The failure to clearly pull apart the need/merit distinction is real on forums. When I see this happen, I usually feel bad for the poster because I don’t think they know that they’re posting their FAFSA profile. I feel good for them - the more money they get, the better, but many people just don’t get these distinctions and so post wrong (or financially revealing) information. 
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This is our first time and we are highly unlikely to qualify for need based aid - especially at the schools our daugher applied to. But when people get the awards do the colleges still call the needs based awards scholarships? If so I can see why it’s hard for people to discern the difference some times.
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Versatility in dance is awesome. I have a 13-year-old bunhead getting ready for SI auditions & I can’t pay her to even try hip hop. Maybe when she’s a little older? 
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I would guess that it depends on the school and what the awards are. At some colleges the merit awards are need blind, and in other colleges they restrict merit awards to those with need only, blurring the two and making things even more complicated. And need based financial aid is obviously not related to merit (beyond admission). It can be confusing! When one gets awards, it likely says it on the letter/email - “Award/Grant/Scholarship X for $Y” and then you can see on the college website which category X falls into.
IMO, it’s all good. Whatever helps a kid make that college affordable, is a good thing. Merit, financial aid, or merit that is need aware. It’s all money in the end, and college is too expensive for too many people.
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Yeah my D17 received need-based only FA but part of her award came from an endowed Scholarship (or aScholarships) - a legacy of when they were Merit-based and she was encouraged to write a ‘Thank You’ to any of the foundations that contributed to her award.
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I agree. I really enjoy the groups. It is helpful to be a part of the college parent groups, professional groups for my job, and groups for my hobbies. I have learned so much about the schools my older kids attend by reading the parent pages. I rarely post anything on my own page.
Has anyone already joined the parent pages for their 2023 kids yet? I am not sure how soon is too soon. I am fairly confident that my 2023 has made her decision (even before most of her schools have sent decisions).
Yes.
At schools that offer need-based aid/awards/scholarships only, there’re no such things as merit awards. Their awards or scholarships (how ever they’re called) aren’t merit awards, even though they may come from a particular scholarship fund established by, or named after, a particular donor or sponsor (and the recipients are encouraged to write “Thank You” notes to the donor/sponsor). The college does the matching of the recipients with the scholarship funds under some broad guidelines.
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Also think the TD is especially not a good comparison since football (both types, LOL) is a team sport. By definition, a team is involved, so it is a bit of a group celebration. And the audience rooting for them. Maybe a better parallel would be child winning an individual field event in which he/she does not practice with any team-mates regularly? Even that is public, so as many have said, differs. I have never had social media of any type beyond CC every five years, so I can’t fathom someone posting any of this stuff, but the TD is seen more as a “team” win than someone’s high school/college report card.
There’s also the issue that every child gets grades while not every child plays sports. So presumably, if someone sees a touchdown post, they think, "oh, my child is not a receiver/ running back/quarterback/defensive lineman with the interception return of his career/etc. so I can easily be happy for that child since there is no comparison for much of the audience, whereas the grades are a way of subtly indicating a child beat all the other children who in fact are all getting grades. If that makes sense.
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It gets complicated. Some schools offer merit need blind AND merit need restricted, they just categorize them with different titles.
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At 13 mine was the same way! I never thought she’d be able to do hip hop.
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Is anyone here interested in a CC Parents of Class of 2023 Facebook group? Or perhaps there is one already? If not, I’m happy to set it up if there’s enough interest.
It would be a hidden group, so it wouldn’t show up in searches and the only way to get into it would be to know it exists and ask to be admitted. As @bgbg4us mentioned, I’m in the same 2020 group and also a very active Parents of 2017 group. It’s been fun to collectively cheer on these kids without the cloak of anonymity!
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Most schools differentiate between merit awards and need-based financial aid subtly through terminology. As an example, here’s the “Types of Aid” page for Case Western (a school I picked fairly at random because I know they offer both decent merit and need-based aid):
In Summary for CWRU (and I think these terms are fairly common):
- Scholarship = merit
- Grant, Work-Study, Loan = need
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I agree with everything said here. I went to need based only school a long time ago and got significant $$$ thanks to parents not making much money. And because it was so long ago I also had some outside scholarships that sent to the check directly to me and I didn’t have to tell my school.
