college red flags

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High suicide rate or a school that won't disclose the number of suicides (and drug deaths, overdoses, etc.)

What? Where is this? Are you saying to avoid William and Mary?

[Anonymous]

Low endowment. Institution’s financial downgrading by Carnegies. President if college pleading with alums for donations. Football program being canceled due to cost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High suicide rate or a school that won't disclose the number of suicides (and drug deaths, overdoses, etc.)

What? Where is this? Are you saying to avoid William and Mary?

Ancient history. Ignore the pp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a really nasty practice some private colleges have of granting a full ride for the first year to attract the top students they really want (and increase “yield”) and then significantly cutting back the amount of aid for the next year, regardless of how well the student is performing. They expect that the student and/or parents will then apply for a huge amount of loans. Awful. It happened to me years ago at one of the top 5 wealthiest private colleges and again to my nephew recently at a different private college It’s devastating. In my case, the chair of the department I was as majoring in found a private scholarship for me but it was too little too late and I had to go into debt. In my nephew’s case, he transferred to a state university. It’s a horrible and hidden practice.

+1

And you don't realize it until you're there and it's too late. I went to GW and knew numerous people who had this happen to them. It messed up their entire college trajectory in some cases, since credits were hard to transfer and they needed to take an extra year at a new school. Some people decided to wait a year to see if their aid changed, and if it didn't, it was a year lost. Really, really sad.

Can you expand on how this happens? Does the offer letter not state that the award is for all four years or list the requirements to continue getting a full ride?

[Anonymous]

U Penn and Cornell probably have higher suicide rate than U Chicago.

[Anonymous]

How this happens? I don't remember the exact wording of the first letters of college acceptance to me (and later to my nephew), but I'm pretty sure there it was something like "we are pleased to inform you that you have been granted tuition remission in full and a stipend of $xxxxx for living expenses." In other words, there was no wording about this being just for the first year, or "renewable if xyz" or anything like that. These are very wealthy private colleges so they can get away with a lot of "discretion" in their awards that publicly-funded schools might not.
I remember the thrill that my parents and I felt when I got that letter. My parents were so proud. I had a spectacular first year - getting A's, making really good friends, joining teams, finding a faculty mentor.
Then, a few weeks before finals, opening the letter from the financial aid office in front of my roommates informing me that my aid had been cut off entirely and enclosing loan application forms. I burst into tears. It was humiliating and baffling. I thought I must have done something terribly wrong. I also remember how cold and abrupt the financial aid officer was when I made an appointment to find out why it happened. He made me feel ashamed and offered no explanation or apology. I applied for the loans and incurred a huge amount of debt I had never planned to carry.
For years, I was so ashamed of losing my scholarship that I never spoke about it. Then, I discovered that it's a pretty common practice at the most expensive schools which also happen to be among the wealthiest - the very ones who could afford to extend those scholarships into the second, third & fourth years.
Sometimes I wonder whether they target kids who are so happy and productive in their first year that they know they will be motivated to take out loans and stay rather than transfer.
In my nephew's case at a different private college, he was given a full ride for year one, won an award that year for literary achievement, and was invited to receive it on stage at the graduation ceremony for the seniors. We all showed up for the ceremony, and then he was told he was being cut off after we returned home. At least no one on campus saw him crying.
I couldn't believe it happened to him too.
Someone needs to start a pinned thread here or on College Confidential listing the names of the schools that have done this. I don't think we can count on NYU (there, I said the name of one of these schools) to be honest about it.

[Anonymous]

My DD wants to major in a science. Touring one school we noticed that in a very long hallway in admissions, they had many photos of outstanding recent grads. Not a single one of them was in the sciences. Made it clear that was not a priority there.

[Anonymous]

Lots of nerds on this thread.

There's nothing wrong with a "strong Greek culture." It means the school is fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How this happens? I don't remember the exact wording of the first letters of college acceptance to me (and later to my nephew), but I'm pretty sure there it was something like "we are pleased to inform you that you have been granted tuition remission in full and a stipend of $xxxxx for living expenses." In other words, there was no wording about this being just for the first year, or "renewable if xyz" or anything like that. These are very wealthy private colleges so they can get away with a lot of "discretion" in their awards that publicly-funded schools might not.
I remember the thrill that my parents and I felt when I got that letter. My parents were so proud. I had a spectacular first year - getting A's, making really good friends, joining teams, finding a faculty mentor.
Then, a few weeks before finals, opening the letter from the financial aid office in front of my roommates informing me that my aid had been cut off entirely and enclosing loan application forms. I burst into tears. It was humiliating and baffling. I thought I must have done something terribly wrong. I also remember how cold and abrupt the financial aid officer was when I made an appointment to find out why it happened. He made me feel ashamed and offered no explanation or apology. I applied for the loans and incurred a huge amount of debt I had never planned to carry.
For years, I was so ashamed of losing my scholarship that I never spoke about it. Then, I discovered that it's a pretty common practice at the most expensive schools which also happen to be among the wealthiest - the very ones who could afford to extend those scholarships into the second, third & fourth years.
Sometimes I wonder whether they target kids who are so happy and productive in their first year that they know they will be motivated to take out loans and stay rather than transfer.
In my nephew's case at a different private college, he was given a full ride for year one, won an award that year for literary achievement, and was invited to receive it on stage at the graduation ceremony for the seniors. We all showed up for the ceremony, and then he was told he was being cut off after we returned home. At least no one on campus saw him crying.
I couldn't believe it happened to him too.
Someone needs to start a pinned thread here or on College Confidential listing the names of the schools that have done this. I don't think we can count on NYU (there, I said the name of one of these schools) to be honest about it.

