@copperboom
"August the schools top underwater golf player got injuried and they do not have one on their waitlist- coach must search for one… "
OK, so how do you suggest that I handle such a situation? Not good at being pesky.
Are you maybe suggesting that we don’t even apply. I know they want a state championship team and they can make that with my kid. Yes, they could make it with some other kid but they do not have that kid there today. So, if we do not apply, we could take advantage of your August example.
Is that what you are saying?
what is M9 and M10?
Google does not resolve that too well.
March 10 is the decision announcement day of boarding school admission. M9 is the day before, a rather stressful and anxious day for many folks.
I say apply for FA even if you are not certain that you would qualify. Most schools use the SSS (outside 3rd party service) determination of what your family can afford to pay as the starting point in their award determinations. I have no doubt that there is flexibility there; that is, depending on how desirable your student is for their incoming class, whether for academic or athletic or any other reason, a school may be more or less generous with their financial aid award than the objective formula would otherwise indicate.
@justwords…thanks SculptorDad for translating- Sorry if I’m not making sense… No, no! If I were you I WOULD definitely apply to that particular school this year. Just don’t hold your breathe for FA- If he’s an athlete with State potential than maybe you will be pleasantly surprised on M10! I guess what I’m trying to say is that no one here
( or in your social circle) can tell you for certain that he will get in or with FA. Who knows, maybe they will give you some FA bc they really want their team to win! It happens. But if he’s that good than I would definitely look at other schools with that sport. What sport is it? Maybe some people on cc that have athletes could help you narrow down a list. I’m just advocating for you to apply to more schools. Some schools have great teams bc they bring in PG’s ( post graduates)- others aren’t that great now, but are really making an effort to improve. He might do very well at a school that has a large endowment and a “growing” team. Has he taken the SSATs? A great score might improve his chances for FA-
As for summer recruits… My kid at BS is not an athlete, so others on cc could help much better- but what I was (poorly) stating is that anything is possible during summer. Contracts are signed in April. Over the next few months students change their minds, finances or family situations change, even being caught for illegal behavior. Spots open up. Most schools go to their waitlists from the regular admissions cycle but sometimes a student will be recruited afterwards- even up to the schools start date. I just personally would never put all of my eggs in that baskets unless I had too!
Something to consider though is that FA kids often also get FA for many other expenses besides tuition. Computers,books and school trips come to mind. So it is possible that a full FA kid will be able to go on the amazing school sponsored trips at winter or spring break while the full pay kid’s parents could not afford the additional $2k or 3k (or even more) and miss out.
A few general comments:
- The major merit scholarships that each school offers are easily found--most are listed on the website for the school. For example, Peddie has a significant list of them. There are also some, like Caroline Bradley, that are more general and can be use for any top school. The process for applying varies, but it is usually parallel to the application process itself. The terms of "merit" vary--it may be academics, sports, performing arts, or some combination.
- As everyone has said, the FA decision is unique to your child, and how he/she relates in general to the overall applicant pool. I won't pile on about the absurdity of focusing on your child's BFF, but remember, even if your child's BFF didn't apply, undoubtedly there are many others candidates that you don't know that are applying in the multi-thousand candidate applicant pool that might as well be your child's BFF. It's 100% irrelevant to you, and even raising the issue will set off alarm bells with the school about the kind of message that your are sending. Remember, they want communities that include like-minded parents. You're not negotiating a used car.
- There is some flexibility in how the aid calculations are applied. To my knowledge, only Andover and St. Andrews are only truly "need blind." In simple terms, that means that if your kid gets in and the calculations say they need aid, they will find the money. Most other schools are "need aware." That means if your kid gets in, he may get full aid, partial aid, or no aid. Within a range, they will make subjective choices about what they want on campus--diversity, athletics, academics--as part of this process. Anecdotally it appears that full-pay kids do have an easier time getting in than FA kids. How much that is the case varies with the school and the year.
