Colleges usually care about Stats, Diversity and good mix of paying and need based kids.
High Stats upper class URM kids have all three boxes checked off: great stats, they increase the racial diversity on campus and by providing good merit aid, the colleges can get these kids to pick up some of the COA. These families shop around because they will have a lot of options and apply to a lot of colleges and so colleges typically can’t get them without sweetening the pie significantly. That’s where the generous merit aid comes in. UChicago for example can give $30K to such a kid and still get some tuition revenue from this kid.
Yeah, these kids are also in demand, but they also require significant need based dollars to attract, and at need blind schools like UChicago, they may require all costs to be covered, hence the former group is in higher demand. Low SES URM’s are also a larger pool than the High SES URM’s and may not apply to as many schools so the colleges have more choices here
Retention is also an important issue wrt URM students. High SES kids and kids who attended rigorous/selective HSs (separate categories but there’s overlap) are URM candidates who are likely to thrive in an environment like UofC.
I’m white but found the regional and class differences involved in attending an Ivy a real cultural shock. So there can be levels of alienation to deal with at the same time that academic expectations/demands are increasing, and you’re far away from your family/support system/people who know you and whom you know. Throw economic insecurity into the mix and the challenges become even greater.
@exacademic Excellent point.
Interesting hypothesis.
Are you then suggesting that the admissions or merit process is not need blind at UChicago?
That’s the only way that this hypothesis could work. You are saying that they give substantial consideration to the ability of the family to pay.
You could say that the admissions staff can tell about the family’s SES by the zip code or the school they attend but not that particular family’s personal financial circumstances- helping grandparents with income, having a special needs child (either medical/psychiatric need)… A number of things.
But to accept a high stats URM with high SES then give merit to attract them, you are proposing that they know that kid’s economic/financial situation.
Is this what you think is happening? Curious to know what you think.
I suspect there are some good proxies for a kid’s SES even at need-blind schools. If admissions is looking for a few more URMs, but doesn’t want to stretch the aid budget or create retention issues, they can look for factors like:
-Expensive volunteering trips/summer experiences;
-Educated parents; and, above all;
-School district.
There are plenty I’m leaving off the list, but the above all correlate closely with a student’s income. Taking a URM kid from Evanston or Lexington lets admissions get a high SES URM without ever asking what the applicant’s financial picture looks like, though there’ll be occasional misfires.
It’s scary how much sophisticated data mining Colleges do nowadays. They know a lot more about their applicant pool than they let out.
^ Yes, I agree. There is a lot of data mining going on. And I’m sure that it’s most likely being used to form the incoming class that the school seeks out. There can be some misfirings though.
I know of one couple who both have PhD’s and live in a zip code that is known for wealth. Their daughter goes to Europe every year. But a grandparent that lives in Europe funds the trip and she attends music camps and volunteers at orphanages. However they are self employed and underemployed and the house is an inherited property (from their parents) that is falling apart.
You can also transfer from an underperforming school into a much better one in the school district and even sometimes across school districts or go to a magnet school.
If U of Chicago awards merit aid, is this in addition to need-based aid or does it replace need-based aid?
The net price calculator has us at $39K. No way we can afford that. Daughter will very likely be NMF. Would the $4K NM award bring our net cost to $35K, or would we still be at $39K? If NM brings it down to $35K, and then additional potential merit brings it down into $30K, then maybe we can stretch to afford it.
Otherwise there is no point for D to apply.
Mommertons: My recollection is that the merit awards (i.e. NMF, UChicago) “stack”, that is, the need based aid does not go down. Also, shortly before entering my son won a scholarship from my work. I called FA to let them know and they said, basically, no problem. They didn’t change any of the other amounts. I really appreciated that.
Okay so the way it works is the national merit 4k is given to you in full, so that 39k become 35k. But then any other merit money from Chicago is deducted by that 4k. Let’s assume she gets a 10k scholarship from Chicago. You’re not getting 14k, just 10k. 4 + 6. I didn’t explain this very well but I think you know what I mean. So in your case, if she gets a 5k scholarship and NMF, you’re paying 34k.
^ The UChicago scholarships do not stack. If you were awarded a University Scholars award then made National Merit- you would not be given the extra from NMF. That’s what happened to my D. But if the awards are from outside sources then that’s different.
UChicago sponsored NMF scholarship is counted as part of the scholarship package, thus the total merit money stays the same despite the NMF. Receiving a merit scholarship from the University will not affect the amount of financial aid you are qualified for. Don’t trust the result from the net price calculator. In our case, the official number is totally different from that estimated by the net price calculator.
^ Just curious to know- was the NPC worse or better than the actual financial aid package?
@goingnutsmom the NPC’s number is worse than the actual one determined by the University for us.