Me again I think that, in the back of their minds, my parents wondered whether something they did or said had led to my being cut off from financial aid. After all, I was in school with a lot of very wealthy kids and maybe they showed up for Parents' weekend wearing the wrong clothes, driving the wrong car? I hate that they had those thoughts. My brother and his wife went through the same self-doubt when my nephew lost his scholarship. This is a cruel practice and schools get away with it because parents are too ashamed to admit it happened to their kid.

[Anonymous]

Yes - please start a thread listing the schools that do that awful practice.

What about schools that yank merit after first year?

What schools are actually good with honoring merit every year?

[Anonymous]

Wow, I can't believe schools screw with students over scholarships like that. At my SLAC, it was tough for some of my friends because tuition went up every year but the scholarship awards stayed the same in most instances. So it became more difficult for them to afford each year, but nothing like pulling scholarships from kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How this happens? I don't remember the exact wording of the first letters of college acceptance to me (and later to my nephew), but I'm pretty sure there it was something like "we are pleased to inform you that you have been granted tuition remission in full and a stipend of $xxxxx for living expenses." In other words, there was no wording about this being just for the first year, or "renewable if xyz" or anything like that. These are very wealthy private colleges so they can get away with a lot of "discretion" in their awards that publicly-funded schools might not.
I remember the thrill that my parents and I felt when I got that letter. My parents were so proud. I had a spectacular first year - getting A's, making really good friends, joining teams, finding a faculty mentor.
Then, a few weeks before finals, opening the letter from the financial aid office in front of my roommates informing me that my aid had been cut off entirely and enclosing loan application forms. I burst into tears. It was humiliating and baffling. I thought I must have done something terribly wrong. I also remember how cold and abrupt the financial aid officer was when I made an appointment to find out why it happened. He made me feel ashamed and offered no explanation or apology. I applied for the loans and incurred a huge amount of debt I had never planned to carry.
For years, I was so ashamed of losing my scholarship that I never spoke about it. Then, I discovered that it's a pretty common practice at the most expensive schools which also happen to be among the wealthiest - the very ones who could afford to extend those scholarships into the second, third & fourth years.
Sometimes I wonder whether they target kids who are so happy and productive in their first year that they know they will be motivated to take out loans and stay rather than transfer.
In my nephew's case at a different private college, he was given a full ride for year one, won an award that year for literary achievement, and was invited to receive it on stage at the graduation ceremony for the seniors. We all showed up for the ceremony, and then he was told he was being cut off after we returned home. At least no one on campus saw him crying.
I couldn't believe it happened to him too.
Someone needs to start a pinned thread here or on College Confidential listing the names of the schools that have done this. I don't think we can count on NYU (there, I said the name of one of these schools) to be honest about it.

I went to NYU from 2000-2004 and they were pulling that same move 20 years ago.
My freshman roommate was a gay kid from a central Florida trailer park raised by a single mom. He won tons of writing awards and was given a full ride to Tisch’s Dramatic Writing program.

End of our first year he got the same letter - no more scholarship, here’s the loan forms.

He left NYU since he couldn’t afford it and enrolled at the New College of Florida (state honors college).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of nerds on this thread.

There's nothing wrong with a "strong Greek culture." It means the school is fun.

Did you even read a single prior post in this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I can't believe schools screw with students over scholarships like that. At my SLAC, it was tough for some of my friends because tuition went up every year but the scholarship awards stayed the same in most instances. So it became more difficult for them to afford each year, but nothing like pulling scholarships from kids.

+1 I don’t understand the logic of pulling the rug out from under a student. You basically ensure at least one alumni who will hate the school, never donate, and will likely bad mouth it. My merit award at a SLAC increased every year in line with tuition and expenses. I’ve donated every year since graduation, far more now than the school spent on me, so it looks like their bet paid off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of nerds on this thread.

There's nothing wrong with a "strong Greek culture." It means the school is fun.

it's almost like...gasp...people have different definitions of "fun." I know, I know! Breaking news. More at 11.