<p>“And mini, as wonderful as your d is, if you found a similar student from a wealthy home, she wouldn’t be given all those perks. If you are helping newbies sort out the college $$ mess, you have to be clear that while YOU consider her awards to be all merit, they are indeed linked to need.”</p>
<p>But that’s just the thing. HALF of it, even by the school’s definitions, were linked to need, and half were NOT! (Same in 'mudge’s case). The perks - the paid research assistantships and the paid internships are NOT awarded based on need, and I’m sure they weren’t in 'mudge’s case either. </p>
<p>“We are a hard lot to impress and more than a tad suspicious of anyone who claims to be our betters.”</p>
<p>Well, then you are SURE to get a better deal across the street (at Emory or Vanderbilt) rather than Princeton, and maybe a better education (I’ll leave that to others to decide.)</p>
<p>“But that’s just the thing. HALF of it, even by the school’s definitions, were linked to need, and half were NOT! (Same in 'mudge’s case). The perks - the paid research assistantships and the paid internships are NOT awarded based on need, and I’m sure they weren’t in 'mudge’s case either.”</p>
<p>well that may be true. However, the entry point for those wonderful thing might be ‘need’ - whatever their definition might be. Those magical freebies happen after your app has cleared the first hurdle.</p>
<p>“well that may be true. However, the entry point for those wonderful thing might be ‘need’ - whatever their definition might be. Those magical freebies happen after your app has cleared the first hurdle.”</p>
<p>Half the students who have 'em receive no “need-based” aid.</p>
<p>Speaking only for myself , I have no trouble saying that :</p>
<p>some of the awards my D received would NOT have been received by a student with an EFC (found by that school) higher than (what that school chose to use as) her COA. ;)</p>
<p>My sole purpose was to point out that what was inside the ()'s was as important as that outside the ()'s.</p>
<p>It was also not my intention to give false hope to those outside the category for whom a “drunken sailor” review would find need. If you are THAT far over - you gots no chance at those awards. That number will vary based on your own particulars and the expense of the school. </p>
<p>I don’t really know how else to put it.</p>
<p>D only had three need only schools. Colgate, Yale, and Amherst. She was preferentially packaged at Colgate, not at Amherst or Yale. (Edit: Colgate awards as an “AMS” of her travel grant, her research grant and other perks - she would get whether she had need or not. ) At Hamilton and Scripps her awards were also like mini’s D’s at Smith. She was preferentially packaged at both on her need aid. At her other schools including Rhodes her merit awards were so great there was zero need found. As such , they were solely merit awards.</p>
<p>so removing the ~$10,000 room/board/book/travel/beer and drugs etc cost from consideration, leaving only the tuition portion of ~$35,000,…what is a reasonable amount for a family with a $100,000 annual income to pay for a harvard education? Is that a clear question? Is a family with an income of 100 grand a family of suckers if they pay 15,000 per year for the tuition portion? How bout 20 grand? I tend to remove the room and board since it is roughly the same eveywhere and if I could live on 10 grand a year, wow. Would Harvard be worth 15,000 more than a school on the perceived level of let’s say Skidmore?
I’m just wondering at what point the tire kicking stops and you take door number 2,…</p>
<p>Speaking again solely for me, Ro, I’d have to see the final numbers and the schools involved and know the kid and their family as well as I could before I’d know what my advice would be. I don’t see it as a "number " like it’s worth $20K more , even if we are dealing with a families with the same $100K income. It will vary probably between full payment of tuition and a few grand.</p>
<p>“Well, then you are SURE to get a better deal across the street (at Emory or Vanderbilt) rather than Princeton, and maybe a better education (I’ll leave that to others to decide.)”</p>
<p>Yeah but of course price isn’t everything. Hamilton College could be free and I wouldn’t send my kid there. The place couldn’t get more radically leftwing. Susan Rosenberg, Ward Churchill, college president who commits plagiarism, freshman cocain dealers - yeah very pretigious school.</p>
<p>higherlead, have you ever even set foot on the campus? If so, I can’t imagine how my moderate D felt so comfortable. On what do you base your opinion of Hamilton? Their writing program is fantastic. Their new science building is top notch. The mix of preps and arty types is just about right. It is every bit as prestigious as its top twenty ranking would suggest. And if you think it’s radically leftwing - you are in for some real surprises elsewhere. LOL. </p>
<p>D and I loved the school. It’s the school where she said “Dad. Even the hockey players are smart.”;)</p>
<p>I only know what Hamilton gets its name in the papers for doing. If terrorists like Rosenberg and ersatz Indians like Churchill are what they choose to spend their money on then I think it is safe to say the serious pursuit of knowledge is not what the place is all about. It is a madrassa for leftwing bomb throwers and an echo chamber for their poisonous ideology.</p>
<p>Way OT. I’ll be glad to move the discussion to a p.m. or a new thread rather than junk this one up with Hamilton talk.
