I looked at the projects the Regeneron finalists did and realized they are way smarter than I am. I would guess all the semifinalists are too.
Iām not sure if this is the correct thread or if I should start another, but did anyone else catch the news that U of Ky will be reducing merit aid in the future?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/24/university-kentucky-moving-away-merit-aid
Complete speculation on my part, but it seems the days of the Patterson Scholarship may be numbered. Or maybe the benefit will just be reduced?
Incidentally, for those who didnāt follow the link, U of Ky enrolled 105 NMFs this year.
Interesting comment from the article:
@CA1543 and @vandyeyes sorry your kids did not make it through to the next round, but still a great accomplishment regardless. Iām amazed at all of those kids!
@Dave_N Thanks for sharing the article. I thought a couple of things werenāt well reasoned, but I canāt fault the overall rationale. Unfortunately, I think this will hurt UKy in the rankings down the road. Otherwise, good for them in looking out for Kentucky students.
I would expect that the benefit of the Patterson will be reduced (at least initially). How many other schools offer automatic free rides for every NMF for four years? They would presumably attract fewer NMF with a reduced Patterson but how many isnāt clear. And they have a lot of good going on campus in terms new academic buildings, new student union and some of the best dorms I have seen. Becomes something of a balancing act in terms of attracting top students and serving residents of your state. More art than science in terms of best how to do that.
Ohio State has decreased merit recently as well. Maximus was $6000 two years ago and for 2017 entering class it is $5000. There is a proposal to increase fees on business majors and engineering majors (starting with 2017 entering class). Havenāt seen anything further on that other than Trustees would need to vote on the measure this Spring (article linked below). There would be need based reductions in those additional fees. Net changes could be about $17-18k total cost increase for 4 years for non-need business/engineering majors which isnāt an insignificant amount. But from what I have seen, President Drake prefers need based aid over merit aid.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/08/09/Ohio_State_fee_hikes.html
Maybe I am the only one, but I dislike the implication that all merit aid goes to the wealthy. Wealthier than those students qualifying for need-based aid? Sometimes yes. Wealthy in terms of disposable income? Doubtful.
I am glad our kids have had the opportunity for merit aid. W/o it, they would have to live at home and commute to a local school. So, kids who donāt qualify for need-based aid at schools offering it and wonāt have merit aid as an option bc it has been abolished, end up with limited options due to $$. Sounds like highly qualified middle class kids from strapped families are going to start to have fewer and fewer options as the no-merit mentality spreads.
Agree with @Mom2aphysicsgeek. Merit-based aid is a way for deserving students to fill the donut hole which plagues so many of us in the middle class. Too ārichā to get need-based aid, too āpoorā to afford full pay.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I think the assessment that mostly students that could afford to pay (not necessarily easily) are winning the full rides like the Patterson is accurate. And I believe the statistics bear this out. As you know, full rides and full tuition merit scholarships are few and far between. The chance of a lower income student having the profile necessary to win one is not great.
Do agree that there will be more limited options for the middle class down the road.
@RightCoaster, my D is several weeks into second semester and has some fun classes that I think are helping. She did two DE classes at our flagship last semester, which I thought were great in terms of letting her get a taste of what itās like to take college classes on campus, even having to maneuver the dining hall. This semester is all at HS including two fun electives, both with teachers she loves. Less stress is good!
I get that ED could make your S feel better now, but Iād be careful seeing it as a way to wrap things up quick and bypass the difficult waiting period. I know some kids are absolutely sure where they want to go, but for most kids I think itās nice to have some choices even though that almost always involving waiting for March/April which feels 100 years away for many parents and kids here!
@phoenixmomof2, yep I know what that feels like. Oldest was going to be a micro-biologist studying disease. Then she decided she was interested in ābiggerā biology (rather than cells, etc.) and switched to integrative physiology. At the same time she went from minoring in dance to double-majoring in dance. She planned to go to PT school and took necessary classes for that. She then decided to major only in dance to follow her true passion. Sheāll graduate in the spring and plans to rack up certificates in dance, fitness, personal training, etc. If she canāt make decent money teaching/performing, sheāll find some type of retail or other second job. Not sure this helps you feel any better, but in case he does stray from the āstudy for a solid jobā path, he will hardly be the first. My D feels happy about her decision and more convinced that sheās doing the right thing for her than sheās ever felt before.
@vandyeyes and @CA1543, sorry neither of your kids went all the way, but semi-finalist in such a prestigious competition says much about where they will go.
I saw that one of the STS finalists did their project on, āFunctionalizing Biochar with Mg-Al and Mg-Fe Layered Double Hydroxides for Phosphate Removal from Aqueous Solutions.ā
That was totally my idea.
Kidding, of course. Back in my day āLighting a fire without matchesā would have made me a finalist.
@vandyeyes and @CA1543, sorry that your kids didnāt advance to finalist, but semi-finalist is totally an awesome achievement (and these kids are much smarter than me also).
Count us as a solid middle class family who does not qualify for need-based aid, but without merit aid would pretty much be forced to look only at in-state schools or much lower tier schools than kids could get in to. As it is, my kids didnāt even apply to any school, elite or otherwise, that didnāt have some sort of merit-based scholarship. I think D15 would have done very well at an Ivy-type school, but my income would have been dedicated to paying for her school. Thatās not realistic.
