@2muchquan I can appreciate need based aid. And I support merit as well. Unfortunately when you fall in between these areas where you won’t qualify for need and are unlikely to get much in merit if anything at all, not being a “top” scholar but rather a basic average but solid student…it’s hard and frustrating. We are the target full pay family. I hate it. Right now the focus is really on upping his test scores (and GPA a tad ) so that the guaranteed merit offered at some of the schools he is looking at, can bump up a tier. Beyond that it’s going to be scrambling for every small possible scholarship he might qualify for and going after every penny we can.
My husband and his ex cover the older 2 kids tuition. Ex didn’t feel her kids should have to apply for scholarships or ever work or have a loan and while both kids did get some money, it was also at either a LAC or OOS. Incredibly frustrating and expensive all around. Even if it wasn’t “my” money, it certainly impacts the house.
I am solo for my 2. From a FAFSA standpoint, my H’s income most certainly counts and we will be expected to be full pay anywhere we look. And that’s not in my wallet. To that end, while I’d like my S to have some “reach” schools…I truly can’t see any of them being a real financial option. In many ways since the ROI on the pricier schools is often not any different than the in state options, that can be ok, but it is frustrating to feel tied up. Less of an issue for S17 given what he wants but it will be an absolute nightmare for S19. Granted S19 will be far more competitive academically for merit, but the same issues hold true, he’ll just be looking at the pricier options as his target.
@eandesmom That was my first question when I heard about the in-school testing because it prevented my D from taking the 03/05 exam. It is the full SAT with Essay (looks like my Ds top choices will not require essay though) and the results can be sent to colleges. She is actually going to request her scores be sent to her top three choices on the exam sheet. (Don’t panic folks, her top choices are in-state schools the super-score).
On the merit aid hunt:
We are lucky that we have low cost in-state options that we should be able to cover with the 509 saving, a little scrimping and my D working some. My D and I are both glad we will not need to go on the merit aid hunt.
I think it may be harder to get good merit aid at a good school than it is to get into some of the “selective” colleges.
@CaucAsianDad – are you in CT? Am thinking you cannot be as the in-school SAT did not include the essay today, and also did not preclude anyone from taking the new SAT this Saturday.
Our governor signed on with CB last August to use the new SAT in lieu of whatever our state test had been. (CAPT, CMT, the initials change by year.) I had been REALLY annoyed about this mandatory test until a workaround was announced last month, allowing students to walk down to guidance to cancel their scores the minute they finish the exam. This allows the school to satisfy their state testing requirements and allows those students who have already finished taking standardized tests from being forced to send a score to the ‘report all testing history’ colleges.
I am intrigued to hear that schools in other states are doing the same, even though not statewide. (Michigan will administer on April 12th, I believe.) CB is trying to play catch-up with ACT, in terms of number of test takers.
We are pretty much in the same boat with D15 (sophomore). Her test scores are strong, but she doesn’t want to do the work when it comes to studying and homework, so her grades are mediocre. IF they’re so mediocre she doesn’t qualify for the HOPE scholarship in 2 years, we’re looking at community college for her because it doesn’t make sense for us to invest in her education when she’s not investing in her education. (no, no LD’s or other issues-the only thing we discovered when having her tested for every possible thing that might be holding her back was that on paper she’s even smarter than we had originally thought, which just makes the not interested in doing her homework stuff even more frustrating).
I would not mind if Georgia adopted the SAT or ACT-all the crazy testing they do here (benchmark, eoct, SLO’s, more that I can’t remember) is ridiculous.
@MotherOfDragons, she is probably bored and doesn’t see the point of doing work when she already knows more than her peers. That is one of the unfortunate outcomes (blessings and curses) of a gifted child. S would do his homework, say he’d turned it in but not turn it in, and we would find it weeks later scrunched up in the bottom of his backpack. Luckily, he is in a school that goes from middle through high school, and his counselor saw this and worked with him (and worked with him) so that by sophomore year he actually turned his work in mostly on time. It did wonders for his grades.
Does anyone else have a student taking the SAT on Saturday? My dd is taking it and is hoping it is the one and only SAT she ever has to take. She is taking it with the essay bc FSU requires it, but my goodness, when we have looked at the same essays in test prep books, there is no way she will be able to finish that much. Some of the examples are 7-8 paragraphs long. At the end of 3 hrs and writing an analytical paper incorporating quotes from the reading, she is just not moving at that pace. When she did a practice essay untimed and independent of the rest of the test, it was superb, but it took her 1 hr and 10 mins. No way she is going to be able to accomplish the same at the end of the exam and with 20 less minutes.
@mtrosemom I agree that she’s bored, but she doesn’t know more than her peers-I’m talking about standardized aptitude tests like PSAT’s and SAT’s that she does well on, not regular tests.
