<p>Many high school seniors dangling on college waiting lists and still hoping to land fall-term openings at their top-choice schools will instead get a lesson in real-world economics: It pays to be rich.</p>
<p>Selective private colleges acknowledge that they sometimes take affluent teens over those from poor or middle-class families needing financial aid when deciding which students to admit from their waiting lists.</p>
<p>The reason, college administrators say, is that financial aid budgets often have been tapped out by the time those admissions are decided in May and June. The money has been allocated to students admitted earlier whom the schools most wanted to attract, rather than the backup choices typically relegated to the waiting list.</p>
<p>"It's the financial reality of things," said Paul Marthers, dean of admission at Reed College in Portland, Ore.</p>
<p>The article is right on for those waitlested. Transfers, too, do not get equal consideration most of the time for financial aid. Those who are on a waitlist should ask about whether the list is need blind and if those on the waitlist are assisted at the same level if they should clear the list. Even need blind schools do not often extend to the wait lists. Transfers should always ask specifically about financial aid policies at that school because it may be futile to apply for money. The other time it behooves to ask is if you are not applying for financial aid but feel that it is a possibility in the future. For some schools that are needaware, you cannot be considered for aid the year after you apply without applying for aid.</p>
<p>I would rather a school accept a few who can full pay, so that they can accept more who need a full scholarship rather than just knock a bit off of everybodys- but not enough to make a difference for those who really can't afford it.</p>
<p>and is that fair to the ppl who can full pay. that would be saying hey since you can pay we'll just charge you more money so we can get more need-based ppl in.</p>
<p>I am glad you asked that.
As you probably know- tuition does not cover 100% costs of maintaining the facilities, equipment, teacher salaries etc.
Investments and private contributions go a long way towards keeping a school running. Hopefully not in the day to day expenses too much, but in providing the infrastructure for future growth.</p>
<p>Private schools should be able to offer a particular program that they decide- if they accept public money then they should have to be subject to the rules that we require for our public institutions.
Bob Jones University for example should not qualify because they discriminate on the basis of race and sexual identification.
I don't beleive anyone is forcing people to choose a specific school.
Generally tuition NEVER goes towards a scholarship fund but goes towards the actual costs of educating the student. The scholarship money would come out of endowments set up for that purpose &/or fundraising for greater economic diversity.
When my daughter attended private K-12 school, the money to assist her came from a seperate account that was earmarked for scholarships. Tuition money does not go into that fund. Generally % of money from the development campaigns are indentified to go to scholarships, also other families may make contributions specifically for financial aid.
However that fund does generally have a bottom. Colleges that are not as flush, may not offer to meet 100% of EFC for anyone. After they have identified the people that they have chosen in the first round, and have given them enough of an aid package to entice them to the college, they may not have any money left. If they are able to take anyone off the waiting list at all, it makes sense that they look at those who don't need to be subsidized to attend.
Since there are for many schools , students who qualify for admittance * and * who can pay tuition , it would be foolhardy to accept students that need scholarships to attend if you can't offer them aid. THose students may think that they can scrape up the money- but may have to drop out- affecting their USNEWS score!!!
If these students actually think that they have secret pools of money that they didn't identify on their FAFSA with which they can pay their tuition, all I can say is- oh well, if you could have come up with it, you should have stated so, and I hope you were accepted to a financial safety.</p>