Merit based scholarships

[Anonymous]

I don't think it makes the school less desirable. I think the Catholic schools are desirable *because* they give merit scholarships. If they are endowed scholarships then why are they not "public"? There are privacy reasons to keep FA awards secret, but I'm failing to see why a school would not publicly disclose that there are merit scholarships available. For one thing it would increase the applicant pool I would think. My DC is at one of the "bigs" but not in upper school yet. I have not heard from our school or from friends with older kids at the school that the school is awarding endowed merit scholarships. We do know kids who got *outside* merit based scholarships that apply towards their tuition, but directly from the school, nope, never heard of it. Sorry. Again, I'm failing to see why you can't name the schools that offered scholarships. If these are endowed and (presumably) offered routinely then it doesn't out the person to mention schools that offered ones she declined.

[Anonymous]

Here are a few policies. I am guessing that PPs niece does not go to one of these schools. I suspect that the 2nd tier schools are much more willing to provide merit scholarships to attract kids they otherwise couldn't attract.

GDS:
Georgetown Day School has always opened its doors to students who can benefit from its educational program regardless of economic need. Financial aid is a major commitment of the School and is available to students enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Although it is not possible to meet all requests for such assistance, the School makes an effort to help as many families as possible. Grants are made solely on the basis of financial need.

Maret FAQs:

Q
Does Maret offer merit or athletic scholarships?
A
No. All financial aid is based on demonstrated financial need.

Sidwell:

Need-Based Financial Aid Program

In keeping with Quaker tenets, Sidwell Friends School seeks a student body that represents varied economic backgrounds. In 2012-2013, 23 percent of our students will receive approximately $6,100,000 of financial aid support with an average aid award of $21,938, which covers nearly two-thirds of the average tuition cost. Once a student has been admitted to Sidwell Friends School, aid is determined and renewed annually on the basis of demonstrated financial need without regard to gender, race, religion, or national and ethnic origin.

The financial aid program at Sidwell Friends School is guided by our belief that parents have an obligation to pay the educational expenses of their children to the extent that they are able. The purpose of the financial aid program is to fill the gap between the actual cost of a year’s tuition and what a family can realistically be expected to pay toward this cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it makes the school less desirable. I think the Catholic schools are desirable *because* they give merit scholarships. If they are endowed scholarships then why are they not "public"? There are privacy reasons to keep FA awards secret, but I'm failing to see why a school would not publicly disclose that there are merit scholarships available. For one thing it would increase the applicant pool I would think. My DC is at one of the "bigs" but not in upper school yet. I have not heard from our school or from friends with older kids at the school that the school is awarding endowed merit scholarships. We do know kids who got *outside* merit based scholarships that apply towards their tuition, but directly from the school, nope, never heard of it. Sorry. Again, I'm failing to see why you can't name the schools that offered scholarships. If these are endowed and (presumably) offered routinely then it doesn't out the person to mention schools that offered ones she declined.

So it is symantics. The schools have outside sources that give merit scholarships to children attending the school. The school knows about them. The school directs desirable childrens towards those sources of merit based scholarships. The outside source is not part of the working budget. The sources are annonymous so no they are not "public". They are for that school and that school only.

So the answer to the original question is yes there are merit based scholarships. As people have pointed out the Catholic schools have more alumni support and have many merit based scholarships. Gonzaga for example, sends a brochure every year listing pages and pages and pages of private scholarships that are not listed on their website.

The "other" schools have less but they are available. Like athletes, top students are "recruited".

[Anonymous]

No, we know kids who receive money through the Black Student Fund. That is not under the table, it is not anonymous, and that is not simply a semantic difference. You are saying that your niece found multiple private schools who explicitly went against the information they publicly provide (need based aid only) to find donors to fund part of her education secretly because the school wanted another likely NMS finalist in a few years? I think it is telling that you won't name the school and I do think this is problematic if schools are doing an end around of their own publicly described missions/standards. It's not problematic to give money based on merit, like I said I think that is great. I do think it is problematic for it to be semi-deceitfully done to the point that you think naming the schools would be a violation in some way.

And yes, athletes are recruited but the money for them is coming from the FA pool usually. Parents at the school can sit on the FA committee and get more involved if they don't like that. It's also fairly clear which schools are paying for play and people can make decisions about whether to send their kids there on that basis if they want. I would absolutely support DC's school giving merit scholarships. That would be great. I can't get on board with some idea that I should be happy if the school is doing stuff in back rooms and the merit scholarships are some hidden super-secret thing no one is supposed to talk about.

