<p>I am thinking that some will project that the funds will come from somewhere (“we will make it happen” kind of thing) and then they don’t materialize. Jobs are lost/down-graded/furloughs mandated. Stocks don’t recover as expected. Home equity loans don’t work out. Additional, unexpected expenses show-up.</p>
<p>While I don’t think we will see a large number of full-pays change their mind at the last minute, I do think there will be some who back out. There are every year – even when the economy was booming.</p>
<p>I am from colorado – and our choices are very limited, we have very few private schools at all. When people ask me about boarding school, I frequently get comments like, “that must be expensive – isn’t it like $15,000 a year?”.</p>
<p>hsmomstef, that is amazing! They don’t realize that it is at least three to four times that, once you factor in all the incidentals. Talking about it in the abstract, when applying, is one thing. But when the invoice is staring you in the face, with the technology fee and the health fee and the insurance on the tuition added in, it is quite another. And then you realize that this is just the first of eight!</p>
<p>exactly – I don’t think any of us actually realize how much it costs until after the first year. The plane tickets home over Christmas were unbelievable-- 3 times the cost of a plane ticket the other times! This year I am buying the plane tickets home over the holidays during the summer, when I can hopefully get a better deal.</p>
<p>I wish BS was $15,000 – of course, then the kids would live in a concrete bunker and eat gruel!</p>
<p>We just don’t talk about how much it costs. I do have to wonder what these people think college costs.</p>
<p>So, I think we are talking about the people “on the borderline” in terms of financial strength who might (or be forced to) change their minds the last minute. People who are quite well off like pan1956 wouldn’t, and people who got enough FA wouldn’t either. It’s the people who thought they could pay (?) and turned out they couldn’t that may change minds. Even in that group, I would think many of them would try their best to make it happen for their kids - they must’ve seen the value of a BS education otherwise they wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of applying; they have gone this far to make it to one, especially if it’s one of the best. It would be a sad moment for both parents and children if they had to give it up the last minute, worse than they never started it out of financial consideration.</p>
<p>Yes watertester, and only a very few have a son talented and ambitious enough to obtain a MERIT-BASED award at a top school! You should be very proud! I am utterly impressed!</p>
<p>I have to admit I am freaking out about the financial aspect- it didn’t help that we did our taxes yesterday and owed over $6000 to the IRS!!! </p>
<p>We are just over the line for FP (EFC 44,000) and even things like buying clothes for BS are starting to look tough- the jcrew website just gave me a headache!</p>
<p>Pan1956, to set the record straight, you said that not me, just in case someone from the school is reading this and hold me responsible for what’s said here. :)</p>
<p>I agree with the poster who said the movement will come later. As job losses keep growing, the stock market’s upward movement is not as rapid as hoped, people find they can’t get home equity and personal loans and the financial realities of a long downturn sink in, many will change their minds about writing the big check. Some schools have factored in more summer fall out than usual but some may not have.</p>
<p>“Yes watertester, and only a very few have a son talented and ambitious enough to obtain a MERIT-BASED award at a top school! You should be very proud! I am utterly impressed!”</p>
<p>You should be impressed, although perhaps not for the reasons you think. Andover, to the best of my knowledge, doesn’t give “merit scholarships.” Aid is given based on need.</p>
<p>However, the sources of much of that money are special endowment funds given by extremely generous foundations and individuals. So some of that aid comes with names attached. In this case Mr. Tang is the Chairman of the BoT and one of the most prolific supporters in the history of the school. I’m quite sure that anyone who is identified as a Tang Scholar must be worthy of the title. So in that sense merit would be a contributing factor - but the amount is determined by need.</p>
<p>You are exactly right, Padre13. The offer specifically said that there was no additional funding for the scholarship other than the need based amount. Pan1956 misread my earlier posts. I have explained that to him through PM. Thanks for clearing that up.</p>
<p>I think some of you are over-hoping that full-pay, large-pay, parents who said yes to bs in April will change their mind in the summer when they get the “big bill”. (Unless there is another huge downturn in the economy/markets. In that case many schools will be struggling.) I am sure that families thought very hard about saying yes and that most of the nos have already happened. Parents have decided on payment plans, not always a “big bill.” You have to realize that at the top schools many FP kids are deciding on local private school or boarding school. If you live in NYC, for instance, boarding isn’t much more at all. If public school is what the family can afford, or if they aren’t going to pay the tuition for a not top choice school, they probably know that already.
I think any WL movement would happen if a greater number than expected of existing students do not return. Maybe if grades aren’t good and the student isn’t happy, some parents will decide the bs is not worth the sacrifice and to save their money for college.</p>
<p>Padre13, to confirm, watertester PROMPTLY DISABUSED ME OF MY ERRONEOUS UNDERSTANDING.</p>
<p>And Inquiring, no one is “hoping” anything. Some of us just recognize the glaring reality that, for many families, 4 X 50,000 is a jaw dropping amount of money to pay for high school, in particular when perfectly viable public schools may be available. To be frank, if one’s sole objective is college matriculation, it does not even make any sense to pay that kind of money, since a motivated child will do just as well or better out of a good public. In this distressed economic time, more people will recognize that, and more people will want to expend their resources efficiently.</p>