<p>The students have limited vocabularies and do not try to expand them. That was one instructor’s experience, but many academics concurred in their comments on the Inside Higher Education site, and a study has found that</p>
<p>The SAT does measure vocabulary and reading comprehension. When many college graduates are weak academically, it does not make sense to de-emphasize academic qualifications. Schools that do so will further devalue their degrees.</p>
<p>You know, tigerdad, maybe reading a little bit more about this kid might be a good idea before shooting off your mouth about him. Google “Michael Tubbs” and “Stanford.” You might actually learn something about human nature that isn’t captured in the SATs.</p>
<p>As a favor to the thick headed, I propose that “Merit Aid” now be called “Recruitment Discount”. Perhaps it makes it easier to understand that it’s about more than test scores and GPA.</p>
<p>There is reason to believe that academic standards at colleges have risen, too. It makes a difference which colleges you are talking about.</p>
<p>Forty years ago, when many of us were in high school, about 10% of the total population over 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher, and about 15% of 20-somethings had bachelor’s degrees or higher. Now, the rate of bachelor’s degrees among 20-somethings is about 33%, and the percentage of the total population over 25 with bachelor’s degrees or higher is 30%. The percentage of the adult population today with bachelor’s degrees or higher is almost exactly the same as the percentage of the adult population with high school degrees in 1940. <a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p20-566.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p20-566.pdf</a></p>
<p>So, sure, a bachlor’s degree no longer connotes the elite status it once did; in that sense it has become “devalued”. So what? It still means something. The Census Bureau still projects the median lifetime earnings of current bachelor’s recipients to be over $1 million more than that of people whose highest educational attainment is a high school degree, and $800,000 more than that of college dropouts. <a href=“http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-04.pdf[/url]”>http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-04.pdf</a> (a publication that also has earnings by major/by occupational field, which Beliavsky will love because it does suggest that the cost of college may be barely worth it for some majors/occupations).</p>
<p>Because a bribe, as commonly used, is an illegeal payment or induicement and is a corrupting influence.</p>
<p>Merit awards are simply a discount used to attract specific customers desired by a school. No different than a loyalty discount, good driver discount, or a discount for opening a new credit card.</p>
<p>“While the marketing part of the institution makes certain there is an aura of reward for achievement about the program, as a practical merit “merit” and “wealth” could be used interchangeably here.” FALSE</p>
<p>students from middle-class (socio economically) are heavily represented in the universe of applicants awarded “merit” aid. It is certainly NOT all rich kids.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships awarded primarily on the basis of grades and test scores could be termed “academic scholarships”, analogous to “athletic scholarships”.</p>
<p>Academic qualification standards for admission are higher than they used to be, mainly because the population has increased relative to the capacity of colleges.</p>
<p>In the 1950s, HYP admitted mainly those from the SES elite families who sent them to SES elite prep schools (which were not necessarily academically elite), while admitting a portion of academically elite students from public schools. The latter tended to be higher achievers in college, which presented them with a quandry of trying to maintain their elite perception (by admitting more top public school students) while maintaining donations (by admitting the scions of the donating SES elite). A similar quandry exists today with respect to legacy admission preferences, although even legacies now must meet much higher standards than in the 1950s, and the SES elite prep schools have had to upgrade their academic standards.</p>
<p>But even at the lower end of selectivity, we see far fewer of the California State Universities listed as non-impacted (meaning that they admit anyone with [baseline</a> eligibility](<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>GPA Calculator | CSU)) now compared to just a few years ago. (Note that these universities admit by a [GPA</a> and test score formula](<a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU) when the campus or major applied to is impacted and subject to competitive admission, so perhaps they may be seen as ideal by some people.)</p>
<p>That’s silly. Is an athletic scholarship a “bribe”? Bribe implies something untoward. What’s wrong with a college rewarding particularly high academics with extra money?</p>
<p>Not false, glido. Provocative, yes, but not false.</p>
<p>What you mean by “middle-class (socio economically)” generally translates into the top 10-20% of family incomes. So not “rich” like the top 1%, but in fact with more resources than most people.</p>
<p>People eligible for need-based financial aid at a particular school do sometimes get merit aid, but a very small percentage of merit aid goes to people eligible for need-based aid.</p>
<p>OK. I finally understand. If you do not qualify for need based aid you are “rich”. </p>
<p>**Merit scholarships awarded primarily on the basis of grades and test scores could be termed “academic scholarships”, analogous to “athletic scholarships”. **</p>
<p>OK. And really really nice people can get the “G” that stands for goodness. Why do you have to parse it out? The kid has something the school wants…Recruitment Discount covers the athletes, academic superstars, tuba players, etc.</p>
<p>Pretty sure that a family income > $140,000 (the limit of Berkeley’s “Middle Class Access Program” of need-based financial aid) or > $230,000 (the level of family income that Harvard could possibly give need-based financial aid for) is far above median in every state in the US.</p>
<p>So what if colleges use money to attract students. The schools our kids go pretty substantial merit awards from all have set guidelines for those based on GPA and test scores, however, they all have other discretionary funds that were also awarded to our kids, one school for sure to help with their geographic diversity plan, and I am assuming the others as well. DD would have probably picked another school if the one she picked wasn’t as generous. Win for everyone I think. If you want your child to get the same, find schools that work for their numbers to get the same or similar. It isn’t rocket science.</p>
<p>OK. So above Harvard financial and UC Berkeley financial aid and over the median income = rich. Got it. I will start lighting my cigars with 50s rather than 20s…livin’ large. </p>
<p>Sarcasm aside, for many of my clients and for our family, the Merit award allowed kids to attend a private LAC for about the same tuition as a state college. $10k, $15k per year is huge for many people. The vast majority of privates do not have Harvard’s endowment and do not offer that kind of aid.</p>
<p>And none of that matters. The kid has something the school wants to brag about, either in bringing in other student’s, increasing their rank, or making the alums happy. The kids economic resources don’t play into it.</p>
<p>I think if you look into it more, you will decide that what the kid has that the school wants is parents willing to pay the discounted tuition. Merit aid is part of a rational, revenue-maximizing price discrimination strategy. The colleges have models of what kind of discount it will take to land a student with X family income/wealth and Y profile, and basically that’s what gets offered. The sticker price is preserved because some families will pay it. The discounts are more effective – more attractive, more flattering – if they get called “merit scholarships”.</p>
<p>And I always thought that being a “wealthy” URM with the highest possible test scores and stratospheric grades deserved a merit award. I guess I should just feel flattered and not proud with the 25% discount.:)</p>