FA shouldn't go to people with 1 million dollar houses
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Anonymous
\ When you assume that FA does not contribute to diversity when it helps a family who lives in a $1 million house (and I am not conceding that there are or are not such cases), you are making a judgment that you are not qualified to make unless you are the FA office with the information required on FA applications. |
Anonymous
| I can kind of see both sides. I am getting FA and I own a home. My house is not in Chevy Chase. I like my area but many people would not feel safe in my neighborhood. Owning a home is cheaper than renting. It cost money to take the equity from your home. If you sell then the option would be to rent which would cost more than to own! I think every situation is different. I understand how parents get upset about contributing to a fund that they feel others abuse! I assure you even if there are a few people who abuse a system there are plenty who do not and a lot of children (like mine) that would NEVER have the opportunity to experience a private education. I encourage you to not get too upset I am grateful for the FA I receive and I assure you my financial situation is exactly what FA was created for. So you are doing some good to help! My child and I are very thankful to the parents that contribute. Think of the good it does and do not worry about the negative! |
Anonymous
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Way to go PP.
We do live in a good zip code, maybe the best in the area. But renting is more than owning, and we have to disclose everything about our house and other finances, and even with a big income, still qualify. So too bad for you grumpy OP who thinks that somehow my kids are less deserving because they live in a good zip code. We disclose everything. The FA provided makes it possible for our kids to go to private school. We still pay our fair share, and we have to struggle to make those payments (which yes includes taking out equity loans against the house and depleting any savings). The easy answer from some here is to move to the suburbs and go to public school and stop freeloading off from the generosity of others. Most of the independent schools don't want to be schools for just the very very rich and the very very poor. They want some honest hardworking squarely middle class types like us too you know. |
Anonymous
From the standpoint of economic diversity, actually peers may be in as good or better a position to judge as FA officers. FA shows what assets people have on paper (which is subject to various forms of legal manipulation) rather than what assets people have access to on a daily basis and what kind of spending/lifestyle decisions they make (some of which FA offices may see and peers may not (elderly relative in nursing home) and vice versa (expensive vacations, clothes, cars)). I don't see the benefit (personal or societal) in subsidizing (formerly) affluent people living beyond their means. If you live in a $1 million+ house, then odds are your public school option isn't dire and someone in your family is educated enough to keep your kids on track academically. Conversely, I do see both the personal and societal benefits in subsidizing the private school tuitions of families who have very limited economic resources. That said, I can imagine situations (unexpected illness, job loss) where schools give FA to a family who formerly paid in full (and probably contributed to scholarship funds, annual giving, etc). I would see an outright grant the first year as a humane and sensible approach, designed to give the family a chance to get back on their feet and/or make other plans. After the first year or so, loans would seem more appropriate. Basically, if you have a reliable paying customer with a short-term problem it can make sense to extend credit or offer discounts to keep them afloat because, long-term, they'll rebound, be grateful, and be able to pay their own way again. Whereas if you add to their economic woes, the odds of that scenario goes way down. Also, it seems harsh to cut off people who have provided for others in their own hour of need. Generosity should go both ways. But it runs out at the point where you think people can and should be doing for themselves what they are asking you to do for them. |
Anonymous
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If there is this kind of reaction, I would argue that I've hit a nerve with others. Certainly, then, it is worth discussing.
I have no problems with providing for financial aid. I got to go to a great college because of financial aid. And I have no problem supporting the middle class, who would struggle to pay for tuition without it. I have trouble with people who are in the top 1.5% of household incomes ($250K), who live in houses in the most expensive sections of town who get financial aid and like to use it as some sort of badge of honor. |
Anonymous
| There are PPs here who, without basis, are judging others. |
Anonymous
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I have trouble with people who have trouble with high wager earners living in a nice house and still somehow collecting FA (as a badge of honor no less!).
More assumptions, good zip code does not equal good local school. Have you perhaps heard of the issuesin DC public schools? High wage does not automatically disqualify you from aid. THE WHOLE PICTURE IS NEEDED. Stop thinking that a nice house disqualifies you from aid or somehow means you made poor financial decisions or don't deserve aid or have better opportunities than those living in a bad zip code. How about the kid getting aid in a school because on paper their parents look deserving but the reality is the grandparents could hand a check over? I try not to worry about things I don't know about. I know about our situation only and those that think FA is wasted should take a deep look in the mirror and figure out how to deal with their own jealousy, hypocrisy, insecurity, or whatever it is that is driving you to make so many assumptions without having full information. |
Anonymous
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What makes you think that what is driving me is not an actual desire to see a fair utilization of the scarce resource of financial aid? What makes you think that my 'judgment' is not based on solid information?!