I had a filling replaced last friday, and my jaw still hurts where the novocaine shot was. If anything, it reinforces my belief that tooth stuff should happen when youāre younger, because sheesh, it takes a long time to heal when youāre older. Iāve been dragging my feet about scheduling D18ās wisdom teeth appt (D17 already has hers), I should just get on it.
Whoever gave the advice about one person to drive and one person to monitor, thank you-I didnāt even think about barfing in the car.
Regarding KY reducing merit aid-I really think it might be an ephemeral phenomenon, to be taken advantage of while the friendly winds are blowing the high stats merit kidās way. I donāt know how long the colleges who offer big merit can keep doing it-or maybe they have a level that they are trying to get to, and once they get there they can curtail the merit (sort of like the snowball rolling down hill has enough critical mass at some point to keep it going without pushing).
Iāve seen it at NEU and Temple, just off the top of my head. Olin used to be free; now itās half tuition. Considering how desirable it is, I can see that going away very soon, as well. Iām not saying itās a bad or a good thing (well, it is bad for merit hunters, obvs), but it does appear to be temporary.
D17 finished her programming for a competition last night before studying for bio and stats. She was up until 1 am (pretty unusual for her). I think this is senioritis manifesting-doing the fun things first, and waiting until the last minute.
I am also a senior, but I donāt have senioritis. Do college seniors also get senioritis? Iām mostly freaking out over the senior defense I have to do in front of a big crowd of people-Iād rather bungee jump naked into a volcano than explain my artwork to a crowd of 100. We did our first practice today, ugh. Not so good. I wish I could be not me for that day.
February is going to be an interesting month for D17 & D18-D18 will be doing college tours over the break, D17 should hear back from everywhere else sheās waiting to hear.
March I may give up CC for Lent, just so I can get all my stuff done. Iām not Catholic; I just like the idea.
I was able to correct the FAFSA for the IRA rollover field. Hope it took the correction well. The correction lowered the ācrazy EFCā to a number that tied to my own spreadsheet workbook (to the dollar) :D.
@vandyeyes and @CA1543 Semifanalist is such a great accomplishment already!!!
My D didnāt make it to the next round of the Jeffersonā¦The chance of her attending UVA is slim even if she is admitted as OOS.
Merit Reductions: SUNY Buffalo also reduced its Presidential scholarship from full ride to a fixed $15,000 this year. Thatās about an 8K per year reduction, plus now the award is fixed rather than variable. SUNY tuition is currently about $6700 per year.
I found a 2015 press release indicating they enrolled 18 Presidential scholarship winners in the fall of 2015 class. If thatās a typical size for the list of enrolling awardees, in four years the award reduction will save them a little over a half million per year.
Admittedly itās a hard award to get. 18 of roughly 5000 freshman is less than 1/2 of 1%.
@Motherofdragons, sympathies on the presentation. Practice will help. Perhaps pretend you are someone else describing the work of an exciting new emerging artist. Lent doesnāt end until mid-April. Iād be way too curious to stay off cc for 6 weeks. Would miss the news on where all our DCs were accepted, the scholarships, and the last minute decision dilemmaās leading up to May 1!! Thatās what weāve all been waiting for, right?
@phoenixmomof2 If DS gets into engineering then he should start there. Itās easy to transfer out to another major, but depending on the school can be very difficult/impossible to transfer in. Perhaps he can find a way to incorporate music or sound into his curriculum. Some schools have sound labs or minors in music engineering. Many of D15ās friends have changed their majors within engineering, but I donāt think sheās mentioned anyone switching out completely.
@CA1543 and @vandyeyes I am sorry their Regeneron journeys have ended. Hopefully other good news is on the horizon.
QOTD Unrelated to College - What are your top 3 ābucket listā concerts? Only ones you havenāt seen yet, not someone you want to see again. Mine are the Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, and U2. Bruce Springsteen and The Who probably tie for 4th. SOā¦I am super excited to have scored amazing seats at face value for U2ās summer Joshua Tree Tour 2017. This is my reward for all this college work!!
Bucket list concerts: Iām assuming impossibilities (never got to a Bowie show, though I did see the Dead, so thatās good) are out? With that limit, Iāll list Ozric Tentacles, Fairport Convention, andā¦I canāt decide whether the third spot should go to Bruno Mars or Spockās Beard.
Yes, my musical tastes really are that weird.
@MotherOfDragons, College seniors donāt get senioritis because they have too much to do and too much is riding on that graduation. Plus they (often) donāt have their parents to fall back on if they screw around.
QOTD: Would love to see XTC in an intimate setting, but it wont happen because Andy Partridge developed chronic stage fright in 1982 and never toured again.
Bucket list concerts - After Michael died, a group of friends and I made a concert bucket list and weāve been steadily checking groups/singers off the list. Some big ones for me are Celine (will get out to Vegas soon to see her), Anita Baker, and Brian McKnight. Also want to see Patti Labelle, Smokey Robinson (missed him a couple years ago), and Gladys Knight.
@dfbdfb Seeing Bruno Mars later this year!
The concert Iād most like to see right now is a school band at admitted students day. Either that or Pearl Jam.