<p>NMH has extended the application to 2/23, when they think that the pile of applications to be read will be done. The number of applications received at the old deadline exceeded that of any past year, but new Admission director wants to keep reading or have a softer, gentler “deadline.” </p>
<p>Per NMH headmaster, number of FA aps from current and new students are up. Priority will be given to current students, but new students will still be eligible for LOTS of FA.</p>
<p>I am speculating that they wish to see more full pay applications and that is the reason for the extension.</p>
<p>Exactly. Schools are getting crushed by this current financial crisis. Harvard and Exeter are making cuts.</p>
<p>Benevolent,
What do you base your statement about H and E on? And is E cutting FA? Are you speculating or are you privy to information that the rest of us do not have access to???</p>
<p>I had the same question to Benevolent. Italianboarder posted an interesting article about E and it said basically that they weren’t cutting financial aid.</p>
<p>Do you know of any other schools that have extended their deadlines? Thanks.</p>
<p>Benevolent is right, if you read the Exonian you’ll know about the Harvard and Exeter buget cuts.</p>
<p>Everything that those institutions tell us is that the cuts SPARE FINANCIAL AID. It may be untrue, but financial aid is sacred for those institutions. Larger classes, fewer road trips, thermostats lower in the winter, lousy food, four students to a room, lights dimmed at night, salary freezes ALL BEFORE FINANCIAL AID CUTS!!! So they tell us.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure they would’nt sacrifice the privilege of students going on trips. Same goes for the larger classes and more students in a room, because as a prestigious boarding school, they would not want to undermine the student’s chances to study or learn about the things they want to. </p>
<p>Ex. Exeter can only fit certain amount of people in one room because of the Harkness table(they are in ALL classrooms). </p>
<p>Ex. Andover is going to Prague and Budapest over Spring break and Exeter is going on a little mini tour with the orchestra in the NY area.</p>
<p>But Exeter did not rescind the under $----- (whatever the figure is) for full financial aid. They did suspend a new building project, but no cuts to financial aid have been announced. They also only raised tuition for next year by only 3%, the lowest tuition raise in many years.</p>
<p>I believe NMH is doing this to get more full pay applicants. It’s the reality, all schools need more of them. NMH is smart to do this.</p>
<p>Exeter and Andover are still need blind, right? Or would they also be looking for full pay applicants?</p>
<p>Everybody is looking to cut that which is not crucial. </p>
<p>NMH students reviewed the budget were SHOCKED that the Senior Prom budget was $20,000. They deleted that they felt was extranious and the budget for the prom that they want now $7,000. Breakfast bar in classroom building was on the block, but the students government did an analysis - cut for fall and spring but not for those cold New England Winter mornings – and the administrtion went along.</p>
<p>Similarly, the facilities people recommended shutting off utilities/heat over Christmas break to some of the buildings (including the headmaster’s office) and saved $40,000. </p>
<p>School is also pulling senior teachers out of Admin and putting them in classroom.</p>
<p>The upper-level Russian program has been under subscribed for years; this budget crunch gave the impetence to announce that it would wind down in 2011. Probably should have happened 4 years ago.</p>
<p>What might be thought of as budget cuts in tough times might actually be a smarter ways of doing business. There could be an upside to all this.</p>
<p>Harvard was all over the news about a month ago. I remember it being on channel 5 WCBC (local boston channel). Exeter’s was on the Exonian. </p>
<p>And a cut doesn’t necessarily mean a cut in FA. The schools are mostly cutting salaries and stopping their lavish spendings and extravagances.</p>
<p>Some info on SPS:</p>
<p>Because the work of the Finance Committee addressed the key issue of the day – the School budget – those discussions took the lion’s share of the meeting. In his report, Committee Chairman Eric Jacobsen ’83 went back to a theme introduced by Matthews in the Rector’s report, namely the fundamental principle of academic excellence in making budget decisions. The Board agreed that maintaining a strong financial aid program is vital in keeping academic excellence at the highest level, as it keeps the School’s doors open to the widest range of candidates for admission, no matter their families’ financial background. When the Trustees meet in May to vote on the final FY10 budget, they anticipate approving an increase in financial aid to $6.8 million, an increase of 7 percent. This increase was discussed in the context of schools such as Princeton University, which in this environment is raising its financial aid budget by 13 percent. </p>
<p>In other budget considerations likely to be approved in May, SPS salaries would be frozen for the year except for those staff employees earning at the lowest levels, who would receive a small increase. Layoffs are not anticipated, although faculty and staff sizes will likely decline slightly over the next year or two due to attrition. Class sizes will also be examined with a minimum determined for numbers of students except in those areas such as higher-level mathematics and other curricula in which the most advanced students would otherwise have no course offerings to challenge them. In hiring new administrators, successful candidates will be those who can demonstrate skills necessary to teach a class as well as talent in their administrative area.</p>
<p>nice to see that SPS is still able to give out lots of FA.</p>
<p>Except that that statement from SPS can be interpreted in multiple ways. Maybe the 7% increase is the minimum necessary just to support those students already enrolled and asking for more support. Maybe it is not earmarked for new FA enrollees. Maybe new enrollees will get less than in past years. In fact, if the FA budget is up only 7% in difficult economic circumstances maybe the slice of the pie that new enrollees get is smaller than in previous years. If you figure in a 2-3% increase in tuition, that alone chews into the 7% figure. Everyones bill is up 2-3%, so a 7% increase in aid does not truly represent a 7% increase relative to past years.</p>