interested

We are looking at boarding schools for our daughter - she's a good athlete, particularly a strong hockey player. We hear stories about how this school or that saw a player at a tournament or other event and offered them a spot at their school. All the research and official language says that aid is almost always need based.

Are there really dollars out there for athletes or vocalists or whatever, or is it truly all need based? The stories we hear vs. what we see in our research definitely is conflicting. Does anyone know the real story?

Saer

Hmmm. I'm interested in this too.
As a volleyball player and an oboe player, I would be in the running for non-need-based scholarships- but there doesn't seem to be any out there.


So, any thoughts?

Linda S

They ARE based on financial need. However, most schools that are not Deerfield, Exeter, Andover, Groton who promise to meet 100% of your demonstrated need (some state if your income is a certain level, but you get the idea), can not meet 100% of your need and will in fact get closer to that number if you fill a need of theirs. My long time example, you are an underwater tuba player and that's what they need this year, then you may be more likely to get your need met.
Or, if your stats - academic, leadership, etc. are higher than their average - you might get your need met.
No schools award "athletic scholarships" but they will help you more if they really want you. Although, if you don't have demonstrated need, don't expect an offer of aid.
Make sense?

neatoburrito

It's need-based BUT it's competitive within that pool. Imagine a bunch of applicants who all qualify for admission; they've all got the "stamp" of admission. The schools are likely to give the aid to those that they want to most - who can contribute the most. This may be due to a talent in hockey, or music, or drama, or writing, or debate, or whatever. If a school is trying to strengthen its crew program, they may be more likely to give those dollars to someone who can help.

I don't think that there is money set aside for special talents, but what do I know? If there is, I doubt anyone would tell you so.

keylyme

Right...it has to be based on need, but as another poster stated previously, some of the translates in to how much they need you!

dreamer6

My question is how do the schools ascertain what your need is? We have a son in college and our EFC is quite high. Looking over the SSS PFS, it does seem they consider your circumstances, and do not look solely at your income, unlike the FAFSA. Is the EFC determined by each school, or does the SSS determine your EFC, and then each school can offer more if they want your child for athletics, or arts, or whatever they need.

I am also wondering how to respond the question, "How much can you afford for educational expenses".

newyorker22

I agree with everything posted so far. I find myself agreeing with Linda so much that maybe she should become an educational consultant too!

As everyone says, the financial aid is need based, and within that competitive pool, having a skill or talent is a big plus.

But a lot of people want to know about the other side of the coin. I get lots of calls from hockey parents in particular who hear that there are hockey scholarships for wealthy families out there. I can say firmly that there are not. If your family has an income of $500k, you will never see a penny of scholarship money from any school, even if your son is the next Wayne Gretsky. The bar for financial aid is usually around the $200k level (obviously depends on a lot of factors, but that is a tough estimate). If you make more than that, don't count on any type of aid, or sports scholarship money.

If anyone disagrees with me or knows otherwise, I'd love to hear your reponse.

Linda S

dreamer6 - I think the EFC is determined by SSS but then the schools each can make adjustments to that. I know that one school told me they ADD more for Home Equity. Another told me they do not count any income or assets of the children, so they would take that out. Those adjustments have them come up with their own EFC, based on the SSS numbers.

As far as how to answer the question - what can you afford to pay? The first year we put something so low because we didn't know what we could pay really. From then on, we have put something fairly close to what the EFC was for the previous year.

Newyorker22 - thank you!!!

goaliedad

Yet another agreeing with the above (and based upon practical experience). At the well-endowed, highly competitive schools, meeting EFC is not a problem. For the rest of us, the talents we bring have a lot to do with the quality of the offer we get. Thinking back over the past couple of years, we always have a few members who are accepted but waitlisted for FA. I can't think of a single one who was a recruited athlete. Coincidence? I think not.

If optimizing your FA is a priority, the obvious choice is getting into one of the schools that guarantee to meet EFC (Andover, Exeter, SPS, and a few others). Recruitable athletic skills + a reasonable academic profile for the school = success.

The other strategy is going where they need you the most (i.e. rebuilding program), especially if you bring above (the school's) average academic credentials. Works well. If they have a good coaching situation (research carefully), it should be a good experience for the hockey player. Getting more ice time in earlier years, especially considering the limited (25 or so games) schedule is worth the trade-off of a rebuild.

