FA - real life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would like to tell the OP that I fully support your receipt of FA, given your income and number of children.

It’s upon the school to decide how aid is allocated, not upon the individual family to decide whether to apply to private school.

I’m also so glad FA awards are not made public.

You sound like a rational, caring, hardworking parent. I’m sorry for what some others are saying here.

+1000

Agree too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

Like a normal person, not a maladjusted weirdo who comments repeatedly on internet threads about a topic they know nothing about (because you aren’t a DMV full pay private school parent, let’s be clear).

I have 3 kids, full pay, here and am deeply bothered by OP.

You being deeply bothered by what schools do with their financial aid is absurd. As plenty of people said all schools do this. If you don’t like it leave! Yes, even the school you pay full pay for three kids gives a ton of financial aid to plenty of families like OP. You must be really ignorant if you think financial aid is going to only “poor poor” people. You and your kids talk and walk amongst people just like OP and you don’t even know it. Wake up!

You misunderstand. I am deeply bothered by the recipients like OP. The schools are being generous to help the school community. They are being taken advantage of by greedy parents like OP. The level of corruptness for OP to think this is okay and not feel guilty is off the charts.

How could you argue they’re being taken advantage of when they submit all their financial information to the school, and the school decides to still give them aid?

The school really doesn’t know if they are needy or not. The financial documents do not paint the full picture. All the school has determined is that the parents qualify if they really need it.

The school is not fooled when they see the person has a $300k income, $1.3 million home, and six figure taxable assets. Yet they give the aid anyway. No one is corrupting anything.

Why do the parents think they need aid? What financial hardship is there? What reason do they need assistance?


Again, all the school has determined is they qualify if they think they need it.

You are all confusing “need” with “want.” No one needs to go to an expensive private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

You seem perpetually confused and bothered.

You don't hate the player, you hate the game.

The game is played according to the rules that have, not the rules you WISH you had.

The quicker you grasp this very simple, basic fact, the quicker you can move on and re-discover some meaning in your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

You can go to community college and transfer to a public four-year for a fraction of the price of private. A tiny fraction. Private college is absolutely as luxurious as private undergrad. And private college aid funds living expenses too.

Many top privates have substantial endowments. And many colleges that don’t have huge endowments are doing insane and inequitable discounting through sophisticated enrollment management algorithms.

Not the same at all. Roughly 90% of K-12 students attend public school. Completely free. Financial aid is really not needed for K-12.

About 73% of college students attend a public university, including community college, which is significantly cheaper than a private university. If this bothers you at the K-12 level it’s going to infuriate you at the tertiary level too.

K-12 and college are completely different. Just stop.

The main difference being college is primarily funded by loans taken out in the child’s name, which are not available for K-12. There is no comparison.

And this shows you don’t understand the college financial landscape. Good private universities these days regularly meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. Kids from families making up to $300k are getting aid these days at expensive private colleges.

But more relevant to the point is that when it comes to busybodies’ anger over financial aid, they really aren’t different at all. Go to the college forum. There are people regularly complaining about their kids’ roommates getting aid and having nicer things than their own kid. And you’ll see these posters lamenting that the FA kids didn’t go to community college where they clearly belong.

If you are overly invested in other people’s lives now, that isn’t going to suddenly change when your kid turns 19.

You are the one who doesn’t understand colleges. The percent of private universities that do this is tiny. For the majority, this is not a thing.

It is common at any T50 private university, and even some T100. At the top end they even go beyond to giving full packages to $200k families. If you attend a DMV independent high school, you are aiming for, and expecting, these schools. No one cares about the rest.

No, it doesn’t extend to all the T50 or T100. Also, lots of people care about the rest. To say otherwise is the height of stupidity.

It absolutely does for the T50 privates and even some beyond that. You have no idea what you are talking about. Just Google it.

And no, DMV private families are not aiming for schools outside of the T100. Have you looked at what a T100 school is? This is yet another example of weird tourists on this thread.

You are deranged and very wrong.

The response of a person with no substantive response.

No, it is the response of someone who knows they are arguing with a toddler.

Oh look, you did it again. Feel free to share evidence to back your claims since you are so certain of them.

Let’s be specific. Do the top 50 universities in the USA, ranked by USNWR, offer full financial aid packages, with no loans, to students whose parents have an income up to $200k/yr? Absolutely not. I don’t know what you are trying to claim. Be specific about it.

What? Literally every single one of them gives out a number of full, need-based scholarships.

If you are specific, I am right in saying they do not all do that. You are being intentionally vague to say whatever you want.