Every year I hear about some kid getting a full scholarship or ride to a need based school and I just shake my head. I am happy for the student, but sad for the reporter not writing a good story and indirectly telling us that said kid is poor.
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Yes, a couple.
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There are plenty of need based funds that are called a scholarships. Google “need based scholarships” and you will find a long list of them. One example is the California Middle Class Scholarship.
From StudentAid.Gov
Some scholarships for college are merit-based. You earn them by meeting or exceeding certain standards set by the scholarship-giver. Merit scholarships might be awarded based on academic achievement or on a combination of academics and a special talent, trait, or interest. Other scholarships are based on financial need.
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This is a cautionary tale of bragging on FB or in other public situations. My D19 was on the water polo team(Spring sport). Freshman year at the awards night one parent of another freshman that I had known for many years made a point to tell the JV coach right before he spoke that her daughter was ranked first in the freshman class.(I literally heard the parent tell the coach) The parent wanted that mentioned when he talked about the player and the coach did mention that. Now second semester grades weren’t in. All that meant was that she was one of nine freshman that got all A’s and took all the honors classes. My D19 happened to make on B first semester. My D19 noticed what the coach had said during the presentation. I told D19 to be patient.
We were patient. We watched how HS did not quite turn out for the girl like the parent wanted it. By the end of first semester Junior year the girl dropped out of like 2 of the 3 or 4 AP classes she was taking. Then when the ACT/SAT scores were coming in the girl would not tell anyone what she got. She did not end up getting an award that you had to get a 30 on the ACT or better.
In the end the parent stopped posting so much on FB about the grades etc. The girl applied to many state flagship schools and got in most, but didn’t get much in the way of scholarships and ended up going to a smaller more regional school.
Moral of story be careful about bragging because people pay attention and it doesn’t always work out the way you want.
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We had our recent football banquet where the coaches say something about every boy on the varsity team. Some boys were okay with with gpa and ACT scores being shared. (A senior committing to military was also praised.)
Football is all some of these boys have for high school experiences. My son let another kid think he got the highest ACT score on the team. I happened to be standing by one of my sons key coaches when the kids score was announced and the coach looked at my son, looked at me, and smiled. The coach knew my sons score was 3 points higher. Nothing else needed to be said.
My son has shared his score with his close friends. I do share all my kids accomplishments in extracurriculars. I will share where my kid ends up for school.
I assume good intent.
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OK, maybe a better comparison is being selected all-conference or all-state. Those are awards based upon a compilation of games, much like a grade point or class ranking is reflective of many tests, projects, and presentations. The main thrust of the point was that people seem much more comfortable with athletic bragging than they do academic.
I’m not a bragger because because of how I was raised, but I do see the possible value of building up a child’s self confidence by giving them some time in the limelight. My family tends to operate more privately, but have no qualms if others want to shout from the mountaintops regarding their child’s grades, extra curricular achievements, athletic success or their professional titles and salaries. Some bragging can be so genuine it’s heartwarming to see a parent praising their child. Other times cringeworthy because it’s the parent seeking validation through their child’s accomplishments. In those instances I just feel sorry for them because they seem to be struggling with their own low self esteem and search for validation. In those situations I try not to be judgmental or point it out to others because I don’t want to be the source of more negativity in their life.
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I joined or at least started following the accepted school groups in the spring. Honestly, they were very helpful in her final decision. For example, VaTech, our in-state engineering powerhouse has LOTS of issues related to math teaching for the first 2 years. On-line asynchronous classes, little to no contact with a professor or TA, exams in a strip mall 1 mile off campus. Etc.
I think joining or following accepted student/parent pages is extremely helpful.
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(I’m there on the 2017 and 2019 groups.)
Which is perhaps the biggest problem, that so many go somewhere else with their first reaction.
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