Thank you, I appreciate the tutorial!
If I look on ProPublica and compare Revenue vs. Expenses, how much more revenue than expenses do I want to see? What about Assets vs. Liabilities, how big of a margin?
More revenue than expenses is good. Breaking even is IMO equally good—it isn’t fully analogous to a for-profit corporation, where you worry if profits are tiny.
Assets vs liabilities are trickier, and this is where it’s best to rely on the professionals. If there are outstanding bonds, they’ve been rated by S&P, Moody’s, or Fitch, and those can be looked up (though sometimes with difficulty). Go with those. Anything investment grade is good. The problem is that you can’t get this for colleges that don’t have any outstanding bonds, or those that do but they were initially issued so many years ago that the rating is kind of stale. There you have to go more by gut instinct, but once you’ve looked around at other information and seen how it feeds together, you develop a feel for it. (Though you have to be careful of both wishcasting and falling into the Dunning-Kruger trap.)
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I am a huge fan personally of these schools (Susq, for example)…but I wouldn’t be too worried about UD or West Chester either.
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Why are you a huge fan? We love them too but would love to hear your perspective!
I feel that these smaller private schools can and do spend more one on one time with students than the state universities can without the cutthroat pressure that you find at the Harvards and Yale’s of the world. For some people, the state U is definitely the way to go…a lot of research is going on, you can blend into the crowd when you want, skip some classes and no one will notice, attend some high profile sporting events, etc. It’s a great atmosphere and lots of opportunity if that’s your thing. I, personally, am not a person that likes crowds or likes being lost in the background. I went to Lebanon Valley. I was able to walk onto the varsity swim team, I had one on one sessions with professors in my major on day 1, I was in classes from 5 to 20 people the entire time I was there (except organic chem which was about 40), all the professors knew my name and I knew where to find them. When I had an enrollment issue for a class, the registrar knew my name when I walked in to discuss it. The research facilities were certainly not what Penn State had, but I had access to all of what they did have almost immediately. They were focused on teaching undergraduate students… and I’ve seen similar at many, many other MD,PA, and NY smaller private schools. It fit my personality and what I wanted from a college experience. I went on to a Doctorate program at JHU and as a TA there teaching freshman Physics, I was immediately reminded why I did NOT want to go there for undergraduate. I would have been swallowed whole by the nature of the students and the large classes and I would not have fit in. Hopefully that helps.
I should also add, that UD was my second choice for both undergrad and graduate school…I almost did it. For me, I wish I had done graduate there, but I’m glad I did undergrad at LVC.
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I’m equally worried about the Department of Education getting gutted/shut down. If so, it sounds like education standards, financial aid/loans, student protection against discrimination, etc. would get handled by the states? Who knows.
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Thank you for such a thoughtful response, I will have my D read it after she has results in hand.
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Can I vent about consistency of school policies? Should all school academic recognition be based on the same system - either weighted or unweighted GPA? Does it make sense for Honor Roll recognition to be the weighted GPA and athletic academic recognition to be the unweighted GPA?? It’s the same school. Be consistent. So D will be invited to the Honor Roll lunch, but then be left sitting at the table the next week when they recognize student athletes for grades at her sports banquet. Students taking a full load of AP and DE classes should be rewarded and not penalized for choosing a rigorous schedule. Make it make sense!! Vent over.
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Joining this conversation very late in the game (have a DD1 graduating this year!), but what on earth is this? I googled and read, is this something else I have to worry about now? I encouraged DD to apply to lesser known SLACS in PA, MD, VA in hopes of good merit scholarships. Which she got and will be a huge help in paying for college. She will also continue to work through summers and during the school year to help fund her schooling (she currently works at a Starbucks in a Target and loves it and the pay is very good). The articles I read sound like this bill could be a double whammy for kids that receive a lot of scholarships/grants and also work.
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Yeah, this would be very, very, very bad—and would have the side effect of making private colleges affordable only for the very wealthy.
Given that it would hit the (broadly defined) middle class hard, though, I can’t imagine it making it through—it’s the sort of issue people will vote on across partisan lines if it happens.
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Yes, but keep an eye on the budget reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority (not a supermajority) to pass. In other words, the votes are there if this gets added to the budget proposal. Not sure how many would vote across party lines, to be honest.
I mean, my guess is that there are a handful who learned from the SALT cap fiasco—that was most definitely not the only reason the GOP lost their majority in 2018, but there were some surprise upsets involved that almost certainly came down to that.
This would be the same thing, but a lot bigger.
Well, my sense is that the legislative environment is completely different now. (Not to mention the hostility against higher education in some corners.) But, I am hoping that you are right! Next fall, I’ll have two (!) kids at private colleges.
A lot of damage can be done between now and the next election, though. There should be vocal opposition like there was to the grant freezes for those bipartisan voices to be heard now.
Oh, agreed, most certainly!
Oh trust me, we’ve been leaning hard into merit money with C25. Multiple full-tuition merit options and at least one full ride are on the table. If tuition merit scholarships are taxed as income, perhaps it makes more sense to look at the published COA rather than the net price after merit.
I’m so sorry to hear about their low merit offer. I hope your son’s new first choice is amazing. We have found several more affordable programs with comparable classes. Sadly, the dorms don’t have ocean view although some have lake views!
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S25 wrote to two of his schools, asking for them to reconsider his FA award. The responses couldn’t have been more different. Neither school came close to two other schools with their awards, although one was closer than the other. The school farthest away in terms of money offered wrote back with a message: “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.” The second school responded with, “Of course we will reconsider! We understand that our initial review may not consider the full financial picture. Please fill out this online form, upload any documentation, and you will have an answer within 7 days.”
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There is a discussion about the bill in the political forum. https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/proposal-to-apply-us-federal-income-tax-on-college-scholarship-and-grant-amounts-applied-to-tuition/3682764/
Please move discussions there! If you aren’t already a member of the political forum you will need to join.
TIA!
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You’re not clueless. I’m guessing most of us don’t know about this
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