Warning about Merit scholarships offered with a "deadline"

<p>Some students have reported receiving letters from their rolling admissions and Early action schools offering a merit scholarship with a caveat saying that they must accept the scholarship and send in their agreement to attend that school, before the May 1 Candidate's Reply Date.</p>

<p>Please keep in mind that accepted students are under no obligation to reply to ANY school before May 1. If schools offer you a scholarship that is contingent on agreeing to attend before that date, you have, under NACAC regulations the right to request in writing an extension of the scholarship offer to that date.
You can cite National Association of College Admissions Counselor (NACAC )rules when doing this and give the following link as evidence:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyre...dent_rights.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyre...dent_rights.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Again, Colleges that request commitments for admission offers or financial offers prior to May 1 MUST offer candidates the opportunity to request (in writing) the opportunity to postpone their decision until May 1, even if they say initially that the offer is only good if attendance is accepted before then. If any school balks at granting this request, report them to the NACAC. </p>

<p>Just wanted to let folks know this.</p>

<p>carolyn, as they say in Freedoniaplatz "Der linken no workee". To be precise "Das pagen nutten founden."</p>

<p>Apparently cur's goats speak pidgin German/Chinese. ;)</p>

<p>ahem. That would Germese, if you please.</p>

<p>Does this work? (bottom of left column on page 2)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyres/6DACE31D-FBF1-4ABB-A6F8-BD7B46E8B0F3/0/policy_admission_options.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyres/6DACE31D-FBF1-4ABB-A6F8-BD7B46E8B0F3/0/policy_admission_options.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>By the way, do all colleges and universities adhere to NACAC policies?</p>

<p>link needs repairing, but that website is a wealth of information! </p>

<p><a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nacacnet.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>this is really a different topic, but on the same website they have a sortable (by state) list of all the colleges and their ED/EA (or both) admissions plans.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nacac.com/college-search/search.cfm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nacac.com/college-search/search.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Pafather, there is a member directory on the site; I did a search by state and country only, with no problems.</p>

<p>That brings back memories of a colleague who used to hand out a copy of the student's rights and responsibilities and the colleges' rights and responsibilities as outlined by NACAC whenever he conducted an interview.
He was formerly in high school guidance before working in college admissions, so he made a point of letting students know their rights in the application process. I would hope that most hs guidance offices would have these materials as outlined by NACAC.</p>

<p>This message seems too important to leave at the bottom of the heap. Is this one worthy of a thumbtack at the top? Seems to me that students and families might need this info...instead of feeling like the must respond earlier than the May 1 date.</p>

<p>The link opens a pdf file. If you have trouble with it, go to <a href="http://www.nacacnet.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.nacacnet.org&lt;/a> and then click on NACAC statements and policies then on Students Rights and Responsibilities.</p>

<p>The NACAC is the national organization for college admissions counselors, and MOST reputable colleges and universities adhere to their standards and guidelines. It is also an excellent source for information about the admissions industry, one I use quite a bit myself for research for my website and for posts here on CC.</p>

<p>My daughter was one who almost declined merit aid, because she didn't know her rights. It was through Carolyn's detective work that we discovered that she could request an extension in writing WITH NO PENALTY and give herself time to make an informed, rather than hasty, decision.</p>

<p>Although I would like to assume her GC knows this information, I'm not taking any chances. I printed up the students' rights statement to give to her, along with an explanation of the situation we ran into. Hopefully, no other student at my daughter's school will decline a scholarship based on an artificial deadline.</p>

<p>pafather, your link works. Thanks. Maybe it's an aol thing. </p>

<p>Thanks for the heads-up, carolyn. I'd have @$#!-canned any school that tried GlennGarry-GlenRoss sales tactics on D anyway but it will be nice to have ammo. </p>

<p>Does anyone know of schools that have tried the hard-sell in the past with merit scholarships? Are you willing to share ? I'd sure like to be prepped if it is one my D's choices.</p>

<p>Thank you Carolyn. This is a very important post and I am going to stick it (what a phrase!) because not everyone realizes these rights to have until May 1 to accept such offers or not. This topic has come up often on the Musical Theater Forum and some posters have told others who have said they are being required or strongly requested to accept scholarships and/or places in BFA programs now, that no school can make them commit before May 1, the National Reply Date. I am going to copy this thread on the MT Forum because it links to the "official word", not just the knowledge of some long time posters on that forum who have tried to get this message across to others. </p>

<p>Thank you Carolyn for the sharing of your wisdom and resources with our readers.
College Mom</p>

<p>Here you go MT Forum readers....a timely post from the Parent Forum on CC that I think readers on this forum should read as this issue has arisen in posts here and others have tried to advise families who report this pressure to commit now to scholarships or even places in a class and you do NOT have to commit until May 1. Please be aware of your rights.
CollegeMom</p>

<p>Thanks. That was very timely.</p>

<p>Here</a> is a direct link. :)</p>

<p>I would just like to add that you might want to check with any school that is requesting some sort of confirmation or commitment. I know some of them are just looking for confirmation of the scholarship receipt and it does not bind you as far as commitment to the school. But, you don't want to risk losing a scholarship because you didn't respond appropriately. So, the best thing to do is check with the school about what they are requesting and why.</p>

<p>Thanks to all for the direction on this. We are in this situation and really wasn't sure what to do. I am going to call the school today just to acknowledge the receipt of the letter and ask them how they intended it to be handled.</p>

<p>FYI - I spoke to the university and they said I absolutely had the right to request an extension of our acceptance of scholarship. They recommended that I return the acceptance form with a letter by the deadline. I will sign the acceptance and date it May 1, 2006 and put the extension letter on top.</p>