Full-pay advantage: can someone break this down?
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Anonymous
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If you bother to read the link to the NYT article that a PP kindly shared, you'll understand that the mid-tier private schools are using all the info they can possibly gather on you to feed into their models that will tell them how much merit money to offer you in order for your kid to accept their offer. By having high income, high wealth people fill out the FAFSA, they're able to add even more useful data into their models. Consequently, they'd like for you to fill out the FAFSA even if there's no way you'll qualify for need-based financial aid.
Here is the link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/10/magazine/college-admissions-paul-tough.html |
Anonymous
| I have a child with a low GPA and decent SAT scores (1200). We are full pay. I actually hated that there were a few schools that fit the profile of what he is looking for that were need blind. I wanted to find a way to signal to them (these are schools that need the money from tuition due to low endowments) that they'd get lots of our money if they'd just accept him despite his crappy GPA. One of these schools was both need blind and test blind. That school rejected him. Other schools that are better ranked, FWIW, but not need blind and not test blind, accepted him. And not only that, they showered him with over $30K in merit money each. Go figure. (These are all mid-level SLACs that the average American has heard of.) |
Anonymous
Like what level SLAC. Are we talking Bucknell? Lehigh? |
Anonymous
Haha NFWay. More like Kalamazoo, DePauw level. |
Anonymous
In cases like this, do you still fill out a FAFSA despite being full pay? |
Anonymous
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There are facebook groups run by what seem to be professional college admissions counselors and they link to websites where you can see what other people who applied to the same schools as your DC were offered in merit aid. The people in those groups are mainly "chasing merit" and they apply to several schools of similar caliber where the student is around the 75th percentile in the hope of drawing a large merit award. They also do this with public schools, but those tend to be more transparent and they even post how much money a GPA and/or test score will get you at that school. Arizona State or University of Arizona is one of the places lots of them apply. Once they get all their offers in, they play the schools off each other for the pleasure of enrolling their kid with great stats.
These tend to be the same schools where being full pay is seen as an advantage. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it's true. They build models to determine how likely it is that your kid has other options besides their school, and the more options they have, the more merit aid you'll get. Never mind that part of why the kids has lots of options is because the family can afford to send them anywhere they can get admitted. |
Anonymous
I can see your point. A few years ago, my DH and I attended an awards dinner for the top inventors who were getting awards from USPTO for all of these amazing breakthrough inventions. Some of the inventors represented themselves, and others were part of a research team at a pharmaceutical company. All of the recipients (25 or so) were foreign-born, speaking with heavy accents suggesting that they only learned English as an adult. We should be glad these top amazing students want to come to the US, as our schools may not be producing equivalent drive and ambition. |
Anonymous
I was waitlisted at both Duke and Princeton in the early 2000s, and my parents recently told me that the development offices of both schools (neither of which we were previously affiliated) called to not-so-subtly solicit donations in April while I was still on the waitlist. Duke was my #1 choice, they made a contribution (no idea how much), and I was admitted. Think everyone is correct that wait lists are an exception to the need-blind status. |
Anonymous
| PP here, to be clear - I was a full pay applicant. But they also asked for a donation. |
Anonymous
I do. If you can't swear in church not sure the point of life. |
Anonymous
Two different issues though.. Most aid to foreign students is merit based. Pretty much no one in the US or coming here to do so would do a PhD without financial aid. Often it's a mix of research and teaching assistantships. Dartmouth going need blind for undergrad international students is a different category. It is so easy to fake data on family income. How will Dartmouth verify? If it's a tie between a foreign kid and a Midwestern White kid - comparable score, EC and other profiles - who will they pick? The foreign kid, if he's smart, will almost always have an application that will demonstrate extreme need. |
Anonymous
Should have donated to Princeton, not to Duke What were your parents thinking? |
Anonymous
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I think I am just as confused as when I started reading this thread. Possibly more. To fill or not to fill....that is the question.
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Anonymous
If school is need aware and you want admission more than FA and qualify for FA but can afford school without it, don't ask for FA. If school is need blind ask if you qualify. No risk. If you need FA either way and qualify, ask for it. No decision to make there. That's as simple as it can be. |
Anonymous
If I qualify for about $10,000 in aid, is it that simple? I’d like it. Would it really hurt my chances when the amount is so small? |