I heard from some friends that a student in their school was selected as Questbridge finalist but the student does not seem to be poor at all. The student has been going to expensive private schools for many years, the family owns a big house that is worth well over half a million, and the parents drive luxury cars. The student has also gone to many expensive summer camps every summer. It seems strange that the student is applying through Questbridge while many truly disadvantaged kids were not selected. What’s going on here?
Bear in mind that Questbridge does not give scholarships. Questbridge helps you get low-income scholarships through either National College Match or regular decision. The colleges give out the scholarships, not Questbridge. Questbridge only helps students match to the college of their dreams. The finalist selection process is based off academic achievements, extracurricular participation, essays, and recommendation letters. Although parents’ income is a part of the process, it is not a major part of the process. The Questbridge committee selects students based on their ability to succeed in college, which is independent of the financial factors. This means that you can be from a rich family and still get in as a Finalist, but your chances for National College Match will be doubtful. The income limit for NCM is $65,000. Based on the description, it sounds like this guy’s EFC is way too high for him to be matched. Typically, your EFC is zero if your family income is below 65,000, but you can STILL be matched if your family income is above that requirement, as long as it’s not too high. Each college has its own requirements. Some colleges set the bar to 40,000 or 50,000 dollars, and not 65,000. You would have to contact the colleges individually to find out more about their requirements. This student’s parents has millions of dollars in assets, so it’s hard for me to imagine how he can be matched even if he didn’t apply for the National College Match.
It is possible there is something your acquaintances don’t know about the student, too. For example, the people the student lives with may not be their parent. Not everyone trumpets that type of info.
For example, my former BIL and his wife have a HS student living with them who is unrelated to them. She was abused by a stepparent and needed a place to stay. She just started HS, and the other students don’t know anything about this. She likely would be eligible to match on Questbridge. And one of D’s HS friends lived with his grandparents, and never talked about it – his dad had killed his mom in a murder-suicide many years before, and his grandparents had custody. It wasn’t a widely known story.
Point is – people will gossip, but they may not have the full story.
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Are you sure family income is not a major part of the selection process?
We may not know what’s behind doors, all the family trouble or sad stories, but we can see the big house with large land and luxury cars that are worth more than 50K each. My DD goes to a public school, and we have a modest income that’s a little over 65k. I never thought of applying for QB as I was under the impression it’s for those students who have extrem hardship and have not had any opportunities. The student definitively is privileged: attending an notably expensive private school in the area, going to summer-at-Harvard-like camps every year (I know for sure they are not need meet). I don’t consider us to be poor, but my DD never gets to go to any expensive camps, as most students from middle-class families.
How can a students who has had so many opportunities be considered under-served and get even more advantages in EA/ED? Btw the student is an URM. Do you think that might make a difference?
You never know if the student is getting FA at the private school. But posters above are correct that the student likely wouldn’t get matched.
If you’re low income, and you are a high-achieving student, several schools are looking for students like you, independent of Questbridge.
- Schools that coordinate with Questbridge are looking for low-income students. If you don't get chosen by Questbridge, I urge you to apply to those schools independently of Questbridge Vassar is known for making sure that it's students are given sufficient aid and it's known for finding bright students with little money. Amherst has been following Vassar's lead on this, so you may want to consider Amherst College too. Grinnell and Haverford also offer excellent aid.
- Do you identify as female? If you do, then many of the women's colleges have excellent financial aid. Check out--
- Smith
- Mt. Holyoke (the above two schools are part of a five-college consortium. You can take classes at those two schools, or Hampshire, or Amherst or UMass Amherst, if you're a student of any one of the schools. There's free bus service among the schools.)
- Bryn Mawr -- part of a consortium with Haverford, Swarthmore, and University of Pennsylvania, with free transportation among the schools
- Barnard -- part of the Columbia University campus
- Wellesley -- cross registration offered with MIT, and free transportation between the campuses
- Coed schools not on the Questrbidge list-- Also consider -- Bates Union College Washington in St. Louis -- it's gotten called out in the press recently for sitting on lots of funds and not funding low-income students; it's stated fairly recently that it will try to change that Connecticut College
But see first whether you like Vassar, it’s made it its mission in part to find low-income, high-achieving, driven students and making sure that they get an excellent education.
