Parents of the HS Class of 2025 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
3029

You maybe know this, having already been there and done that, but for others, it’s my understanding that the Ivy’s don’t do merit aid, but many of the other privates do. My older son got offers in the $25k - $30k range so you never know.

But being a CA person, you may also run into the same thing I did with him - one of the schools that was recruiting him (a D3, so no athletic scholarships, only merit or need) asked us to do both an academic and a financial aid pre-read. I suggested we didn’t need to do the financial aid pre-read, I knew we wouldn’t get any based on income. They said oh, do the CSS Profile, it’s more detailed than the FAFSA, maybe you’ll get something. So we filled it out. AND BOY WAS IT MORE DETAILED! Among the questions it asked were (1) what is the tax assessed value of your home and (2) what do you owe on your mortgage.

Which is why I mentioned you might be in the same boat. I live in an expensive suburb outside of DC. You live in CA, which seems to be expensive pretty much everywhere. If you look at the assessed value of my home, because we’ve owned it for 20 years and the market has improved, it looks like there’s lots of money available if I, you know, take it out of MY HOUSE.

The letter I got back re: financial aid was, if nothing else, honest “we have found that you do not demonstrate financial need at this time, and we will not award need based aid. Further, even when your younger sibling attends college, you still will not be in a position such that there would be demonstrated need leading to financial aid.”

I mean, I wasn’t expecting anything else, we make good salaries and we are not the people for whom need based aid is most important. But no way am I spending close to $80k/year (or more, now) on school by taking it out of my house. There are plenty of excellent schools for less money or that offer merit aid. That was the one school on his list that wasn’t either (1) outright at or below the budgeted cost we agreed to or (2) a school that has historically given such significant levels of merit aid that it would be more likely than not that it would fall to at or below the budgeted cost we agreed to.

Anyhoo, sorry for the long rant. We got the financial aid pre-read right around this time before his senior year started, so apparently three years hasn’t been enough for me to stop being alternately flabbergasted and amused by the response we got.

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3030

A lot of second tier private colleges give great merit scholarships, often so the total cost will rival in state options. Worth taking a look at their web sites. My test optional 3.7GPA d23 got over 260K in first year merit offers from the 13 schools she was accepted to. Yes, I added it up :slight_smile:

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3031

But, of course, keep in mind that $30k from, say, Duke (COA ~$82k) is, from the point of view of those paying for college, way less generous than $20k from the University of Utah (COA ~$47k).

People like to talk about eye-popping merit aid offers in pure dollar terms, but when combined with eye-popping sticker prices, well, the aid might not be that great after all.

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3032

You may not qualify for need based aid, but might be surprised with merit aid. Privates are aware how much in-state tuition Californians pay. The Common App has a section where students indicate the colleges that their parents and siblings attend(ed). In order to lure a student that they want, they know they need to be financially competitive.

Merit aid goes to top applicants. If trying for merit aid, I strongly recommend including standardized test scores (even if admission is TO). Essays need to be worked on and refined. They need to speak from the student’s voice. They are different from PIQs. It will take additional effort - both in studying for the ACT and in writing additional essays. She may not be up for it.

Has she visited Chapman, USC and LMU? Maybe take a trip just to see the film programs. Let her see smaller colleges and privates schools. If she comes away still saying “UCLA or die” then you have your answer.

Even though the CSS asks for the information, not all schools not consider equity of the primary home. For example, Princeton, USC, Stanford, UChicago, Wash U, MIT and Harvard do not consider home equity when determining financial need.

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3033

As usual, dfbdfb, a great point.

3034

Thank for your info. She’ll likely apply to USC, as they can be pretty generous with their grants. Plus, it’s the Harvard of the film schools.

We will narrowly target a few other test-optional schools that do provide merit aid.

Chapman and LMU have strong film programs.

3035

Pay attention to which schools consider demonstrated interest (ex. Chapman). USC does not consider it for admissions, but may use it in determining whether or not to offer merit aid to a student.

Also pay attention to ED and EA. Since your other kids went to UCs, you didn’t have to deal with that.

