<p>I know!! I was actually reading the previous post thinking, “Wow! That’s A LOT of sq. footage for the price! Tear down or not!” Scary how living here has conditioned us to think in such extremes regarding real estate pricing now, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Thanks for posting such a perfect example! I know before we moved here I never dreamed of prices like this & was certain my coastal pals were stretching the truth. Hardly! When we were 1st looking to move here, (nearly 10 years ago) I recall an ad asking $100K for a “property” in SF. Unheard of!!! I couldn’t call fast enough. When I asked why a house in the city was priced so low, I was met with a huge laugh! The realtor explained that the house was going for $2.1!
$100K was the price for the driveway/ garage ONLY! Apparently such a hot commodity was an add-on since the owner was making so much $ leasing it out. My friends from the midwest still think I’m made that up and it’s so crazy, I really can’t blame 'em. :)</p>
<p>Not to mention land…1.1 acre for only $2.1 million? A bargain!</p>
<p>Thank you for the very thoughtful advice. I have been looking all day at just this type of thing & especially what factors they use for their FA. Really appreciate your posts, btw! You clearly have done your homework and your family sounds amazing! You’ve clearly gone through a lot during this process and are a real inspiration- to a good many people on this board, I’m sure. So thank you! Best of luck to you and your kids too. What a wild ride this is!</p>
<p>@goforprep,
As you can see it under my username, I’m as fresh as you are and trying to learn as I go.
For your FA application, I would suggest that you explain whatever you feel like to share with FA office. To illustrate what I mean, here’s an excerpt of an email that I received from FA office after indicating my intention for FA application: </p>
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<p>Thanks for the heads up. This definitely helps in our own “prepping” for the FA paperwork onslaught. Cheers.</p>
<p>goforprep - the short answer to your question is yes, regional differences are taken into account by FA officers. I have filled out the PFS for DC’s K-8 private school for the last 9 years and there is a formula the school takes into account - it has to do with the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) and how that number is different in different regions even within your own area, so for example, Oakland, SF, San Rafael, Palo Alto - all have different COLAs. How much FA people look at that number is up to the different schools but I don’t imagine they look at the finances and assets of a family in Ohio the same as a family in the Bay Area or Cambridge or other cities that are expensive to live in and where your dollar doesn’t go as far. </p>
<p>At our school it is factored in to our award so I asked an AO at one of the boarding schools we looked at this fall if they do the same thing and he said yes, they do. He also said they tend to give more money to out of state applicants than they do to applicants who are local in an effort to increase their geographical diversity</p>
<p>I also don’t think you can assume if you make X amount you wouldn’t be eligible for FA. A lot of factors go into those FA awards and everyone’s situation is different.</p>
<p>@goforprep - they do look at individual circumstances and will ask for additional clarification from families that make the finalist list. At that income level it won’t mean a full ride, but it also won’t mean you’re stuck with outrageous tuition.</p>
<p>One caveat - and it’s a big one. The amount of aid in general is still low relative to the overall population. So you can do the math - if you need aid and 70% of the school populations is full pay - it puts your student in a more competitive pool. </p>
<p>Still, I suspect partial pay parents fare better than full pay parents because it allows the school to spread limited dollars more broadly.</p>
<p>Just do your best, and cross your fingers.</p>
<p>Unless I’m misunderstanding something here, the school will spread limited dollars more deeply rather than more broadly. If I’ve got it right, SPS’s new initiative will actually make admissions more difficult for students who need FA, as the pot doesn’t seem to be growing.</p>
<p>@classicalmama: The PR didn’t have any reference to the pot size being fixed. I don’t know whether that’ll be the case or not, but it seems to me that that’s beside the point. What we know about SPS are:</p>
<p>1) its admission is need-blind;
2) it will ask for 10% of family income (which can be varied by non-qualified family assets).</p>
