<p>I look at admission and a need based “scholarship” to a selective school a a combination of need and merit. They had the merit to gain admission, then got money to allow them to go. Is this wrong-headed of me?</p>
<p>I can see some people resenting it. I know someone going to USC on a full scholarship whose family can easily be full pay and someone else going to Claremont McKenna on a significant scholarship whose family can afford to pay for basically everyone at Claremont McKenna :-). It’s the school’s money; if they choose to use merit money to attract “better” kids versus a need-only basis, that’s their prerogative.</p>
<p>Need based scholarship isn’t just a good socialism. It is also a good competitive tool. The application pool would be significantly larger. I would want my kid compete against the best not just against wealthy best.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I can see this. But is it inaccurate use of the word if it a) matches the basic definition and b) is the same language used by the college? I didn’t receive “Washington University Need Based Aid” or “Stanford University Need Based Aid.” I received the “Eliot Scholarship” and the “Stanford Fund Scholarship.”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Of course, I would agree entirely.</p>
<p>It is interesting that people don’t want anyone to use the term, “scholarship” for need based grants, when the colleges themselves refer to them as “scholarships” right in the award letters.</p>
<p>I think the OP’s frustration was that younger students hear about “scholarships” to need-based schools, and think they will have a shot at those scholarships as well, even if they don’t have the financial need.</p>
<p>I think elitist-type people simply want to be able to clearly distinguish their child’s “awesome” merit achievement from awards not based on merit. They want to be able to clearly communicate (when the mood strikes) that my child is superior to yours. If too many kids can claim “scholarships” it lessens the value of a real scholarship. Thus, they want their kid’s MERIT award to be known as a scholarship and some other kid’s NEED award to be called something else, anything but “scholarship.”</p>
<p>Re MImama’s comment: I also think this is at least a small part of the resentment that some upper middle class folks display towards need-based aid.</p>
<p>My S has both a need-based grant and a merit award. I think both can properly be called “scholarships” because without them, we couldn’t afford to send him to St. Olaf.</p>
<p>think the OP’s frustration was that younger students hear about “scholarships” to need-based schools, and think they will have a shot at those scholarships as well, even if they don’t have the financial need.</p>
<p>That is a valid concern, and not just for students, but parents who read that " money for college is still available!" headlines, only to find that their EFC is $50,000. </p>
<p>I hear students talk about a full ride to Yale, and that is certainly notable, but for those who are more familiar with need based policies, it is like saying " we are so poor that we can’t afford a dime" & I don’t know if that is really the impression the student wants to present.</p>
<p>I agree with MImama. It irks me only in the sense that it is incorrect information. I don’t have a problem with need based or merit based aid and would hope that kids who are full pay don’t resent those on aid and that those who are receiving financial aid don’t begrudge kids their merit scholarships. </p>
<p>It’s one thing if someone’s Aunt Millie or Uncle Joe states that their niece got a “full ride” to Harvard. It’s another thing when a reporter states that a kid got a full ride to Harvard and the implication or outright statement is that the full ride was based on merit. Of course the kid deserved to get into Harvard, but it puts out the idea that Harvard gives academic scholarships. I saw an article once about a kid from a low income neighborhood. It said that he was recruited heavily by Ivy League Schools (got those letters in the mail that everyone else gets) and was even granted interviews by these schools (college interviews are not competitive, as most of us know, and most schools will try to arrange an alum interview). I’m happy for the kid, but I wish this kind of incorrect information was not out there.</p>
<p>A kid/family should not have to state that they are getting need based aid. However, that is exactly what is being made public any time it is stated that a kid got a free ride or scholarship to a need based only school. Are most people savvy enough to realize this? Probably not.</p>
<p>Most people have no idea exactly what is meant by a “full ride,” other than it means the kid doesn’t have to pay. No one thinks when they hear/read that it could mean need or merit or some combination. People don’t make a distinction when they hear “full ride” or “scholarship.”</p>
