Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Anonymous wrote:When the college is located in a state with human rights views wildly opposite of our own. That could mean different things to different people. I know what it means to mine. I'm not spending money in a state that loves guns more than children. I'm not spending money in a state that hates gay and transgender people. Other people might have different values, but those our ours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I can't believe schools screw with students over scholarships like that. At my SLAC, it was tough for some of my friends because tuition went up every year but the scholarship awards stayed the same in most instances. So it became more difficult for them to afford each year, but nothing like pulling scholarships from kids.

+1 I don’t understand the logic of pulling the rug out from under a student. You basically ensure at least one alumni who will hate the school, never donate, and will likely bad mouth it. My merit award at a SLAC increased every year in line with tuition and expenses. I’ve donated every year since graduation, far more now than the school spent on me, so it looks like their bet paid off

Anonymous wrote:How this happens? I don't remember the exact wording of the first letters of college acceptance to me (and later to my nephew), but I'm pretty sure there it was something like "we are pleased to inform you that you have been granted tuition remission in full and a stipend of $xxxxx for living expenses." In other words, there was no wording about this being just for the first year, or "renewable if xyz" or anything like that. These are very wealthy private colleges so they can get away with a lot of "discretion" in their awards that publicly-funded schools might not.
I remember the thrill that my parents and I felt when I got that letter. My parents were so proud. I had a spectacular first year - getting A's, making really good friends, joining teams, finding a faculty mentor.
Then, a few weeks before finals, opening the letter from the financial aid office in front of my roommates informing me that my aid had been cut off entirely and enclosing loan application forms. I burst into tears. It was humiliating and baffling. I thought I must have done something terribly wrong. I also remember how cold and abrupt the financial aid officer was when I made an appointment to find out why it happened. He made me feel ashamed and offered no explanation or apology. I applied for the loans and incurred a huge amount of debt I had never planned to carry.
For years, I was so ashamed of losing my scholarship that I never spoke about it. Then, I discovered that it's a pretty common practice at the most expensive schools which also happen to be among the wealthiest - the very ones who could afford to extend those scholarships into the second, third & fourth years.
Sometimes I wonder whether they target kids who are so happy and productive in their first year that they know they will be motivated to take out loans and stay rather than transfer.
In my nephew's case at a different private college, he was given a full ride for year one, won an award that year for literary achievement, and was invited to receive it on stage at the graduation ceremony for the seniors. We all showed up for the ceremony, and then he was told he was being cut off after we returned home. At least no one on campus saw him crying.
I couldn't believe it happened to him too.
Someone needs to start a pinned thread here or on College Confidential listing the names of the schools that have done this. I don't think we can count on NYU (there, I said the name of one of these schools) to be honest about it.

Anonymous wrote:Low endowment. Institution’s financial downgrading by Carnegies. President if college pleading with alums for donations. Football program being canceled due to cost

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Curious:
Where do you access these sorts of stats? Also the suicide stats others reference earlier in the thread?

Anonymous wrote:Freshman retention rate below 90%.

Graduation rate below 80%.

Low endowment.

Top 25% of the students performing below how my kids perform

Strong Greek culture

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of considerations for our '22 high schooler.

Here is what we avoided -

- Most rabidly Republican states. Texas, Florida were no go.
- Schools that had lax Gun laws as mentioned in another thread, was a red flag - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_carry_in_the_United_States
- Party schools and schools with a strong Greek life
- Schools that had incidents of sexual harassment, rape or violence against women etc, racist tweets by their professors, attracted White supremacist's.
- Schools that had a lower percentage of diversity - racial and gender.

We also paid more attention to the ranking of the STEM major we wanted for our child vs the prestige of the school.

Anonymous wrote:There are many, but here are two:

When a college doesn't make their common data sets easily accessible on their website.

Also, when there's a poor alumni giving rate (but more appropriate to compare private colleges to other privates and public colleges to other publics.)