Middle Class Mexican-American

entomom
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 22:08:34 +0000

possibly you could make some kind of deal with these ivy league schools that want you to contribute substantially, or whichever ones it is that want you to pay, like that if they make the cost zero for you, your son will go there, but if not he’s going somewhere else that’s not charging you guys a penny.



Highly selective colleges that give only need based FA tend to only match other need based FA offers from peer schools. It is very rare that they will match a merit award from a non-peer college.



as a “minority” student with the qualifications he has he’s way more precious to a lot of these prestigious schools then anything they could be charging you for him to attend. they would easily fold and give him a full scholarship if you made that the condition for him attending i think.



While the OPs S is very accomplished, competition is extremely strong at the highly selective colleges, including for Hispanic candidates.

OP, one more thing to consider with Outside scholarships is how colleges will deal with them. It varies by school, so you need to read the college websites for specifics. Many of the need only schools will first apply Outside scholarships towards WS and loans, and then against grants. This can still be beneficial, for instance, D1 went to a no loan school and her Outside scholarship was applied towards her WS amount every year, thus relieving her somewhat from working as many hours as she would have needed to to recoup that money. If you are receiving no FA other than loans, it can help offset some loans. However, if is being used to replace grant aid, then it may not actually reduce the amount you pay.