My son is considering applying to Bard College early action, & we’re both quite confused about how they award aid. Bard claims that they meet demonstrated need for early applicants, but when I run the NPC, it shows a gap of $18,000 between our determined need & financial aid (I’ve run tons of NPCs & Bard’s is the only result like this I’ve gotten from a meets-need school).
Bard also says that they only give need-based aid, but their website lists things like the “Levy Economics Scholarship” & “President’s Scholarship,” both of which state they consider academic performance. Stats-wise, my kid will be near the top of Bard’s applicant pool so I figure at least a contender for any academic-based $$.
I have reached out to their financial aid office a couple of times & gotten only very vague replies. Mostly, I just want to know if there is a chance that $18,000 gap might be closed with other funding. Does anyone have any recent experience with how Bard awards aid?
The good news if he doesn’t have 20 schools on his list, you can apply and see. Just know it’s a reach (based on the NPC).
I agree theur descriptions are odd - says need based only but then they list others that say based on academics. Odd they can’t simply define that for you. You might email the question rather than ask. That way it gets to the right person.
I checked the last two yearly threads. No insight there.
As for the delta vs other schools and I don’t know which schools - either you entered in data wrong (I’ll assume not the case) or their formula is less generous. From other posts of aid families, it seems like home equity is often a culprit there.
Sorry, I don’t have any insight to add—I can only confirm we saw the same ambiguity and didn’t know what to make of it. Even in-person conversations were vague.
You probably know this, but Bard has something called “Immediate Decision,” which our twins both availed themselves of in Fall 2023. You find out in early/mid November whether you’re in or not, and get a financial aid offer too.
If your kid gets in, it’s very nice to have that acceptance in their back pocket before the craziness has really even begun.
Our kids enjoyed the experience. We all went to the Bard campus, and the kids attended a seminar session—they discussed The Social Contract by Rousseau with other prospective students and a professor—while we parents were regaled with a “what’s the point of college” session with Leon Botstein, a big personality in fine form. Then all the kids interviewed with admissions officers. Another session with Admissions was when the confusion about merit vs. need-met crept in.
Anyway our kids liked Bard, really appreciating its intellectual, artistic atmosphere, and would have been happy there, though they didn’t end up accepting the admissions offer.
My D23 received a $15k scholarship and did not receive financial aid at any school she was accepted to so I think their need-only scholarships are very broad.
Thanks, all–he has too many schools on his list right now, so trying to figure out if we should just eliminate Bard on affordability, even though we liked it when we visited. I have emailed this question to financial aid twice & gotten vague responses both times, even when I asked specifically how the scholarships were awarded (also asked it in person). Glad to hear I’m not the only one who sees the ambiguity, at least!
I would guess Bard is being vague because the award is not formulaic, and they want to leave wiggle room to attract different sorts of kids, which will vary from year to year. One year they may need more women in STEM, the next, a particular international student e.g.