college red flags

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

That is really awful. One thing I liked about our visit to Allegheny College was that they said they don't put any GPA requirement on merit awards. It's guaranteed for all 4 years because they don't want students to avoid challenges out of fear of a low grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of nerds on this thread.

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

For whom?

[Anonymous]

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.

Please name the schools. You can help others to avoid the same issues. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

When you visit the cafeteria and a bunch of kids are eating alone.

[Anonymous]

When the college is located in a state with human rights views wildly opposite of our own. That could mean different things to different people. I know what it means to mine. I'm not spending money in a state that loves guns more than children. I'm not spending money in a state that hates gay and transgender people. Other people might have different values, but those our ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the college is located in a state with human rights views wildly opposite of our own. That could mean different things to different people. I know what it means to mine. I'm not spending money in a state that loves guns more than children. I'm not spending money in a state that hates gay and transgender people. Other people might have different values, but those our ours.

Wow. You are so brave. 🙄

[Anonymous]

There are many, but here are two:

When a college doesn't make their common data sets easily accessible on their website.

Also, when there's a poor alumni giving rate (but more appropriate to compare private colleges to other privates and public colleges to other publics.)

[Anonymous]

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.

Discussed higher up in the thread.

[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.

Please name the schools. You can help others to avoid the same issues. Thank you.

Not OO, but I heard hints if this at American U and Vassar. As someone posted above, guides like Princeton Review post the % of kids getting merit by grade. It should not go down significantly after freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

The criteria can be very rigid. Look out for rules based upon one semester, vs cumulative GPA. One illness or one course like Organic Chemistry can wreak havoc on a given semester’s GOA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of nerds on this thread.

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

There are lots of nerds everywhere, and Greek isn't fun for everyone. You know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you visit the cafeteria and a bunch of kids are eating alone.

Hmm... that's a very interesting observation. So, where did you see this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Please name the schools. You can help others to avoid the same issues. Thank you.

Not OO, but I heard hints if this at American U and Vassar. As someone posted above, guides like Princeton Review post the % of kids getting merit by grade. It should not go down significantly after freshman year.

But look close at those stats too because it isn't always indicative of a bad thing; some schools give "scholarships" to all students to cover the extra cost of studying abroad so everyone can go if they want to (not hidden, that is explicit), so those are one time awards that would show up in those stats as there for everyone one year and gone later, because they were used. My DC has one of those and it is awarded when you are incoming and used when go abroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Please name the schools. You can help others to avoid the same issues. Thank you.

Not OO, but I heard hints if this at American U and Vassar. As someone posted above, guides like Princeton Review post the % of kids getting merit by grade. It should not go down significantly after freshman year.

But look close at those stats too because it isn't always indicative of a bad thing; some schools give "scholarships" to all students to cover the extra cost of studying abroad so everyone can go if they want to (not hidden, that is explicit), so those are one time awards that would show up in those stats as there for everyone one year and gone later, because they were used. My DC has one of those and it is awarded when you are incoming and used when go abroad.

That sounds like a way to mask removing large merit awards after freshman year. Those lost awards would be lost in the data of everyone getting a one time study abroad scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the college is located in a state with human rights views wildly opposite of our own. That could mean different things to different people. I know what it means to mine. I'm not spending money in a state that loves guns more than children. I'm not spending money in a state that hates gay and transgender people. Other people might have different values, but those our ours.

I am not recommending that anyone put themselves in danger, but nothing is going to change if people don't use their privilege to change things.

Which is to say, if your straight cis white boy wants to, let him go to Rice or Duke or Tulane and change his voter registration.