- Because of this need-aware element, applying for financial aid when you don't really need it can, according to some, be risky. It would be advisable to speak to a couple different financial aid offices--perhaps even those that your child is NOT applying to (or not as interested in) in order to get a very thorough understanding of the process. There are probably also educational consultants in your area with whom you can have this discussion for a reasonable fee.
Many of these schools will use merit scholarships to really attract a student that might not otherwise either qualify for FA dollars or consider a particular school. My DD was offered leadership merit $$ at Suffield and a spot in the LC scholars program at Loomis Chaffee but in her case, this carrot was not enough for her to consider either of these options.
I hope my circle of friends isn’t secretly judging and criticizing each other’s approach to money…
@Justwords, all you questions are best answered by the phrase, “it depends.”
First, your child’s rivals for admission are all the other applicants of the same gender and grade level. I’d give up trying to compare his/her chances to the neighbor’s child’s chances. Focus on your own race. You do not know what other resources or burdens your friends have. It is fairly common for families with high earnings and no savings not to qualify for FA.
Some schools offer merit aid. Some do not. It should be on the school’s website. The league I know best, the ISL, does not allow member schools to offer merit aid. (St Paul’s had a few “grandfathered” merit scholarships. ) Sometimes, (and this happens in the college realm as well) parents will say that their children received scholarships or merit aid, because they don’t want to admit that they qualified for need based aid.
Schools draw on their endowment for operating costs and financial aid. You are not underwriting your child’s classmates, unless you are donating to the school more than the “gap” between the cost per student and tuition, room & board.
@Xystus - thank you for that. As a result of your note I asked a parent attending last night’s practice and she confirmed this would be something additional and essential to fitting-in.
@Copperboom there was one from a couple of years back where he scored district_avg+2 (act or act equivalent). He will test in Dec.
@MAandMEmom – thank you for your note. I will get back.
A lot of what I read here is helping me ask more specific questions. Parents sometimes quote other parents and are unable to provide any additional explanation. Based on what you all have been saying, I have started to make some sense out of those conversations - thank you.
Applying to other schools is not an option. We need to be near him so that is a limitation.
Since many of you have listed the Endowment as a limiting factor, any guesses as to how low is too low for schools to consider assistance whether in the form of merit or aid?
The endowment matters but sometimes it just depends as someone mentioned above. Our lowest out of pocket cost would have been the school with the smallest endowment. My DD would have had an immediate impact as a leader there and her sport is very important to them. It just depends…how much your student brings to the table.
Out of curiosity. What is the meaning of the Lock next to this thread. Also it is indicated that it was move - from where to where?
@Periwinkle - you are saying that No Merit schools (that you know) do not make exceptions. That was my question. Thank you.
In this case, I moved the thread from Prep School Admissions to Prep School Parents.
Does FA money from a school need to be accounted for April 15th by the recipients parents? Does it affect reported income in any way? If not, then what an extraordinary gift.
I’m thinking that if your income is between $200 and 250k or even 300k and you have little debt, it’s going to be tight. Because your tax rate is likely substantial (I don’t know that - just a guess.) And you’ll be paying with discretionary post tax dollars.
FA is not considered income for your tax return. It is taken off the bill directly - you never see/touch the money -all on paper.
I’ll give you my two cents. My son went thru this a few years ago. He was one of the top athletes in his sport applying that year. We are a full pay family and had no idea that merit scholarships even existed.
My son met with all of the coaches from the schools, most of whom expressed interest. These were all TSAO schools so they couldn’t say much.
At one of the schools, the coach seemed lukewarm. Son then received several emails from the head of an academic department asking to submit more details about his interest in a particular field. Son sent in some more details and I forgot about it.
On M10 son receives a e-acceptance to the school where the coach was lukewarm. Then a few days later he received the paper acceptance packet. In it was a letter stating that my son had been awarded a $5k scholarship for study in this academic area. We didn’t ask for the scholarship, nor did we apply for FA. This was very surprising. Seems like the academic head really liked my son and had some money to spend.
So there is some merit money around, but it’s not easy to find.