Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid

Parents Forum
21

<p>Curmudgeon is right on, Hamilton is notorious for working the “merit within need” angle to the max. I think they have something like 9 different tiers of merit-within-need possibilities, some of which other schools would consider over the line into true merit scholarships.</p>

<p>Still, call me a Pollyanna, but I’m not quite a cynical as some about Hamilton’s motivations. They probably did not yield a lot of the kids who were offered merit aid at Hamilton but who also had full-need-based offers from the Ivies or the likes of Williams, Amherst, or Swat. </p>

<p>But I’ll bet that they yielded a decent chunk of the kids who were gazing in the opposite direction: the academic stars who wanted a Northeast LAC and had generous merit from both Hamilton and slightly lower-tiered schools. (Most of Hamilton’s “top-25” Northeast LAC overlaps do not offer merit aid, so they were almost unique among their competitors in staying in the game for the students who’d decided that they required merit money.) They will now lose many more of those kids, I suspect.</p>

22

<p>If I am not mistaken, the term ‘grants’ is used in need based FA. If your financial landscape does not change, your grants would in theory remain the same.</p>

23

<p>You’re right, cur, my statements are my interpretation and I don’t have access to all the facts. Your experience, though, leads me to believe that even under the old merit system Hamilton had, it was a magic show. “Merit within need?” What the heck is that, and why does one student’s need merit more aid? </p>

<p>This mystery does not just surround Hamilton and I don’t mean to pick on them, it’s just they made an announcement. The figures that matter to individual students are the ones printed on the aid packages they receive in April. Compare and contrast, and make sure you know what to expect in subsequent years.</p>

24

<p>

I like the way MM88 phrases this…“decided they required merit money.” It takes all the moral posturing, thrashing & gnashing of teeth out of the equation. If I decide I require merit, but you decide not to offer it, the equation isn’t balanced. So I’ll look elsewhere & another student will take my seat.</p>

25

<p>

</p>

<p>Grants mean scholarship (usually connoting non-merit). But many FA aid offers also include two other elements, work-study and loans, so the proportion among the three can change dramatically, while the school is still meeting the full calculated need. That’s what “merit-within-need” means: “we’ll give you all grant money, with no scholarship or loan.”</p>

26

<p>I thought that “merit-within-need” meant that a student must have demonstrated financial need before any of the money became available. But that once need was established, merit was part of the determination for what program or scholarship into which the student would be slotted.</p>

27

<p>I have heard of several schools who make Hamilton look like a piker with the “merit within need” game. Starting with schools that find need when no other school does. LOL. D was offered substantial merit within need at every school that met 100% of need except Amherst and Yale. I have no idea what the heck you have to do to get that. Please super religious folks don’t take offense (I apologize in advance) but I have heard Jesus had to pay his full profile efc + w/s and loans. </p>

<p>There are many variations of merit within need or what I prefer to call “preferential packaging”. IMO ALL, yes ALL schools do it. From HYP down. We just didn’t see any of it from her top schools.</p>

28

<p>ss, what you say is not incorrect, it’s just not correct. :wink: One story told on the board was about Bucknell finding a $15K need where no other school found any. I believe the consensus last year is that any EFC below 110-120% of COA, you need to file if your kid is top of the mark.</p>

29

<p>“There are many variations of merit within need or what I prefer to call “preferential packaging”. IMO ALL, yes ALL schools do it. From HYP down. We just didn’t see any of it from her top schools.”</p>

<p>From where I sit, ALL cost-of-attending discounts are “merit aid”.</p>

30

<p>(Oh well, might as well say it all again. This will be long but maybe there are some noobs.)</p>

<p>Another example is schools that change the formula by which they assess need for their top students. One of D’s schools, a Profile school, became Fafsa only for their scholarship kids (plus no loans - sweet). </p>

<p>Another just raised the COA for recipients of their best “honor” to a really big number so that the grant would be bigger. This is a little known way they play the game. Let’s say normally on your FA offer COA - EFC = award which will be met as grant + loans + work study + sometimes a student contribution/summer earnings number. Many times at many schools COA for this purpose is tuition and fees, room and board. Not very complete, huh? It would look like this : </p>

<p>COA $40K - Profile EFC of let’s say $20K = $20K award consisting of $12 K grant + $3,000 loan + $2,000 W/S + $3,000 summer earnings. Keep your eye on the ball :wink: the $12K grant, the shell game starts now. LOL. The way they play their 3 card monte is to use one or all of the following devices - </p>