</p>
<p>Is that offered in the spring? Or just the fall? </p>
<p>Seriously, I researched the hub-bub about Ward Churchill and was not put off by it. I was actually quite appreciative of the Hamilton alums who stood steadfast against censorship, even censorship of an idiot. I don’t appreciate shout downs of conservative idiots, either.</p>
<p>Yes they don’t want to censor an idiot because an idiot has so much to contribute to a persons education. At the same time they did turn down a $3.5 million gift rather than have the Alexander Hamilton Institute on campus. God forbid susceptible young minds might be exposed to ideas not thoroughly vetted by the campus commissars.</p>
<p>Anyway be glad to drop it. Hamilton doesn’t really interest me. My point was simply that prestige, quality, and price are not necessarily related.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever heard of merit aid scholarships for early entrant students.
(Students going to college after 10th or 11th grade.) My son cannot apply to all the community scholarships because they state high school graduates.
That’s stupid. You aren’t rewarding someone for getting a high school diploma,you are helping someone go to college and any point.</p>
<p>Terry, hmmmmm. I don’t think any of the college (institutional, not outside) merit scholarships I have researched say “High school diploma required for merit scholarship consideration.” I believe that if the student is qualified for admission as a freshman at the college they are eligible for the merit awards that school gives. The exceptions MIGHT be those requiring class rank , Val or Sal status, etc. And I think as a matter of timing the National Merit scholarships are not available to a 10-11th grader because they haven’t been selected as a merit finalist. </p>
<p>Other than that I think he’s good to go.</p>
<p>If you asking about private scholarships not tied to a particular school , well - I didn’t research those. Fastweb is all I’ve got for you.</p>
<p>rorosen – you need to supply more variables: # in family; family’s assets. $100K income in a 2-parent family with 1 kid and $500K in savings is a very different story than $100K earnings in a 2-parent family with 6 kids and $50K in saving. </p>
<p>In general, I’d guess that a family in that income bracket would qualify for a small amount of need based aid, but would definitely be paying a lot more for Harvard than the full cost of their in-state public.</p>
<p>A different viewpoint…Son received all merit, all costs at our top 50 public. They treat him VERY,VERY well. Although he is not one for “awards” he is working his tail off toward those national college awards in order to “pay back” his college. They gave and in turn he wants to give back. He is in love with his school and I have no doubt they will be high on his donation list for many years . This was a very “high value merit award” for the college.</p>
<p>sax, what national college awards? Like a Goldwater scholarship? And I must still be asleep because I just can’t get my head around “very high value merit award for the college”. Wouldn’t any “all costs” scholarship be by its nature a very high value merit award for the college presentimg it? Heck, I wonder about “different viewpoint” too. Sheesh. Maybe I should just go back to bed. I really apologize for being so dense but I’m limited on my coffee intake and I’m saving my ration cards for brunch at 10:00. This is one of those times I need two translators, even for my supposed mother tongue. One for what someone is saying and one for what they are not. ;)</p>
<p>calmom, I understand the quagmire of variables. But would you be not willing to say that harvard is always worth one thousand more than full cost at an above average state U? then how about 5 thousand? just wondering at what point the choice becomes tricky. Leaving behind the rare and really unique arrangements that a few students make with individual schools, in general if thinking purely of tuition, with Harvard around 35 and state school around 10 (I guess at these figures) leaving a gap of 25K, or 100 difference over 4 years, which clearly is a lot of money, what part of that, without getting picky, would be justifiable in absolute terms, that is, the meaning of a harvard education in all its nuances?
Isn’t there some way to arrive at the value of a dollar without consdidering the hand that holds it?</p>