If you are comfortable that your need is real, then don't worry. I would think you would be happy to see that the process by which aid is allocated is examined and discussed, so that real need is addressed. I certainly never questioned any inquiry into my family's financial situation when I was on financial aid. |
Anonymous
| Again: The system is wacked. People who get FA and spend $10,000 a year on international travel? People who rent huge homes for $5,000 a month when they could downsize and save on rent? What's the fancy rental for except appearances. Oh, and people on FA who drive $50,000 cars instead of $25,000? Something is wrong with this picture. I make sacrifices, pay full freight only to subsidize this? I'm fine subsidizing students who really need FA. Folks who don't are gaming the system. |
Anonymous
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No one ever has full information about anything and people make judgments all the time. Private school is a luxury -- not a necessity -- and, odds are, if you need "THE WHOLE PICTURE" to explain FA (because possessions and lifestyle suggest affluence) then either the need is short-term or you've got or had other options.
Personally, I don't resent anyone (or know or care who is on FA at our school). But I understand why others who make sacrifices to afford full tuition resent it when FA is given to people who clearly live more extravagantly than they do. I'm responding to the OP's scenario and to the outraged/hyperdefensive responses it has elicited and not to any grievance of my own. |
Anonymous
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But I understand why others who make sacrifices to afford full tuition resent it when FA is given to people who clearly live more extravagantly than they do.
Bingo. Also, folks with high mortgages are building equity at the expense of those who make sacrifices and live more modestly. The system is wacked. |
Anonymous
| People that work at the privates get even more upset when the parents getting FA spend the most money on vacations at school auctions and when they are on their ski vacation and just can't get back to pay the small amount of tuition they are responsible for. People know how to work the system and it is a shame. |
Anonymous
| As per 13:40, I worked in the college bursar's office for my work-study job. The clerks would seethe when female students clad in the latest would ask for assistance with or deferrals on their tuition bills. Or when students would say they could not pay their bills, then it would slip that their parents were traveling out of the country, etc. And the clerks, by and large, were nice folks. Sometimes I knew the students and offered insight - e.g., yes, his dad really is out of work and he won't look you in the eye because he is embarassed, not because he uses drugs, etc. But it really was hard for the clerks when someone wearing very expensive clothes and jewelry is pleading poverty while they had their own financial struggles with no fancy rings or furs to hock. |
Anonymous
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Again: The system is wacked. People who get FA and spend $10,000 a year on international travel? People who rent huge homes for $5,000 a month when they could downsize and save on rent? What's the fancy rental for except appearances. Oh, and people on FA who drive $50,000 cars instead of $25,000? Something is wrong with this picture. I make sacrifices, pay full freight only to subsidize this? I'm fine subsidizing students who really need FA. Folks who don't are gaming the system
I am sooooo with you! I pay full tuition and live in a tiny condo (if we happened to have another kid it just wouldnt' work it is that small). I cannot afford to take vacations other than weekend to the beach or something. I have no problem whatsoever helping those students that really need it. I think the schools should have parents involved in the finanical aid decisions since we are the ones partly funding the financial aid. I know for a fact (YES THE PARENT TOLD ME I think she automatically assumed I was on financial aid after being to my Apt and seeing that we drive a 1996 car) that people are abusing the system. This person has a brand new car, nice house, gorgeous clothes for herself and child yet getting almost full tutition. I don't want to put to much out here but she is not married and claims the father doesn't support the child (no formal court cocuments) when infact she is getting a lot of cash. I know that SSS requires BOTH parents to submit the forms for those not married, however when you state there is "no father or that he can't be found" then there is nothing that SSS or the school can do. Sad, but this person actually does it! I ofcoure am so bitter that I have stopped hanging out with her. |
Anonymous
| As for the person asking whether they should sell their house: yes. Sell the house. It's convenient to have FA offices only look at your income and expenditures without taking into account the massive equity (MONEY) you are building up in your big house. You're not fooling anyone. |