<p>I was talking to a parent yesterday whose daughter has accepted four offers of admission! The parent is very nice and well meaning, but had heard somewhere that the daughter had to actually accept offers in order to receive any merit money. Parent claimed she had called one of the schools (large public) and heard the same thing from them.</p>
<p>This is the first time I have ever heard anything like this! Could it possibly be true for any school at all? (And if so, what a mess that would create!)</p>
<p>Accepted four offers as in sent in deposits? So they’re holding space for her? Seems not only stupid but unfair to the schools she’s not planning on attending. (And I assume the parent knows those deposits won’t be returned.)</p>
<p>That would create a mess! She must be confusing the issue of being offered merit money with actually receiving it. In other words, if a college offers you admission and then some merit money, you must accept the offer of admission in order to actually receive that merit money. She must be thinking that you must accept the offer before they will even offer you merit money?</p>
<p>It doesn’t make any sense on many levels but the most obvious is that most colleges offer the merit money as a way to entice good students to accept their offer of admission. Why would they offer it after the student accepts and the task has been accomplished? She’s mixed up and is going to be in a bind when she has to “unaccept” three of her schools.</p>
<p>ReadytoRoll, my older son was put in this situation a few years ago. We spoke to some people and we were told to quote NACAC policies about having until May 1 to consider. I still don’t know if a school may take away a merit offered if one does not decide prior to May 1. Anyway, when we contacted the school, they told us that the letter was an error (meaning the date to accept the offer was incorrect) and a new letter was issued. I followed cc about this school the following year, and a few students reported getting the very same type of letter again! Two years of the same type of error? You decide.</p>
<p>We are being pressured by one school to send in a deposit now and get our kid registered soon. This is prior to getting a FA package. At least they state that we may have the deposit back if we let them know that he will not attend prior to May 1. Still, it is an unnecessary pressure, and I am finding it unfair. At least they are not threatening to take away merit aid, if we do not deposit now!</p>
<p>NEmom…the difference is that this kid hasn’t actually received any merit aid yet! The mom thinks that they will evaluate her for merit aid (not financial aid, although I think they will qualify for that too) <em>after</em> kid accepts because she says she was told that “they want to see what the pool of people looks like first”.</p>
<p>I’m going to call the school she mentioned that told her this myself just to ask…although I may look like an idiot in doing so.</p>
<p>Is this in line with NACAC policies? I never heard of something like that, but I do think some schools might be stretching rules and pressuring parents before “all cards” are on the table. How can a family with financial decide to say “yes” to a school without having all merit and financial aid information?</p>
<p>ReadytoRoll, let us know what the school tells you over the phone. I would be interested.</p>
<p>FWIW
I have been told by more than one parent that money goes fast and if your student gets into a school high on the list–then to make the decision as early as possible
that by May the money is gone…</p>
<p>don’t know if thats true but have heard that from a parent that has put 3 through college and grad school…and one parent about to launch a D into undergrad…</p>
<p>It’s true that EA applicants have a better shot at the money, but I think they would also have merit offers along with their acceptance letters. And those merit offers are good until May 1.</p>
<p>It doesn’t make sense to say yes to a college and then hope they will give you (merit) money. Finaid is another matter, but I would still wait for the offers before I said yes.</p>
<p>I had friends who delayed sending in a deposit to their #1 school even though they knew they were going there… As the weeks went by more and more merit money came in… Just a thought.</p>
<p>^
same thing happened to my daughter! She applied to a school, was offered merit money. Last week in April she sent in the “No thanks” card and in mid May was offered MORE merit money. </p>
<p>My kids were offered all kinds of merit money to various schools but none came with a deadline of before May 1 to accept in order to receive.<br>
Could this parent have misunderstood?</p>
<p>The National Association for College Admission Counseling states that:</p>
<p>“work with their institutions’ senior administrative officers to ensure that financial
aid and scholarship offers and housing options are not used to manipulate
commitments prior to May 1”</p>
<p>The school that is pressuring us is NOT manipulating with scholarship offer, or housing option, but I feel that they are pressuring us by using a first come, first serve class registration technique. If you do not deposit within the next several weeks (at the latest early/mid-March), you may not register in mid-March. If you do not register in mid-March some classes will be closed out to you and the next time that you may register will be a few days before the fall semester begins. I suppose that is not the end of the world, nor would be a first choice housing option. Still, when one has to pay so much for tuition, the student with financial need who would like to review “their cost” will be at a disadvantage over the student who is able to pay full freight, or full freight after merit aid.</p>
<p>NACAC clearly states in its best practice policy that you cannot manipulate using a scholarship of housing incentives. I do not see that they state the same with regard to class registration incentives. Interesting…</p>
<p>*same thing happened to my daughter! She applied to a school, was offered merit money. Last week in April she sent in the “No thanks” card and in mid May was offered MORE merit money.
