Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

That’s just not accurate. At top 20 schools typically 50-60% of students are not receiving aid. And at the next tier it’s 40-50% (more merit aid comes into play).

I've never understood why people bother to attend private colleges for schools that are outside of the top 150. Every state has public universities that rank the same or higher. Even families who are not paying the full sticker price of $45,000 are generally paying more than what they would pay for a similarly ranked state school Take Virginia Wesleyan for example. It's a non prestigious private college. Why would anyone choose to pay for that as opposed to schools that attract similarly qualified student such as Longwood or Radford. I just don't get it.

Size is sometimes a factor, ie family/kid would rather have smaller class size and smaller school, kid gets lots of merit aid at private, private may have more resources or a particular major might be stronger. I’ve also found that the smaller privates are a little more “customer service oriented” and try harder to excel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

People say that, but I'm solidly middle class - $150,000 in NOVA and I know many families at our income who did not receive a dime in financial aid at these private colleges. Which colleges give financial aid (grant, not loans) to families making $150,000?

In general, colleges ranked below around the #30 level by USNWR give merit scholarship money to high performing students.

Name-brand, elite schools do not, with the exception of e.g. Ivy League schools with huge endowments, who do give need-based aid to families making $150,000.

My niece received some scholarships from private schools ranked in the 60-70's, but even with the scholarships, the tuition would still have been higher that what she is paying to attend a similarly ranked public university in her state. Something about this just doesn't compute with me. Why would people pay more to attend a private school that has the same ranking as some of the public schools in their state? It seems to me that many of these families must still be relatively well to do, that they can pay $10-$15,000 a year more in tuition for their kid to attend a similarly ranked school that just appeals to them more. Those of us who have HHI less than $200,0000 can't spend the extra money just cause their kid likes the school more. It would have to be significantly higher ranking for most truly middle class families to deem it worth paying for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

People say that, but I'm solidly middle class - $150,000 in NOVA and I know many families at our income who did not receive a dime in financial aid at these private colleges. Which colleges give financial aid (grant, not loans) to families making $150,000?

I should say that the private colleges that I'm referring to our schools that are ranked in the top 30

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

That’s just not accurate. At top 20 schools typically 50-60% of students are not receiving aid. And at the next tier it’s 40-50% (more merit aid comes into play).

I've never understood why people bother to attend private colleges for schools that are outside of the top 150. Every state has public universities that rank the same or higher. Even families who are not paying the full sticker price of $45,000 are generally paying more than what they would pay for a similarly ranked state school Take Virginia Wesleyan for example. It's a non prestigious private college. Why would anyone choose to pay for that as opposed to schools that attract similarly qualified student such as Longwood or Radford. I just don't get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There really needs to be another forum for elite colleges and one for the rest of the schools not deemed worthy by the snobs on here. Normal conversations cannot be had about the schools that 95% of the kids in this area attend.

I know like how Jeff had to start an AAP thread because the discussions about TJ and the gifted programs were dominating the general schools forum. It would be nice if people could have discussions about normal colleges without having the 5% of families that send their kids to top 25 colleges, tell us what losers we are.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There really needs to be another forum for elite colleges and one for the rest of the schools not deemed worthy by the snobs on here. Normal conversations cannot be had about the schools that 95% of the kids in this area attend.

I know like how Jeff had to start an AAP thread because the discussions about TJ and the gifted programs were dominating the general schools forum. It would be nice if people could have discussions about normal colleges without having the 5% of families that send their kids to top 25 colleges, tell us what losers we are.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

People say that, but I'm solidly middle class - $150,000 in NOVA and I know many families at our income who did not receive a dime in financial aid at these private colleges. Which colleges give financial aid (grant, not loans) to families making $150,000?

In general, colleges ranked below around the #30 level by USNWR give merit scholarship money to high performing students.

Name-brand, elite schools do not, with the exception of e.g. Ivy League schools with huge endowments, who do give need-based aid to families making $150,000.

Anonymous wrote:There really needs to be another forum for elite colleges and one for the rest of the schools not deemed worthy by the snobs on here. Normal conversations cannot be had about the schools that 95% of the kids in this area attend.

I know like how Jeff had to start an AAP thread because the discussions about TJ and the gifted programs were dominating the general schools forum. It would be nice if people could have discussions about normal colleges without having the 5% of families that send their kids to top 25 colleges, tell us what losers we are.

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

People say that, but I'm solidly middle class - $150,000 in NOVA and I know many families at our income who did not receive a dime in financial aid at these private colleges. Which colleges give financial aid (grant, not loans) to families making $150,000?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

That’s just not accurate. At top 20 schools typically 50-60% of students are not receiving aid. And at the next tier it’s 40-50% (more merit aid comes into play).

Yes, exactly. The top 20 schools are a small percentage of the ~5,300 schools across the United States. Most of those schools award merit scholarship money to qualified students.

So hardly anyone pays sticker price.

Anonymous wrote:Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

That’s just not accurate. At top 20 schools typically 50-60% of students are not receiving aid. And at the next tier it’s 40-50% (more merit aid comes into play).

There really needs to be another forum for elite colleges and one for the rest of the schools not deemed worthy by the snobs on here. Normal conversations cannot be had about the schools that 95% of the kids in this area attend.

These are not highly desirable schools.

Hardly anyone pays sticker price.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/attention-college-shoppers-these-schools-are-slashing-their-prices/2019/01/21/e384eca0-12bc-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.4874b916f12f

Interesting article