<p>Let them brag, they are probably thrilled since they most likely couldn’t afford to send their kids to that college without the scholarship and clearly the college thought the student deserving to attend academically. I guess I just don’t put that fine of a distinction on the situation. Why is it important to have a distinction?</p>
<p>^ There is most definitely a distinction. The kids that receive financial aid (need based) do not necessary earn the “award”. The kids that receive academic merit scholarships do.</p>
<p>Yes there is a big difference, but people don’t seem to understand it. A parent from my town called me to complain that her superstar student/athlete got no money from a top LAC while she had heard my son got a great financial aid package from the same school. I wanted to yell, “That’s because I’m poor!!!” If people have the money but don’t want to pay the full tuition, they need to have their kids apply to schools that offer merit or athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>Our financial aid package to a non-merit scholarship school said “scholarship.” I am aware that it’s not a merit scholarship, but it is generous enough that I would consider it “preferential packaging.” The high school has a big end of the year celebration of scholarships and grants and they ask that we list awards that were given based partly on merit. So, is it ethical to announce a need based scholarship at a selective school that does not offer merit aid?</p>
<p>I just want to echo the comments that is often the schools themselves which mislabel things. DD received a few thousand dollars which was labeled the " __________ University Scholarship" on her financial aid award from a tippy top school. While I suspect that it was simply financial aid masquerading as a scholarship, it is easy to see how some people could believe otherwise.</p>
<p>I suppose it is more an issue of recognition for students who achieved high academic success and are being rewarded solely based on this scholarly accomplishment, hence the term "Scholar"ship, without regard to their financial need or lack thereof. A student who is given aid based only on financial need, which may trump another equally academically qualified but financially solvent student, shouldn’t be seen as having “earned” the award based on their scholarly accomplishments.</p>
<p>FROM WIKI,</p>
<p>“A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.”</p>
<p>As rockvillemom said, I think it’s more tactful to say scholarship than need-based… That would amount to too much information.</p>
<p>The media is the worst culprit. So many tv shows will say that the student is SO bright, they “got in early to HYP and received a scholarship.” Sometimes they will even claim this happened before the start of their senior year.</p>
<p>A father I once knew who had a son on the same baseball team as my son’s was telling us in the stands that his son “had already been admitted” to one of those schools. This was just after his freshman year of high school.</p>
<p>I think some of it is people not wanting to have to explain, some of it is ignorance (especially on tv) and some of it is downright lying.</p>
<p>The public high schools in my area love to brag about how much “scholarship” money their graduates receive. Last year seniors were encouraged to report the scholarships they received. I e-mailed the guidance office and asked, “You only mean the ACCEPTED scholarship(s), correct?” “No,” was the reply. We want to know all that are OFFERED. I then went on to ask if they wanted finaid grants that are labeled “scholarships.” “Yes, we want them,” was the reply. “We will know how to tell them apart.” Ha! How on earth would they know how to do that?</p>
<p>I could have done all that I asked, and S would have totalled over 3/4 of a million dollars (projected over four years) in both merit scholarships and finaid grants-called-scholarships (he applied to and was accepted to a lot of schools, and we qualified for decent finaid). They wanted copies of the scholarship offers, and there was no way I was providing to the school our finaid awards. I decided that was just wrong to include finaid grants-called-scholarships, and so just provided the total for merit scholarships offered, which was about $360,000. </p>
<p>Senior Awards Night came, and the seniors (who attended!) were called up to the stage to be applauded for their scholarships. The total offered was sent to the central office for the school system, but this night was just supposed to be the scholarships accepted. Guidance office ended up getting it wrong, despite my clearly marking on the full ride scholarship that it was “accepted” and on the other ones “not accepted/not attending.” Son was called up as receiving $108,000. Well, that was the American University Presidential Scholar award. He didn’t accept that one, and he isn’t at AU. They didn’t put his scholarship amount as $220,000 (which was the projected total amount of the full ride merit scholarship that he accepted to his LAC). </p>
<p>It’s just ridiculous. That office didn’t know what it was doing!</p>
<p>I think it’s easy to understand both sides. But in the end, it’s all much ado about nothing. Some upper tier LACs offer merit scholarships while many do not. Stop applying to the ones that do not, if you feel aggrieved. I mean, really. What’s the difference between Carleton and Grinnell, except that Carleton does not offer merit scholarships and Grinnell does? What’s the difference between Reed and Oberlin, except Reed does not offer merit scholarships and Oberlin does? Do your homework about every school’s scholarship-financial aid opportunities instead of relying on other people posting messages on a forum that their kid received a “scholarship.” Then apply only to schools that do offer merit scholarships, if those are important to you. That’s what our D did. She didn’t apply to the top LACs that did not offer merit scholarships, and we’re very happy she took that approach. </p>
