<p>well said, somemom, Pizzagirl, Mainelonghorn…my daughter is 12 and has had to listen to the remarks of what they call the river rats calling her rich…she knows better when tuna-noodle casserole is what is served for dinner in the winter months. There is no cheating on taxes or lying about assets here…what we own, particularly what our business owns is either mortgaged to the hilt or bought so cheap it would spin heads</p>
<p>The FASFA is just like the tax code. The rules are the rules, and you are entitled to do anything within the rules to your advantage. The only thing you are not entitled to do is actually break the rules.</p>
<p>Unlike the tax code, you don’t have to participate in the FAFSA.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>People get “goodies” in all kinds of different ways. A brother-in-law who owns a BMW dealership and got them an unbeatable deal. Bartering their services or businesses. A vacation house that was passed down to them. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s my I in Myers-Briggs, but I just can’t see caring enough about what other people have and how they got what they got. Why even notice? Really.</p>
<p>I think it’s best if the local scholarships are awarded on whim - okay, maybe have some criteria, but to award them on the basis of need seems unworkable to me for the reasons you point out. Whoever is running this locally (in our school, it’s the guidance department) doesn’t have the expertise to determine need, even if they’re using submitted FAFSA applications, because schools themselves interpret FAFSA data, often adding their own application. I ‘know’ this because the same kid, with the same FAFSA info, can get different awards from two schools that claim to meet full demonstrated need. </p>
<p>There’s another problem with awarding local scholarships on a ‘need’ basis. A student with a low EFC could be attending a school with all expenses covered by the school. Another student in the class, whose family doesn’t qualify for any aid, might be struggling to pay $50,000 a year. Those local scholarships are more meaningful to the latter student than they would be to the former - even though the former has the highest need on paper.</p>
<p>I found this in HS my kids go /went to private. family I knew got tons of money we got nothing. Theylived off assetts but i guess it looked like they had no income. In other words had more moneythan us. We pay full boat, dont care as I have to look at myself in the mirror. Its a stretch for us but I am grateful we can do it. I am sure the same goes on somehow in college. I’m sure there are different scenarios and I’d like to see every kid that deserves the help get it, education is so important. Its the ones that beat the system that make me crazy.</p>
<p>"I’d like to see every kid that deserves the help get it, education is so important. Its the ones that beat the system that make me crazy. "</p>
<p>Exactly! It irks me to no end when I see people like my supervisor gaming the system by turning his assets over to his sister without reporting it on his income tax in order to get financial aid.</p>
<p>Our school’s PTA solicits all parents to contribute to a scholarship fund which is available for the students to apply to. The primary stated criteria is “financial need.” Final decisions are made by the moms who run the PTA (a closed, clique-ish bunch of seemingly well-off moms who don’t need to work and spend every moment they can volunteering in some capacity at the school.) Every Spring the list of student recipients is published. Guess who receives the scholarships? The kids of the PTA moms, of course!</p>
<p>I would have an extremely difficult time contributing to a scholarship fund where the scholarships were determined by people with a vested interest in the outcome. Unless you are embroidering, I’m amazed that people continue to contribute. Perhaps upset parents could get together and suggest that an impartial outside group vote. We have a few small scholarships endowed by former students that are administered by the teachers that are merit based with no “need” factored, but the balance of local scholarships are administered by the community foundation and essays and FAFSA is required.</p>
<p>As I tell my kids, no one knows what goes on behind another’s closed doors. No need wondering or worrying.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, OP here. It appears that need-based awards are sometimes going to families who are well-connected, especially when merit is thrown in as an additional criteria. Maybe this is viewed as a way to pay back parents who have contributed somehow, or create good will where it could be useful, but it can become removed from what the kids themselves have accomplished–and even ends up awarding some bad acting kids with VIP parents. But this is off the original topic question.</p>
<p>I realize businesses have up and down years, and that families sometimes suffer economic swings. That is not the issue. Beyond those who deliberately manipulate their assets to appear to have need, people do also make choices about lifestyle and spending. I maintain that families who can own large properties, pay high property taxes, maintain the image of a higher-end life style, or who have wealth tied up in unreported assets, or can rely on wealthy relatives, are in all liklihood less needy than kids whose parents (if they are even in the picture) have no assets and low income. There are degrees of need. We can at least try to find ways to get the strictly need-based scholarship money to where it is MOST needed. I am looking for other ways, beyond the FAFSA, to make this process more accurate, and to steer clear of people who are gaming it.</p>