Do any private high schools in the area offer merit-based scholarships?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Merit scholarships are not considered a best practice by NAIS until a school is financially able to meet full demonstrated need first with need blind admissions. I'm not sure any school in the area is in that position.

t
Not quite. At least as of about 2 years ago when I read NAIS rules very closely, the point was only that merit aid was discouraged if it would take away from need based aid. There was no expectation of need blind admission and I am not personally aware of any DC area private that does this. I doubt any of them have the endowment to handle it but would love to hear otherwise. Many highly selective colleges have backed away from this. The ivies can still do it and a few like them, but schools like Tufts have walked away.

From the NAIS website:

-The NAIS Principles of Good Practice for Financial Aid Administration state that "The school determines eligibility for admission without regard to a student's application for financial aid."
-While NAIS feels schools should extend financial assistance only to those who demonstrate they are unable to pay the full tuition (and other school-related costs), it is recognized that many schools offer merit programs.

IMHO, a school should NOT make merit scholarships available when it does not yet have a financial aid budget that is large enough to meet fully the needs of all aid-qualifying families.

NAICs can preserve its aspirational best practices, but more detailed reports on their own web site tell a very different story. https://www.nais.org/Articles/Pages/Financial-Aid-Focus-Need-Blind-Admissions.aspx

What is with the nonstop NAICs postings? We applied for scholarships and various things at various private schools and no one ever mentioned NAIS. Does someone
work there or something? The rest of us have never heard of that organization.

NAIS is the national accrediting org for independent schools. It establishes best practices and other policy recommendations for independents. If you have ever worked for a top independent school you know what NAIS is

[blue28]

Episcopal High School offers merit scholarships

[Anonymous]

blue28 wrote:Episcopal High School offers merit scholarships

Given how Episcopal has pumped up their sports recruiting, I was skeptical about these merit scholarships. Sure enough, after checking their web site, they are for "academic" OR "extracurricular" merit. Which translates to: athletic scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Extracurricular can mean a lot of things - for example a band or art scholarship can also fall under that classification.

Agree Episcopal has picked up it's recruiting efforts big time in the past 2-3 years in football and lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Catholic High Schools in DC metro offer merit scholarships. The most you can get is $12,000 over 4 years ($3,000 per year) and these are called "Presidential Scholarships." I did not know about this until DS was awarded the scholarship upon receiving our acceptance. You cannot apply for the scholarship. They are awarded by through the admissions process based on grades, test scores, etc.

Thanks for posting -- I was wondering about this! Based on your experience, would you mind sharing what GPA/Test Scores might place a student in the running?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Merit scholarships are not considered a best practice by NAIS until a school is financially able to meet full demonstrated need first with need blind admissions. I'm not sure any school in the area is in that position.

t
Not quite. At least as of about 2 years ago when I read NAIS rules very closely, the point was only that merit aid was discouraged if it would take away from need based aid. There was no expectation of need blind admission and I am not personally aware of any DC area private that does this. I doubt any of them have the endowment to handle it but would love to hear otherwise. Many highly selective colleges have backed away from this. The ivies can still do it and a few like them, but schools like Tufts have walked away.

From the NAIS website:

-The NAIS Principles of Good Practice for Financial Aid Administration state that "The school determines eligibility for admission without regard to a student's application for financial aid."
-While NAIS feels schools should extend financial assistance only to those who demonstrate they are unable to pay the full tuition (and other school-related costs), it is recognized that many schools offer merit programs.

IMHO, a school should NOT make merit scholarships available when it does not yet have a financial aid budget that is large enough to meet fully the needs of all aid-qualifying families.

