@donnaleighg, yup! If I were the employer of the person who came up with that methodology, and I really wanted to know how much money was “being left on the table,” I’d fire them and try again. If I owned a web site that wanted more traffic from people looking for scholarships, credit cards, etc., I’d give them a bonus for figuring out a crafty (and ethically dubious) way to exaggerate the issue and publicize it.
Gee, I wonder which happened?
It would be beneficial to give parents and students a general idea as to whether they would get any aid, that is, family income and number of kids and expected aid type and amount.
For example, we did not think our son would be eligible for any Federal loans, but he is eligible for over $8,000 per year. We also had to fill out the CSS Profile and FAFSA in order for him to get merit aid.
I have seen people post that they make 100K per year so don’t expect to get any need-based aid. We make 150K per year and got need-based aid, not grants but loans in his name only.
That is kind of laughable though - the assumption is that FAFSA wasn’t filled out “by accident” and not “on purpose”? Did they even consider how many of those kids had parents making over the minimum for Federal grants? Or perhaps how many kids have parents either working under the table or owning a business where they just didn’t want to get into it?
I wouldn’t accept free food or free college money if there were someone else who had an obviously greater need for it.
If free money was to be given to me for my college expenses, I’d take it and I have done just that. Do I feel guilty? No, but I am grateful.
It doesn’t seem right that schools can call a “discount” a scholarship. Imagine a car dealer saying you could get a “scholarship” on your $60,000 car? The net price really is what matters and scholarships that are real - seem to be those that use foundation money not just the tuition paid by other students. Does anyone agree?
Is this what you mean?
Discount = the sticker price is inflated well beyond the cost of educating the student, so that scholarships in the amount of (sticker price minus actual cost) can be given.
Scholarship = the sticker price is close to the cost of the education, so if you get a scholarship then someone is actually paying part of your way.
If the student pays the same amount either way, does it make a practical difference whether they get a discount or a true scholarship?
We didn’t complete the FAFSA because we knew we wouldn’t qualify for anything. The only free money we turned down were the merit scholarships offered by colleges my children ultimately chose not to attend. They were very fortunate to be able to have this choice,
My brother could have gotten a scholarship to law school that would have paid his tuition plus more. It’s a competitive scholarship, but there’s no question he would have gotten it. I asked him why he didn’t apply and he said he didn’t need it (true) and someone else probably did. I suspect he was just lazy or forgot. Of course, this was in the early 1980s when tuition was about $800 per year and a two-bedroom apartment close to campus cost about $300 per month. Today tuition at the same school is more than $15,000 per year and his old two-bedroom would probably rent for $1,400. College costs have far outpaced inflation.
It was a word-of-mouth story, but during my first or second year of law school a story went around at the first of the year of a wealthy black student from Boston who arrived at law school for his first day. When they discovered he was black they insisted that he accept a minority scholarship, apparently to show compliance with various consent decrees. The black student said he didn’t want or need the money and was offended by the whole affair. I never met the guy so don’t know if the story is true or not, but I can certainly see how the university at the time would be begging someone in his position to take the money.
The Atlantic article (again listed below) focused on the chore of filling out the FAFSA and some families’ lack of knowledge of how fin aid works. Worth reading.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/why-are-so-many-college-students-turning-down-free-money/386003/
But to respond directly to OP’s original question: should you turn down free money? I’d say there is no free money, other than a Pell grant, and even that is not given to student but to college. Pells are free money to colleges, no matter how lousy college is or how prepared students are. (I.e., for-profits.)
As for scholarships and grants, they are in effect the same thing: gifts. But gifts come with a price: you have to come to our school to get it. For a merit gift, the school is trying to entice you from going somewhere else. If a college gives a free ride, that’s because it really wants that student, as a football player, or kid with a super academic record that will raise the college’s own stats, or something else.
Students might consider: if free money is grant or scholarship, take it, with no regrets, if that is the school you want. If the money you get is the main reason you choose that school, that’s fine.
Loans and work-study are not free money. You pay these back, either later or as you go.
Please use old treads for information only