<p>I think it's awesome that schools meet 100% of a students demonstrated need. However it's a real bummer for students applying to top schools like the ivies (that don't offer any type of academic or athletic scholarship) and will have to pay the full price even if their parents can afford it.
my family can technically meet the tuition fully, but they don't exactly WANT to pay the full price.
not trying to play the spoiled girl card at all, I just wish there was another way to go to a top school and not drain my parents wallet in the process :/</p>
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<p>Fortunately for you, your parents can afford to pay the full tuition. They may not WANT to pay, but they CAN afford to. Only two percent (2%) of American families fall into your family’s circumstances. At some colleges, like Harvard, roughly 60% of student’s are on some form of financial aid – that means, unlike your parents, they cannot afford to pay the the full fare EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO. If colleges didn’t offer to meet 100% of demonstrated need, schools would be filled with the richy-rich. Is that what you are advocating? I didn’t think so! </p>
<p>Stop complaining; you’re acting like a spoiled child. Do what many students on financial aid do – get a job! Contribute earnings from your summer employment and work during the school year to help your parents pay the tuition! That’s what kids on financial aid are required to do. My son and daughter are on financial aid, both work during the school year. Last summer, my daughter held 3 jobs over the summer, my son held 4 jobs, so they could afford to attend an ivy league school that gives them financial aid. I don’t hear you offering to do that!</p>
<p>Need blind and meeting 100% of need are two different things. </p>
<p>Need blind is an admissions term, when colleges don’t consider financial need as a factor in their decision. Meeting 100% of need is a FA term meaning that schools meet all of the need that they determine a family has.</p>
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<p>There are lots of ways, but most of them involve opening your eyes to what actually constitutes a “top” school. Chances are that there’s a flagship university in your home state that’s a top school and wouldn’t drain your parents’ wallet. There are also any number of top schools (both state and private) where a good student could qualify for significant merit aid and be able to attend, again, without draining mommy and daddy’s wallet.</p>
<p>But if the only school that’s good enough for you is an Ivy, well, then, yes, your parents will have to pay for it. Unless, of course, as suggested above, you’re actually willing to go out and earn the money yourself.</p>
<p>I can sympathize with OP as someone who will be paying the full ride for his child - or more properly, his wife will. We’re very fortunate my wife has done as well as she has, and it still is going to hurt. If you’re going to pay out of pocket, you’re talking coming up with $5,000 a month after taxes - and just imagine what you could do with that amount of money or what you have to give up to get it.</p>
<p>The real killer is for those families who don’t qualify for need-based aid. If you’ve got one child in school, that happens at roughly $150,000 depending on the school. For everyone above that, you’re talking about having to pay the whole thing, and that’s a lot of money on a $175,000 income, which is basically two fairly middle class college educated people with 15-20 years experience who are both working. And they probably haven’t earned that income the entire time they’ve had kids. Yes, it seems like a fortune to those who don’t earn that much, but when you consider the cost of living in the school district that can get your kids into top rated schools, plus taxes to government that is constantly telling you that you’re “rich” and you should pay more, plus retirement accounts, cars, health insurance, etc. and you start to wonder. </p>
<p>I’m sure there are families who haven’t managed to save much that have two incomes even split just over a total of $150K that have a brilliant kid who might just get into an Ivy, and they’re wondering if maybe one parent should take a powder for four years just to get the free ride. If you have other kids at home and childcare expenses, the free ride plus the reduced stress just might be worth it.</p>
<p>^^ Just to put things in perspective. Our family earns about $160k every year; we have two kids in ivy league schools on financial aid. One is a senior; the other a junior. We haven’t taken a vacation in 5 years, we drive an 11 year-old Honda, take a paper-bag lunch to work, haven’t gone to the movies in 4 years, and eat out about once a month, if we are lucky. Both kids work during the school year and during the summer contributing all of their earnings towards college expenses. But, sending my kids to ivy league schools was cheaper than sending them to our flagship state school. And both my kids will graduate with zero-debt. Everyone makes sacrifices to make paying for a college education work.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with the OP. For students with high EFCs or equivalent with reluctant parents can’t aim as high…or expensive.</p>
<p>And having a job doesn’t pay for 60k/year.</p>
