Do you think our graduating seniors will have a normal college experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

The world has changed. They need to care only about finding candidates who can pay.
Its a whole new world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW - I'm talking about graduating HS seniors who are just about to start their college years.

They will be somewhat isolated in the bubble that is college. It's the kids entering the job market who will suffer for the next four+ years, whether from high school, college, or grad school. It's terrible to graduate into a broken economy, and difficult to make up the difference you've lost in those early experience and earning years when things do recover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

Which schools do you think are giving lots of merit? We aren’t talking about financial aid, but merit. I think you need to go outside T100 to fin schools that are giving everyone a discounted price.

No, that is incorrect. My kids got merit offers from every school that accepted them, and none were out of the top 100. Also there are many excellent colleges out of the top 100. Ranking colleges is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

The world has changed. They need to care only about finding candidates who can pay.
Its a whole new world.

No, the schools need to make sure they can cover their costs (plus, hopefully, add to their endowment / reserves) and continue to attract future students.

One strategy for doing that would be to admit only (or mostly) full-pay students. However, relaxing admission standards will undercut their brand value and undermine their future viability.

Continuing with a differential pricing model (i.e., giving merit aid to donut hole families who might otherwise choose cheaper schools and very strong students who might otherwise choose more highly ranked schools) seems more strategic in my opinion. But again, we lack data. . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

Which schools do you think are giving lots of merit? We aren’t talking about financial aid, but merit. I think you need to go outside T100 to fin schools that are giving everyone a discounted price.

We are full-pay and UMiami gave my DC 20-somthing a year for 4 years. It's arguably a nice place to spend 4 years than some of the higher ranked schools that accepted them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

Why wouldn't they just accept more 100% full pay families this year though?

They likely will look for them! However, as you can imagine, there are a finite number of American families who are willing and able to pay full freight ($90K per year), especially for schools that lack the prestige and networks of the T20 or T30.

At some schools, admissions standards may slip to allow for more full-pay students, true. But I don't think there are enough non-academically-inclined children of the uber-wealthy to make the math work.

This. Schools outside the T30, especially those outside the T50, will struggle and have to lower admission standards to deal with funding losses. Elite schools cannot use endowments per se, but they do have donors and they are already mobilizing them. Elites can ride this out, though it will be bumpy. Some have announced increased need based aid, others have reaffirmed commitment to student aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

The world has changed. They need to care only about finding candidates who can pay.
Its a whole new world.

No, the schools need to make sure they can cover their costs (plus, hopefully, add to their endowment / reserves) and continue to attract future students.

One strategy for doing that would be to admit only (or mostly) full-pay students. However, relaxing admission standards will undercut their brand value and undermine their future viability.

Continuing with a differential pricing model (i.e., giving merit aid to donut hole families who might otherwise choose cheaper schools and very strong students who might otherwise choose more highly ranked schools) seems more strategic in my opinion. But again, we lack data. . . .

Not when the federal government is causing significant financial issues that may go away with a change in regime. Plus, we don’t know that the caliber of students would change much, maybe would just affect geographical diversity or some such.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a college junior who has already experienced difficulty prior to this recent change with getting a summer internship. Had no problem last year. He has a research grant this summer that is somehow not impacted. and he is concerned about getting a job next summer.

So a junior in college gets research grants?!?! Glad to hear they are limiting this funding. When I was in college the post grads were working with senior researchers. No one who had not even finished undergrad was getting research grants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

Why wouldn't they just accept more 100% full pay families this year though?

They likely will look for them! However, as you can imagine, there are a finite number of American families who are willing and able to pay full freight ($90K per year), especially for schools that lack the prestige and networks of the T20 or T30.

At some schools, admissions standards may slip to allow for more full-pay students, true. But I don't think there are enough non-academically-inclined children of the uber-wealthy to make the math work.

This. Schools outside the T30, especially those outside the T50, will struggle and have to lower admission standards to deal with funding losses. Elite schools cannot use endowments per se, but they do have donors and they are already mobilizing them. Elites can ride this out, though it will be bumpy. Some have announced increased need based aid, others have reaffirmed commitment to student aid.

Again, I think both of you need to look at the schools in the T100. Many have very low acceptance rates suggesting they can change the assortment of students they are enrolling without much of a drop In quality. Financial aid isn’t going anywhere unless Trump starts cutting Pell grants.

In a world where5 top universities have already paused their PhD programs, what once seemed unimaginable will quickly become reality.

[Anonymous]

Kids dont care, they just want to have fun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

Which schools do you think are giving lots of merit? We aren’t talking about financial aid, but merit. I think you need to go outside T100 to fin schools that are giving everyone a discounted price.

