questions about financial aid

CrewMommaNPoppa
Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:09:33 +0000

@CrewMommaNPoppa: Athletes are not given preferential treatment by the financial aid office.

You are partially right, not all athletes, but you need to understand the real process, not the one they feed you in their brochures and online. No Ivy league school is going to pass up a 6’2" part Hispanic-Native American world ranked athlete with top scores, Westinghouse prize honoree who started a foundation that raised 10s of thousdands of dollars for needy kids. They will never call these grants athletic scholarships. However, since he had similar credentials as a lot of the kids going into his Freshman class and the only differentiating factor was his stellar athletic gifts and top world ranking, then what would you call the grant?

There are so many examples of preferential treatment that the whole admissions process is compromised and impure across the board. In our current economy, the ability to pay gets you extra points and preferntial treatment at most schools. There have been numerous reports of schools (Ivies as well) with dwindling endowments diluting their acceptance pools to get monied parents kids in. These institutions are business and the yield to the same pressures as any business. Let’s get real. If a school wants you badly enough and you meet all other criteria, they will find a way to get you in.