the people deciding whether to admit you do not know whether or not you are applying for financial aid. It means you could get accepted but not be offered FA even though you might have great need. Or you could be waitlisted for FA. Or, lucky you, you just might be offered admission AND financial aid. Your FA award could be less than “full need.”</p>

<p>FULL NEED
Full need means that if you are accepted at that school, they will provide FA to cover your full need. That’s full need as they determine it. And the award may or may not include stipends for travel, computer, books, etc. There are very few schools with full-need policies and they are highly selective. And they may not be need-blind, in which case they are offering to meet the full need of the creme de la creme.</p>

<p>YOUR OPTIONS
Ultimately you have to pick out schools that you want to attend. I personally am not convinced that a detailed analysis of the school’s FA policy is pertinent unless you have an unusual situation. FA awards tend to be all over the map for the same applicant. This whole thread and these definitions are just to help you sort things out, make the right decisions for you, and not be misled by some of the terminology.</p>

<p>For my kids, I thought it was relevant that a school have a fairly high percentage of FA recipients. I did not want my kids to feel out of place, surrounded by kids from a very different social class. I also thought the average FA award was relevant but after our latest application round, I’m not so sure.</p>

<p>Probably the single biggest thing is to find a school that wants somebody just like you! A school that is willing to pay $45,000 a year (or whatever amount) to have YOU in their student body. When you find a school that you love, think about what you will get from that school AND what you will bring to it and find ways to show that school how you will add to their community.</p>

12

<p>Very helpful thread alooknac–thanks for starting it.</p>

<p>I particularly like the advice in the Your Options section above. The only other thing we looked at was whether schools were completely grant-based or offered a mix of grants and loans. We didn’t apply to any of the latter as we weren’t interested in taking out loans for prep school.</p>

13

<p>My son received a FA package as a first year at Hotchkiss that met our demonstrated need exactly. Each year, the FA office asks him to write a letter of thanks to the widow of an alum who set up a fund to help two students each year, although we had no idea the money was attached to a particular donor at the onset.</p>

14

<p>This is such a helpful thread. Our family is just starting the boarding school application process and are new to the confusing financial aid maze. This information is a very valuable resource to us. Any additional tips or helpful hints are most appreciated.</p>

<p>Thank you all.</p>

15

<p>Bumping this thread for the benefit of new crop of applicants.</p>

16

<p>I think Concord Academy does a good job of explaining their FA policy on their website.</p>

<p>Students are admitted 100% need blind, but the aid budget isn’t adequate to fund all students who need aid.</p>

<p>So at CA one can be admitted but put on an FA wait list – unlike, say St. Paul’s, where the student would be put on a straight wait list or denied.</p>

<p>Millbrook and and a number of other schools do it the same way.</p>

<p>The FA offer my daughter (she ended up choosing another school) received from CA was extraordinarily generous and did include funding for extras including music lessons and trips.</p>

17

<p>We are also an example of a family who got all wait lists and denies one year but came back the next year and had multiple offers with aid ranging from 80-99%.</p>

<p>And yes, I will second that aid offer can vary GREATLY from school to school. We were very surprised by some of the offers.</p>

<p>And I will second the comment that you never know until you know.</p>

18

<p>I would add that you can edit and update your FA application during the process even after you complete it. we are both self-employed and our info did not clearly fit in the boxes supplied so we needed a few tweaks.</p>