Every single one gives out a number of full-rides (no loan) on the basis of need. And if you eliminate the publics, the per capita rate goes way up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

You seem perpetually confused and bothered.

You don't hate the player, you hate the game.

The game is played according to the rules that have, not the rules you WISH you had.

The quicker you grasp this very simple, basic fact, the quicker you can move on and re-discover some meaning in your life.

Some of us live by moral principles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is the school being taken advantage of when they approve FA applications from families like OPs? And this school has approved them all three times.

They qualify for aid based on generous criteria of the school. It is up to the parents to assess whether they need financial assistance. Parents like OP have no hardship that would require them to need assistance.

No hardship?! Paying $150K of tuition when you make $300K a year is not possible. This is getting old. Focus on yourself.

All that tells me is the parents have a large family with three kids. They are living a large lifestyle.

I see no hardship.

Thanks for sharing your opinion but schools think differently. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

Like a normal person, not a maladjusted weirdo who comments repeatedly on internet threads about a topic they know nothing about (because you aren’t a DMV full pay private school parent, let’s be clear).

I have 3 kids, full pay, here and am deeply bothered by OP.

You being deeply bothered by what schools do with their financial aid is absurd. As plenty of people said all schools do this. If you don’t like it leave! Yes, even the school you pay full pay for three kids gives a ton of financial aid to plenty of families like OP. You must be really ignorant if you think financial aid is going to only “poor poor” people. You and your kids talk and walk amongst people just like OP and you don’t even know it. Wake up!

You misunderstand. I am deeply bothered by the recipients like OP. The schools are being generous to help the school community. They are being taken advantage of by greedy parents like OP. The level of corruptness for OP to think this is okay and not feel guilty is off the charts.

How could you argue they’re being taken advantage of when they submit all their financial information to the school, and the school decides to still give them aid?

The school really doesn’t know if they are needy or not. The financial documents do not paint the full picture. All the school has determined is that the parents qualify if they really need it.

The school is not fooled when they see the person has a $300k income, $1.3 million home, and six figure taxable assets. Yet they give the aid anyway. No one is corrupting anything.

Why do the parents think they need aid? What financial hardship is there? What reason do they need assistance?


Again, all the school has determined is they qualify if they think they need it.

You are all confusing “need” with “want.” No one needs to go to an expensive private school.

Well said!

[Anonymous]

The game is rigged when they pay for school with tax breaks that are funded of the backs of the working tax paying poor. Then they take another tax break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

You seem perpetually confused and bothered.

You don't hate the player, you hate the game.

The game is played according to the rules that have, not the rules you WISH you had.

The quicker you grasp this very simple, basic fact, the quicker you can move on and re-discover some meaning in your life.

Some of us live by moral principles.

I wouldn’t want to be a parasite on the school through financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Seeing rich people bicker about taking our tax dollars for a luxury education is truly disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

You seem perpetually confused and bothered.

You don't hate the player, you hate the game.

The game is played according to the rules that have, not the rules you WISH you had.

The quicker you grasp this very simple, basic fact, the quicker you can move on and re-discover some meaning in your life.

Some of us live by moral principles.

You are still confused here and this misunderstanding is causing you unneeded consternation during what should be a festive holiday season.

This has nothing to do with "moral principles".

You aren't happy with the established existing framework that many schools have for distributing FA but that has nothing to do with those who, adhere to these rules and apply for/receive FA.

[Anonymous]

I think one of the reasons people might be upset about this is jealousy. When my spouse and I started looking at private schools for our child (when she was about 3) we made about what OP currently makes. We realized that we could only afford to have one child in the DC area if we wanted to put them through private K-12 and also pay for undergrad. So we decided not to have another kid.

We only have one child because we never thought that others should (or would!) subsidize the expense of us having more. Guess it turns out we’re the suckers. So, yeah, OP’s post upsets me on a pretty deep level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think one of the reasons people might be upset about this is jealousy. When my spouse and I started looking at private schools for our child (when she was about 3) we made about what OP currently makes. We realized that we could only afford to have one child in the DC area if we wanted to put them through private K-12 and also pay for undergrad. So we decided not to have another kid.

We only have one child because we never thought that others should (or would!) subsidize the expense of us having more. Guess it turns out we’re the suckers. So, yeah, OP’s post upsets me on a pretty deep level.

What if you already had 2 or 3 kids when you decided to go to private schools? By the time we decided public was not working for my eldest, we already had 3 kids….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people find OP to be irresponsible, unethical, and shameful. For the people who find this acceptable, how were you raised?