Maybe 22:47 is right and you are not referring to the schools people lump in the "bigs" but you kind of implied that when you said it was untrue that those groups don't offer merit scholarships that don't touch the FA pool. If it is untrue, name the schools, you said there were several.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be a shorter list of school that I don't know about. (Holton and Sidwell) Though my nephew (who has minority status) has a full scholarship to a Friends school in NJ/NY/PA area - and no I will not name that school either.

Imagine I have a father with 7 siblings, a mother with 3. Imagine my husband has a mom with 6 siblings and a father with 2. That is 18 aunts and uncles. Some don't live in the area - so that is 15 aunt and uncles in the area. 10 of them went to DC privates (not all the same), some of my aunts are younger than me and some of my uncles are my age. They each have 2 kids (but really they have more, some actually have 4) that is 20 close cousins - they each have 2 kids that is 40 more kids. That is 60 kids alone that in my family range from 0-30 years old. (and that is a very low estimate) 1/2 are still Catholic and attend Catholic Schools. Out of the WCAC schools I have a relatives in 1/2 of them. 1/2 married non-Catholics and 1/2 of those wanted their kids at non-Catholic school. I have relatives in every IAC school except for the Virginia ones.

That is just and example. I also have relatives at public and magnet schools.

So I will not debate this with you anymore - you just don't get it.

[Anonymous]

PP 18:00- the Washington National Cathedral pays the stipend directly to to NCS/STA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it makes the school less desirable. I think the Catholic schools are desirable *because* they give merit scholarships. If they are endowed scholarships then why are they not "public"? There are privacy reasons to keep FA awards secret, but I'm failing to see why a school would not publicly disclose that there are merit scholarships available. For one thing it would increase the applicant pool I would think. My DC is at one of the "bigs" but not in upper school yet. I have not heard from our school or from friends with older kids at the school that the school is awarding endowed merit scholarships. We do know kids who got *outside* merit based scholarships that apply towards their tuition, but directly from the school, nope, never heard of it. Sorry. Again, I'm failing to see why you can't name the schools that offered scholarships. If these are endowed and (presumably) offered routinely then it doesn't out the person to mention schools that offered ones she declined.

So it is symantics. The schools have outside sources that give merit scholarships to children attending the school. The school knows about them. The school directs desirable childrens towards those sources of merit based scholarships. The outside source is not part of the working budget. The sources are annonymous so no they are not "public". They are for that school and that school only.

So the answer to the original question is yes there are merit based scholarships. As people have pointed out the Catholic schools have more alumni support and have many merit based scholarships. Gonzaga for example, sends a brochure every year listing pages and pages and pages of private scholarships that are not listed on their website.

The "other" schools have less but they are available. Like athletes, top students are "recruited".

symantics?? You can rule out a merit scholarship

[Anonymous]

I have debated this issue at length within the indepedent school world, and discoverd that that many insiders believe other independents are so messaging financial aid or outside resources that for all practical matters they are aggressively doing merit aid already -- but ususally to acheive either athletic or racial/ethnic diversity. I can also tell you that school admiistrators initial reactions to the idea of open, merit aid is negative because of stigma within th e independent school community among professionals who simply presume merit aid must detract from need based aid. That said, I think a case can be made for merit aid for any school that wants a larger pool of likely academic stars, and I would not be surprised if you saw more of it in the future especially at some non-Big X schools. It makes sense. Some parents on DCUM have argued that they want their brilliant child to only attend a Big X school with a critical mass of other brilliant kids. OK, there are advantages to that up to a point (and after that you get to diminishiing returns ). So, if a school needs a anotherfew such children why not offer merit sholarships. They arguably benefit all the kids b/c it enable the school to have more advanced classes whi

[Anonymous]

"continued"

... more advanced classes for that group of kids (includinig those already at the school), and by pulling them out of some more academically heterogeneous classes teachers can give the children who remain in those classes more attention. So it can be win/win. They aren't advertised b/c of the perceived negative stigma among independent school professionals, but that may change over time. They also may not be advertised for the same reason not all employers announce who received bonuses or how much. Feelings can be hurt, parents can disagree over which kid is more or less worthy of the merit aid, etc. All are perfectly valid and real. In a perfect world, I too wish all these things were public and transparant, but just because they are not does not mean there is anything nefarious going on. Schools -- like people --have to deal with a lot of competing considerations.