People with $1.2M+ homes and getting significant financial aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's up to the school how the calculate FA, right. Leave the school if you don't like or open your on private.
The smartest kids are all in public as they don't even need schooling.
Mine asked today if he could skip college. I love it!

Or, I won't leave the school, but I won't donate anymore, or at least donate anything to the financial aid fund. I'll also advocate for change, that the school use a more robust screening method for financial aid requests, and that they focus on truly low income families.

You don’t understand what FA really is.

It’s an enrollment tool. The school discounts tuition so they have full classes, much like airlines offer different fares to ensure all the seats are filled.

About 1/3rd get FA, but most of these packages are for less than 50% of tuition.

Sure. But FA isn't a discount, it's someone else paying. A discount is when the school actually lowers the price.

Also, just as they get to decide how they spend FA funds, I get to decide how much, and for what, I'll donate.

It’s still a discount. It’s like a Friends & Family discount available only to some. They just need enough suckers to pay full fare and then the budget works. And how do you know a donation only gets used for a specific purpose and can’t be used towards something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's up to the school how the calculate FA, right. Leave the school if you don't like or open your on private.
The smartest kids are all in public as they don't even need schooling.
Mine asked today if he could skip college. I love it!

Or, I won't leave the school, but I won't donate anymore, or at least donate anything to the financial aid fund. I'll also advocate for change, that the school use a more robust screening method for financial aid requests, and that they focus on truly low income families.

You don’t understand what FA really is.

It’s an enrollment tool. The school discounts tuition so they have full classes, much like airlines offer different fares to ensure all the seats are filled.

About 1/3rd get FA, but most of these packages are for less than 50% of tuition.

Sure. But FA isn't a discount, it's someone else paying. A discount is when the school actually lowers the price.

Also, just as they get to decide how they spend FA funds, I get to decide how much, and for what, I'll donate.

By all means, hold your donation. If you have the time and inclination to post on DCUM about your contribution, I can't imagine it's massive. The school will soldier on without you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's up to the school how the calculate FA, right. Leave the school if you don't like or open your on private.
The smartest kids are all in public as they don't even need schooling.
Mine asked today if he could skip college. I love it!

Or, I won't leave the school, but I won't donate anymore, or at least donate anything to the financial aid fund. I'll also advocate for change, that the school use a more robust screening method for financial aid requests, and that they focus on truly low income families.

You don’t understand what FA really is.

It’s an enrollment tool. The school discounts tuition so they have full classes, much like airlines offer different fares to ensure all the seats are filled.

About 1/3rd get FA, but most of these packages are for less than 50% of tuition.

As I read it brought this thread, I was wondering if anyone was going to make this point. I don’t think this is the whole story, but I think it’s an important aspect.

[Anonymous]

1. Name the school(s)

2. We assumed we wouldn’t qualify for financial assistance given our HHI ($350+) and assets (sub-$1M home plus investments, etc) despite having a handful of kids (including 2 in college). We are currently applying to area privates for HS and weren’t planning to seek FA (figured the paperwork wasn’t worth it since we would not qualify, and wondered if full pay gives you an edge in the application process…like college).

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

We know a family who receives 50% aid from sidwell. Mom doesn’t work. Dad has fed job. Live in $2M house (family money).

This is nothing new. Has been going on for years. I wouldn’t donate a cent to their “scholarship” fund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's up to the school how the calculate FA, right. Leave the school if you don't like or open your on private.
The smartest kids are all in public as they don't even need schooling.
Mine asked today if he could skip college. I love it!

Or, I won't leave the school, but I won't donate anymore, or at least donate anything to the financial aid fund. I'll also advocate for change, that the school use a more robust screening method for financial aid requests, and that they focus on truly low income families.

You don’t understand what FA really is.

It’s an enrollment tool. The school discounts tuition so they have full classes, much like airlines offer different fares to ensure all the seats are filled.

About 1/3rd get FA, but most of these packages are for less than 50% of tuition.

Sure. But FA isn't a discount, it's someone else paying. A discount is when the school actually lowers the price.

Also, just as they get to decide how they spend FA funds, I get to decide how much, and for what, I'll donate.

I’m not sure you understand how budgets work.

Tuition and donations are revenue. They don’t take money from donations put it into a FA budget and the apply it to the tuition bills of FA recipients.

[Anonymous]

I know St. Andrew’s offered an almost full ride to a URM whose family is wealthy. It was considered a merit-based scholarship since they clearly didn’t qualify for financial aid, but the school wanted the family to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look at your school directory - how many kids are living in apartments? At ours it’s maybe one per class.

Schools want to brag about how high a percentage of their class gets aid and how much they pay out per year in aid, but they don't want to deal with truly needy kids because they come with challenges the schools would rather avoid. Hence aid going to families that the majority of the area would consider well off

Schools can afford to give full rides to kids so they give aid allowing middle income families to be able to attend. So $55k per year becomes $25k which is still a lot but more obtainable.

Middle income still isn't affording 25k. They give discounts to upper middle class kids.

We are middle income (150k per year, live in a condo we bought for 500k, have one used Subaru) and this is our experience. We applied widely and DD aced the ISEE but the best we got in terms of aid still left us on the hook for 20k per year. Maybe if she was an athlete? We can't swing that, especially while saving for college.

