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.

Check out the Washington Waldorf School. Incredible HS experience, high financial aid numbers and merit scholarships in HS.

OP here... thanks for this information, and for taking the time to reply (not the snarky one, of course! ).

OP, a lot of private boarding schools have financial aid, and often a lot more than day schools. You can use the online calculator at Choate Financial Aid calculator to get a feel for it:
http://www.choate.edu/page.cfm?p=1444
Of course you would want your child to apply to several and then see where she gets in and what the packages look like.

Anonymous wrote:I'd love to have more parents think that their children were bright, and take an interest in their schoolwork. -- Teacher

Thinking your child is bright and taking an interest in her work are two different principles. As a teacher, you should know that these are not the same thing. In fact, all you should really care about is that more parents take an interest in their child's schoolwork.

The OP became a typical, insufferable DC parent when she stated that her child was a smart cookie. Get in line with the rest of the DC sheep who think their dear snowflakes are smart cookies! If every DC parent who thinks her child is a smart cookie received merit-based scholarships, then no DC-area private would collect money in tuition.

How can it be need blind when every application asks if we are applying for FA? And you will be naive to think that when time comes to review their applicants, the school does not divide the pools into two groups: need FA and full pay! That's the only way the school can ensure they have enough money to go forward.

And for those thinking stretch the first year as full pay and get in the door first then worry about FA the following year. Think again! You might get it and you might not. And even if you do it will never be as large as you think you need.

This is private school and not a government social program. Somebody have to pay AND DONATE ENOUGH for the beautiful facility and small classes!

Hit send too soon -- the above article notes that schools with limited budgets that want to have need blind admissions accept that they will not meet full need of all students for financial aid applicants. A school can claim it is need blind in admissions if it wants to, but unless it is also financial aid blind in how it allocates limited aid it is effectively not need blind. Schools consciously focus financial aid funds all the time to achieve other admissions objectives.

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

This won't help your DD but I am pretty sure the Heights has one or two full scholarships set up as memorials. Not sure what the criteria are. Oakcrest may have something similar.

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone here gotten a merit scholarship from Holton? We are applying for middle school so I'm not sure if this is just about high school. Just curious.

Don't know but you should ask. There are many bright girls who go there and many who can easily afford it. If you are on the cusp of being able to afford it they might have something for a daughter like yours. I would ask. Maybe when you take a tour?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: I believe all the schools have some kind of merit scholarships but their definition of "merit" may be different than yours. I think school offers scholarships to the students they want, and sometime that can be because of a particular sport, or ethnicity! Grades or academic standing is probably the least likely reason to give out scholarships because, well frankly, most of the students applying were all pretty good on that front.

My DC was offered one at a school we ultimately declined because another school just felt better fit.

Exactly this,you have to be very bright to be admitted so it isn't a distinguishing characteristic justifying merit aid. I'm in Baltimore and the limited "merit" aid I've seen given out is for athletics.

They call that 'scholarships for athletes who are good students'. I don't think top academic schools do that, but one step down and yes they do

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.

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.

Are you sure you won't qualify for need based FA? If not, then raise your income or decrease your expenses between now and then if this is important to you. We assumed that DS would go to public school but now it is clear that private is in his best interest. The public schools here where we lived now have decreased course offerings to well below what my junior high offered a million years ago.

Has anyone here gotten a merit scholarship from Holton? We are applying for middle school so I'm not sure if this is just about high school. Just curious.