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The group that administers the SAT has begun a nationwide outreach program to try to persuade more low-income high school seniors who scored high on standardized tests to apply to select colleges.</p>
<p>The group, the College Board, is sending a package of information on top colleges to every senior who has an SAT or Preliminary SAT score in the top 15 percent of test takers and whose family is in the bottom quarter of income distribution. The package, which includes application fee waivers to six colleges of the student’s choice, will be sent to roughly 28,000 seniors.
<p>I think this is a great start. It reaches kids who are already high achievers, at least as measured by SAT, but who don't know they can apply for fee waivers, or may not know that selective private colleges will likely offer them a better deal than the local U.</p>
<p>aww. it sure is nice that they’re trying to help. but low-income families and their kids could probably be helped in more clearly positive ways don’t you think? like what if college ends up not working out for the student. then they don’t have the luxury of having their college tuition having been taken care of by their parents. so now they have loans. and we know how difficult those are to have pardoned.</p>
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<p>so now the student is in debt. maybe his relationship with his parents become strained. he flunked out of college. now he needs help. and all this happens to the kid who would have not gone to college had his family not received one of those packages. maybe it will do more good than bad, these packages, but is this the time to be encouraging low-income students to go to college, when the returns on that investment are the most uncertain? but maybe there is a defense for it. these kids are smart. we know they can do well in college. they scored in the 85% and above in the SAT! but think, most of those kids who receive the packages will still be below the 95%. of course being smart makes you more likely to succeed in college, but there are MANY other variables as we all know. smarter kids also major in more difficult things. the 85% might not make much of a difference in ones college success compared to the 50%. it might take you having scores in the 98% before they provide, on average, a significant increase to the student’s chances in graduating. these bright low income students, however, many of whom may have already been recognized for their psat scores, might already be more likely to go to college anyway. so the low income students that these packages end up convincing to apply to college (and possibly attend, if they get in) might be more of the academically weaker ones.</p>
<p>Often high achieving kids can do better financially at top schools because those schools have more resources available for financial aid than state schools or trade schools. Enfield, I hope you’re not suggesting that top low-income students skip higher education altogether and go straight to a “would you like fries with that?” job.</p>
<p>The College Board is likely using fee waivers to determine which kids would qualify.</p>
<p>Yes, some of the “TOP” schools have a lower net cost, after FA, but this is really a limited number of schools. Many of these high achievers are going to college, but they are staying near home, for example, going to UT-Dallas and not UT-Austin. Nothing reduces cost more than living at home. </p>
<p>I think this is a good idea, as these kids should be looking at these options. Low SES students don’t get the same level of support as higher SES students, and that includes getting advise when picking a college. However, don’t assume this will cause a substantial increase in low SES enrollment at “top” colleges. A lot of economic factors are coming into play, and not only a lack of information for low SES students.</p>
<p>It seems these waivers have been sent out to kids who would not qualify for fee waivers normally, and there is a lot of confusion about whether these kids can use them or not…</p>
<p>Many of the California public universities and community colleges lists both commuter and residential student budgets ([example](<a href=“http://financialaid.calpoly.edu/_finaid/coa1314.html]example[/url]”>http://financialaid.calpoly.edu/_finaid/coa1314.html)</a>). The commuter budgets are usually around $7,000 or $8,000 lower. This is a smaller savings than one might think just from looking at room and board costs for the residential student ($11,000 to $16,000), but one should realize a student living in his/her parents’ home consumes food and utilities, and probably incurs added commuting costs.</p>
<p>However, the food, utilities, and commuting costs associated with the student might not be as visible as writing a checks for residential room and board, in that such costs are “hidden” in other parts of the household budget (grocery bill, utility bill, etc.).</p>
<p>Of course, if the student living at home goes to a school with cheaper net price, or starts at a cheaper community college, that may be more savings (although if the nearby school is a more expensive school, that may go the other way). But one should run the numbers carefully to determine what the cost differences are.</p>
<p>My son got the package. He would not be considered low income, but he is Hispanic. We thought they were sent to everyone and that the fee waivers would have to be qualified for in the normal way, so he didn’t use them. I wonder if they just send them to every high scoring minority student?</p>
<p>There is census income data that can be used to roughly determine this based on zip code and perhaps sub-areas within a zip code. There is also data on the school the child attends and the percentage of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches.</p>
<p>I seem to remember questions about income the students were supposed to self report, along with gpa and a few other things. </p>
<p>Anyway, I like it, especially if there is some way for recipients to know if they are within the intended group or not.</p>
<p>“I wonder if they just send them to every high scoring minority student?”</p>
<p>I remember my son getting something addressed to a “high achieving low income student”, when in fact he was a low achieving high income student.</p>
<p>We’re low middle income. Wonder if my homeschooled junior will get this next fall or if only public schooled kids will get the nod. His sophomore SAT scores put him above 85%ile.</p>