<p>That’s fine if you want to make direct contact to discuss the financials.</p>
<p>We are doing fin pre-read with multiple Ivies. All financial info exchange is between the parent and the coach. There may be a number of back and forth exchanges needed to clarify things, additional requests, etc. Some of them wanted very detailed info, not just FinAid forms and Tax returns. It is understandable that these things may be over the head for a 17yo. Supposedly pre-read once done is cut in stone and guaranteed for 2014 or even beyond in spite of usual tuition increases. The outcome was sent to both parents and recruit as most of them assign considerable financial responsibility to recruit (work-study and summer earnings). My recruit will not confirm OVs until we (parents) approve the pre-read outcome.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Agree. That’s accepted practice. The coaches should understand that.</p>
<p>Though, so far, we’re finding that the coaches (at least the ones we’re dealing with) are being a little used-car-salesman like … (dismissing the financial aspects, pushing for ED, etc.).</p>
<p>It is a mutual understanding that it has to be ED/EA. This is why we are doing fin read now. I do not think there is any other option. Used car salesmanship? Not in the Ivies although they are selling their schools and subtle belittle competition. They are sending the message that money will not be an issue but it might be true.</p>
<p>CCDD14. </p>
<p>Remember,financial pre-reads are only as good as the information provided by the parents. Since the OVs (and all that flow from them) occur early (e.g., September), getting accurate info may be very difficult - because you need to estimate for about 25% of the year. This gets very tricky for self-employed, jobs which get bonuses, etc.</p>
<p>Some Ivy schools are extremely difficult to deal with (one school claimed to know our small business better then we did). Our prospective FAs differed wildly (from 15% COA to 45%) - from HYP.</p>
<p>I guess the moral of the story is accuracy matters - do not give the school wiggle room. Once a school lands a recruit, the balance of power shifts from the recruit to the school.</p>
<p>Stemit,
I appreciate your input - we are still newbies in this process. Filling FA forms I tried to be conservative but I worry about what will happen the following years. It was mentioned that we will be locked into a particular percentage of income and it will stay like this until the end. What is your experience? When you got wildly different packages - did you negotiate? Another thing that was mentioned - they match each others offers. The package we got so far came with the note that if somebody offers better terms - let us know.</p>
<p>Varska, CCDD14 and Golfather,
thank you for the info - so helpful. I just called one of the coaches who was very helpful and will send the package and instructions for financial pre-read. The coach recommended the online calculator (believes it to be pretty accurate except for very complicated stuff) for a start and did not seem at all annoyed that I called (rather than my kid).</p>
<p>CCDD14</p>
<p>So far our FA has kept pace with inflation and our assets and income have remained roughly the same. My understanding is if your income/assets change FA will change accordingly. We’re happy campers so far.</p>
<p>We tried to understand why the amounts offered differed. We found one school to be extremely difficult. Because S decided to go to a different school, we did not go beyond a dozen unproductive phone calls (didn’t get the coach involved, but did get pretty high in the FA office hierarchy). It just happened that he chose the school with the best FA (whew).</p>
<p>So, I have no input on the matching offer concept.</p>
<p>I see. It seems your son made a wise choice. Thanks.</p>
<p>CCDD14,
During our son’s football recruitment, Cornell mentioned multiple times that they would match other Ivy school’s FA as well as Stanford and, IIRC, Duke’s. They also were the most aggressive in pushing ED as a way to lock in the recruit. Cornell has had a history of losing football recruits to HYP and is trying to counter thier tactics of higher FA offers late in the game.</p>
<p>Alpac,
Thanks. Very interesting. But why do you say “pushed” ED? Is there any other option for an “average” Ivy recruit?</p>
<p>CCDD14,
My son, while nationally ranked at his position, was not a high-impact highly recruited player. Cornell knew he had other schools interested and was promising a likely letter. In every conversation they had with him, they kept “reminding” him that by submitting ED, everything would be locked up. We also got the impression that if he waited, they would still come through with the likely letter. They didn’t make it seem like an ultimatum.</p>
<p>I think this is great if the school pushing the ED option is the first (or only) choice, but recruiting is a lot like playing poker. You know your hand, but have to try to figure out the other player’s hands and their ultimate goals. Ultimately, our son’s first choice came through with the offer of a likely letter, which he accepted after both pre-reads.</p>
<p>It was a bit of a gamble to wait (we were second guessing ourselves every minute) and one of the most nerve-wracking experiences we have gone through, but he ended up happy with the results.</p>