This student could be on a scholarship to the private school, could get OUTSIDE scholarships to the summer programs, etc.
AFAIK car/house brand/size don’t factor into QB decisions, but QB does say they want kids from families earning under about $65K a year: https://www.questbridge.org/educators/who-are-we-looking-for
So I’d say it’s very likely that you don’t have the full story on this student. QB would have asked for and evaluated the student’s financial info.
People can be low-income on paper but still be moderately wealthy. Consider under-the-table jobs, undocumented savings, and outside scholarships that allow leisurely lifestyles.
I was with you @kingofderp69 until “outside scholarships that allow leisurely lifestyles” - what?
I’m sure there are some people cheat on their FA apps, or their QB apps, just like some people cheat on their taxes. In fact to do either of the first two you pretty much have to do the third. But I wouldn’t assume that from looking at someone’s house or car. Sometimes the extended family has money or assets the family can use, but the immediate family income is still low.
$65k is in range for QB as stated on their web site so if you still have time, why not apply?
Some people live on debt and that may explain fancy cars and houses. Remember the subprime mortgage crisis? The McMansions and fancy cars before 2008 were everywhere. They were financed on debt.
You can’t judge a person’s wealth by the car they drive. The “millionaire next door” could drive a crusty old Chevy and probably does.
Would an EFC of around $2k on the FAFSA be too much to be able to be matched via the NCM?
I don’t really understand Questbridge either. My D’s friend made it to the final rounds…her father is a physician and both her grandfather and grandmother graduated from colleges and had stellar careers. They live comfortable lives and the kids have had great educations. Its baffling.
@lolplayer123 If you are chosen as a QB Finalist, it’s because QB feels as though your finances are within the range of students they’re looking for (along with your actual application of course). To be “matched”, the colleges pick out the QB Finalists that they want to accept and send that list to QB, which then matches students. It’s not really possible, AFAIK, to become a QB Finalist but then not get matched solely because of your EFC. Either you were financially viable to be a QB Finalist, or you weren’t. That’s why @SouthernHope 's post was interesting to read.
And an EFC of $2k is not exactly a high amount.
I am the OP. Some more info: my d applied for the same private school years ago so I know it does not meet need. The school expects parents to pay at least 15-20% of the tuition which is around 6k/year. We could not afford it, so I am pretty sure this student is not poor.
I found some old thread on cc, one of them was about a student emailing QB about some finalist whose family bought a 2 million dollar house in cash. Basically QB told him a teacher already email them but they did not plan to do anything. If QB continues allowing cheaters to get away, they will lose credibility.
I am really disgusted at some people who try to take advantages whenever they can. If you live in a big house, drive fancy cars, why can’t you pay tuitions? If you don’t care to save money for your own kids’ education, why should other people care?
@SouthernHope I don’t think anyone’s grandparents factor into QB or financial aid or anything except in a minor way at some schools, as legacy admissions preference. QB says 70% of its finalists are first gen, it follows then that 30% are not.
@emmayc - if your child is a junior there’s time to apply next year.
@OHMomof2 By “outside scholarships that allow for leisurely lifestyles,” I was responding to OP’s assumption that a student must be wealthy if they go to an expensive summer camp. In the town I grew up in, the civic club awards thousands of dollars each summer to a few promising students so that they can partake in leadership-based initiatives. Generally, the student’s parents make them blow it on church camp.
Ah gotcha @kingofderp69 . There are a lot of scholarships floating around for summer programs, QB itself has a summer college prep scholar program, Joyce Ivy for women in certain midwest states, etc, and some programs have their own (Summer@Brown can more than 90% off if a kid is low income and meets certain academic criteria).