*</p>
<p>This can happen with high stats kids. Sometimes the schools phone you to offer more money and you’ve rejected them.</p>
<p>DS got a call last night. He wasn’t home so they talked to me. Among the questions they asked was whether he would be making another visit to their campus (he’s been accepted and has gotten some merit money but not as much we thought he would). I told them no, as there are a few places he had applied we hadn’t visited yet. Then I thought better of that and said, “Well he might go back if invited for the big scholarship weekend. Any word on that? We haven’t heard anything.” The woman on the phone was a little noncommittal and then said she had talked to a couple of people who also hadn’t heard so I wasn’t the only one.</p>
<p>That’s just it - she wasn’t high stats. More like B+ stats. The school was an admission safety and she applied to a health care profession major.</p>
<p>northeastmom - I think it’s a scare tactic. Freshmen always register last anyway. MAYBE… if I had a kid who was transfering lots of AP’s and was ready to get into sophomore courses but you won’t even know that until the summer. It really doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>RTR: please report back when you hear; this is a little weird although I really thought I’ve heard everything (like non-binding ED that you can “bind” by a deadline after acceptance…lol)…</p>
<p>From a business standpoint, I don’t understand the logic to the idea presented in the original post. If a student sends a deposit and enrollment confirmation to a school, the school views this as a student who is sold on the school. Thus, the school doesn’t need to entice the student with a merit scholarship. On the other hand, if a very well qualified applicant holds out a little, the college may decide to entice the student with a bit of merit scholarship.</p>
<p>Business-wise, why offer additional merit aid to a student that has all ready committed to the school without such offer?</p>
<p>northeastmom: Sounds like the school is definitely using the early registration as bait to get people to commit to the school early. It’s nice that they are stating upfront that you will be able to get your deposit back if you request it before May 1st. Unless this school is in the top 2 of a student’s list, I would call their bluff and not bother sending in the deposit or spending travel expenses to attend the early registration/accepted students event. IMO–the early registration will not make a huge difference regarding freshman registration. The school will probably block-out seats in course sections for remaining freshmen, current students, and transfers making the registration similar to the typical registration later on.</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread, but perhaps the mom didn’t realize that college-sponsored merit aid doesn’t travel if you choose another college. If a college offers you merit aid, you can only use the merit aid if you accept that college’s admission offer and enroll at that college.</p>
<p>“That’s just it - she wasn’t high stats. More like B+ stats. The school was an admission safety and she applied to a health care profession major.”</p>
<p>If it was a safety for her, she was a high stat and desireable student for that school. Schools with health care profession majors also tend to have merit aid at schools that offer such aid. It can be hard to find qualifying students (especially American citizens) with the stats and interest in those fields.</p>
It really depends on the college. They SHOULD block out seats to make registration fair… but they might not, especially if they’re using early registration as an “incentive” in the first place. Same goes for housing registration. For instance, I believe UChicago does housing by deposit date, so that the most enthusiastic EA depositees are likely to get their choice of dorms.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon does the same thing with housing and I think it stinks. As it happens, my son got a large 1 bedroom apartment which he really liked, but it wasn’t on the main campus and therefore was considered less desirable.</p>