Financial Aid and Admissions

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>We are interested in New England boarding schools but have noticed many CC responses concerning FA are unfavorable towards admissions. We are on financial aid in a private day school and contribute $23,000 out-of-pocket towards tuition which is a real burden but we want the best education for our child. Our tuition is more than our contribution. It seems that if you apply for FA at boarding schools, you might not be accepted if you apply for FA (assuming, of course, you are admitted).</p>

<p>Can anyone provide insight? We would hate not to be admitted because we asked for some financial assistance.</p>

<p>Respectfully, please limit your comments to FA. I notice some parents take every opportunity to mention how their darlings scored 2500 out of 2400 on SSATs and have found a cure for baldness :)</p>

2

<p>Famtree- All you can really do is apply and hope for the best. I think that things are much more difficult for applicants needing FA since endowments crashed in the 2008 economic meltdown. If you follow college admissions, many private colleges that used to be need blind, like Wesleyan, can no longer afford to do this, and are now “need aware.” Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Needing partial financial aid is not as damning as needing full financial aid . . . so, although your circumstances make things somewhat more challenging, it’s not as bad as you’ve been led to believe.</p>

<p>You have two options:</p>

<p>(1) Apply to the most competitive schools with the largest endowments. If your student gets in, financial aid is guaranteed. (Keep in mind, though, that where you need less than full financial aid, your definition of your “need” and the school’s definition may not necessarily be the same.)</p>

<p>(2) Apply to several less competitive schools with smaller endowments and no commitment to meeting each student’s financial need. If your student gets in, the financial aid you’re offered (if any) may or may not be enough for your student to be able to afford to attend. </p>

<p>Since you expect to be able to pay approx. one half of your student’s expenses, Option 2 is your safest bet. Focus on schools where your student will be one of the most qualified candidates and seems nearly certain to be admitted. You are likely to get a range of offers, at least one or more of which should make attendance affordable. </p>

<p>If you want to try some Option 1 schools, go ahead . . . but be aware that admission to these schools isn’t assured for ANY applicant! Most of them scored 2500 out of 2400 on the SSAT (the first time they took it!) and they all cured baldness before they entered grade school. The biggest mistake you could make would be to limit yourself to these most competitive schools.</p>

<p>I would not, by the way, limit your search to New England . . . there are some exceptional schools both farther south (mid-Atlantic) and farther west (New York & beyond) that you should not rule out. The more limited your search, the more challenging that financial aid component is going to be.</p>

<p>The only two schools currently claiming to be need-blind are Andover and St. Andrew’s School (Delaware). Both are quite competitive.</p>

<p>Use [Boarding</a> School Review](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/][b]Boarding”>http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/) to explore your options.</p>

<p>P.S. Single-sex schools tend to be less competitive and should be included in your list, if possible.</p>

4

<p>dodgersmom: Thanks for the input.</p>

5

<p>I second dodgersmom.</p>

<p>We are not low-income, according to the federal government standards, thus we did not qualify for those type of programs, but we were in need of great amounts of FA. </p>

<p>I called the schools and told them that we were very interested in applying but the application fees would be difficult to pay and would limit my d’s choices. All the schools waived the application fee and Phillips Exeter even gave us a fee waiver for the SSAT, two years in a row (long story). </p>

<p>Choate was the only school that inquired about my income, and they denied my request. We didnt apply. My attitude was that if they couldnt help in this fashion that getting a “livable” FA package would be tough and that worried me. Choate missed out on a great student. </p>

<p>My d attends Deerfield :-)</p>

<p>DA believes that everyone should contribute something. And even though it has still been difficult, they gave us a great package, which extends even to activities that my d wants to do, example, skiing, dance lessons, etc.</p>

<p>I find that most schools have seen any financial situation that you could possibly have. If they want you child, they will work hard to make it happen. </p>

<p>They cant say no… if you dont ask.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

6

<p>@baystateresident: Thanks!</p>

<p>@Alex825mom: I appreciate you sharing your practical experience and staying on point. Of course, if you don’t ask, you don’t know. Although I don’t know but I’m sure there were those who probably tried to discourage you from at least applying to the schools you mentioned. Kudos to you for standing your ground, knowing your own mind, and following your path no matter the outcome! Congrats on Deerfield!</p>

7

<p>While I fear I might be one of “those kind of parents” you mention in the closing paragraph of your original post, I think our FA situations are similar and I will be sending you a PM soon.</p>

<p>At the risk of protesting too much, I will say that I relate aspects of my “darling’s” relative strengths to indicate to prospects just how competitive the application process can be.</p>

8

<p>I think the best advice is given by Dodgersmom, which is to cast a wide net! The same advice can be given to college admissions, unless you have relatively simple finances and apply early decision to a “meet full need” school, you should also cast a wide net.</p>

<p>In defense of Choate, they have some very generous merit scholarships, “Choate Scholars” “Walton Scholars” etc. They are described on their website. It helps to be in the category of student that they are actively recruiting. Other schools also have specific merit scholarships- isn’t there one for Latin scholars at St. Paul’s?</p>