<p>1) COA becomes magically a more accurate $46K including books, full board (instead of a lesser plan), and generous travel expenses. (They raise it to $46K and meet that with grant. You just made $6K. A year. LOL.
2)They will change from your Profile EFC of $20k (more asset driven) to your Fafsa EFC of let’s say $15K (more income driven). This is especially helpful to those with huge depreciation deductions and other things that are added back in by many schools. Also great for ranchers as the family farm is NOT included as an asset IF you reside there. $ for You, Ca-ching! $5K
3) Research scholarships are added that can be used for seminar trips, study in the summer. You choose. Well, thank you very much! This is found money.
4) sometimes instead of adding travel to COA they will give you a separate travel grant. $$$
5) no summer earnings requirement (which becomes cash again in the form of a higher grant). $3K
6) The aforementioned waiver of loans and workstudy. Another $5k in your grant. ;)</p>

<p>D was a grateful recipient of all of those at one or more schools. As you can see if you add that up the award is now $46K - $15K Fafsa EFC (or whatever the diff may be) = $31K award which is met with no loans or work study or summer contribution (ALL cash) plus she gets $3500 for research. </p>

<p>Remember where the “ball” is? LOL $31K grant versus a $12K grant. Both at need only schools meeting 100% of need. . Apples to apples in FA? More like apples to ironing boards. ;)</p>

<p>That $19K difference would be more than would be usual in preferential packaging but D’s was $14K different (between Colgate and Yale, to be precise). :wink: </p>

<p>Obviously this is dramatic but if you really want to blow your mind and all your pre-conceived notions of merit aid at need only schools think about this . They give you $31K of the direct costs of $40K in our example , paid for by grant (direct costs are R+B, tuition and fees) , leaving you with $9K and you can still get your loan and your workstudy if you want it. $3000 and $2000. So out of pocket the family pays direct costs of $40K with a $31K grant, $3K in loans, and $2K in W/S and they shell out of pocket $4K of the $40K direct costs. Capische? </p>

<p>It’s a wonderfully complex world, isn’t it?</p>

31

<p>“Obviously this is dramatic but if you really want to blow your mind and all your pre-conceived notions of merit aid at need only schools think about this . They give you $31K of the direct costs of $40K in our example , paid for by grant (direct costs are R+B, tuition and fees) , leaving you with $9K and you can still get your loan and your workstudy if you want it. $3000 and $2000. So out of pocket the family pays direct costs of $40K with a $31K grant, $3K in loans, and $2K in W/S and they shell out of pocket $4K of the $40K direct costs. Capische?”</p>

<p>Other than no loans required, this pretty precisely describes what my d. ultimately got, except that there was a travel grant to India, Cambodia, and Thailand, a $2k paid summer internship, free music lessons, a paid research assistantship in the first two years, help with travel to Italy this year, and (we expect), more coming next year. </p>

<p>Yes, preferential packaging.</p>

32

<p>mini, you and I are the poster parents of preferential packaging. ;)</p>

33

<p>Mini, I think your daughter should have gone to a higher ranked school. ;)</p>

<p>Yours too, Curmudgeon. :)</p>

34

<p>No thanks. She’s finestkind amd heading to Spain.;)</p>

35

<p>People should hire you guys.</p>

36

<p>“Mini, I think your daughter should have gone to a higher ranked school.”</p>

<p>Could have gone (under relatively similar financial conditions) to #1 LAC which recruited her, but for what she wanted, it is decidedly inferior.</p>

<p>I think 'mudge is likely to agree me that, as important as the finances, are the opportunities that are preferentially packaged.</p>

37

<p>Mini, to be clear, I was kidding about the rankings. </p>

<p>Awesome deal and awesome education.</p>

38

<p>

</p>

<p>They certainly gild an already attractive lily. So to speak. ;)</p>

<p>

And yet here we are , giving it away. Sheesh. </p>

<p>LOL. In my case, as the recipient of countless kindnesses on this board that helped D get where she is (I’m not the best student), I’m just trying to pay it forward.</p>

39

<p>does anyone think that any of the highly selective colleges wouldn’t resort to merit aid if there was a dramatic slippage in their applicant pool? It is very easy to be “pure” if there are no consequences to your actions.</p>

40

<p>What we are trying to tell you is that they have ALREADY resorted to “merit aid” - they just call it something different. That’s what Princeton’s no-loan policy for top 20%ers is all about. (To be fair, it is likely that they were already worried about “slippage” in that some candidates were, or were expected to, accept those full-rides at Vanderbilt and Emory, etc.)</p>