Your opinion notwithstanding, I read that to mean that admission is based on merit. Then, it is open season on merit scholarships to keep the highly desired admitted candidates (who may not have even applied for financial aid, so the first phrase of the second sentence does not even apply), but that financial aid (as opposed to merit programs) for those who apply should be need-based only. But even that is just a guideline. If they mean something different, they need to rewrite the guidelines and not make a distinction between financial aid and merit programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholic High Schools in DC metro offer merit scholarships. The most you can get is $12,000 over 4 years ($3,000 per year) and these are called "Presidential Scholarships." I did not know about this until DS was awarded the scholarship upon receiving our acceptance. You cannot apply for the scholarship. They are awarded by through the admissions process based on grades, test scores, etc.

Thanks for posting -- I was wondering about this! Based on your experience, would you mind sharing what GPA/Test Scores might place a student in the running?

DS took HSPT and got 99%. His GPA in 8th grade was 3.8. He applied to two schools and was offered the scholarship at only one. The other school also gives these scholarships, but I imagine he did not get it because competition is much stiffer in that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholic High Schools in DC metro offer merit scholarships. The most you can get is $12,000 over 4 years ($3,000 per year) and these are called "Presidential Scholarships." I did not know about this until DS was awarded the scholarship upon receiving our acceptance. You cannot apply for the scholarship. They are awarded by through the admissions process based on grades, test scores, etc.

Thanks for posting -- I was wondering about this! Based on your experience, would you mind sharing what GPA/Test Scores might place a student in the running?

DS took HSPT and got 99%. His GPA in 8th grade was 3.8. He applied to two schools and was offered the scholarship at only one. The other school also gives these scholarships, but I imagine he did not get it because competition is much stiffer in that school.

Helpful - thanks! (Wish I had forced DS to study for the HSPT...).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Extracurricular can mean a lot of things - for example a band or art scholarship can also fall under that classification.

Agree Episcopal has picked up it's recruiting efforts big time in the past 2-3 years in football and lacrosse.

Yes, no doubt Episcopal has been throwing the money to trombone players and sculptors and not, for example, the French Canadian offensive line they imported in bulk for their football team. (Eh, mais oui, c'est vrai!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Merit scholarships are not considered a best practice by NAIS until a school is financially able to meet full demonstrated need first with need blind admissions. I'm not sure any school in the area is in that position.

t
Not quite. At least as of about 2 years ago when I read NAIS rules very closely, the point was only that merit aid was discouraged if it would take away from need based aid. There was no expectation of need blind admission and I am not personally aware of any DC area private that does this. I doubt any of them have the endowment to handle it but would love to hear otherwise. Many highly selective colleges have backed away from this. The ivies can still do it and a few like them, but schools like Tufts have walked away.

From the NAIS website:

-The NAIS Principles of Good Practice for Financial Aid Administration state that "The school determines eligibility for admission without regard to a student's application for financial aid."
-While NAIS feels schools should extend financial assistance only to those who demonstrate they are unable to pay the full tuition (and other school-related costs), it is recognized that many schools offer merit programs.

IMHO, a school should NOT make merit scholarships available when it does not yet have a financial aid budget that is large enough to meet fully the needs of all aid-qualifying families.

NAICs can preserve its aspirational best practices, but more detailed reports on their own web site tell a very different story. https://www.nais.org/Articles/Pages/Financial-Aid-Focus-Need-Blind-Admissions.aspx

What is with the nonstop NAICs postings? We applied for scholarships and various things at various private schools and no one ever mentioned NAIS. Does someone
work there or something? The rest of us have never heard of that organization.

NAIS is the national accrediting org for independent schools. It establishes best practices and other policy recommendations for independents. If you have ever worked for a top independent school you know what NAIS is

I haven't, so I don't. Thanks for the explanation.

[Anonymous]

Bishop Ireton offers 20 academic scholarships: 10 that provide about 1/4 of tuition ($3500/year) and 10 that provide about 1/2 ($7500 per year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bishop Ireton offers 20 academic scholarships: 10 that provide about 1/4 of tuition ($3500/year) and 10 that provide about 1/2 ($7500 per year).

Holy child has some miscellaneous scholarships in various people's
names (Karen Noonan scholarship, Mary Kosch scholarship, etc).