@jym626 I do not agree that Tulane’s decision to switch from giving large amounts of merit aid to offering more need-based aid is a bad strategy. Virtually all of Tulane’s peers (and the peers Tulane would like to have - Ivies or equivalents) give next to no merit aid and they all do just fine with attracting quality students and yield - e.g., Emory, Vanderbilt, Duke, etc. The difference is, those other schools all offer excellent need-based aid. The result is more applications from a more diverse pool of students, and (hopefully) a more diverse college. This is what Tulane is striving for, and I think it will work just as it does for every other top school.
On the other hand, I totally understand the frustration of those who expected merit aid. When our D applied to Tulane, 4 years ago, the only way she could have attended was with significant merit. (She was waitlisted). This time, with S19, he could only attend with significant FA. Tulane came through, and we are very grateful.
Here’s an example of how switching from merit to more need-based aid helped F&M college attract more quality students and climb up the USNWR rankings:
@4kids4colleges -I am not saying they shouldn’t try to give more need-based aid. I am saying that their-yield has been problematic and they are losing some students with this strategy. I also think that it will leave a bad taste in some applicants’ mouthes. Again this is just my opinion. And I reiterate that they could keep both ends of the spectrum, increasing need based aid and maintaining the highly desirable significant merit aid, especially with the extreme cost of attendance, if they charged for their applications.
And if they charged for applications for students who could well afford to pay, this would also align them more with their peer institutions and schools that they would like to see themselves as a peer institutions, as most of those charge for their applications.
Charging for applications makes sense for sure. But no way would application fees alone cover both generous need-based and merit aid. At least not at the levels Tulane used to award merit and the way it now offers more need-based (they are trying to get to 100% demonstrated need met, like most of their peers). Doing both would be impossible, I would think. Otherwise wouldn’t all top schools do both? They all charge for apps but very few offer significant merit aid.
Remember they get to decide their definition of “need”. And while $2million or so of course won’t cover both, they can take more bright, qualified full pay students ED and help as well.
@4kids4colleges It feels awful to be one of tbe people left out of the opportunity to go to an elite school. I feel like my kid is unwanted, overlooked and in general left behind as someone not worthy of this education. Merit was our only hope.
@elodyCOH I totally get it. When merit was our only hope (with our daughter), we only allowed her to apply to schools with good merit. She went to a non-elite, but excellent LAC and got a fantastic education for the price of our in-state flagship. Had Tulane not worked out with FA, our son might have gone to one of the schools that offered him good merit (like Rhodes or Trinity U.). I would have been thrilled for that opportunity as well.
I’m not worried so much about “elite,” since we have been down this road before, and I know that an incredible, elite-quality education is possible at many other private schools. (I am a big believer in Colleges that Change Lives). Still, it does suck for everyone in the middle (upper-middle) class who can’t pay full price but do not qualify for FA. The whole system needs to be fixed.
Best of luck, your kid will thrive wherever he/she lands.
@elodyCOH , thank you for speaking my mind…I want to post a reflection on this whole experience, but frankly we’re still licking our wounds here, and I need a few days. Obviously, Tulane is a “no” for us.
Our daughter is first in her class, with the highest GPA in the history of her school by a mile. She skipped 8th grade,got a 5 on the AP Calculus BC and Physics exams as a freshman, and scored a 1600 on the SAT She will graduate with more than 100 college credit hours between APs and dual enrollment courses, including graduate level math work at a local university (and one of those professors wrote a letter of recommendation saying she was the best student he’d had in decades). She is on student council, editor-in-chief of the paper, a 4 year varsity athlete, and she started an extracurricular math team at a low-income school where she has volunteered more than 1000 hours since her freshmen year. And she was deferred at Tulane.
She has been admitted into the honors program at every other school she applied, and she’s received full merit aid from several schools ranked higher than Tulane, but Tulane was her first choice. She wasn’t even going to apply to any of the HPY schools until she was deferred EA. She has dreamed about going to Tulane for years, and her “Why Tulane” essay was far and away the best essay she wrote because it was specific and heart felt. And it wasn’t enough. She was offered the choice of switching her application to ED II, but we lack the resources necessary to make that commitment. Once she received notification that she was no longer in consideration for significant merit aid, she withdrew her application.
There are many factors that go into college admissions decisions. It saddens me to think that my daughter might have been passed over as a result of yield protection. I am haunted by my recommendation to her that she list her schools on the Fafsa in alphabetical order, without considering how Tulane would read that they were last on the list. Though I didn’t think we could afford it, I wish we had saved a little to make the 500 mile road trip to visit the campus to demonstrate interest. If that is what cost her her dream, then it seems shameful. Yet maybe a holistic reading of her application determined that she just wasn’t the right fit for Tulane.
Regardless, we are heartened by the many opportunities in our daughter’s future, and we are comforted by the knowledge that if she continues to make the same investment in herself that made her a viable candidate for Tulane today then there will be few limits on her potential. We are also heartened by the knowledge that the students who were admitted over her are all eminently qualified. Congratulations, you should be proud! If you continue to invest in your future like you’ve invested in your past you will make the world a better place. If you are like our daughter, and reading this as you try and make sense of your disappointment, know that we feel your pain. But please know that no matter how unfair it may seem, you will be okay, and the difference between Tulane and the opportunities still before you are marginal, and largely dependent on the investment you choose to make in maximizing them. Best of luck, we are excited to see what you do.
@maconyma regarding your thoughts on the FAFSA and the listing of schools in alpha order, the ability for any colleges to see your ‘list’ and where they stand on it was actually taken away several years ago. No schools can see what other schools you have listed on your FAFSA, which is good news for all students!
@maconyma i have a lot of questions for you. I’m curious why Tulane was your daughter’s first choice and she has dreamed of going for years? Also did she do a Alumni interview? Did she engage with her AO by phone or e-mail? Why did she withdraw her application, especially since she still had a chance of being accepted and receiving FA? Are you aware that you can get out of ED commitment if the FA package offered is not sufficient? Why did she not do ED1 from the start?
You can want to GO to a college and it can be your dream college for YEARS, but the Truth is, ED isnt an option unless you absolutely know you can afford full sticker price for that school. Because the trade off is you get in but they dont have to offer much in way of merit. You are taking a big risk. And, unsurprisingly, that is the boat that most people are in. On the other hand IF you are getting into TULANE or even deferred, i would posit. You have ALREADY been accepted at other schools, probably schools in the realm of Tulane, if not exactly as cool. But definitely in the realm. Both our girls were accepted at Tulane (EA) but the oldest took the Film School Offer, so all sorts of crazy things can happen. There isnt much of a difference at least in life, in saying you have a degree from PITT, Marquette or Tulane, its what you do with it. Although you would be cold at Marquette and sweat at Tulane
@Freakingout23 my son was accepted on 1/22 after being deferred EA and received a Founders merit scholarship.
So they have rolled out some. That being said I’ve only seen a few of these posted on this thread. I would call admissions and ask them