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3036

Keep in mind that TO is quickly becoming test preferred/recommended. Stanford just announced they will require tests for HS’26. IMO that is a strong indication that they see value in tests and HS’25 should send scores.

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3037

One of D25’s choices is going back to ED instead of EA for this cycle. Do any of you plan on doing ED? I’m frustrated about this because she was planning on doing EA and I don’t think we can afford to do ED in case she doesn’t get the scholarships/grants she’d need to attend.

3038

You should run the NPC but if you need scholarships to bridge the gap I would hesitate. Which school is doing this?

3039

posting this in the 2025 thread for next year…

If anyone is looking for a High School
or College summer internship look up the Democracy Summer Fellows. The program was started by congressman Jamie Raskin (D, MD-08)

It’s a national program with 10 students in each of 100 local democratic battleground districts. They learn the democratic process, do canvassing, phone banking etc. for 10 hrs a week and then have 5 hrs of educational seminars. If they complete the summer they get $750 stipend plus a great experience and resume builder. Because it’s a national program they get some major speakers (eg John Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Laurence Tribe, AOC, etc).

This link goes to Jamie’s site though the hiring is handled by each local office. Democracy Summer - Jamie Raskin for Congress

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3040

D25 is applying ED but we are full pay.

3041

My kid wants to apply ED to their super reach dream school. We need FA, but the school is pretty good about aid. It’s a long shot and if they shoot their shot and get in we will make it work. Probably not the best plan, but again, it’s very reachy and who knows.

3042

Run the “net price calculator” on the school’s website. If the price it tells you they will charge your family works, screenshot the results, then apply ED without reservation. However, if the price you are given by the net price calculator is not within the budget, then you should not apply ED.

Every school uses a slightly different formula so you will have to complete the price calculator on each and every college website

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3043

Absolutely - one school offered $15k, but was appreciably less expensive to start with than the ones that offered more merit. It’s the price at the end of the day that matters.

Of course, that said, of the four serious contenders at the end of the day (one school had no merit, so was too expensive; one school had tremendous merit, but was much weaker in his major) my kid ended up picking the most expensive. It was $3k over our budgeted amount, and I told him we could find the extra $3k. What I hadn’t really counted on was the tuition going up every year. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that, but I didn’t.

He moved off campus to a much less expensive housing situation, and he cooks all his own meals so what we give him for food is much less than his freshman year meal plan and that offsets the increased tuition cost some. Still, I wish I had been thinking about that more at the beginning. I don’t think we would have done anything differently, but I would have been more clear-eyed.

S25 is, fortunately, looking at schools that tend to start lower. We’ll see where all of this goes.

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3044

Fortunately, the UCs have a Tuition Stability Plan. Tuition Stability Plan | UC Admissions

It is a multiyear plan starting fall 2022 that sets UC tuition for undergraduates, both freshmen and transfer students, at the time of enrollment, with the expectation that those charges should remain at that same level each following year for the duration of their college careers, up to six academic years.

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3045

We’re not doing ED–at least for ED1. The ballet piece makes ED impossible. The caveat for us is that if all goes awry and she ends up not passing pre-screens/early auditions (hoping to get at least 4 of her top 6 done in the fall), she might actively re-think her list, and then she might reconsider, bc that list will likely be more psych driven than BFA driven. But I’m unclear if ED2 holds the same benefit (whatever that is) as ED1.

I agree with @TonyGrace that I wouldn’t ED if the NPCs don’t show that the college is affordable. At bare minimum, I would reach out to the school to talk to someone in financial aid to see if they can help you figure out if it seems viable.

3046

if you dont mind sharing where is s23 going for college and what is his major? Does d25 have a school and major in mind yet?

3047

S23 got in a music major to Syrac use. He was a 3.3 gpa but 35 ACT.
D25 is a 3.2 gpa and will go test optional.

Very little overlap of their lists.

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3048

No ED here, not least because I find the use of ED by colleges borderline (and maybe not even borderline) unethical.

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