<p>It's my dream, and it would help me get into a better college. I could probably get a lot of financial aid, so the cost would be virtually zero. But when I told my parents they flat out told me no, no way, we'll never discuss this again. They excuses: we don't want some other people raising our kid (i'm 16 and alone all day. hello?) we won't get to see you everyday, we'll worry, we can't make sure you're safe. I just don't know how to convice them. Any ideas or help?</p>
<p>Put together a binder or powerpoint presentation. Ask for a meeting with their undivided attention. Show them all the pros and cons. Ask if they will support you for a miinimum number of apps and tell them you can decide as a family after the decisions and FA numbers are in.</p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>
<p>I don’t see how they think that you’re in danger.</p>
<p>I think that they don’t know how good these schools are.</p>
<p>Hi,
There are many boarding schools that might be close to where you live, so your parents could see you quite often, attend your games, take you out to dinner. Where do you live? Try to convince them to at least look at a school close by so that they can see all that boarding schools have to offer and that they are not just for troubled kids.</p>
<p>Financial aid for boarding school is not like college, and it’s not a realistic assumption that your family would not have any additional expenses.
At 16, are you a sophomore or junior already? What is missing for you in your current school?</p>
<p>If I were you I would focus on getting into college in a few yrs. spending all you energy on fighting w/ your parents wont allow you to focus on other important things like taking honors and AP classes at your current school. BS is not the only way to get into a good college. If you are home alone a lot, you may want to add an EC or volunteer work to your schedule. This will all work out for you in the long run. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Boarding schools is VERY expensive. It’s doubtful that you’d get 100% and even if you got significant FA, your parents would probably have to come up with thousands of dollars- books, travel, etc.</p>
<p>Boarding school FA is nearly always sufficient, if they really want you to attend the school they’ll provide what ever you need. I speak from experience.</p>
<p>But does “sufficient” mean a zero cost to the family. We would not be willing to pay anything for boarding school as we save our money to get our kids thru college. Very few BS’s would pay 100% of the cost and then only for the top students. In addition, I think it would be very difficult to be the FA kid at an expensive boarding school where most of the students have access to money for a lot of extra activities. The OP’s parents may feel they cannot afford BS even w/ FA because of the extra costs. I also would not let my kids go to a BS. I feel as if we have our kids with us for such a short period in their lives that I would not be willing to give them up earlier than college. It would be selfish if I felt they could not get a good education while living at home, but there are many avenues into a good college that include public schools.</p>
<p>Tough call. BS is not easy. You’ll need their support if you go. Not sure you can apply if they don’t fill out their part of the paperwork. And the other posters are correct - even IF you got a full scholarship - you’ll still be paying for travel expenses, clothing, laundry, extracurriculars and a number of other ancillary items that aren’t included. It adds up. Quickly. </p>
<p>I would make a case for the process, find one that is within driving distance, and start from there. Show them a few viewbooks/videos. They’ll have to make the same adjustment if you go away to college. </p>
<p>But if it doesn’t work - focus on college. Those applications times are closer than you think.</p>
<p>Sending a young teenager away to school is often a gut-wrenching decision for parents. First, I’d take a moment and be grateful that my parents want me at home; second I’d tell them this is an opportunity you’d really like to explore and ask them to tell you why they have such strong feelings. What are their concerns? Maybe they are afraid of the financials, maybe they are scared about sending a young person off and potential safety issues. Get them to talk about it, so you can help to address those fears/concerns.</p>
<p>Make sure your parents understand what kinds of BSs are being discussed on CC. I know when I decided to go to Lville, the first thing that came to a lot of people’s minds was military school.</p>
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<p>Same with our friends and neighbors. It’s a new concept for a lot of people. It’s either that - or they hold the image from “Trouble With Angels” complete with nuns in habits. :-)</p>
<p>Some FA kids do get a stipend plus travel allowance. You’d have to be truly outstanding though, with a great story, and likely a URM.
