<p>I am wondering how others with a Financial Aid package from Skidmore are viewing the offer. </p>
<p>My DD received what we consider to be a very nice offer from Skidmore for her freshman year. The problem is that all the other schools she is considering have offered her a 4 year scholarship with a guarentee. While Skidmore looks good today, the 4 year projection doesn't look so good. We confirmed this with a call to the financial aid office. In 4 years, the Skidmore financial aid package will change when her older brother leaves college, but she will have a younger sister behind her a year later. </p>
<p>Do others see going to Skidmore with financial aid risky. I know that Skidmore doesn't offer any scholarships and this could become a problem.</p>
<p>We were worried about this too. When we called, they explained that the aid will generally stay the same if your financial status is the same, but your DD will have to take on more hours for work-study (if she was offered that) as each year passes. But seeing how your DD will be the only one in college for a year, that year will be more money. It should decrease though once your other daughter enters college.</p>
<p>The thing I'm most concerned about is the student body. I've heard that most are from wealthy families and party a lot. I'm not really into partying, and I was wondering if anyone here is either a student there or has a friend there who could fill me in on the situation. Also, I've heard some mixed things about the academics. I've heard that they are good, but that sometimes professors don't challenge students to think on their own - that students are expected to agree with the teachers and rehash information. Is this true? Thanks.</p>
<p>The aid will stay the same as long as our financial status stays the same, but to be honest, I have to hope our financial status improves or college tuition is going to kill us! </p>
<p>We will always be scrambling to educate 4 kids. We need to earn more money just to pay our bills with college in the picture now. But at Skidmore, that will penalize us over the 4 years instead of put us ahead. They also explained that more hours would be available for work study. But the reality of the work study is that students don't as a rule turn around and apply their work study money to tuition, they also need it for expenses.</p>
<p>I can not comment about the student body however my daughter has made e-mail contact with a local girl to see what she can learn about the real "flavor" of the campus.</p>
<p>work study: i'm a current freshman doing work study. we were given the option of working 5, 7, or 9 hours a week (freshman work in the dining hall) at 7.50/hr. you can either get the paycheck directly deposited onto your skidmore card or bank account, or get a regular check... so technically you can have it deposited directly to the adult to make sure it goes towards tuition, not other expenses.</p>
<p>student body: i'm not from a wealthy family, i don't party. my roommate is the opposite. from what i see, there is a lot of partying and drinking...my roommate goes out every weekend, there are always parties to go to, on and off campus. on the other hand, there are also a lot of other things to do - ever friday and saturday night there are things going on in the spa (in the student center), a free not-yet-on-dvd movie showing saturday nights, lectures, art exhibits, etc. so i would say yes, it does seem that a majority of kids here are wealthy and drinkers...but there are also a lot of awesome people who aren't, and a lot of things to do other than drinking.</p>
<p>academics: as with any school, each professor is different. there are a lot of excellent profs here, and i've learned a lot from the ones i've taken classes with. and there is the occasional prof whose teaching/paper grading methods don't quite jive with me...but i don't get the sense that there are a lot of profs who are like that.</p>
<p>I know how you feel. We've been at the mercy of financial aid's decisions at Mount Holyoke for 4 years and are now facing 4 years at Skidmore. You feel you'd like to earn more to get out of that "edge of desperation" feeling, but the next year the aid goes down to compensate for your earnings. You hate to see your children building up debt that will limit their choices later.</p>
<p>Maybe a good approach is to let the debt pile up, but keep them focused on internships that will help them get decent incomes right after graduation. It's a shame to pay so much for the school and have them spending their time earning 7.50 an hour in a dining hall. I'm no financial expert, I'm afraid, but that's how it looks to me. The hard part is making the financial situation real for the student, so she's not stunned with the real world when it hits on graduation.</p>
<p>I just don't understand how this system was designed. While it is represented as being fair to all, it certainly didn't have employment in sales in financial aid picture. With sales, your financial picture can fluctuate on a BIG curve from one year to the next. They can decide your EFC number on a good year only to be paying the higher amounts on a year that wasn't financially good and throw your entire family's financial picture in a state of chaos. There is no averaging over the course of several years, it is strictly year by year. Some years that "appear" good, you are actually digging yourself out from a not good year. </p>
<p>If you can't work to the belief that there is a possiblity of improving your income in any given year, then that shoots the "American Dream" in the the heart. The system seems to penalize the already over taxed (in every sense of the word) middle class. Be very poor or be very rich, but don't be average, because you are on the wrong side of every option. You just have to work harder than the rest to pay for EVERYTHING.</p>
<p>Just my ranting on injustice that doesn't often get talked about.</p>
<p>my son is an incoming 07/08 freshman at skidmore. he is socially adept with many friends. he does not drink or get high at all. will he have problems
adjusting? are there visible kids who are non-partiers?</p>
<p>need2know - i don't drink or smoke either. i happened to meet a few non-partiers my first semester (and through them, some more), and if i hadn't i probably would have felt very alone. but, i'm very introverted and find it hard to reach out and make friends, and it sounds like your son is different. to me it seems like almost everyone around me drinks (people like to pregame everything)... but once you find the people that don't, they obviously do become more visible. </p>
<p>that wasn't very articulate...he might have trouble at first, but if he's very social and easily makes friends then he'll be able to branch out enough to eventually find people who don't party.</p>
<p>i'm an incoming freshman too. i don't drink or smoke or do anything like that. i was a bit scared about this too, but i figured skidmore had so many amazing things going for it. plus, i come from a fairly affluent high school in which MANY students drink, get high, and party regularly (kind of like skidmore, so i've heard). i've learned to deal - i don't completely isolate myself from them, but i will only hang out with them in school. if your son's made it through high school, i'm sure he'll be fine in college. also, if he has a facebook, he can join the skidmore c/o 2011 group - someone started a thread asking who doesn't party. the feedback was pretty good.</p>
<p>sorry to burst your bubble, but a lot of people who don't party in high school will end up partying a lot in college. my roommate kept saying how she used to not at all party in hs, but now that she's at college she goes out drinking almost every weekend.
but, there are still those who won't change their ways...and hey, you two could always hang out with me and the people i know lol.</p>
<p>my son would be furious if he knew what i was doing....regardless,
how would he identify either
'emizzly' or 'wuwei' on facebook? i'll figure out a way to talk to him without
spilling the beans.
also, any tips re: housing.</p>
<p>there are definitely both guys and girls. and then there are some who drink some of the time, etc etc. i don't know about wuwei but if you just search for 'emizzly' i'm the only one that will come up, because it's also my screen name.</p>
<p>not sure what tips on housing i can really share; freshmen get randomly assigned a dorm based on their scribner seminar. they try and house the seminar people in the same dorm; my roommate was also in my seminar, but not everyone rooms with someone from it.</p>