<p>Regarding financial aid and merit aid, some schools require you to file FAFSA in order to be considered for Merit Aid. So double check that you won’t be missing out on Merit Aid opportunities if you don’t file FAFSA.</p>
<p>My experience with S1 at USC was all students are considered for merit aid if application is submitted by Dec. 1. I think Rockville Mom should look at the application deadlines and see if there is a similar situation with the schools she has in mind.</p>
<p>I also think Rockville Mom should check if the school is need blind.</p>
<p>Most kids are going to be applying for fin. aid with this bad economy. So you think a kid should be denied entrance because of applying for fin. aid? </p>
<p>Only real concern for Rockville Mom is if her son wants to apply Early Decision. I think it is much harder to get fin. aid on Early Decision. I can see her strategy of not letting the school know she wants fin. aid if her son applies Early Decision because she most likely will not get fin. aid with Early Decision (you can ask the university in mind to be sure of its policy).</p>
<p>I forgot to mention–Rockville Mom’s son spent a lot of time this summer studying for the ACT. Maybe he will hopefully get a high enough score that it will be obvious that he will get substantial merit aid with a high score (see U. of Alabama merit aid for high test scores as well as other schools).</p>
<p>Not all schools are need-blind, and of those, only some guarantee to meet the full difference between the EFC and the COA. </p>
<p>At a need-aware school, I think being full-pay may tip a kid over into acceptance. At a need-blind school, it may not matter–the admissions officer at the information session at AU said he doesn’t even SEE financial aid stuff–it goes to an entirely different office. But if a school doesn’t promise to meet need, and many do not, I wonder if it might indeed be pointless to apply when your gap is small? </p>
<p>Furthermore, recently there were at least some schools that ran out of financial aid funds partway through the process and started admitting only full-pay applicants! If I’m not mistaken, this happened at Tufts.</p>
<p>In my experience with S1 - we had to apply for FA prior to receiving an admissions decision. The required FAFSA and/or CSS Profile was due generally by February 1 - and we received the acceptances in late March - so - at least for RD applications - you do have to apply for FA prior to receiving a decision. </p>
<p>DeskPotato - I’m in agreement with you. I do believe full pay kids have an advantage in this process - particularly for a “B” student - who might be a marginal candidate otherwise.</p>
<p>I recall Muhlenberg saying 10% of admissions were not need blind–I suspect full-pay ED applicants are a valued commodity there and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Here, Hobart is regarded as a good school within reach for B kids, but with an atmosphere of frats/preppies/drinking, so that 10% figure is a surprise. Re its sense of “interfaith acceptance”–that seems great to me and good preparation for working and living in a diverse world.</p>
<p>Re its extreme friendliness, I think you will often find that at small colleges–you are unlikely to stay in a small school (which is usually in a small town) as a teacher, administrator or student unless you value a friendly atmosphere.</p>
<p>We haven’t really discussed community college and then transferring? My gut is it is still better to be away and “live” the college life but should a “B” student stay home and go to local CC then transfer to a university where they could complete college and earn a masters? Are there any great community colleges?</p>
<p>^^around these parts, there is definitely not a “great” community college…and given your screen name, not sure if anywhere in NJ has “great” community colleges…I have recently heard, though, very good things about Raritan Community College in New Jersey…I actually think that it was mentioned on some random ranking list reported on the Today Show a couple of weeks ago…</p>
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<p>yabeyabe2, I think it was the frats/preppie/drinking thing you mentioned which colored our visit at HWS. There was an ineffable but palpable difference between the friendly, welcoming (Upstate?) adults at Admissions and the privileged preppy students we saw walking all around campus and spoke to (Hillel was empty and locked). </p>
<p>Which is NOT at all to say that frats and drinking don’t also exist at other schools. Any naive illusions I may have once harbored about that would have been obliterated when I visited my son while he lived in the ZBT House at U of Michigan. </p>
<p>It may be that 10% of the students at HWS are Jewish, but it didn’t have that vibe.</p>
<p>I think Community Colleges are best for those for whom the financial strain of college at state colleges is overwhelming. Otherwise, I think students lose the benefits of being away from home; do not fully bond with kids or professors at either institution; and are taking a chance with the quality of their education–the students and professors can be highly motivated individuals, but often they are kids who would be better served by quality vocational training.</p>
<p>cherryhillmom, both of my older kids had friends who for a number of reasons, didn’t go away to school and attended community colleges. A few of them have done quite well, transferring after two years to excellent, nationally known schools. But I see the CC route as more for well,…the C student than the B student, or the student who isn’t ready yet and doesn’t want to go away. In some cases, when parents can’t or won’t let them go away. And it may be less a matter of whether it’s a “great” CC, but rather the time and focus it gives to the kid who attends.</p>
