@rarz69
My daughter is also a dancer (ballet), but also not looking to do continue pursuing it seriously in college.
1 Like
Same!
2 Likes
Welcome! We will be happy to cheer on your daughter! I am feeling anxious about the unknowns in the process that COVID has accentuated. Especially if you have an high-achieving kid, the rejections can really sting. I keep reminding myself that they will not lack for options and will thrive wherever they land. And at the end of the day, itās more important to have raised a good and capable person than what college name is on your bumper sticker.
10 Likes
just got the most remote-school, pandemic-like text ever from D. Sent from her bedroom:
ānothing like virtual bus evacuation trainingā
10 Likes
Some schools arenāt shying away from tuition increases:
Brownās tuition will increase by 2.85% for 2021-22 year.
Last year it increased by 3.75, and in 2019 it was 5% increase.
1 Like
ouch, ouch and ouch!!
2 Likes
Iāll be curious about this. I wonder when most schools announce tuition for next year. Bowdoin didnāt increase for 2020-21 but I canāt imagine them doing that again.
Exactly. Iām starting to wonder why I feel a need to ācatch upā on all the news every morning.
1 Like
I agree. I think schools canāt escape how much money they have lost this year so I understand their need to do so (raise tuition) but stillā¦!!! Ugh!!!
1 Like
Meanwhile, the CPI inflation index was released this morning and showed that costs are up just 1.4% vs. a year ago.
1 Like
The merit aid appeal webinar was just ok. However, it was interesting to me on these two points:
-
The speaker proposed āstackingā increases, meaning that you would negotiate with the early schools to get your offers up and then have the highest one of those ready to present to the favorite school; and
-
Her position was that in this crazy year, it might be ok to negotiate with a school without being ready to commit to that school if they meet your request. In the past I take it that was kind of a no no.
Pretty aggressive but could save someone thousands of dollars x 4. She advocated starting right away as it can take up to a month to get an answer.
Also they mentioned this book has a chapter dedicated to the process. Iāve ordered it as I thought this guy was pretty sharp when he teamed up with Selingo.
Iām kind of wondering if schools will be more willing to negotiate merit closer to May if the variants take off as predicted.
Also heard a podcast from Rick Clark at GT saying he is worried about yield for applicants who are distant. Iāve been thinking about how that might affect RD if at all. I love Rick just putting it all out there. I hope he keeps talkingā¦
9 Likes
TY for the update. (I couldnāt find a way to log on so I appreciate it!)
It was just ok. The speaker who did most of the talking was not as good as the host IMHO.
1 Like
I just got that book for my birthday! Do you think negotiating could also apply to getting a preferred major or honors? Would negotiating success be more prevalent at private buyer universities vs. sellers or flagship publics?
Iāve never heard of anyone negotiating a major or honors acceptance. Pretty much if you are polite and of humble tone they wonāt take your offer away so you could try I suppose.
The stronger your student is as a candidate for a school I think the more you can negotiate. They seemed to indicate that you need to have a better offer in hand at a similar school (public vs. private) with equal selectivity. Iām no expert though.
My son has one outstanding offer at a similar school that is somewhat less selective but more open. They are both Jesuits with good programs so we will probably go for that depending on how things shake out. I have zero qualms about asking at non T25 privates.
Oh by the way they said the average increase is $1k-$5k but sometimes they go higher. This could be the year for that depending. Our GC said in the past $5k max usually but thatās 20k.
3 Likes
Michigan never shies away from tuition increase.
1 Like
I listened to the book recently and it was ok, but lacked the real world advice that I value. Most of the book is explaining why college costs so much and why you should value that stuff. The parts about how to make college more affordable were very weak in my opinion. Most of the advice was borrow, hit you parents up for money, or save $2k a month per child.
I thought Selingoās book was great in comparison because he gave practical real world insight and advice.
4 Likes
@NateandAllisMom Thank you for this update! I was shocked reading point #2. I thought being ready to commit was part of the negotiation process.
Thanks good to know. The author was a little ranty about the whole system of merit aid. In these books Iām not so interested in the history, just the practical advice.
1 Like
Thatās a great question!
I think asking for something other than $'s would have a higher chance of success.