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<p>The FAFSA EFC calculation is given here: <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf</a></p>
<p>With regard to high school students feeling entitled to a private education, I think part of the problem is that private schools often talk out of both sides of their arses. They’ll target a kid with strong stats and tell him not to let the list price be a deterrent, because (as Lynn Neary alluded to) the net price of attending their private college is “frequently less than an in-state public.”</p>
<p>And that’s likely true for a number of top private schools IF the student qualifies for financial aid OR the school wants a particular kid. But Junior interprets that to mean that ALL private schools will treat him accordingly. What Junior frequently doesn’t understand is that merit money will only be dispensed if he adds something of value to THAT particular school. </p>
<p>Most of the top 20 LACs, for instance, don’t need to dangle merit money because they have 10 applicants for every spot in the freshman class. So the families sending their kids there either can afford full pay, received enough FA to make it competitive (in terms of value) with what they’d pay for the in-state (or in some cases OOS) public, or the student’s need is so great the cost of attending the school is actually cheaper than attending an in-state public. (I had that very experience 35 years ago.) </p>
<p>If Junior’s family needs significant merit money to offset a high EFC, however, Junior needs to have it explained to him that he must target private schools where he brings something significant to the table – high stats (above 25th %ile) or some other major hook, which will vary depending upon the specific school. In our case, we targeted Midwestern schools where geographic diversity might make him more desirable, schools where there were more women than men on average, and schools where his stats placed him in the top 10% of applicants. That’s about as “hooked” as he was going to get. He’s already been accepted at his (public) safeties, so now we just wait. But he knows any acceptances and offers he receives from private colleges will be weighed against the costs of the public schools. “Value” is key here, for us, up to a point, but for some folks it will come down to “Which is least expensive?”</p>
<p>A lot of upper middle class families where I live just skip this entire step of applying to private schools and have their kids apply to in-state publics and possibly one or two affordable OOS publics. Very few kids apply to private colleges unless they’re being recruited for athletics or the school is known for dispensing a lot of merit money. And these are families that frequently send their kids to parochial schools, so they’re used to paying tuition. But most of them have more than one child, and they’re not prepared to give up their lifestyles when perfectly fine public options are available. And the kids don’t seem to mind in the least. The vast majority of them have probably never heard of most of the “elite” schools that many CC posters salivate over. It’s kind of an alternate universe here!</p>
<p>Bookmarked</p>
<p>Lucie, how would you make the determination that your son is in the top 10%? Schools publish the middle 50% in terms of SATs, but I’ve never seen it broken out so that you’d know the top decile. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>sschickens, of course you’re correct, there’s no way to know for certain. We really just had to guess, based on what the 75th percentile was and anecdotal information we knew about the schools. We figured if his SATs were 100-150 points higher than their 75th percentile for CR & M, that would probably make him competitive for merit money. And we tried to demonstrate interest in those schools as much as possible so they wouldn’t just reject or waitlist him figuring he was using them as a safety. We’ll find out in a couple of months if the strategy paid off!</p>
<p>Had a wonderful conversation with a guy I met at dinner tonight. He is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and working in Manhattan for 6 years. I asked him if it was worth it to attend CMU. Before I could finish he emphatically said, “NO!” He complained that he was riddled with debt and had learned nothing more than his counterparts. He told me he could have attended the University of Delaware for free but he didn’t know any better and did not have the guidance to make a better decision. As he said, “I was 18 years old and never understood the implications of the loans I was signing.” Well said and one of many stories high achievers don’t normally get to hear when they are seeking prestige. I wish more of these individuals would share their stories on CC.</p>
<p>I have been on Cc since my oldest was in college, and while students who were " forced" to attend instate schools for financial reasons have returned to say how they grew to be happier with that decision, than they think they would have been with their " dream" school, we don’t generally hear from the reverse.
Families who thought that certain schools were worth breaking their budget for, & were confident that the name on the diploma would open doors that another school would not.
Although there is a current thread posted by parents who had taken out PLUS loans under the impression that their kids would be the ones paying it back, only the kids can’t afford to do so.
( but neither can the parents).</p>