Middle class family being bamboozled with large "scholarships" from tier 5 LACs

[Anonymous]

All of those mailers apparently do work on some families. Is there a polite way to underscore this is the non-selective liberal arts college business model and they are not actually getting an amazing deal? Going to lead to a lot of student and parent loans for abysmal career resources and a degree which confers zero brand recognition.

[Anonymous]

I feel like you've posted before. There is no such thing as a "tier 5 LAC." Do what works for your family and don't worry about who's getting bamboozled.

[Anonymous]

Which schools do you mean? I'm not familiar with this and am curious if tier 5 LACs are names we'd know

[Anonymous]

I think OP invented the term "tier 5 LAC" to just stress that these are non-selective privates.

Don't take things so literally, folks.

[Anonymous]

Real middle class get financial aid. DCUM middle class are generally not real MC and can save and choose not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which schools do you mean? I'm not familiar with this and am curious if tier 5 LACs are names we'd know

Non-selective, middle of nowhere, mediocre graduation rates, around 2,000 students

[Anonymous]

OP:

Two reasons it might make sense:

1. Scholarship brings the cost down equivalent to in-state public options.

2. If the kid needs a really small environment and lots of hand-holding. Think: a kid with ADHD, mildly ASD, executive functioning issues, or has some mental health issues. Such a kid will fall through the cracks in a large public college or university and can probably cope a bit more easily in a small LAC setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP invented the term "tier 5 LAC" to just stress that these are non-selective privates.

Don't take things so literally, folks.

I didn't invent it. I googled liberal arts college tiers and a site had the two colleges they are visiting in tier 5. They are only visiting these colleges because they're getting bombarded with mail and emails promising large "scholarships". They do not have the $25,000+ a year they cost AFTER the scholarships. It is crazy to go into such debt for a college you'd NEVER look at! They had never heard of the two colleges prior to getting all the mailers!

[Anonymous]

Why is scholarships in scare quotes? Are these families being offered money or not?

Is it that these are schools that offer scholarship money to get kids to come, and then make it hard to keep the scholarships so families wind up having to switch schools or bother to stay?

Or are you just talking about schools that offer a lot of merit aid to kids with good stats in order to induce them to come to the school and boost their numbers? I do not feel middle class families get "bamboozled" by this because generally if a kid has good stats, the family is with it enough to be able to evaluate options, since the kid will have some with high numbers, including in state options.

In any case, of all the things about higher education to be worried about right now, this seems far down the list unless you are talking about actual fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP invented the term "tier 5 LAC" to just stress that these are non-selective privates.

Don't take things so literally, folks.

I didn't invent it. I googled liberal arts college tiers and a site had the two colleges they are visiting in tier 5. They are only visiting these colleges because they're getting bombarded with mail and emails promising large "scholarships". They do not have the $25,000+ a year they cost AFTER the scholarships. It is crazy to go into such debt for a college you'd NEVER look at! They had never heard of the two colleges prior to getting all the mailers!

There must be other things that are appealing about the schools. Location and/or size, probably. It does not hurt to look. Nor does it hurt to apply if they like it and see what merit aid they might be offered.

No one is forcing them to go to these schools, nor to take out loans to do so.

You sound nosy and controlling. Are you a grandparent? Neighbor? Aunt/uncle? Unless you are paying, it's none of your business.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of schools ranked very low that still provide a good education. Do they confer the prestige, the career boosts, etc that the higher ranked schools do? No, they don't.

I have a kid who is solid B student, who will not get into a competitive school. Kid also has ADHD and would benefit from a small school. So yeah, we were pleased kid was accepted at a lower tier school we thought we couldn't afford but the school offered 50% off. And we can afford that. So it's a win.

Not everyone can get into a top 100 school. But college educations will benefit them. What are they supposed to do? This argument seems silly and elitist.

[Anonymous]

Leave it alone, if their kids want to go to Rollins or Randolph-macon, let them.

I actually think those colleges have a lot to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which schools do you mean? I'm not familiar with this and am curious if tier 5 LACs are names we'd know

Non-selective, middle of nowhere, mediocre graduation rates, around 2,000 students

What do you consider mediocre graduation rates? A quick google search claims the average graduation rate for public colleges is 63%, the average graduate for private non-profit is 68%. So as long as it's around there, it's average-- not "5th tier." And have you looked at career outcomes in their kid's major relative to a similarly non-selective, public school in their kid's intended major? Some of these lesser known schools have very good career/graduate school outcomes relative to how the same students (HS GPA/SAT) would fare in a large school. I used to be biased against LACs as having worse career outcomes, but now I've had enough cousins/nieces/nephews/friends of my kids/ kids of my friends go through colleges and seen the outcomes and I now have a much higher opinion of them based on what I knew of the kids before and their trajectories afterward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP invented the term "tier 5 LAC" to just stress that these are non-selective privates.

Don't take things so literally, folks.

Yeah! How dare they take the SLAC name in vain!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP invented the term "tier 5 LAC" to just stress that these are non-selective privates.

Don't take things so literally, folks.

I didn't invent it. I googled liberal arts college tiers and a site had the two colleges they are visiting in tier 5. They are only visiting these colleges because they're getting bombarded with mail and emails promising large "scholarships". They do not have the $25,000+ a year they cost AFTER the scholarships. It is crazy to go into such debt for a college you'd NEVER look at! They had never heard of the two colleges prior to getting all the mailers!

OK then post the links. I'm surprised some website even made a Tier 4 and Tier 5 list. Like law schools, I mentally slot LACs into "Tier 1", "Tier 2", "And Everything Else"

Deigning Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5 seems like a waste of time.