<p>Collegebubblenet, you have touched upon a very sensitive point in college admissions and allocation of funds. Schools know that if they have, say $100K in funds to give out, it can give out two close to full ride financial aid (with some PELL, STaffords, work study) . Kids who need that kind of money are not likely to have much leeway as their families simply do not have enough money to meet living expenses in many cases. Even awards of that size are going to stretch the family budgets because they simply cannot afford to pay a cent and in some cases may be losing money in sending the kid away to school. So, those full need kids are likely to need more money in the future and are going to be hard pressed for funds throughout college. </p>
<p>But what if one takes that same $100k and awards it to ten kids as merit money or as generous financial aid to those who just qualify for need barely. Throw in that Stafford UNSUB as a buffer and steer the parents to PLUS, and you are making a $60K price tag look doable. Offer it up to kids who may be borderline for admissions and for whom this was their reach school, and you got some winners here. You buy a lot more for your buck there. </p>
<p>We did not qualify for financial aid, but had a family cap of $35K for what we, the parents would pay. That put schools edging towards the $60K COA in the unaffordable category. But a few schools came up with $7-15K in merit money, plus their sticker price was on the other side of mid $50s. My son had some savings and he works summers and was willing to work during the school year. Some of those schools had good job possiblities on campus, plus cheap off campus digs were plentiful and a lot of kids, in fact most of them, went that route after freshman, definitely after sophomore years. Throw in the Stafford, and those schools were edging close to affordable. Plus my son was grateful to be offered scholarships. </p>
<p>I’m not sure why that article felt that schools like BC and Notre Dame should feel uneasy sleeping at night as they give very little out to merit. THey don’t play the game that way. The vast, vast majority of their funds for admissions go for FINANCIAL aid. Need base. Though within need, merit can also make a difference in how generous your package is, there does have to be the need component. Some of these school will focus on those student who need the least and try to buy what they can afford rather than pay what other students who have the need cannot afford.</p>