<p>But I don’t think any of them got the real social benefits or friendships or connections to the colleges they later attended.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ve heard more success stories about kids who went away to a “B” college for a year, did well and then transferred at the end of their first year to a school they wouldn’t have gotten into straight out of high school.</p>
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<p>DeskPotato, Admissions people may not see any of the financial aid forms, but most applications I’ve seen have a check box asking if you will be applying for financial or merit aid. Certainly the Common App does. So while admissions might not see the actual numbers, they do see how it’s checked and if checked “No”, will know that the applicant will be a full pay student.</p>
<p>mdcissp, it’s not a matter of believing that a child applying for financial aid should be denied admission, but rather the admissions person knowing (perhaps in the back of their mind) that a student will not be. And that perhaps admitting this full paying “B” student who in their mind could go either way, over that “B” student who could go either way but needs financial aid, might allow the school to offer aid or more aid to a less well off “A” students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.</p>
<p>Today was the last day that I’ll have a child start in the county schools. I’m trying to enjoy my daughter’s last year at home, but I still can’t believe how fast things went. </p>
<p>My daughter has mentioned that some friends who started college this year are already unhappy away at school. One boy already left a school in South Carolina and came back home. He’ll go to CC this fall and hopes to transfer to Towson in the Spring. It made me realize that while we’re all worrying about helping our kids get into good schools, we also need to make sure that they’re ready to handle the independence.</p>
<p>momjr - do you happen to know what school in South Carolina he left and why? He couldn’t have given it much of a chance - as you said - readiness for college and being away from home is always a consideration.</p>
<p>Regarding community colleges - here in MD - Montgomery College is a well-regarded CC and many kids from our hs do go there - and some will go right to working after earning a 2-year degree, while others will transfer to UMD or Towson. My feeling is that for the most part - these are kids with C averages in hs who really can’t get into a decent 4-year college or the financial situation is such that the kid is putting himself through college. It’s a fine option for kids in those 2 situations - but I can’t picture a B student from a middle class family going that route if they could avoid it.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom,
The school is SC was Coastal Carolina. I’m not really sure why he didn’t like it.</p>
<p>Many reasons can enter why someone wants to transfer out of college. Bad roommates, lonely, lost in the crowd, change of major, etc. This is why we are all trying to be very careful the first time.</p>
<p>Com college: I hear there are excellent students going to local community college. Not enough college savings, do not want to take loans, etc. I really don’t see anything glamorous about going away from home unless the out of town college feels like a great academic and social fit.</p>
<p>I simply wonder why the above post wants to transfer to Towon. Why Towson?</p>
<p>Mdcissp: I’m not sure why the boy wants to tranfer to Towson. I have observed that most kids from my area who go away and aren’t happy choose to transfer to either UMD, UMBC or Towson. I’m sure that cost and proximity to home are factors. I also think that it’s much easier to transfer to a school where you already have friends.</p>
<p>Perhaps if he was already accepted at Towson and then turned it down, he was able to call admisssions to see if he could get his seat back? Perhaps he doesn’t need to go through the formal app. process again. This is what happened to a friend’s D. Also, the reason that my friend’s D transferred was bc she was at an out of state public and the family could not afford the cost of that school so she transferred to her instate flagship. The instate flagship allowed my friend’s D to transfer with some simple form (not a regular app, bc she had been accepted as incoming freshman but declined that offer). Many families do not think the costs through when they choose a school, and many families have a change in financial circumstances.</p>
<p>Going back to our earlier conversation about the advantages of being full-pay - on the American Univ. forum this question came up - and there is an AU rep who takes questions on there. So, for this particular school - they are need blind in regular admissions - but not for the waitlist. Full pays will have a better shot of getting off the waitlist - which makes sense - as they have probably exhausted their FA budget by then - particularly given how pricey AU is. I also have to comment that in addition to the approximate $51,000 tuition, room & board - AU has an interesting policy where a full-time student taking between 12-17 credits is charged a flat rate of $18,090 per semester for tuition. But, if you hit 18 credits - there is a $1205 surcharge for each additional credit above 17. Not sure if this is common or unusual - just the first time I noticed such a policy.</p>
<p>Another anecdotal story about the advantage of being full-pay: at the info session at Oberlin a couple of years ago with D1, the admissions person flat out stated that being full pay was an advantage, just like being, say, an oboe player or from an under-represented part of the country. Some schools are very up front about needing a certain balance of full-pay and financial aid students to meet their budget. This is why so few schools are truly need-blind anymore.</p>
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