<p>SPS claimed that it had been practicing #2) for sometime, which is consistent with its published FA figures, but this announcement made such a practice official. The announcement could make SPS better publicized among middle class families, thus attracting more applicants and resulting in a better representation of middle class among SPS student body.</p>
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<p>I think this is more about marketing and semantics on the part of SPS and possible an attempt to attract more middle class families to apply. For instance, Exeter started funding their own middle class endowment by telling alum that the trend they were trying to fix was for students to be full scholarship or full pay. Middle class families were bypassing them in favor of saving limited funds for college.</p>
<p>If you plug in salaries into Exeter’s online “calculator” the trend seems to be about 10% for income levels up to $200,000 which amounts to about $20,000. I suspect the same is true at St. Paul’s. Just not official. The SPS “loophole” in the announcement is that they will look at assets. Which means that someone in California who makes $200,000 but is in the midst of a high cost of living situation, may have less than someone from a midwest area where that salary may be higher than the average cost of a house. It also means that families with lower incomes but significant savings and assets will not get funded as if they didn’t have them. </p>
<p>That’s why I think the effort is to spread the dollars and attract more families in the middle. And really - they take so few FA candidates anyway, I think it’s a moot issue. When Exeter announced their change in funding strategy, the applicant pool rose quite a bit. The same happened when my college announced tuition becoming free under a certain income bracket. The economy was tanking but the application pool skyrocketed.</p>
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<p>@Exie: did you mean that the higher EFC or the more parents are willing to contribute, the better chance their DC have for admission?</p>
<p>SharingGift: What gives you the sense that SPS is need blind? Out of all the schools that my kid applied to (which admittedly wasn’t many), I’d actually rank it as the most need conscious in terms of final admits. </p>
<p>I tend to believe, like Exie, that this is more a matter of semantics and marketing than anything else. The only announcement that would make a significant difference to the average applicant would be that the school will be allotting more financial aid grants or that the total financial aid pot has risen. As it stands, Exeter, Andover, SAS and other schools still show more commitment to FA students. If anything, this new initiative will make it harder for middle class students to get in because more, as Exie points out, may apply. So on the most cynical level, I’d say its biggest effect may be to lower their admit rate (already one of the lowest). </p>
<p>All that said…it’s worth applying. SPS is a great school.</p>
<p>Oops - I can’t edit my post @Sharing Gift. What I meant was that partial pay parents may fare better than full scholarship families because the limited dollars go farther.</p>
<p>But yes - the more parents are willing to contribute, the higher the chances seem to be for admissions (although that’s relative given how big the application pile is). But that shouldn’t discourage families that need most or all FA. Those kids are chosen too, but that pool is a lot more competitive.</p>
<p>Thank you for the explanation of your experience and what you have found. Even though we realize that all schools work differently, this info is super helpful in trying to gauge what to expect down the road in our experience. Appreciate the insight.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input on this. Everything you all mentioned had crossed my mind- the good and bad effect that these announcements and strategies will have on our chances for FA. In the end, no matter how much we try to figure out the best formula and which school will work for our needs financially, I suspect it’ll really come down to who else might be in the pool and how desirable their child might be for a number of different reasons. But really appreciate the different points of view on the topic.</p>
<p>@goforprep,</p>
<p>They have to take SOMEONE. Perhaps your familiy’s fate lies along that path too. I have to tell you, if I had actually sat down and calculated the odds of my daughter finding a space - especially applying as a sophomore rather than a freshman, I think I would have psyched myself out of the process. But she landed - well - and is thriving. So don’t think about it - just do it (as the Nike ad says) and see what happens. Because I’ve learned that if we don’t at least try to reach for a dream, the answer is a definite No. So what do you have to lose?</p>
<p>Wishing you the best on your journey.</p>
<p>My thoughts exactly.
