<p>I thought this was an interesting counter balance to all the other discussions about students not getting what they were hoping for.</p>
<p>However, the next article says that 57% chose not to attend their first choice college, mostly because it was too expensive after applying financial aid.</p>
<p>Getting admitted may not be the problem for most students. But lots of students are facing financial rejection.</p>
<p>cc is not a true representation of the whole nation. i would imagine that a majority of the people on CC and certainly the ones expressing disappointment over not getting into the schools are competitive applicants to the top 20. You do not hear a number of cases on this forum about ACT score of 21 – which I believe is the national average</p>
<p>The article actually says 75% ATTEND their first choice college, not just get in. Pretty amazing, and shows how different the world is on CC. </p>
<p>Our D applied to one U, where she was accepted, matriculated and graduated. One of our friends applied to ONE UG school ED (UVA), where she was accepted, matriculated and graduated. She later applied to one master’s program (Harvard), got in, enrolled and got her degree. I believe my sisters only applied to one U (UofMI) for masters where they both got masters in special ed, with funding. My nieces, nephews and S all applied to several to see what their options would be they bloomed where planted. </p>
<p>I would imagine that a majority (or at least a plurality) of college students attend public institutions within commuting distance from home. Most of them have little need to fret over the issues discussed on College Confidential. They have few choices. They cannot afford private or OOS public schools; they can’t get into the kinds of schools that give generous FA.</p>
<p>Agree CC is not representative of the vast majority of the country’s college bound kids and families. The origins of the forum had to do with getting kids into very selective colleges/unis that comprise about .003% of the country’s total colleges and universities. Because those colleges are primarily located in the NE, the roots of the members were strongly northeastern. That has changed over the years but preoccupation with SATs and SAT IIs is strongly rooted in the NE and preoccupation with miniscule differences between selective colleges is pervasive. If you don’t live in the NE the benefit is the wealth of information about colleges that as aren’t well known in the rest of the country - or at least I found that beneficial years ago when my oldest headed off. The benefit for the NE group is the same, gaining knowledge about excellent colleges located outside that region. Historically and continuing today is the sheer preponderance of kids that head to their public colleges in states that have excellent public systems and opportunities not found in smaller colleges and unis…states like Texas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and others. And there’s really not many compelling reasons NOT to take advantage of those excellent public systems which virtually eliminates all the stress and throttles back that trend toward massive application lists. </p>
<p>^ makes for a much less frantic senior year, I am guessing.
Back in the day, I also applied to one college, had no anxiety about getting in, enjoyed my time there, got my degree in four years, and had a great job in my field by mid summer. </p>
<p>@LongRangePlan, It looks like @ucbalumnus is correct that the next article written 5 days later says 57% can’t afford to attend their first choice college. It seems the writer misstated the study results and didn’t even notice when she linked back to it. Even at that she misunderstood the data. Here is a quote from the Student Norms Report:
I wonder how she bolluxed it up so badly?</p>
<p>This tells me that at least 56.9% of the kids picked the right schools to apply to and are now happy. That 75.5% of the kids got what they wanted and that was an acceptance. I am sure there are bunches of kids that apply knowing full well they can not afford to pay but just want a chance to say they got accepted to X university. </p>
<p>My oldest didn’t apply to any reaches so we knew she had a good chance of getting her 1st choice. Some kids are just more realistic than we give them credit for these days. </p>
<p>How someone who writes about “cost, price and discounting in higher education” can write an article about not knowing the true cost until receiving a Financial Aid packet without mentioning Net Price Calculators is beyond me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Seems like she doesn’t even know they exist. And the use of “college’s”, oy vey. </p>
<p>Back to the OP: the first linked article says that 24% of students apply to 8 or more colleges. That’s more representative of the CC demographic. And I’m guessing that among that 24% the 75%-getting-into-their-first-choice statistic doesn’t apply.</p>
<p>Ok.<br>
To summarize, going back to the source doc:</p>
<p>57% Enrolled in first choice college.
75% Got into first choice college.</p>
<p>Of the people who chose not to go to their first choice college:
- 25.7% were not offered any aid by that college (?)
- 62% got a financial aid package from the college they eventually decided to go to.</p>
<p>That first category is interesting. It isn’t saying they didn’t get enough aid - it says they got none. So they sound like “full pay” students who eventually chose a less expensive school, perhaps a State school or school that offers merit scholarships.</p>
<p>
The article says “57% of students, the highest percent on record, chose not to attend their first choice school”</p>
<p>
Very few schools offer to meet need, so these students aren’t necessarily “full pay” in the sense of their EFC being larger than COA. They could have an EFC of $0 and have been offered nothing by their first choice school.</p>
<p>
The article says that "Among those not attending their first choice college, 62% said they could not afford to attend it "</p>
<p>@slitheytove</p>
<p>Someone above pointed out that the article is wrong.</p>
<p>I went to the source doc to pull out the facts that I presented above.</p>
<p>Here is the link to the doc:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.heri.ucla.edu/monographs/TheAmericanFreshman2013.pdf”>http://www.heri.ucla.edu/monographs/TheAmericanFreshman2013.pdf</a></p>
<p>page 6 has the comments I made above.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t understand that. I understand that few schools offer to meet full need, but am surprised that if you have an EFC of 0 that schools would offer nothing at all.</p>
<p>Ah, I see, thanks for posting the direct link. They say that “62.1% of students admitted to but not enrolled in their first-choice campuses indicated that the cost of their current institution was a “very important” factor in their college choice”, so not sure what you mean when writing about “62% got a financial aid package from the college they eventually decided to go to”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The school might well offer nothing at all from the school itself. There could be a pell grant, subsidized federal loans, but no institutional grant aid. </p>
<p>Edited to add: Thanks again for the link–some great stuff in there!</p>
<p>@slitheySorry.
I said 62%, when the number is actually 60%
(see the sentence before the one you quoted).
I need new glasses.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>EFC = $0 will get a federal Pell grant, but there are plenty of schools which offer no need-based aid at all, other than repackaging federal aid (Pell grants, direct loans, work study). To use a well known school on these forums, the University of Alabama is an example – run the net price calculator, and it will show only federal aid for a student who does not qualify for its well known automatic merit scholarships.</p>
<p>^ Thanks. I didn’t realize that. I would have thought that schools would have kicked in some aid for an EFC of 0. Even if it is no where near enough to meet need. </p>
<p>So much gratitude for finding CC and finding it ‘late’ in the game. Both kids at great places which do not induce fainting, increased heart rate and drooling by the CC crowd. No need to justify, compare, ’ statistizise’ the obvious value, rob retirement saving to provide ‘the best experience’, agonize over ‘the most important 4 years of life’ etc. </p>
<p>Yes, this place is a self selected universe of anxious, self doubting wannabes and what a great place to engage in free voyeuristic play. Love ya all…thanks for the fun.</p>
<p>I do not believe this article at all. </p>
<p>If you tell college bound kids that they can attend any college they want to and ask them what school they would like to attend without any admissions or financial barriers, then you will find out what their real first choice is. I do not believe that 75% of students are attending their first choice school by this definition.</p>
<p>This article means their first choice among the schools that they actually applied to after the counselor told them that the top 50 schools (or some other number) on US News ranking were unreachable.</p>
<p>That is a big difference. That means, “I am attending my first choice between the two colleges that I actually applied to because my counselor told me that I could get in to them.”</p>