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<p>If the merit scholarship was offered by the university, that means the university considers this applicant to be a particularly desirable one whose presence would improve the university community in some way. So you are subsidizing talent.</p>
<p>If the merit scholarship was offered by an outside organization, you’re not subsidizing it – they are.</p>
<p>I think there are two conditions where offering merit scholarships on a need-blind basis (i.e. everyone, rich, middle, poor) is justifiable- 1. if a college is trying to improve it’s image, if it is not attracting quality students and this is hurting it’s ability to attract resources and thrive; or 2. if a student is SO talented that having that student would improve the educational culture of the school, and other students would benefit.</p>
<p>For many years throughout the 70’s, UF was considered a sort of joke- anyone could get in. After introducing the lottery (Florida Brights), more and more students remained in the state rather than going up to NC, Va, or higher. The quality of the student body has improved such that UF is getting to be as selective (or more so- we’ll see next year) as the “public ivies.” Some complain that Florida Brights scholarships are “need blind”- they go to rich as well as poor. But all I can say is, it has worked to improve the quality of education at our state universities.</p>
<p>Disclosure: we are a family that can afford to pay without financial aid. A “lower tier” school my S2 was accepted at has offered him an unexpected large merit award, which he did not apply for, to entice him to attend. He would be among the top admitted students were he to do so. The award got his attention, and it’s quite possible he <em>will</em> attend in the fall. (PS: there were 150 students at the Scholars Day reception. Every one of them had been offered merit money, from an incoming class of roughly 600 students. That’s a pretty nice percentage right there.)</p>
<p>Could we do without it? Yes, we could. Did it influence him to consider the school more highly? For sure. Does it tell him they really want him there? Absolutely. Will we make family (and later, alumni family) contributions if he attends? Certainly, as we do for our parental alma maters, and S1’s current college.</p>
<p>Does S2 have a part-time job for 20 hours a week now and full-time over the summer, to earn his own money for college expenses? He does. We wouldn’t have it any other way, even though we could afford to give him a comfortable allowance every month when he’s in school. I won’t counsel him to turn down money a college offers him.</p>
<p>my parents are also quite affluent, yet i will be paying for college. i believe they are going to help me out so i don’t completely sink or drown in debt, but in no way will they be footing the bill. after all, they earned their money…not me, so why should i have unlimited access to it?</p>
<p>however, i also have 3 younger siblings that need to be clothed, fed, educated, and paid for as well.</p>
<p>this kid is incredibly lucky to have parents willing to throw money at him. if he can win merit scholarships, then good for him! mootmom makes some good points.</p>
<p>There are situations where kids whose parents can afford it have to make it on their own. Some parents just don’t believe in paying for college. My hubby is an example. He ended up in Vietnam for a few years, then got to go to college on the GI bill.</p>
<p>I have no issue with schools awarding merit aid provided that they first meet 100% of the financial need of all its students (whatever that is). In this case it looks like outside scholarships to which they are applying so no loss to the school, just a loss farther down the economic chain for another student.</p>
<p>It is this last component that I would like to comment on because I do not think we look at the schools critically enough. Assume that student farther down the economic chain does get the scholarship and that they go to a school that provides for 100% of financial need. Once the student gets this award their financial aid gets reduced because they do not need as much money to attend. The school get the benefit of keeping the additional dollars.</p>
<p>We too have saved long and hard to send our children to very good schools. However, I do not see the schools doing what they can to make school more affordable across the board. For as long as I can recall the cost of schools have been going up faster than inflation. Are those additional dollars saved given back to the general student population as reduced tuition? Probably not.</p>
<p>Sorry for a bit of a rant . . . just thinking about college tuition next fall.</p>
<p>My son has been offered merit aid we don’t need. I would argue that we let him accept it, if it is really his first choice school, because he’s earned it. We would then, however, give back to the school, at least that amount (and probably much more) over the years. If some people choose to game the system, that’s their choice. Merit aid is not a negative; it’s all in how people use it.</p>
<p>I’m with Hereshoping on this one.</p>
<p>Why must we judge the children by their parents? And if so, why are the children of low-income parents so “deserving’” of merit aid, while the children of the well-off are not?</p>
<p>Are the children of potential “slackers” in life (I’m not saying all low-income people are this way, but surely some are) who have enjoyed their leisure, low-stress lifestyles and not saved for their childrens’ futures, be rewarded with merit aid, while the children of those who live the example of hard-working self-sufficient responsibility be ignored?</p>
