I wanted to breakout some info for those that are getting offers now and for future parents. I brought it up earlier in the 2023 Venting thread and got some very helpful guidance. Since my D just got a second similar email basically saying “act now” I want to share.
One school offered a talent scholarship - but told her she had to decide by the 3rd week in February or the money would be gone. When I pushed back they extended their deadline to mid-March.
Without identifying the school, I sent the details to the Director of Membership, Affiliate Relations and Governance at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). She replied:
“If the institution is a NACAC member, according to the Code of Ethics and Professional Practices, they must give the non-Early Decision applicants until May 1 to accept the offer of admission and any scholarships. There are no exceptions for “deans’ discretionary awards,” which are a type of merit aid. Please let me know if you have further questions.”
I then sent that response to director of admissions (not the Dean who sent the scholarship email) at the school in question - she replied the next day:
“Please be assured that all scholarships awarded to XXX, including the XXX scholarship offered by Dean XXX, have been added to her financial aid package and will be available to her when she is ready to make her college decision, through May 1st, 2019.”
Today’s email from another school was worded a little tricky. It congratulated her for being admitted into the program and alerted her she would be receiving a new financial aid award letter, updated with a talent scholarship. However, she was instructed to “let them know” she is considering accepting the award no later than March 11th. The email said the deadline to accept the award would be May 1st - but if she didn’t communicate by March 11th that the school was still being considered they would take that as a “no” on her part and offer the scholarship to someone else. She replied immediately to say they were still being considered, but she was not ready to make a decision yet.
Bottom line is to pay close attention to the wording in any award offers and push back if need be - all kids are supposed to have until May 1st (presumably after all non-waitlist offers have come in). Feel free to send me a message if you have any other questions.
Thanks for the helpful information. I know many students feel anxious when they get these kind of communications. My D did not get any “must make a decision if you want to receive $ or spot” communications, but several of hers did include wording asking her to let them know if they were still under consideration by a certain date. That is a courtesy to the school and other applicants, as many students just never reply and many departments are then unable to pass on those scholarships or spots to someone else waiting in a timely manner.
I think anyone in this position should reply: “Thank you so much! If I choose to attend I will definitely accept your scholarship offer.” Put it right back on them. These type of tactics should tell you something about the school, IMHO.
I see no issue with the second communication. There will be students who may no longer be considering that school that have yet to communicate as such. This allows the school to properly allocate their awards to the pool of still interested applicants.
We have the exact opposite problem…D got an acceptance to one of her dream schools, but they won’t give a financial aid/scholarship offer until April 1st. We have no idea if we can afford it or not until then. It’s great to have the big YES, it makes waiting for the other schools much less stressful, but it brings its own angst if we can’t make it happen based on finances.
@CanaDad Once you have the package from D’s dream school, if you have a better financial offer from another school, try to leverage it to get more money out of the dream school!
I posted this in another thread, but I think it got lost…
RE: the May 1st deadline…what if a school is NOT listed in the National Association for College Admissions Counseling? Does that mean they can select any date?
@afterp89 Thank you so much for researching this and sharing your findings. We are in a similar situation to your first scenario so this is incredibly helpful. Thanks again and congrats to your D on her acceptances and scholarships!