What % of your school's tuition revenue supports financial aid?

[Anonymous]

I thought admission was aid blind and both departments are separate from one another and that is what the wait lists are used for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought admission was aid blind and both departments are separate from one another and that is what the wait lists are used for.

I think this depends on the school.

I know of schools where the AD's do Financial Aid duties as well - so even if the AD tries to make those decisioins separately - they are certainly not "blind" to the financial aid side of the equation. I am sure there are ways they could "manage" this - perhaps by making admissions rankings first and then working through the financial aid formulas...but I would think that even in that process, the AD would still "know" which families had also send in Financial Aid info.

That said - there are schools that clearly state it is a fully blind process. FA is directed to staff who are not involved in the admissions process.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps some schools really do it blindly. But all schools have a limit to the amount of aid they can provide. Given that, it's reasonable to believe that during the admissions process, they make some assumptions, warranted or not, about who can pay full tuition and who can't. Faced with equally compelling candidates, one with 2 big law firm parents and one with 2 parents working for nonprofits, who do you think can pay full tuition--absent the possibility of old family money for family #2? And why wouldn't schools gamble on this, too?

I don't mean to dissuade FA applicants; in fact, I think that when they get in, they have passed an extra hurdle and well deserve to be there.

[Anonymous]

And add to the outrage, you know there are a few parents that pretend to be poor at least to the admissions and to the FA folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And add to the outrage, you know there are a few parents that pretend to be poor at least to the admissions and to the FA folks.

You really can't "pretend to be poor." Anyone requesting financial aid must fill out very detailed forms regarding their savings, their debt, the worth of their house, car, taxes etc etc. They must submit their W2s and taxes. An outside organization determines what an applicant can afford to pay. Then the school decides what they will give the family.
It is a very thorough process and the families finances are scrutinized. Is it possible to lie? Do people cheat on their taxes? Yes, there are dishonest people in this world, but it states on most schools forms that if you lie, the school reserves the right to withdraw any aid.

[Anonymous]

Some of that financial aid money goes for essentially frivolous extras (optional school trips and activities), so the financial aid kids don't feel left out. It feels funny to subsidize someone else's ski trip or summer trip abroad when I don't let my child go because it's too expensive.

[Anonymous]

For schools quoting a "gap," it is worht digging into that a little bit. I think in the past too many schools have been quick to do a rough calculation of the gap number that wasn't really right. For example, they may include the costs of heating and cooling the building all year in the numbers, even though your tuition doesn't cover the summer program. Some schools are getting away from quoting an actual gap number, which I think is a good thing. At the schools my kids attend/attended, the annual fund is for the gap in the budget (operating costs) and the auction is for financial aid. I like the separation because at auction time you can remember what it is all about instead of having to get into this gap business.

[Anonymous]

15:50: at many schools, students who get FA also get the same percentage reduction on extras such as aftercare, afterschool classes, and some (but not all) trips. The school has determined that the parents can afford, for instance, 60% of tuition, and can also afford 60% of any extras. FA children do not going skiing for free. My child gets a small amount of financial aid and has never been able to go on a school trip, because the percentage we'd still owe for the ski trip is more than we spend on vacations for the whole family over several years. Most of my child's friends DO go, and my child would love to join them.