Hi all!
Congratulations on the acceptances! As offers of financial aid comes in, are there any lessons learned? Things you wish you knew when you were a junior firming up the list of schools?
I’ve been researching lists of schools that meet a high percent of need, calculated our EFC, looking at the net price calculator and determined “gaps”, researched schools average GPA/top 25% GPA, and reading back posts in search of schools that are generous. Any tips for a parent of a talented kid with GPA of 3.65 looking at mostly BFA but will consider BA? PSAT score was underwhelming, taken cold and now kid is scrambling to shore up score for financial aid purposes. Once we firm up financial safeties, I move on to scholarship research mode…
Would have had her start SAT prep much earlier and had her take the test more than twice. Wouldn’t have wasted time and money on AP testing as the schools that she was accepted at didn’t take the credits other than as a general credit. Didn’t wipe out any GE"s.
More dual credit coursework to knock out gen eds! More research on schools which offer instate rates in lieu of OOS tuition./matching rates scholarships. @DoinResearch, you mention PSAT, but what is your child’s ACT score? ACT/SAT scores and GPA are essential to automatic as well as competitive merit scholarships.
@momof3nerdz - a caveat, be careful with dual enrollment. In my state (Ohio), and in the school where I teach, the Dual enrollment classes we offer would be accepted at any public university in Ohio (via state mandate) and some local privates, but would not work in other places. DE would have worked for one of the schools where my D applied (and as it happens she was not artistically admitted). AP credits often have a much broader range b/c it is a national system
@momof3nerdz S has not taken ACT. In our state, the SAT is mandatory and he takes it this week. S hates standardized testing, BIGLY. It is a major undertaking to get him to take the SAT again in June, but this time we understand that even for acting, this is how we get merit money. Last marking period he pulled in a 4.0, I think cuml. 3.65 by end of year. It was a tough first semester freshman year, and then he discovered theater, and it changed him. He’ll have a killer essay about that I suspect. He’s taking 4 honors courses, and 1 AP course, but I have to confess I do not know what “dual enrollment” courses are, just another search for me! @toowonderful, if I understand correctly, AP is preferable to dual enrollment in that it may apply to more places. For the record, S is a very unique individual, and would fit best in an artsy environment, anyplace that feels too much into “stats” or slightly stuffy/elitist isn’t a good fit. He’s a smart kid, and his work ethic is off the charts, and he has talent… but he’s a teen and not into the “game” of scoring higher on a test for merit money. We’re at that point of list building where we need financial safeties with good training. I don’t want to get to next April, receive acceptances, and not be able to afford any of them, so I need to select a few schools that have merit money where grades count, not just SAT.
So grateful for this community. I look forward to 2 years from now when I can answer questions, and not always asking questions. I’ve been searching the theater section for “generous financial aid” and similar terms to dig up schools where people were happy with their awards. Also focusing on schools where his grades will be in the top 25%.
@DoinResearch - different states have different polices. I was speaking specifically to Ohio - YMMV, but essentially, yes, some states allow students to take classes either off site at a local college (often a CC) and/or to have classes IN the HS where college credit is offered, again, often through a CC. (this is new-ish to Ohio). As I said, these classes are generally accepted at state public universities, and even private colleges in the local area - BUT, colleges in other places, especially ones with competitive academic admissions may not accept CC credits from schools they don’t know. AP, on the other hand, is a national system - so a school like NYU (to site my own kid’s example) understands/accepts those credits - where they would NOT have necessarily accepted credits from Lakeland Community College (which is where the HS where I teach does Dual Enrollment). The “good” part of DE is that there is no “high stakes” test at the end - I have students every year in my classes who get As in class, and don’t score on the AP exam. (I also have kids who get Cs in class and get 5s on the test- such is the way of the world). So in my state- if you take a DE and are planning to stay in state - you are guaranteed credit, which is not true of APs. BUT - you need to know what the next phase of the plan is.
There was quite a bit of discussion about this during my D’s senior year - D’s PA HS schedule made fitting the APs in quite challenging, it would certainly have been easier to do DE (several of her friends did - doing much of their work online etc) BUT - given that her list of schools were was mostly out of state (she had 2 instate safeties - and 1 in state BFA) it is unlikely that credits would have transferred. (Her list was full of academically weighted schools) so even though she had to add the uncertainty of testing (not that big an uncertainty - she’s good with tests) it was a smarter plan to go AP
Sorry if this is long winded and convoluted …Again, all this is specific to Ohio - check your state for rules
All be careful of dual credit in Texas - generally a 4 point rather than 5 point class- where schools rank and rank is based on weighted gpa, dual classes can tank your ranking. I wish I had known that contributions to retirement DO count in income and will change grant eligibility by 47% of contribution. Invest heavily early and then start setting aside money sophomore year for the $65k schools.
Also if you’re going to need a car in the next four years, buy it for cash before you start doing FAFSA. It takes the money off your profile – and you can’t deduct car loans.
Up until this year, in Ohio, an “A” from a dual enrollment course was a 4.0. My S took all his academics at a 4-year college institution his senior year of HS and the As he earned were worth 4.0. I understand that has now changed for Ohio dual credit students and the grades are weighted on the same scale as AP/IB courses in your district. That would have had a significant impact on GPA for my S! Still an issue with non-Ohio schools accepting the dual enrollment courses to knock out gen eds.
Got some interesting information from a university today when inquiring about additional aid options. For this school, the applicants for each college/program who applied by the 12/1 deadline are ranked based on the GPA,test, & essays from their common app. The top 1/3 of applicants are offered academic scholarship awards. These awards are decided (but not communicated) prior to any auditions. So, for those colleges/programs that require an audition, a large percentage of the top 1/3 applicants may not pass the audition and get admitted. Yet, they are the only ones offered an academic award. Does this seem backwards to any of you? It seems to me that, if the school truly wants to award those academic scholarship dollars (and maybe they don’t and that’s part of their plan) then the awards would be made post-audition so that they are offered to students who are actually admitted to the college/program for which they are applying. I encountered a brick wall trying to negotiate academic aid now that my D passed her audition and has been offered a spot. Hmmm…
Apply early action if it is offered and possible. Or early decision if you know your first choice school. Early acceptance applicants get first shot at available aid, which can be a big win.
For the best aid, apply to schools where you are in the top 25% of SAT scores (e.g. above the listed 75th percentile range. I recommend that for two reasons. First, it makes it more likely that you won’t be swamped by the demands of the general education courses, and therefore will have more fun (yes, that’s important) and more time to devote to the theatre course. Second, it will put you at the top of the incoming class for merit aid. Merit aid is so, so, SO MUCH better than loans.
As a teacher - I feel compelled to put in a plug for continuing to push yourself academically in college. That can be done with honors courses, courses outside your comfort zone, or by choosing and academically challenging environment. Fun is fantastic and certainly valuable during college, but so is pushing your intellectual horizons