<p>Someone was telling me last night that she knows folks who were especially grateful to Princeton for the merit aid they received there.</p>
<p>I told her that I didn’t think Ivy League schools awarded merit aid (how could they, when everyone has fantastic grades and stats?), and she insisted that Princeton is the exception and does provide it.</p>
<p>Am I wrong?</p>
<p>No, you are not wrong. Just do a search on their website:
</p>
<p>Okay, thanks, I hated to chew up CC bandwidth with such a question, but I feel much better now.</p>
<p>They may use a flexible eye to interpret financial data however, especially if your student is a desirable athlete.
The boosts I have personally observed were only slight. Perhaps token aid, but the biggest boost was being admitted at all if it wasnt for the athletics.</p>
<p>HYPS all boost athletes who can play. M, not so much.</p>
<p>My guess is that you’re hearing terms used by people who don’t understand the financial aid landscape…need-based, athletic, and “merit based”. Am I missing one?</p>
<p>Imagine, though what merit aid would look like in terms of qualifications at HYP. :)</p>
<p>Princeton aid is based solely on need. Their determination on YOUR need via their specific financial aid form foregoing the College profile. </p>
<p>However, once the aid is awarded, some of the aid is specifically earmarked for certain students and the funds come from a specific endowment. So it is all called a Princeton grant but some of the funds for the grant are being given from specific funds.</p>
<p>So the student is contacted by financial aid by mail, email and sometimes in person about the specifics of the money. They are asked to write a letter to the “endowment”/family/board about themselves and thanking them for the scholarship. It is all based upon need but within that need there can be other requirements along with other benefits besides the money.</p>
<p>An example would be for a student with need who is also pre-med and fulfills some other requirements. Their is a monetary award along with summer internship/shadowing/work opportunity attached. Receiving student is given the option of working at the hospital endowing the scholie providing work and housing. Some of the funds ask the recipients to attend a dinner in their honor. So it can be considered “merit” within the need.</p>
<p>But true merit awards are not awarded from Princeton funds. Another added thought can be outside scholarships funds used at Princeton that are merit awards. Son had all of the above.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>By the way, the boost to athletes and others in Ivy need based aid is the result of the Reagan administration. Ivy Plus group used to compare offers to make sure nobody was cheating and offering more “need based” aid to athletes. The Reagan administration sued, alleging that this was a violation of antitrust law.MIT in particular tried to fight it, but it was just too expensive and the group finally caved.</p>
<p>Just to clarify: the Ivies don’t give athletic scholarships, either.</p>
<p>Also (and this is a quibble): athletic scholarships are a subset of merit scholarships.</p>
<p>They can call it whatever they like. They are really good at finding “need” where none exists if they so choose. H., for example, caps payment at 10% of income for those under $180k, meaning that they provide a lot more aid than “need” requires. It’s a great way to ensure a ready supply of “need-based” athletes. </p>
<p>They set the “price” too, which has no necessary relation to cost. It’s all smoke and mirrors. The only thing that matters is how much you actually fork over, either today, or in loans tomorrow.</p>
<p>
Seems like a poor way to do it, in that you’re going to sweep up a lot of low-paying non-athletes and ignore a fair number of high-income athletes. Seems like a school-wide policy is, by definition, a poor way to attract athletes, specifically.</p>
<p>Back to Princeton: they don’t give merit aid. It’s almost embarrassing that the place would admit people who are so dim as to think that their need-based financial aid is based on their awesome awesomeness that makes them more amazing than the average Princetonian.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Those folks are not dim. They are merely trying to convince a few dimwits that the need-based aid is actually merit aid. Not too difficult to understand that need-based aid does not have the prestige or recognition carried by merit aid. The real stars in the art of misleading the May and June cocktail crowd will carefully avoid the direct term “merit” and focus on the open-ended … scholarship word. </p>
<p>After all, who is to question that “Little Suzy got into Princeton and they gave her a full scholarship!” The local press surely has not learned to make a difference. </p>
<p>And everyone feels better. Protected ego and all. And it also offers the opportunity to smile and nod in agreement while uttering a “wow … that is amazing and also truly fantastic.” Just before turning and rolling the eyes while repeating “Truly fantastic.”</p>
<p>“Seems like a poor way to do it, in that you’re going to sweep up a lot of low-paying non-athletes and ignore a fair number of high-income athletes. Seems like a school-wide policy is, by definition, a poor way to attract athletes, specifically.”</p>
<p>It’s an EXCELLENT way to do it, especially if, through your a’hem needblind cough cough “method” you manage to reject just about everyone but the athletes.</p>
<p>“Back to Princeton: they don’t give merit aid. It’s almost embarrassing that the place would admit people who are so dim as to think that their need-based financial aid is based on their awesome awesomeness that makes them more amazing than the average Princetonian.”</p>
<p>They turn the $5,000 loan into a “grant” (it’s not really a “grant” as they set to COA arbitrarily to begin with), and now Suzie has a scholarship! and Princeton recoups it by raising COA during the period she’s there.</p>
<p>We knew someone with a “merit scholarship” to Wellesley…NOPE…they don’t give merit aid either. Oh…and when their older kid graduated from undergrad…the “scholarship recipient” became a full pay student.</p>