<p>I am completely fascinated that people are concerned about creating distinctions. Of course if a student receives financial aid form Harvard it is because they are worthy, they might have need but they aren’t going to Harvard without being worthy…I really don’t get the distinction. A scholarship is a scholarship is a scholarship and the criteria are some combination of need and merit. It might be the college’s need and the students merit or the students need and merit, but either way you look at it the combination is need and merit and both can be congratulated…the outcome is the same in that the student goes somewhere they might not have been able to attend.</p>
<p>The issue is not as black and white as some believe. My oldest child received financial aid offers from several need-only schools and all were labeled scholarships. At some colleges, merit scholarships are offered specifically to students who have financial need. And many need-only schools use preferential packaging. So it’s more complicated than a simple language issue.</p>
<p>Most people who have not gone through this process would not be aware that a scholarship from a need-only school is simply financial aid. The media and the general public do seem to confuse the concepts of scholarship and FA and use them interchangeably.</p>
<p>Williams calls their need-based aid “scholarships”.</p>
<p>I don’t view it as socialism. It’s about creating a diverse product. A little further down the food chain are schools which have gone test-optional in order to admit more full-pays, they want your money but please leave off your SAT scores so you won’t hurt their ranking. It’s all a business.</p>
<p>
I don’t see it as creating a distinction so much as recognizing the distinction that undeniably exists. My only interest in the topic was when we were trying to figure out where we could afford to send our kids to school. Once we learned that merit scholarships apart from need didn’t exist at many excellent schools, those schools came off our lists. No big tragedy, since there were so many excellent schools where we could afford the full price, or where merit aid apart from need was a possibility.</p>
<p>I do think, though, that it’s puzzling to parents of high school aged or younger kids to hear about merit scholarships at Harvard or Princeton or the like. It’s just another layer of confusion they have to penetrate in order to come up with a practical list.</p>
<p>Our high school awards night is long enough without the announcement of scholarships offered by individual schools that students aren’t going to attend. Before this thread, I’d have bet that there couldn’t be a category of award that wasn’t included. :)</p>
<p>So for some, it appears that</p>
<p>When a church group funds a program that pays for the tuition of a low-income inner-city high school kid to attend a college, we call that a ‘scholarship’. And we think of that action as ‘charitable’.</p>
<p>When a college itself funds a program that pays for the tuition of a low-income inner-city high school kid to attend its own school, we call that ‘financial aid’. And we think of that action as ‘socialist’.</p>
<p>And some resent the latter institution for its actions but not the former.</p>
<p>frazzled, the Senior Scholarship Night only announced the scholarships students accepted (thank goodness!!!). The guidance office got the name of son’s school correct, but missed the scholarship amount by over $100,000 (they wanted it projected over four years; it’s total worth). The total of offered scholarships is what the school wanted to report to the School Board (and I disagreed with including finaid grants-called-scholarships and didn’t want our finaid award letters floating around, anyway, so I only gathered the merit scholarship – not needs based – letters). </p>
<p>To clarify for those questioning what “full-ride” means, in my son’s case it includes tuition/fees/room&board/book allowance/money for personal expenses. Anything he doesn’t use he gets back in a check. </p>
<p>Believe me, we feel very blessed.</p>
<p>I’m thinking, who cares? </p>
<p>Parents are proud of their kids and rightly so in these cases. So they get the name wrong? Are they really trying to mislead, or just not really thinking it through, or just not truly appreciating the difference? More importantly, why does it matter? I think if this kind of thing gets your goat, it says more about oneself (OP however is excused because she’s not yet as mature as us old folks).</p>
<p>I say call it what you want out in the real world, but when people post on CC it would be helpful to differentiate.</p>
<p>“He got a scholarship to PSYCHM!”</p>
<p>While it’s not an issue at need-blind schools, getting significant financial aid from a need-aware school shows tremendous merit on the part of the student, such the award then confers the same honor that a merit scholarship would: the school wants the student so strongly that it will pay for the student’s presence. :)</p>