I’m new to this forum but I have a question. With COVID equaling a loss of money for BS, will Full Pay students have a much higher chance of acceptance than they usually would?
I’d imagine that with the loss of jobs this year that more would apply for FA, but there won’t be enough for the usual amount of FA kids to be accepted.
Take Exeter for example, about 50% of students are on FA. Say they admit about 350 new students and it usually goes half and half for FA and FP, 175 FA and 175 FP. How much do we predict the amount of FA kids will drop this year? Will it be more like 125 FA, 225 FP?
I’d also imagine many current students will need more FA than usual which would also cause a lower in the new student FA budget.
Overall would include FA applicants. It’s clear they need more $$$ which only full pay students can offer. I think most full pay inquiries are from the NYC area and most BS will only take few students from there for a diverse school.
my parents would NEVER allow me to apply to WC schools. My mom says even Exeter and Andover are very far! I would consider it, but my parents wouldn’t.
In short, it’s anybody’s guess and there isn’t readily available data on FP vs. FA admission rates in economic downturns.
Historically, during recessions, there is an increase in the FA needs of existing students/families and a shift of students from private to public schools. However, the COVID experience thus far seems different, with a probable increase in applications to private schools, since the public schools have done such a terrible job with remote learning.
Keep in mind, private/boarding schools have weathered many recessions and are used to taking the long view. They are best served by not being reactive in any given year or downturn. And they have CFOs, board members or other financial and business advisors that help them to stay the course.
If there is a prolonged or severe economic impact, it will likely not impact this admission cycle, but may impact future cycles. Furthermore, there is likely a direct relationship between the endowment and other financial resources of the school, and the school’s ability to maintain a typical FP/FA ratio.
The cost to educate any BS student is only partially covered by tuition. The rest is covered by those other financial resources, the largest of which is usually the endowment. While the economy has been severely impacted by COVID (as measured by GDP, unemployment, etc.), most financial assets have performed very well in 2020. And while endowments have underperformed relative to market indices, they have still posted gains and have not been negatively impacted by COVID…yet.
I do disagree with this. I was at a live financial aid session with Exeter a few weeks ago and someone asked something similar to what I posted. The Financial Aid Officer said that there will be a higher ratio of FP students accepted, but he didn’t say by how much. I’m just wondering about how much FP student acceptance rates will increase at top the BS.
Nobody knows. But I will play along. FP acceptance rates will drop. FA acceptance rates will drop even more. Total applications to the schools most mentioned will increase resulting in overall lower acceptance rates.
I suspect that the acceptance rate of full pay students will decrease but the acceptance rate of FA students will decrease even more. Applications to private schools are way up. Applications to colleges are way up. Applications to grad schools are way up. Schools at all levels can afford to be choosy.
Edit: @skieurope and I cross-posted. And we agree.
I do agree with this to an extent. The FP acceptance rate MIGHT increase in the suburban areas of mid-sized cities with not too many applications. This is all because BS’s want people from diverse locations, and as we all can tell by reading the forums, many large city applications are up (i.e. NYC, LA, Boston) because they’re looking to get away from the city. A BS can only take so much from a location with many applications before the school is full of NYC kids and no southern kids, or no international kids.
So yeah, large city acceptance rates will drop the most. Southern suburban areas might raise, midwest might raise too. The AR depends on where you’re located, at least for this year.
At the boarding schools most mentioned in this forum, I see two reasons the acceptance rates of FA applicants would drop more than those of FP: one, a larger number of current students than before might need more financial aid to continue attending. I would think the schools would make those kids their first priorities within their respective financial aid budgets. And two, there could be a slightly higher percentage of FA kids in the applicant pool. However, both of these issues have more to do with more demand for aid, not less supply of it. With most broad indexes of financial assets up in 2020, the endowments at the schools most mentioned here (certainly Exeter’s) should be flush.
Yep! Perfectly stated. I knew there would be more FA applicants regardless because of increased applications and covid. What do you think about the regional acceptances? Do you agree that a city with many applicants will have a lower acceptance rate than a city that isn’t really represented in BS? For example, NYC over Richmond, VA.
Hard to say. NYC has more students, but it also had more applicants. I don’t think any school will temper with their geographic make-up, so acceptance rates will depend on hiw many from each cohorts apply.
Soooooo…you posted a question that you already had the best answer to? Maybe lead with that next time.
Exeter accepting a higher ratio of FP students has no bearing on my comment. There is no doubt a direct relationship between a school’s financial resources and the school’s ability to maintain a typical FP/FA ratio. Your knowledge of Exeter accepting a higher ratio of FP students only raises the interesting question of how the FP/FA scales will be tipped in schools that do not have a $1.3B endowment.