This whole experience has really been a lesson in perseverance for all of us. And the irony is that we weren’t even a family who set out looking for boarding schools. Far from it. It just so happened that this one school popped up on our radar and we fell head over heels for it. And despite what most people would assume, the reason(s) why we fell honestly had nothing to do with prestige, ACRONYM status or the rich history with famous names holding diplomas. Truth be told, we were blissfully unaware of the majority of those things and most of what we thought we knew had changed to a very large extent over the last several years or so anyway. For the better in our opinion but I’m sure some would argue to the contrary. But that’s a topic for another thread.</p>
<p>Now, back to reality: Would this “amazing experience” guarantee college acceptance in 4 years? Doubtful. Actually, chances are that it may hurt more than help us. Our kid’s bright but isn’t out there splitting atoms or getting books published quite yet. And while plenty of EC’s will fill the application, including years of various sports, there are none for which any high school team will come calling. Still, our kid’s only had a couple B’s along the way, maintained an A average in an honors curriculum at our academically rigorous private school-and it’s been that way since K. Very involved in our community, church youth group, volunteering and fundraising for causes near and dear since a very young age. We’re talking passionate, not us pushing to do it. Teachers comment every year about the obvious love of learning and the kind, good person that our child has grown to be. This makes us far more proud than getting straight A’s ever could. </p>
<p>So with that in mind, we believe that rising to the top in our local public HS would not be too far fetched. But what about the actual experience there? Would it inspire and challenge beyond working towards the GPA? What COULD be out there if we opened the door to what’s outside the box? If we don’t go for it and apply (as Exie said) I guess we’ll never know.</p>
<p>So after first feeling sure we WERE going for it, then feeling overwhelmed and just as sure we WEREN’T (the cross country distance & the improbable odds of actually getting in & affording it kicked in) our family recognized that we had to have a sit down. We spent the entire weekend talking about it & realized that the passion just wasn’t there. Except for THIS one. So if just ONE school fit, why were we forcing oursleves to come up with a longer list? For our family, it simply made no sense.</p>
<p>I realize this logic (or probably in many minds: the complete lack thereof) goes against all the sensible advice given here on CC, by so many I’d absolutely call experts. Now, I’m still very new here but even I know the advice given re: gaining acceptance to a great prep/ boarding school NEVER includes the phrase, “Just apply to one.” And I wholeheartedly agree…in most of the scenarios discussed here. But for our family, we would really only be disappointed if THE one school said no thank you. If we visit and suddenly feel otherwise then so be it. And if we feel even more convinced that it IS the right fit but the school doesn’t share our opinion, there’s really not a thing we can do about it. Except apply and find out.</p>
<p>So curious if anyone else ever found themsleves in this same situation. How did you handle it and what was your outcome?</p>
<p>I think it would be more accurate to sum up the prevailing consensus as “Don’t apply to just one bs IF you have your heart set on going.” If the local ps is a good option, and you made the decision as a family, then who can argue?</p>
<p>Well, apparently I can, just a bit. There’s a part of me that thinks that if you love one school, there are probably at least two or three others out there that you would love as well. Of course, I don’t know how much legwork you’ve put in already. </p>
<p>Our initial search revealed one seemingly perfect fit, which son pursued. However, days before reservations were made for interviews, I was casually looking at prep school websites and came across one that I thought just sounded like my kid–though in other ways it was not the perfect fit on paper that school number one was. I passed the laptop over, and he was drawn in as well, so we added it to the list, over his father’s protests (honestly, I think his father is still inwardly protesting :)). After the interview, it became his clear favorite. And the original “perfect fit”? Waitlist. </p>
<p>Soooo…applying to one is not crazy–but a little more shopping around, without getting too stressed might not hurt. You never know.</p>
<p>“There’s a part of me that thinks that if you love one school, there are probably at least two or three others out there that you would love as well.”</p>
<p>+1 on this sentiment. I think with a little more homework and an open mind at least 2 or 3 would come to the fore.</p>
<p>Has the “all eggs in one basket” approach worked before? I’m pretty sure it has. I’ve also seen a “HADES Full House” of acceptances (CKSABS’ kids two years ago, I think?). But these are the exceptions rather than the rule. </p>
<p>If you are willing to live with the possibility of a thin envelope on March 10, that’s your choice. At least the forum gave you fair warning.</p>