Regarding extra cost for boarding schools, for us the biggest single additional cost is the dry cleaning/laundry service; almost a thousand dollars. And that’s for clothes other than athletic wear (the school washes those).</p>
<p>I really can relate to you, Camogirl67. I wanted more than anything to go to bs, and now I’m a parent myself. I would say if they absolutely won’t let you go, then you need to make the most of your high school experience where you are. Don’t let disappointment overtake you. Excel at a variety of things, and aim to get into the most prestigious university you can. At that point, you will be able to make your own decisions and find your own way financially. Eventually, you will proud of your own accomplishments. B.S is not necessarily the (only) ticket to success.</p>
<p>Okay - if one more person implies that URM’s are shoo-ins who get full rides and supplemental support (travel, etc) I will scream until the board collapses.</p>
<p>URM’s is not the issue - there are a lot of non URM’s on full rides - more, as a percentage - than URM’s.</p>
<p>By perpetuating this myth you make it very tough for kids of color who come from families like mine. The urban kids who are on scholarship assume she’s rich for having resources, and the other kids automatically assume she’s a full scholarship kid because she’s a URM who is frugal with her money.</p>
<p>So can we give it a rest? There are other hooks besides URM’s that could kick up the desire to attract a student. Plays the viola (and there’s a need for one in the orchestra). Is a middle class white kid from an underrepresented part of the country (Kansas, Iowa, Montana, Oklahoma, and so on and so forth…) Hooks extend beyond the obvious and are not controlled by race or gender. You’d be surprised what “constitutes” a hook these days.</p>
<p>What gives people that tired impression is there are specific programs that work with some schools to try to place urban kids in a BS environment - even then those kids have been prepped and tutored for a year or more so they can keep up when the get to the school. Many of those kids do come from struggling families, but even then their percentages are awfully low.</p>
<p>My oldest scored close to perfect on the ACT’s, attended a local private school, and is really into odd - non stereotypical things like Latin, classical music, and Shakespeare. She was the only 10th grader taking AP Latin. But every time she stepped on campus people assumed that her two friends (both white) were full pays and she was the full scholarship kid the school was doing a favor by admitting. Never mind that she also scored well above her friends both of whom were admitted on provisional status and on scholarships while we paid 100% of the tuition in cash. Her younger sister is stuck facing the same bias at BS.</p>
<p>Let’s try to coach CC posters on facts instead of perpetuating tired, worn-out stereotypes that hurt the kids who “look” like they fit the part but don’t in real life.</p>
<p>To OP, get your parents to attend an informational session or a BS fair where they can see what opportunities are available and have all their concerns addressed by multiple schools.</p>
<p>Exie: I think you are being “thin skinned” on the URM issue. From what I know the definition of a URM is a minority group whose % of the population in a given school is lower than their % of population in the country. Right now the heavily recruited groups include American Indians, Alaskan Natives, African Americans, Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans. I don’t see cc posters anywhere “perpetuating tired, worn-out stereotypes” of any of these groups. Take a look at the White House, the Supreme Court, House of Representatives and our current corporate leaders. I am very proud of what a great job the U.S. has done in leveling the playing field - “equal opportunity” is now a reality rather than some distant goal. One would think that the groups benefiting most from this successful journey, would also find it within themselves to recognize our country’s amazing progress.</p>
<p>At the risk of threadjacking:
Speaking of minorities (under-represented and otherwise), I was frankly shocked at just how high the percentage of Asians and Indo-Pak subcontinent kids in the seats was at a recent JHU-CTY state awards program. It had to have been about 90%, with 2 African Americans, maybe 1-2 Hispanics, and the rest caucasians. I guess this is what makes the Asian/Indo-Pak group NOT URMs.</p>
<p>What makes the Asian/Indo-Pak not URMS is that their % of population in a majority of schools is equal to or greater than their % of population in the country. Which I guess is just what your post implies if you were to extrapolate out the effects of their paticipation in the JHU-CTY program.</p>