9

<p>We were in a similar situation. Our D attended a private day school at which she received partial financial aid. We applied for similar partial aid at a N.E. boarding school. We could not have sent D to boarding school without some financial aid. </p>

<p>Our D was admitted to her first-choice school (a school with large endowment and generous FA)…BUT our FA request was outright denied. This meant she could not attend. However, after lots of tearful family discussions and lengthy back-and-forth with the FA office, the school kindly worked with us to come to a compromise. We asked them to look more closely at our financial situation (we are self-employed) and we also whittled away at our monthly budget so that we could increase our family contribution (once this discussion began, we gave them many more financial details and documentation than are shown on the PFS and tax return). </p>

<p>Long story short, both sides re-evaluated and reached a compromise. So even though it is a financial hardship (as it is for many families), with the help of partial FA… our D will attend. We are extremely grateful that the school was willing to reconsider our FA request and look further into our situation. Had they been unwilling to discuss the situation further we would have been forced to decline the offer of admission.</p>

<p>After going through this experience I would suggest: be very upfront and clear with your financial situation right off the bat and give as much supporting documentation as possible with your initial FA app, especially if you have any unique circumstances. </p>

<p>Furthermore, it is imperative that you evaluate your financial situation now, before you apply! You must look hard at your finances and decide the amount you can (and are willing) to contribute, then make your very best offer to the school with your financial aid application…even if the PFS gives a lower number. In other words, if you know you can tweak your budget in order to contribute $25k but the PFS says you should only contribute $14k…let the school know that your contribution will be $25k.</p>

<p>And if you think you can make some sacrifices in order to afford the entire tuition without aid for all 4 years, then don’t apply for FA at all and keep your child in a less competitive applicant pool! </p>

<p>Just my two cents (no pun intended) :wink:
Good luck!</p>

10

<p>We had such a wide range of offers I can only say it depends on the kid and the school and how great a match the school feels your kid will be. Everyone (schools, consultants, PM’s on CC) seems to agree that if you don’t need full FA you are in a much better position. It’s not simply economics either - schools want middle class kids. </p>

<p>p.s. I do disagree with parkermom - if the PFS said $14K I wouldn’t offer $25k. If you can really afford $25k then something is wrong with the numbers you’re inputting into the SSS.</p>

11

<p>Actually, according to at least one reputable director of FA, the PFS can be (and often is) “off” in both directions for various reasons, and not necessarily because you input the wrong numbers. There are just so many variables in each family’s financial picture, and many of us can find ways to decrease our expenses in order to increase our school contribution.</p>

<p>My point was merely that IF you are truly interested in sending your child to a particular school and you know that you must receive some FA to send your child, then decide ahead of time what your best and highest family contribution can be (might be higher or lower than PFS)…and then make the school your very best offer.</p>

12

<p>I think parkermom’s advice is sound. The more you can afford (regardless of what the PFS says), the better your child’s chances are. The reality is that each school can take in several more students with 1/3 need than students with 1/2 or 2/3 need. The schools really do want to make it possible for your student to attend . . . so the more you can pay, the easier it will be. </p>

<p>But, do NOT offer more than you can afford to maintain for the full four years. Absent catastrophe, the school will expect your contribution to remain the same the entire time your student is enrolled . . . so don’t think you can put in something “extra” for the first year and then cut back later, unless the school specifically agrees to such an arrangement up front.</p>

13

<p>If you’ve got a strong student and are currently contributing $23,000 out of pocket for your current school I’d say that you’re not “at risk.” Many families - some of whom are considered upper income - are receiving some partial aid and at $23,000 it indicates you could probably pay at least half tuition.</p>

<p>The students most at risk are those who need full or almost full aid - because those awards then minimize the number of other families that can be helped. So - for instance, two families paying half tuition might have an edge over two families who can’t afford any tuition.</p>

<p>For now, I wouldn’t worry about it. Clearly families at many economic levels are getting aid to go to school as indicated by the numbers posted by each school. My daughter’s current tennis coach once said “If you go into the game thinking you’re going to lose, you will.”</p>

<p>And frankly, sometimes I think while financial aid is a strong factor when whittling down finalists, many students who believe they are turned down for FA were simply not strong enough candidates to make the cut. There are no guarantees of admissions and a lot of full pay students are also declined each year. So what do you have to lose? Focus on the application and not whether the money will be there. If you apply the outcome is a “maybe.” If you don’t apply it’s a definite “no.”</p>

<p>Fill out the PFS (online parent financial statement) honestly and don’t worry about it. Schools estimate the cost of books, airfare and other incidentals when figuring out how much a family can afford to pay for tuition. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

14

<p>Solid information from all. We’ve been in the private school boat for years and like most, plan and budget for today and next year when the annual tuition increase rolls around. So, we’re not novices knowing what we can and cannot afford and reality budgeting. And one does have to think about the financial statement…if you don’t/can’t pay, you don’t/can’t stay. Of course, you have to get in first! But knowing that we can make a decent contribution makes the task less daunting.</p>