No, that is incorrect. My kids got merit offers from every school that accepted them, and none were out of the top 100. Also there are many excellent colleges out of the top 100. Ranking colleges is silly.

same, so many "merit" discounts and we are full pay, at many schools! most of my D's private girls school senior class has gotten merit discounts at OOS publics and privates in the top 75. These are not top kids they are just above average, 1300-1400, 4.1 "weighted" which is not top 20%. I am not talking about the real, rare merit that schools like Vandy and Wake and UNC who give full or almost full rides to less than 5% of the admitted class. I mean schools like SMU, Fordham, and dozens of out of state publics that do it to lure Virginia kids. These girls all got defer/WL or rejected from UVA and VT and yet are getting "merit" elsewhere. All are full pay quite rich families. That is not real merit, it is discounts to lure full pay families and it will start happening even more as these non-elite schools struggle more than the elite ones. Every one of these girls would go to UVA in state or a similarly ranked school if they could get in, including mine who is still hopeful for a WL miracle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe American colleges will stop supporting all these athletic teams. It would be a welcome use of funds.

Maybe colleges will focus again on teaching and not research.

40 years ago many fewer students did research, or only in the last year of college. I think that will be the new course of action. Also MD students waste time on research and that too should be removed. Few doctors really engage in pure research today.

Still going to be tough going.

Totally agree. MDs should understand evidence based practice and how to utilize it in their patient care. They do not need to do primary research if it is not an interest, they will take up after graduation.
College cost are exorbitant. We do not need research done by undergrads. The vast majority of college students do not need internships. In fact, the vast majority of college students do not participate in research or internships. They can do all this once hired. It will be much more cost-effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a college junior who has already experienced difficulty prior to this recent change with getting a summer internship. Had no problem last year. He has a research grant this summer that is somehow not impacted. and he is concerned about getting a job next summer.

So a junior in college gets research grants?!?! Glad to hear they are limiting this funding. When I was in college the post grads were working with senior researchers. No one who had not even finished undergrad was getting research grants.

Sometimes private colleges have programs where they pay kids who do research over the summer. I think this is what pp was referring to, not a government grant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe American colleges will stop supporting all these athletic teams. It would be a welcome use of funds.

Maybe colleges will focus again on teaching and not research.

40 years ago many fewer students did research, or only in the last year of college. I think that will be the new course of action. Also MD students waste time on research and that too should be removed. Few doctors really engage in pure research today.

Still going to be tough going.

Totally agree. MDs should understand evidence based practice and how to utilize it in their patient care. They do not need to do primary research if it is not an interest, they will take up after graduation.
College cost are exorbitant. We do not need research done by undergrads. The vast majority of college students do not need internships. In fact, the vast majority of college students do not participate in research or internships. They can do all this once hired. It will be much more cost-effective.

With phd programs being cancelled, we won’t have any students doing research under your model. Who needs basic science research anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spouse works at a top private college with a large endowment. They are just waiting to see what the next fed budget looks like to start making cuts. Expect some of the following:

--Cancellation/"Pauses" of all Phd programs
-- Getting rid entirely of less popular departments that can be deemed non-essential to the mission. I think any ethnicity or women's studies likely on the chopping block, but also some humanities departments with low enrollment
--End of anything DEI
--End of merit aid
--End of any non-essential spending on student services

Again this is a well funded school, so expect the same or worse elsewhere.

My DC is in at a mid-sized private schools with a decent merit aid package that is for 4 years assuming DC keeps up the grades. Would those be in danger?

My guess is that, unless they are on the brink of bankruptcy, schools will not rescind merit awards for current students. In addition, because schools depend on partial-pay families middle income families (i.e., those who get merit), they will not want to scare off the next few years of applicants.

The real victims will be poor kids, who depend on full or almost full FA to attend. They will be SOL, I worry.

spend some time away from here and on r/academia or r/professors or r/askacademia or r/highereducation.
so many people inside universities commenting right now.

Lots of people commenting lots of things. . . .

But the fact is, most schools are tuition dependent; they use 'merit' awards as a differential pricing mechanism. Rescinding merit would result in fewer (partial) tuition-paying students and a loss of income. Most schools outside of the T20 won't be able to afford that. They need those families who are chasing merit.

Income-based financial aid, much of which goes to students from families with very limited ability to pay, will suffer.

I think most of the T75, maybe T100 can fill their class without merit, keeping in mind that many of those schools are nit need blind.

Not without accepting large numbers of far less competitive applicants.

Which schools do you think are giving lots of merit? We aren’t talking about financial aid, but merit. I think you need to go outside T100 to fin schools that are giving everyone a discounted price.

No, that is incorrect. My kids got merit offers from every school that accepted them, and none were out of the top 100. Also there are many excellent colleges out of the top 100. Ranking colleges is silly.

same, so many "merit" discounts and we are full pay, at many schools! most of my D's private girls school senior class has gotten merit discounts at OOS publics and privates in the top 75. These are not top kids they are just above average, 1300-1400, 4.1 "weighted" which is not top 20%. I am not talking about the real, rare merit that schools like Vandy and Wake and UNC who give full or almost full rides to less than 5% of the admitted class. I mean schools like SMU, Fordham, and dozens of out of state publics that do it to lure Virginia kids. These girls all got defer/WL or rejected from UVA and VT and yet are getting "merit" elsewhere. All are full pay quite rich families. That is not real merit, it is discounts to lure full pay families and it will start happening even more as these non-elite schools struggle more than the elite ones. Every one of these girls would go to UVA in state or a similarly ranked school if they could get in, including mine who is still hopeful for a WL miracle.

Ok, let’s limit it to the T90, which eliminates both Fordham and SMU.