Financial Aid Fraud

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FA is not just an enrollment management tool. It is also charity that is funded by both donations and a portion of full pay tuition from the current families. It can be both simultaneously.

It's clear that many parents think their contributions are charity. I am extremely skeptical that the school views it as charity at all.
Which is fine (with me) but I think schools trying to frame FA as a moral mission really do a disservice in the long run, for all the reasons demonstrated in this thread. The schools do not, and do not want to, admit the desperately poor kids. And then you get parents annoyed that the FA kids are not visibly poor enough or grateful enough, which is corrosive. It would be better for the school to just say they want a balance of skills, interests, and experiences.

[Anonymous]

The schools fundraise for FA like it is a charity. If it is not, and the parents just don’t want to pay tuition because it isn’t a priority, then what is the point? Shouldn’t schools focus their budget elsewhere?

[Anonymous]

In eight years of experience at three different private schools I can't remember having the cost of tuition linked to Financial Aid (As in, "Part of your tuition payment funds financial aid")

Nor can I remember any other school fund-raising effort in which FA was a going to be a significant recipient of money contributed. It might have been "on the list", but we always knew any money we donated supported a lot of the school activities and needs.

Schools have to be concerned that full pay and donors feel that FA is distributed "fairly" and where there's a need. Giving FA to families that don't appear to need it poisons the atmosphere at the school. I don't think anyone wants to fund a lavish lifestyle by giving FA to those without real "need".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In eight years of experience at three different private schools I can't remember having the cost of tuition linked to Financial Aid (As in, "Part of your tuition payment funds financial aid")

Nor can I remember any other school fund-raising effort in which FA was a going to be a significant recipient of money contributed. It might have been "on the list", but we always knew any money we donated supported a lot of the school activities and needs.

Schools have to be concerned that full pay and donors feel that FA is distributed "fairly" and where there's a need. Giving FA to families that don't appear to need it poisons the atmosphere at the school. I don't think anyone wants to fund a lavish lifestyle by giving FA to those without real "need".

I don’t disagree with your interpretation but the problem is this is all so subjective. Look around your school. How many kids really “appear to need it?” Very few. A family at a $50k school that gets $10k or $20k (and therefore is still paying $30-40k) is not going to have any sort of appearance of need, especially at a surface level. These are still UMC families. And most of the full pay families are happy with this, though they would never admit it. They don’t want actual poor kids at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In eight years of experience at three different private schools I can't remember having the cost of tuition linked to Financial Aid (As in, "Part of your tuition payment funds financial aid")

Nor can I remember any other school fund-raising effort in which FA was a going to be a significant recipient of money contributed. It might have been "on the list", but we always knew any money we donated supported a lot of the school activities and needs.

Schools have to be concerned that full pay and donors feel that FA is distributed "fairly" and where there's a need. Giving FA to families that don't appear to need it poisons the atmosphere at the school. I don't think anyone wants to fund a lavish lifestyle by giving FA to those without real "need".

"What is the source of Financial Assistance funds? Financial Assistance comes directly from the School’s operating resources and the generous contributions of McLean’s community of families and friends."

https://www.mcleanschool.org/admission/tuition-fees/affordability/

[Anonymous]

That’s all true. But it doesn’t say that the contributions part of the funding came from fund raising efforts that were specifically targeted to provide FA dollars.

Contributors can expect that there money goes to a long list of school needs and priorities.

Besides, all the money from all the sources goes into one Revenue pot. FA is really forgone revenue. There’s no such thing as “earmarking” contributions to specific budget items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s all true. But it doesn’t say that the contributions part of the funding came from fund raising efforts that were specifically targeted to provide FA dollars.

Contributors can expect that there money goes to a long list of school needs and priorities.

Besides, all the money from all the sources goes into one Revenue pot. FA is really forgone revenue. There’s no such thing as “earmarking” contributions to specific budget items.

An important and often missed point.

[Anonymous]

Poor people should go to their poor people schools. Financial segregation makes more sense. They should be with their own kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor people should go to their poor people schools. Financial segregation makes more sense. They should be with their own kind.

Is there a place to segregate stupid people like you?

[Anonymous]

Yeah it's called dcum. America is the dcum of the world. We are a nation of idiots and our most successful people are just like our mascot. Trump.

[Anonymous]

Why don't your genius kids go to public then they can say they are smarter by test scores and not the size of their oligarch parents bank account. Truth is they are going to grow up lazy and entitled and will be able to spend money for a harem of butt kissers because money= intelligence.

[Anonymous]

You two are cute together. You should have lunch.