<p>I can appreciate Gibby’s sacrifice, but just imagine what would have happened had you done what many families do and had your kids four years apart. With your income, the Ivies would likely have expected close to full payment, and for eight years in a row. I doubt you would have had two kids in the Ivies in that circumstance, and they would be the same kids. (Well, not really, but you get the idea.)</p>
<p>Something seems a little wrong with a system that would have such different outcomes just based on the fact that you space your kids by one year or four.</p>
<p>There ARE top schools that do give merit aid. Vanderbilt is one. U of Chicago is another. University of Southern California is a third. Many state flagships give out merit…and some sizable. </p>
<p>There are scholarships for high achievers at many schools…U of South Carolina offers the McNair, Pitt offers great scholarships to high achieving admits. U of Alabama has guaranteed merit awards for high stat students. Boston University has the Trustee scholarship. If you are a NMF, Northeastern gives full tuition awards. USC 1/2 tuition awards.You just have to look.</p>
<p>If you have the stats to be a competitive admit for an Ivy or equivalent, you have the stats to garner merit aid elsewhere. In other words…you DO have options over being a full pay if your family doesn’t want to do that. </p>
<p>In addition, there are many schools where you could get a $10,000-$15,000 a year scholarship off of a $55000 bill…which is less than full pay at an Ivy or equivalent.</p>
<p>And I’ve said this before…my bet is you have enjoyed your higher income lifestyle. If you want to qualify for substantial need based aid…give the expensive house away. Donate your sizable assets to a charity. Have your parents quit their jobs. You can be a low income family, if you really want to be.</p>
<p>Sorry…but I’m having trouble feeling sorry for you.</p>
<p>Something seems a little wrong with a system that would have such different outcomes just based on the fact that you space your kids by one year or four.</p>
<p>Yes, my SIL complains because they spaced their kids purposely 4 years apart so that they wouldn’t have overlap. But that decision was made before FA became more generous at top schools. So, they have paid full price for each child. IF they had them one after another, they would have paid a fraction of what they paid.</p>
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<p>Then my kids would be happily attending our flagship public school, as it would have been the cheapest solution. I don’t believe going into debt or depleting your savings for a name-brand college is worth it! You can get just as good an education at a public school, as a private one. Heck, my kids attended public school from K-12 and they did just fine!</p>
<p>Mine too. Happens to one of the top districts in the state, but it’s public.</p>
<p>FWIW, our state flagship is nothing to write home about. For top kids, it’s tough to go there and have any shot at top jobs outside the Midwest. Around here, the top qualifier is “Where did you go to high school?”, and you better not answer public, no matter how good it is.</p>
<p>^^ The quality of state colleges vary greatly from state to state. Residents of Virginia probably have among the best choices: University of Virginia, College of William & Mary, James Madison University and Virginia Tech, to name just a few.</p>
<p>I agree with OP.
Need blind does seem bogus.
All it means is that for admission they wont look at need.
Doesn’t mean they will meet or even come close to meeting need however, thats for the family to figure out. I guess the school is hoping if their " name" is prestigious enough, the family will disregard their budget.
Better IMO to apply to a need aware school that meets 100% of need as my daughter did. Then we knew if she was accepted they would give her a good fin aid package.</p>
<p>CJ,</p>
<p>While it is frustrating to qualify for top schools but then have parents who can’t/won’t pay, it’s part of life. What are your parents saying? Are they saying that they won’t pay $60k+ for college? How much will they pay? </p>
<p>The realities are that you’re welcome to try to get outside scholarships or to work a lot over summers and the school year to bring the cost down. But, top schools are filled with kids with your stats, so how could they give YOU merit?</p>
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<p>I agree. People shouldn’t get such a steep discount just because their kids are closer together in age. </p>
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<p>Good news, there is! You can go to a “top” school that provides merit aid. There are very, very few schools that don’t provide merit scholarships. Sure, if you restrict your definition of “top” to a few Ivies and LACs, no there’s no way to go without “draining your parents’ wallet”</p>
<p>According to other posts, the OP applied to Cornell ED.</p>
<p>If there’s any chance that the parents will refuse to pay the $60k per year, then the student needs to quickly get some apps submitted to schools that give merit. Those merit deadlines are very soon.</p>
<p>Many ED kids either wait til after their ED results to apply (and then it’s too late), or they think they can’t apply to other schools if they do ED…and that’s not true.</p>
<p>OP, if that’s how you really feel, why did you apply ED to a school that doesn’t offer merit aid? That was your choice.</p>
<p>Plenty of non-need blind schools out there.</p>
<p>Oh, they’re not as good?</p>
<p>Maybe there’s a reason for that.</p>