<p>End of tuition day and thank a donor day? Never knew that! I get it, I suppose. But if you’re already a financial aid recipient, it sure as hell doesn’t make you feel any taller in your shoes to have the school publicly remind you just how costly you are and how grateful you need to be. Most everybody knows that tuition doesn’t cover expenses. Every school has that written down ten different ways in their application and billing documents. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s a better “celebration” for the small percentage of FP kids who don’t realize how grateful they should be. </p>
<p>I think financial aid recipients should feel tall all the time. It’s harder to get into boarding school as a FA recipient than as a full-pay student.</p>
<p>I find this NY Times article depressing. I attended college when FA was not as enlightened. Back then FA meant loans. I paid them off. It was our first mortgage. I did not attend BS because it was way beyond my means. I did envy those I met in college who had it so much easier due to their superior BS education. The income levels mentioned in the article distresses me most. I understand the costs one endures for BS and another kid in college or BS but does it seem fair that this is accounted for in FA decisions by the schools? When does it become appropriate to say well you blew all your money on Susie but does that mean Johnnie is entitled to a similar BS education?</p>
<p>Boarding schools can’t actively go after middle-class students because of the numbers involved. There must be a mindboggling number of very bright, motivated, undereducated kids in this country, many of whom would jump at the chance to go to boarding school if they knew about it and saw it as a possibility. Imagine the competition if the word got out! </p>
<p>It’s much simpler, and of course quite laudable, to try to identify some very bright, very disadvantaged students and give them a boost (although I don’t think eligibility for such programs should be determined only by ethnicity). However, this leaves less FA money for kids outside such programs, who are not identified by or eligible for them, i. e., the bulk of the population. Of course, the bulk of the population does not try to send children to boarding school. Still, I do wonder what the applicant distribution by income looks like and likewise what the admission rate is by income (information we are not likely to ever find out). My guess is that the middle-class students who learn about and apply to selective boarding schools are an exceptionally bright and motivated group who ought, in a fairer world, to have a high admission rate but who in fact have a comparatively low admission rate.</p>
<p>I do not think all of these programs are based on ethnicity. They are based on income. I think there should be more of a push to recruit kids from rural areas. Many of these kids are from lower SEC but suffer from the lack of access/knowledge to many programs. My concern was that by providing FA to families who make $200K plus you are cutting out some of the truly needy families whose lives may be changed by a BS opportunity. </p>
<p>I would think an End of Tuition Day would serve to remind full pay students and their families that they’re not really paying the full cost of their student’s education. Kids on FA are already aware of that. It’s a way to remind wealthy families to make a donation, not meant to remind FA kids that they don’t contribute as much in terms of a dollar amount</p>
<p>There isn’t an income cutoff for ABC since they have nothing to do with financial aid.They will advise you on applying for FA if you will need to but have nothing to do with that process. Their hands are in your school admissions applications and the FA app is left up to you and the school. </p>
<p>Ok I did not know the details of these programs. I know ABC places students in our school district because it is a top school district in the nation. </p>
<p>Let’s keep this in perspective. A prep school diploma is not a prerequisite credential for a job or for college admission. In fact, the kid who just got admitted to all 8 Ivy League colleges is a product of a middling Long Island public school with NY State Regents Exams results below the state average. </p>
<p>All American kids have access to free public education. Even families who complain that their local public schools are not so good can, if not convenient, physically move household to another school district.</p>
<p>[All American kids have access to free public education. Even families who complain that their local public schools are not so good can, if not convenient, physically move household to another school district.]
Many families would be limited by their household income and could not afford the real estate in many of these top notch school districts. </p>
<p>Has anyone looked at the cost of real estate in these top notch school districts? How about tried to rent in the area? The dearth of affordable housing acutely affects the suburbs. I understand that the one kid who got into all the Ivies did not come from a top notch school. Poverty stresses families in many ways. There are many books that illuminate these issues. I just meant that it is not as simple as picking up and moving for a better school district. Lack of resources and knowledge hold people back in many ways. </p>
<p>Gimme a break… One doesn’t have to go to a school in a top notch school district to be a happy & productive adult. I grew up poor, went to middling public schools, didn’t go to HYP, and still ended up reasonably OK.</p>
<p>For the THIRD TIME, the kid who just got admitted into all 8 ivies attends a mediocre public school. </p>
<p>I did not mean this was a ticket to a good life. I meant to address your statement that someone can just pick up and move to a better school district. Really, I have acknowledged numerous times that the one kid did not go to a great school. One kid does not make the norm. The fact that so many HYP chose this one student makes them rather myopic in my opinion. How many other kids from this same school applied? How many more were overlooked by the same schools? </p>
<p>By the way using your logic that one kid coming out that school did well means that all kids should just drop out of college to score big in IT. The odds are better for you if you want to make it in the IT industry for i.e. Steve Jobs etc.</p>
<p>Don’t confuse “better” school district with “best” school district. </p>
<p>Families, if it is their priority and they are determined, can find some way to move to a better school district. I have too many family members & friends who gripe about their local public school but are unwilling to move because it would mean breaking ties with friends and local community.</p>
</p>