Plus, the "winning" programs present you with more (and probably full-pay) competitors for hockey slots. And all things (hockeywise) being equal, they take the family with cash.

Open for PM, if you would like to discuss more off-line. Girls hockey is a very small world and I would understand if you (like me) want to avoid posting identifying information.

interested

Thank you all for your responses - what you are saying makes sense to me (more sense than some of the rumors/stories) I've heard.

Much appreciated!

siemom

EFC is determined by SSS, but then schools and their financial aid officers/committees make individual decisions based on their own priorities and policies. Some schools have a policy of "gapping" which requires a contribution at some level from every family while other schools provide full aid with minimal or no payment required by the family. You need to check also as to what FA covers - what about field trips? special occasions? sports equipment? These can be very expensive and it is important - I think - that all kids get the opportunity to participate in all activities of the school.
As to Dreamer 6's question about responding to "How much can you afford" - that is often called the "offer" in the FA world. Some schools will take families right up on that offer even if it looks like they can't afford that amount. Others will recognize that the offer is too high or too low. The "offer" is not binding in any way but does give FA officers a good sense of what the family thinks it can do.

neatoburrito

In the "Useful Links" thread there is an article from the ssatb member newsletter about how to pick apart parents' tax returns. I gathered from the article that they do scrutinize a bit. They want to make sure that aid goes to the applicants who need it the most.

newyorker22

This was interesting thread---but if you read the post, I think that the original poster is not eligible for financial aid, since he/she is asking if it is true that all aid is need based, and seems to be wondering about merit only aid.

My view on that is that there is no merit only aid, but I'm always interested to see what others say, since there are some people who insist that their ais athletic aid going to high income families. I always wonder if there is truth to it somewhere, since so many people seem to believe it. Anyone?

goaliedad

Just to give you an exception to the rule about "no merit based scholarships for athletes" (please not the word order there), look at the Batten Scholarship at Culver. It is a full-ride merit scholarship based upon academics, ECs and leadership. Note that ECs and leadership can include athletic experiences. If you look at the history of winners, there have been hockey players awarded the Batten.

But in answering your question more directly, newyorker22, you will find that the population of boarding schools as a whole seems to be significantly higher than average. And the SSS's calculation of EFC can allow schools to award significant FA even to families earning between $100 and $150K per year (depending upon circumstances).

Families earning that much are definitely in the top 5 to 10% of all american housholds.

Looking at the population of kids who get FA, you will find athletes are more frequently recipients of FA than unhooked kids. All other things being equal, the kid who brings athletic prowess to a school is worth more.

Putting those 2 things together, one could come up with the conculusion that well-off (statistically speaking) athletes get FA because of their atheltic skill. It looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.

Now to add more fuel to the fire, folks earning in that $100 - $150K range have more resources to "build a better athlete" through travel sports, exposure camps, etc. (not to mention the extra SSAT study help for admissions) than the family earning say $50 - $75K who can maybe play local sports leagues. This only increases the likelyhood that the "rich" folks get the FA.

BTW, this is coming from a family that had a 4 digit EFC last year and struggles to get the "extras" that most prep hockey families can afford (pre-post teams, summer exposure camps, etc.).

newyorker22

Goaliedad, thanks, that is really interesting about the Culver scholarship.

regarding families in the $150,000 range, I have seen non-athletes get some aid at that level too, so I see your point, and I'm sure that sports does play a big role here. But what I am really interested in is high income familes.

I mean families earning a half million, or otherwise well above the financial aid level. For instance, I received a call from a family who wanted a hockey scholarship for their son. When I told her this, she said that their income was very high, over a half million a year, but they wanted a hockey scholarship since that was their goal for their son from the time he was young. They "insisted" to me that schools gave out hockey scholarships to wealthy families routinely, and that I was simply not in the know. I got a second call from someone also interested in sports scholarships, who said they would never qualify for aid, would never apply, yet also would not consider boarding school without a sports scholarship.

I hear it so often from wealthy families that I wonder if there is truth to it. I know that boarding schools are committed to reserving all funds for students with need. But this topic just won't seem to die, and sometimes I wonder if I am missing something.