Is the UMass-Lowell scholarship a HS-nominated scholarship?
It’s too late now, but if so, I would have turned down the nomination unless a full-ride to UMass-Lowell was one of my top choices (and let a kid for whom a full-ride to UMass-Lowell would be highly desirable be nominated instead). If the HS wasn’t involved in securing the scholarship, I don’t see why they should have a say in where your son goes.
I would also be upset with the principal pulling your son out of class for something that is none of his/her business.
@PurpleTitan - No, it’s not a HS nominated scholarship. We didn’t even know it existed, but apparently they consider anyone who has their application in by November 15. My son does feel pretty bad that he will be turning it down, when there are kids who would give anything to get it. So I hope they don’t just offer a certain number, but extend it to all kids with certain stats. I don’t have a problem with people knowing, or the principal’s actions. This is a small, fairly new HS (charter school) and they have been working to build their image as a rigorous HS, so it’s standard practice to share this kind of information. They don’t publish the specific amounts of merit aid (and never disclose need based aid), but they will name the scholarship or note “full tuition,” or something of that nature.
However, I have no idea why a principal would want to push a top student toward this school (though UMass Lowell is very highly regarded in certain engineering programs and in nursing) when he hasn’t even heard from all of the private colleges yet. My best guess is that he may assume that we would need to incur unwanted debt to take on the other schools. I think most kids in the school apply for financial aid, so the principal may think he’s being helpful. No one would know to look at us (old cars, average house) that we’ve saved the full amount over the years for whatever our son chooses to do. (That doesn’t mean that I’m not psyched about the merit aid he seems to be getting.)
And let’s say you push him, he gets accepted to an Ivy and every time something goes wrong, guess who he will blame? Let him make his own decisions but make sure you also have the talk of how much you are willing to shell out.
If he later thinks wow I should’ve applied to an Ivy, if he continues to do well he can always look at graduate school there.
@Rdtsmith, have you read the posts on this page, specifically #93?
This is rather strange. I can understand, during application season, counselors telling students to “be sure to talk to your parents about what is affordable and to check the net price calculators and scholarships”, and reminding them to make sure that the final decision is to an affordable school, but putting the pressure on the student to choose a particular college seems strange.
We started touring schools in the south my D’s sophomore year and turned her nose up at each and every private school with the exception of Miami. Hence, she applied to primarily state schools. Refused to consider a smaller school, refused to go north. She wants lights, camera, action and didn’t get that sense at the privates.
I have learned the hard way that what is best for your child is to let them follow their instincts and to bow out and let them make their own choices. I know if she is happy she will excel and follow her dreams. Although admittedly there are times that I worry that she’ll have that what if moment since she is a high stats kid who was a plausible applicant at any school. However, as of now it looks like she will be attending LSU and is very excited.
UMass Lowell has a good reputation for music and technical fields. We have known students who loved their academic programs, but wanted a more vibrant, campus-based community. They felt it emptied out on weekends or was more of a commuter school. YMMV and priorities can be diverse in this regard.
Your son already has a great list of options that he is happy with, so your family has much to celebrate. Agree that it is odd for school to approach him about the intricacies of his decision making.
Best with all incoming news.
Rochester? Great Music palce and great science place.
The “name” can open doors to what, exactly? Your kid is artsy and musical. Those doors could care less about pedigree or name… I’d say, apply to… Yale, Carnegie Mellon, and NYU to have bases covered for his interests (actions speak louder than words).
Congratulations to your son!
As for the principal, s/he’s probably excited to have early returns and is very proud about it. S/he may indeed be thinking your family needs financial aid and may be thinking you’d be incurring debt elsewhere. If need be, your son could just say his parents have the finances covered already so he’s looking for the best fit, despite being thrilled with such a fantastic opportunity.
Getting into a college is one thing, getting full tuition/full ride is another. I saw a graduation bulletin that listed where each student was going, and when there was a full tuition/full ride, it was indicated next to the name (never actual amounts, but the honor), as well as whatever named scholarships the students had won…Of course, it was a high school where a majority of students didn’t go to a 4-year college so I think there goal also was to promote academic achievement and create role models. 
Guess I missed a slew of posts @RenaissanceMom Guess I somehow only got thru first few pages.
Update: In the end, son was accepted at all 8 schools with significant merit aid at all but UMass Amherst, Boston University, and Wesleyan (Wes doesn’t have merit aid, so no surprise there). Those schools are now off his list (not BECAUSE of the money, but because he was never completely sure to begin with, and these schools did nothing to win him over). He also crossed off Northeastern after a second visit. Oddly, UMass Lowell is still on the table for him. He will be doing overnight visits at Brandeis and Hampshire in a couple of weeks to check for best fit.
In the end, I think we made the right choice not to push him to apply to more selective schools. Yesterday he did say, “Maybe I should have applied to a couple of Ivies.” However, he followed it up with a comment that he didn’t really want to go to any of them, so I don’t believe there are any regrets.
Thank you to all for your comments and insight. Best of luck to all!
Thank you for the updates. Great outcome! Congratulations!