Most of the homework here she can do online and submit online, but she doesn’t bother to check the online planner to see what she is supposed to do. (that’s the sound of me tearing my hair out) They literally can’t make it any easier or more organized for the kids to turn in work.
She just bombed an AP world test because she didn’t study at all-I keep telling her you can’t learn stuff by osmosis-you actually have to study in order to know stuff. It’s super frustrating for us as parents, but we’re focusing on expecting her to do her homework and study, and being supportive of what she can do, because “gifted” or not, you still have to do the work to be successful at anything. There are no shortcuts or magic beans.
(Sorry for the thread spread about my Class of 2018 kid-2017 kid told me last night I’m not allowed to talk about college anymore)
We are in Florida. A couple of school districts are challenging the standardized testing developed by the state and are attempting to substitute the SAT. There is some merit in what they are trying to accomplish by using the SAT.
Our school system is very focused on helping the marginal students be successful after graduation (As a taxpayer I can’t really complain about that). Focusing more on SAT scores will help some of these students, especially the first generations, with choosing to attend a four year college:
The local regional state U has a middle 50% SAT range of 1760 to 1940 for the old SAT. Many can get the grades but are not doing well enough on the SAT to get admitted.
Florida has the Bright Futures scholarship that pays about half of in-state tuition, but it requires a 1290 M+CR on the old SAT. Getting the SAT score is the hardest part for many students.
It appears some capable students are falling between the cracks because they are either not prepared for the SAT or just not taking it. With too few GCs and uninformed or uninterested parents many students need “to be lead” to taking the SAT.
I don’t see why in-school SAT would hurt students applying to ‘report all testing history’ colleges once we get past this Old vs New SAT year. If the colleges know it is required they will not think the students are test obsessed, just he HS.
@CaucAsianDad Florida. It is about the only school with a strong foreign language dept with a linguistics program that is affordable outside of NMF scholarships IF they grant in-state tuition rates for high test scores. (According to posts on here, this past yr they did for test scores around 31. Even though we would have to pay tuition, FL instate tuition is far more affordable than most states’.
My son is doing the SAT on Saturday with the essay. I am just glad the essay is last, I can’t imagine having to do it first and then do all the multiple choice questions! I don’t think the essay matters much, so I told my son to shoot for adequate. He did a sample one last weekend and I rated it as 9 out of 12, which is good enough. Schools have been discounting the essay part of the SAT every since it was introduced and I don’t think that is going to change with the new format, so it is not worth stressing about.
I’d tell your daughter to go for good enough not superb @Mom2aphysicsgeek! If she sets benchmarks like by time x I will have the introduction and first paragraph done, and by time y I will be finishing the last body paragraph she can hopefully stay on track and write enough to answer the prompt.
@caroldanvers Yes, I agree. It just stresses her bc FSU requires the essay. I told her everyone will be tired after 3 hrs and there is no way any student is going to cranking out 8 paragraphs of flawless writing by that point. She has strong perfectionist tendencies. So it just frustrates her not to be able to do what she perfectly capable of doing.
I am sure they mean Essay, and when they say optional, I do not see how they will let a low score hurt one applicant while another did not even attempt it.
I think this is new as I first saw on the UF website Monday and then checked FSU. My D was much relieved when I told her, one less thing to stress over.
@CaucAsianDad That statement on their website is poorly written. It is actually stating that the SAT essay is now optional when taking the SAT, not that it is optional for FSU. After seeing that they required it on the link Inposted, I called their admissions office and confirmed that it is required bc originally I had interpreted that statement the way that you did.
My son just finished taking a practice SAT for Saturday. He used the first 3 practice tests for PSAT prep, so this was the only one he had left. He did well, but not as well as he did on the PSAT. Have they said what the confirming score for National Merit will be with the new SAT?
@caroldanvers@Felicita she will look into taking physics honors online. Not sure if that’s easy or hard but she decided today that’s the route she’ll go.
We are on Florida and our hs is offering the SAT in April. I might have my D sit out because she really likes the ACT and she is taking it in April. I don’t want her stressing about a second test. And who knows when she’ll get the SAT scores. It could be in June, which would be too late to take it again in May or June so she would have to wait until the fall which would stress her out.
@greeny8 – will your D’s school offer the SAT during the school day to all students in lieu of state testing? I wonder if it will be administered the same day as Michigan’s exam? (April 12th, IIRC.)
I agree that there will be a lag in score reporting. I have heard May for these March exams. CB is really making a royal mess out of this rollout.
@CT1417 they don’t do it in lieu of state testing. Yes is is April 12, it’s the official SAT school day test. I live in Orlando and I believe all the Orange County schools will administer it. They did it last year too, just for Juniors.
CB had made our kids big Guinea pigs this year. And the ACT changed their writing essays too. But at least most of them are all in this together.