I filled out DS16’s CSS Profile when he did his Princeton SCEA application, and we just got the marvelous news that he was accepted!
They calculated a family contribution of approximately $40,000 with an institutional grant for the rest.
The numbers I used accounted for private school tuition for his younger brother. Younger brother is on an IEP. Per his process and meetings that occurred between the Princeton paperwork and today, we learned that he will need to be in public school next year, with some additional tutoring and camp and services related to the IEP. There will be about a 10K reduction in our educational costs for the brother.
A couple of questions:
- If we're not yet sure that Princeton is "the one" then is it premature to talk to their FA office about this change?
- Should we assume that there will be a dollar-for-dollar increase in our family contribution for the reduction in costs for the brother?
- Will P allow for the kinds of additional SpEd expenses in lieu of private school tuition as "allowed expenses" or whatever they consider them, in terms of actually reducing our aid only dollar-for-dollar, or would they decide that in public school, he should have no additional educational costs permitted?
Thank you!
Really you will have to ask Princeton, I wouldn’t assume there would be any change to your aid though.
Not premature to ask Princeton’s FA dept. They understand that your son is trying to make an informed decision - and by the way, congrats to him for getting into Princeton.
I would not expect them to decrease their aid dollar for dollar, especially if you are upfront with them explaining the additional SpEd expenses, sounds like a good portion of the decreased tuition will be eaten up by the summer programs, etc. This is precisely why the FA application includes a section for you to add “additional information”
Could you explain why your son applied SCEA if he is not sure if Princeton is “the one”?
@3puppies thank you! I think if not for financials P would be a clear favorite.
update - I called Princeton’s FA today (first I emailed thinking whenever I got a reply, I’d call, if they were closed this week). They said that they didn’t see a big impact of the changes in tuition, and certainly not more than the difference, which is a huge relief!
@3puppies, curious about your question:
Are you suggesting that it’s inappropriate for an applicant to apply SCEA unless they for sure will enroll?
@GnocchiB @3puppies - yes, this is a good question.
I thought that while ED is “for sure the one, committing, will you marry me” that SCEA is more, “you’re my favorite more than any other is my favorite, to the extent I have a favorite, and I think we might be a good match, let’s explore being monogamous for a while” whereas EA is, “I’m kind of interested in you, want to hook up early maybe?” and RD is, “Hi.”
^^^ Great new nomenclature with an assist from DD:
ED = “we’re engaged”
SCEA = “you’re my BAE”
EA = “I wanna hook up”
RD = “It’s not that serious”
Hoping I won’t get in trouble with the moderators for any of the above terminology . . .
After asking my DS to explain “BAE” I even understood it!
Thanks for the update, and for the good news.
As for the question in post # 7, am I suggesting that it is inappropriate to apply early unless the applicant is willing to enroll, I guess my answer depends on the situation.
If the applicant’s financial situation is such that they have run the NPC, and are happy with the numbers, and there is no expectation that the NPC might not be accurate for reasons like family business, etc, , then I don’t think they should be applying early unless they are willing to enroll if accepted.
I am admittedly not an expert on the early application process, as it seems to me to be of most benefit to the very poor, or wealthy applicants only. For the majority of applicants who need to compare financial aid offers to make an informed decision, it doesn’t seem like applying early is the way to go. Especially if there are any restrictions on where else you can apply.
@3puppies, Early Decision (a binding contract) is a different beast than Single Choice Early Action, also known as Restrictive Early Action, under which there is no obligation to enroll if admitted and the admitted kid has until May 1st to commit. From the Princeton website:
If you are admitted for early action, you will have until May 1 to respond, enabling you to compare your admission and financial aid offers with those of other institutions where you may have applied under regular decision.
To your 2nd point, there have been some interesting recent threads about the relative merits of applying to REA schools and whether it’s “worth” it for the applicant to constrain him/herself from other early apps. It’s an interesting debate and one that each applicant/family should consider.
IMO, if Princeton wanted/needed all kids accepted SCEA to commit, they could change their program to ED … but they have not, and likely will not for important institutional reasons.
All of this is to say that I don’t see any moral problem with the OP’s son applying SCEA to Princeton and waiting for other universities’ financial aid packages/merit scholarship offers to come in before making a final decision. Nothing within the “four corners” of the Princeton application process information suggests otherwise. You may have a personal, family opinion that differs but under the terms spelled out, the OP’s son is doing nothing wrong.