I think middle income families at these schools often have grandparents who foot the bill, whether full pay or discounted. We don't have that option (grandparents are willing to help but can afford to contribute maybe a few thousand a year and again -- it makes more sense to put that in college funds).

We will try again for HS just to see but the economics just don't seem to make sense for a family at our income level. I think it made more sense a generation or two ago because housing prices and college costs were lower so it was easier for a middle income family to suck it up and come up with half the tuition without putting themselves in dire straights financially. That's actually why we applied in the first place -- a good famiily friend attended GDS for MS and HS even though her parents were middle class -- it was tight but doable. I am not convinced these families exist anymore without help from wealthier extended family. The math doesn't work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just look at your school directory - how many kids are living in apartments? At ours it’s maybe one per class.

Schools want to brag about how high a percentage of their class gets aid and how much they pay out per year in aid, but they don't want to deal with truly needy kids because they come with challenges the schools would rather avoid. Hence aid going to families that the majority of the area would consider well off

Schools can afford to give full rides to kids so they give aid allowing middle income families to be able to attend. So $55k per year becomes $25k which is still a lot but more obtainable.

Middle income still isn't affording 25k. They give discounts to upper middle class kids.

We are middle income (150k per year, live in a condo we bought for 500k, have one used Subaru) and this is our experience. We applied widely and DD aced the ISEE but the best we got in terms of aid still left us on the hook for 20k per year. Maybe if she was an athlete? We can't swing that, especially while saving for college.

I think middle income families at these schools often have grandparents who foot the bill, whether full pay or discounted. We don't have that option (grandparents are willing to help but can afford to contribute maybe a few thousand a year and again -- it makes more sense to put that in college funds).

We will try again for HS just to see but the economics just don't seem to make sense for a family at our income level. I think it made more sense a generation or two ago because housing prices and college costs were lower so it was easier for a middle income family to suck it up and come up with half the tuition without putting themselves in dire straights financially. That's actually why we applied in the first place -- a good famiily friend attended GDS for MS and HS even though her parents were middle class -- it was tight but doable. I am not convinced these families exist anymore without help from wealthier extended family. The math doesn't work.

If you were on the hook for $20k, then you likely got aid packages for $35K? I don't think you're going to do better than that. There are very few families who get that much aid.

And is $150K HHI two incomes? The schools will expect each parent to work if there are two parents in the household.

[Anonymous]

I happily live in one and it is not a tear down. We are full pay at a local $50k/year private.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one living in $1 million plus house should be receiving financial aid for any of the Bethesda privates. Is that what OP is talking about?

Sadly, a $1 million house in most areas in Bethesda is close to being a tear down. It’s a 1950 bungalow with a small addition. I’ve seen plenty of these sold for over $750K and torn down for the lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At The Potomac School, I know a family with $400k+ HHI and $1.2m+ home, sending two kids here and getting a good portion of FA.

That sounds about right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Name the school(s)

2. We assumed we wouldn’t qualify for financial assistance given our HHI ($350+) and assets (sub-$1M home plus investments, etc) despite having a handful of kids (including 2 in college). We are currently applying to area privates for HS and weren’t planning to seek FA (figured the paperwork wasn’t worth it since we would not qualify, and wondered if full pay gives you an edge in the application process…like college).

Thoughts?

I don't know about it giving an edge in application. Maybe. We went in full pay for one year and then applied for aid the next year, but we were an off cycle enrollment after the closing date for aid applications.

My school encourages everyone to apply; you may get nothing, but you never know. Our HHI is similar to yours, a little lower. (FTR, old cars and tame vacations.) We have one kid who is top of the class and behaviorally easy, and I suspect that's a factor even though no merit aid is offered. I agree with PP that it's about enrollment and getting/keeping people there, not about financial diversity.

[Anonymous]

Ha! I personally know people with their names on buildings and fields posting on DCUM. They already made all their $ and have more time than the rest of us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's up to the school how the calculate FA, right. Leave the school if you don't like or open your on private.
The smartest kids are all in public as they don't even need schooling.
Mine asked today if he could skip college. I love it!

Or, I won't leave the school, but I won't donate anymore, or at least donate anything to the financial aid fund. I'll also advocate for change, that the school use a more robust screening method for financial aid requests, and that they focus on truly low income families.

You don’t understand what FA really is.

It’s an enrollment tool. The school discounts tuition so they have full classes, much like airlines offer different fares to ensure all the seats are filled.

About 1/3rd get FA, but most of these packages are for less than 50% of tuition.

Sure. But FA isn't a discount, it's someone else paying. A discount is when the school actually lowers the price.

Also, just as they get to decide how they spend FA funds, I get to decide how much, and for what, I'll donate.

By all means, hold your donation. If you have the time and inclination to post on DCUM about your contribution, I can't imagine it's massive. The school will soldier on without you.

[Anonymous]

Our home is worth 1.5 million. We make 150k a year. We had help buying and have multiple kids in private. MYOB

[Anonymous]

I question it too, but I also know I have no idea if families getting FA are also dealing with things like medical debt, college loans, or supporting an older or disabled relative’s care.