<p>Just another slant on the issue.</p>
<p>What about if someone from an extraordinarily rich family is awarded a National Merit Scholarship from the National Merit Corporation, for example? Should they decline this award so someone else who is less wealthy can have it+</p>
<p>My family did not apply for financial aid, and we would not have qualified. My parents have worked very hard, and I am the youngest of four children. I was offered a merit scholarship from my school (no separate application), and my parents made it clear when I was deciding on schools that I should consider how much money they would be saving. Just because my parents could have managed full price, should I have turned down the scholarship?</p>
<p>We’re talking about a family where the dad makes " a few millions a year" and who wants to use the money saved by not paying full fare (why “give” money to the college?) to buy a house for his kid. </p>
<p>We’re not talking about a family with several children making $200k per year–which would still be high by most standards. </p>
<p>My take on this is that is is a zero sum game, whether the money comes from the university or from other sources. What is awarded to one student does not get awarded to other students. To me, it’s not whether merit money is “deserved.” It is about some kids needing financial aid more than others in order to attend college.</p>
<p>Yeah, but I’m saying we’d give back much more to fund other kids. Really, it’s just lettg our kid feel the merit of working hard.</p>
<p>Mimi and Marite,</p>
<p>The cold war is over, your side lost. Merit aid is a vehicle for colleges to buy a valuable input into the educational process: bright students. It is no more unethical for his son to apply for merit aid than it is for anyone to sell something of value in the marketplace.</p>
<p>^^You might, but the dad wants to give the money to his kid to buy a house. He clearly does not want to give money to colleges, now or ever.</p>
<p>But I feel that the reward of working hard is getting into a great college. My kids know that without the merit award business. </p>
<p>I actually had a classmate whose parents were l\extremely wealthy. She wanted to apply for a fellowship for grad school as a validation of her excellence (and she was an excellent student). She wondered whether it was okay for her to do so while her family donated the equivalent (or more) to the grad school. In the event, she did not even apply to grad school. But she’d already decided that applying for a fellowship was not appropriate.</p>
<p>Marite,</p>
<p>If “merit” aid is to be offered, then it should be based on just THAT (merit), not what your daddy does for a living.</p>
<p>Your argument is more appropriate in a forum arguing against offering any merit aid at all.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m not advocating higher taxes here. Isn’t it Bush sr. who talked about a thousand points of light and Bush Jr. who talked about compassionate conservatism? </p>
<p>But the parent in question clearly believes that charity begins at home and starts with buying his kid a house with all the money he won’t be paying to the college (where money grows on trees).</p>
<p>Bay:</p>
<p>I’ve already said that I have qualms about the use of merit money and the only reason I’m still supporting it is that I believe that in the current climate, some middle class families could not afford to pay for the best college for their children without it. But I would prefer that it disappear altogether. It is very possible that eliminating merit money at some colleges would make it the cost of attending those colleges more affordable for all students. I have not done the research.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t care where this brilliant young man goes to college. I just hope it’s not on my dime. I’d rather my dime go to someone who truly needs it rather than contribute it to this young man’s future McMansion. That’s all.</p>
<p>Denzel Washington’s son was offered a football scholarship to Morehouse. Denzel wanted to turn it down. His reasoning: the family could afford the tuition (obviously they’re multimillionaires). Morehouse told him they were offering the scholarship to his son and not to him and that the son had earned it. His son took the scholarhip. Maybe we need to think of merit aid as being offered to kids and not parents. If the kid earned it, why not?</p>
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<p>It seems to me that colleges are not falling over themselves to offer this kid scholarships. Instead, it seems to me, it’s the father who’s driving the strategy of having his son apply to as many scholarships as possible so as to avoid paying for college and using the money to buy the kid a house. </p>
<p>I’d feel better if the sole purpose was to achieve recognition for his kid (who, according to Kirmum, is fabulous). But there is not a glimmer of a hint that the multimillionnaire father will ever make a donation to the college or to scholarship funds.</p>
<p>Marite,</p>
<p>I admire your altruistic hope that rich, “non-needy” people will do the right thing by not taking any money from anywhere unless they NEED it.</p>
<p>But that is an impossible goal - Who is “rich?” Who does not NEED the money? Who is doing the “right thing” with the money saved by their child who earns a scholarship? What if the rich parents use the money saved to buy a van for their disabled child - does that make it okay?</p>