You seem perpetually confused and bothered.

You don't hate the player, you hate the game.

The game is played according to the rules that have, not the rules you WISH you had.

The quicker you grasp this very simple, basic fact, the quicker you can move on and re-discover some meaning in your life.

Some of us live by moral principles.

You are still confused here and this misunderstanding is causing you unneeded consternation during what should be a festive holiday season.

This has nothing to do with "moral principles".

You aren't happy with the established existing framework that many schools have for distributing FA but that has nothing to do with those who, adhere to these rules and apply for/receive FA.

Let me clarify. I view accepting financial assistance for what is a luxury product, private school, by a family who is relatively comfortable, at a 300k income, to be repulsive. I would look down upon them as that violates my ethical code.

I don’t blame the school, which has a system in place to help families with financial difficulties. I get it. Emergencies happen and families have real hardships.

I blame the parents who take the easy way out. Instead of supporting their own kids by earning an income that matches their expenses, they take a handout. They are not even trying to get on better financial footing. They just plan to take the handout for as long as their kids are in school. And this is completely unnecessary. It is for a private school when there are plenty of good publics available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone so angry here (though I suspect it’s really only one person) is about to be absolutely shattered when their kids go to a top college, more than half the class is on aid, and may don’t pay a dime, including some “Pellionaires,” who are also getting federal aid.

College aid is completely different.

First of all, K-12 is offered completely free through public schools. Private is a luxury option.


Financial aid at private schools in the DMV is largely funded by tuition paid for by the other parents. There is no large endowment to cover these expenses. The full pay families are paying the majority of the financial aid budget. For a luxury education.

You can go to community college and transfer to a public four-year for a fraction of the price of private. A tiny fraction. Private college is absolutely as luxurious as private undergrad. And private college aid funds living expenses too.

Many top privates have substantial endowments. And many colleges that don’t have huge endowments are doing insane and inequitable discounting through sophisticated enrollment management algorithms.

Not the same at all. Roughly 90% of K-12 students attend public school. Completely free. Financial aid is really not needed for K-12.

About 73% of college students attend a public university, including community college, which is significantly cheaper than a private university. If this bothers you at the K-12 level it’s going to infuriate you at the tertiary level too.

K-12 and college are completely different. Just stop.

The main difference being college is primarily funded by loans taken out in the child’s name, which are not available for K-12. There is no comparison.

And this shows you don’t understand the college financial landscape. Good private universities these days regularly meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. Kids from families making up to $300k are getting aid these days at expensive private colleges.

But more relevant to the point is that when it comes to busybodies’ anger over financial aid, they really aren’t different at all. Go to the college forum. There are people regularly complaining about their kids’ roommates getting aid and having nicer things than their own kid. And you’ll see these posters lamenting that the FA kids didn’t go to community college where they clearly belong.

If you are overly invested in other people’s lives now, that isn’t going to suddenly change when your kid turns 19.

You are the one who doesn’t understand colleges. The percent of private universities that do this is tiny. For the majority, this is not a thing.

It is common at any T50 private university, and even some T100. At the top end they even go beyond to giving full packages to $200k families. If you attend a DMV independent high school, you are aiming for, and expecting, these schools. No one cares about the rest.

No, it doesn’t extend to all the T50 or T100. Also, lots of people care about the rest. To say otherwise is the height of stupidity.

It absolutely does for the T50 privates and even some beyond that. You have no idea what you are talking about. Just Google it.

And no, DMV private families are not aiming for schools outside of the T100. Have you looked at what a T100 school is? This is yet another example of weird tourists on this thread.

You are deranged and very wrong.

The response of a person with no substantive response.

No, it is the response of someone who knows they are arguing with a toddler.

Oh look, you did it again. Feel free to share evidence to back your claims since you are so certain of them.

Let’s be specific. Do the top 50 universities in the USA, ranked by USNWR, offer full financial aid packages, with no loans, to students whose parents have an income up to $200k/yr? Absolutely not. I don’t know what you are trying to claim. Be specific about it.[/

On the contrary, I’ve been clear about the claim from the start. This is what I said:

“It (meeting 100% of financial need) is common at any T50 private university, and even some T100. At the top end they even go beyond to giving full packages to $200k families. If you attend a DMV independent high school, you are aiming for, and expecting, these schools. No one cares about the rest.”

Note that I clearly said T50 private university for meeting demonstrated financial need. I also noted that at the top end of that group there are full packages for families making $200k. All of this is accurate and factual, and well known by anyone approaching the college process. You never had any counterpoint, other than to mix up different points and name call.