<p>I’m not deluded - <em>but</em> I had people tell me about that 10% thing - which I didn’t understand but now I believe applies up to a certain income level, which for certain parts of the country (mine included, ironically where many ivies are located) is not a whole lot, so it didn’t apply to us. </p>
<p>We could afford 10% of our income, but the whole tuition amount less that $5500 loan they all give is probably too much of a stretch, esp. for the major our daughter intends to pursue - one in which she can probably get an equal paying job coming out of a respected program in any number of less expensive universities and without the extra ton of loans (she’ll/we’ll need to pay for grad school too, no matter where she goes)</p>
<p>But I do know people who ‘got money’ from ivies and I have also ‘heard’ that they will put together grant packages for those they really want, for example loan packages that they will then forgive if the student stays the whole four years. Whether or not there’s any truth to that I will never know. My daughter isn’t at that level or in a revenue producing sport, so we wouldn’t be considered anyway! I was just misinformed regarding the algorithm used by ivies. I may still be …</p>
<p>And as for a pending LL leading up to that letter - not that I know of! She hasn’t even been there on an official visit yet, she’s lined up to go as late as possible … another question…if ivies don’t give aid, what do they do during signing week - especially if you qualify for no need based aid at all?</p>
<p>Wilberry, some Ivy schools offer better FA packages than others. Each school that we dealt with made a point that the student’s full financial need would be met with grants - loans are not part of the package. This wasn’t just for athletes. The policy was put in place several years ago with the reasoning being that students graduating with 150K in loans to repay were being forced to make their career choices based solely on monetary reasons. By allowing students to graduate with 0 debt, in theory they would be free to pursue career paths that may be more based in service and less on financial return. </p>
<p>The 10% figure that you hear is very general, of course. Families with significant savings and investments will have a higher EFC, of course. The stated goal is that finances should not be a barrier for any student that gets in to the school. From what I’ve seen, Ivy schools do a pretty good job of adhering to that goal. Even middle / upper-middle class families that are often left out in the cold with FA at the state Universities can obtain a very nice FA package at some of the Ivies.</p>
<p>As for your other question ‘signing week’ is not really significant if you’re an Ivy athlete. D sat down at a table with her HS coach and Athletic director ‘signing’ a piece of paper for the newspaper pic, but it was just a blank piece of paper.</p>
<p>I have also read about that ‘no loan’ policy. But this same package came with all sorts of suggestions on where to get loans, so I was a little confused. I’ll just have to assume this isn’t one those that offers better packages. </p>
<p>I agree with varska. And fenway, I sympathize. For some reason, ideas about athletic scholarships are very intransigent. You try to correct people, but they don’t accept what you say, or think you’re just saying it to cover up for the fact that your child didn’t get offered a scholarship. But nothing changed once D decided to go to a non-Ivy D1 school. Everyone still thinks she got a full ride, and that myth was perpetuated by our high school AD who bragged about said full ride to all the incoming freshmen when discussing the sports program. And the AD had actually seen the NLI which offered a nominal amount (1%), because the coaches knew D would do better with the FA instead. Yet she persisted. The same for a BOE member, whom we’ve corrected several times. So now that she is injured, the same people are asking if she’s going to lose her scholarship. Yes, I say.</p>
<p>^ The same friend who talked about scholarships for an ivy once told me that the head coach of her student’s team told a whole room of parents at a team banquet about the full-ride scholarship so n so got to an ivy…</p>
<p>I do not know why coaches who know better would knowingly perpetuate myth.</p>
<p>We are waiting to see the pre read from an ivy and hope its a decent package. It does have me nervous since there have been some stories of bad fin-aid packages here on CC</p>
<p>Maybe the family with four houses and a yacht was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the bank was actually the primary owner of all that stuff. Otherwise, I just don’t believe that Yale would give any financial aid to a truly rich family. Why would they? If it got out, it would anger alumni far beyond any athlete’s ability to please alumni.</p>
<p>High school coaches and ADs perpetuate the scholarship myth because it makes them and their programs look successful. It also keeps starry-eyed parents and kids working hard in pursuit of that full-ride!</p>
<p>Slightly diffferent topic, but I also love the parents whose kids are in remedial level classes at the high school who tell me such-and-such Ivy coach wants their kid. Uh-uh. I try not to be insulted, though for some of them I suspect the sub-text is: your kid isn’t that smart and special. She just got in because of the sport, and my kid could do the same thing with no problem.</p>
<p>I can tell you that a 250,000 income and 1 mio assets can get you HYP substantial financial aid; for instance, Princeton does not count any equity in your home towards the assests, so if you pu all your assests into yoru house, you can get generous aid. Also, they subtract any kind of debt, i.e. a large mortgage, car payment, etc. from your assets.</p>