<p>Why stigmatize people who aren’t as wealthy? Why is it important that the less well off ADMIT they received “financial aid” as opposed to merit scholarship? My D received financial aid from her LAC because she also has a sister in college at the same time. When her sister graduates next year, our EFC will double, making it impossible for my younger D to receive that “shameful” financial aid. We’ll be stuck with the entire $54K COA for two more years for her alone. Fortunately, it will be partially reduced because she also has a genuine merit scholarship. We’re not the least bit ashamed that our D receives both merit and need-based aid.</p>
<p>Let’s not be so elitist.</p>
<p>I’m sure D will just list her NMS as her only merit money she received (and it is her decision) so my question of whether it’s ethical to list a “scholarship” for public recognition from a non-merit school is mostly theoretical. Last year, the school announced a “full-ride” given to a student who went to MIT. So, from the school’s point of view, I guess it is ethical.</p>
<p>In the real world outside of CC I think “scholarship” is the blanket term used for any college money that doesn’t have to be paid back. It seems to me that differentiating between need-based and merit-based is really just splitting hairs.</p>
<p>I don’t exactly find it annoying, but I’ll admit that I mentally check off the “don’t know what they’re talking about” box when I hear “He got a scholarship to HYPMS!” (Or PSYCHM, as I’ve started to think of the acronym - thanks to jym626 
) While it’s none of my business what the award letter says, and someone is certainly not fibbing to call aid a scholarship when it’s so designated, it does increase the confusion surrounding an already confusing issue. In our area, people usually use the phrase “merit scholarship.” And a surprising number of admits receive “merit scholarships” at need-only schools.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree that press coverage spreads the confusion. A professional journalist, even at a local paper, should master the difference between merit and need based aid. I was amazed, and not in a good way, when we first started the college search process a decade ago and learned that a significant number of selective schools didn’t offer merit aid. How was that possible, I wondered, when every time I opened the newspaper there was an article about Jimmy and his “merit scholarship” at Columbia? </p>
<p>I have to laugh at the description of Awards Night at your hs, Deja. It seems like way too much information to make public about the students, for one thing. Do they really recognize students for scholarships they’ve turned down?</p>
<p>In our school district, all scholarships are announced even if the person doesn’t plan on going to that college or accepting a certain scholarship. It encourages other kids to try. And for a poor family to get aid to go you a higher ranked school (even if it is called a scholarship by mistake) is especially encouraging. It gives the younger students something to aim for. They know they have a chance.</p>
<p>Maybe it would help if CC added a new “Top Forum” and labeled it MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS. There are certainly enough questions and discussion on this topic to warrant its own forum.</p>
<p>This is an issue only because we are oversensitized about our kids’ accomplishment, comparing stats, comparing awards, comparing admissions, “I got admitted to 20 top schools, I can now send each one of my fingers to different schools and still have 10 left to send each of my 10 toes…” I am not saying it doesn’t feel good, just that we gotta stop at some point. Is it so bad if people call what is generally known to be scholarship scholarship?</p>
<p>I’ve never seen an article in my local papers use the term “merit” scholarship, just “scholarship”, period. If Harvard send my DD a package with something called “The Harvard Class of 2014 Scholarship”, that’s what I would call it too.</p>
<p>We will be going through this next year with our dd who is currently a junior. Since she has a post 9/11 GI bill benefits and will probably mostly apply to schools where her complete costs are covered (usually by the addition of a yellow ribbon scholarship), IF she goes to one of those schools, I will tell those who ask that she is going with GI bill benefits. While the Yellow Ribbon portion is a scholarship, it is given to any student they admit, first come, first served. I won;t brag about this to anyone since the only requirement for her is to be admitted. On the other hand, if she ends up getting a merit scholarship at some school, that will count in my eyes as a scholarship. Unless she gets a full ride someplace, GI bill is what we will use.</p>
<p>A scholarship can be only merit based. Need-based financial aid is not a scholarship. I have heard many people bragging about their kid’s “scholarships” to schools that do not give merit based aid. When you question them they insist that the kid, in fact, got a “scholarship”. Nothing of the sort.</p>
<p>I personally think it is absurd that many top schools do not award merit scholarships but offer athletic scholarships (a totally absurd concept) and need-based aid. What, after all, is the reason for the school’s existence? </p>
<p>The people who claim it is “socialist” to have someone receive subsidized healthcare seem to have no problem accepting a subsidy for their kid’s college education. Indeed, they seem to think it is their right.</p>
<p>How is subsidized healthcare socialist and subsidized college tuition not?</p>
<p>At our HS, seniors list all the merit aid offers they received and they are listed in the awards ceremony program. I think there was only one girl who got into the program by listing only need-based aid.</p>
<p>The phrase that is driving me crazy is “free ride.” I mean, I do know one guy who got an absolutely free ride - books, room, board, etc. But other than that, they seem to refer to full tuition scholarships.</p>