<p>I have tried searching for the answer and got nothing. (Well, I got here)
The only thing that comes to mind is charity or publicity.
Let me extend the question: Why do colleges/universities give out full grants or grants that would give no profit to the institution.
Because I totally understand if a college gives a 25% grant to a student if their profit margin is 80%. (How big is the profit margin on average anyways?)</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of comprehensive book about post secondary education? I have 0 information in my head, I don’t even know the difference between university or college. Shame, anyways, I am looking for a book or online resource that will give me a linear “start here and stop here” long read.</p>
<p>Colleges give grants (which are need based aid) to students to help enable them to attend the college. Many schools feel that they can help contribute grant money to accepted students who have earned an acceptance but might benefit from some financial assistance to attend.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you view this has charity, or publicity.</p>
<p>Because they are giving money, for what gain?
Giving away money for no personal gain is charity to me.
</p>
<p>WHY? What benefit goes to a private college by giving a student a full grant?
Perhaps I haven’t made my question clear. I am talking about private educational institutions not charging students (or charging an amount so low that makes the institution lose money) for their educational services and costs.</p>
<p>Also, what is “need based” and “merit based”?</p>
<p>AIWins, pretty much every school discussed here on College Confidential is non-profit. The schools aren’t concerned with a “profit margin”. They are concerned with keeping a balanced budget, with income derived from donations, endowment, tuition/fees, outside research grants (a percentage of which goes to the university/college for overhead) and probably some other sources. </p>
<p>I don’t know of a comprehensive book on post-secondary education–what, specifically, are you interested in? Are you a parent or student anticipating applying to college in the next few years? Or are you interested in the philosophy/economics/history of the subject? </p>
<p>A college is for undergraduate education only. A university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. But Google can tell you that. :)</p>
<p>Most colleges do not exist to make money - they exist to educate. Rich colleges spend their money in ways that they think further their mission, and also in many cases according to the wishes of the money donors. </p>
<p>Many donations to colleges come with “strings” that specify how the money is to be used, including to fund less fortunate students. Even without these strings, rich colleges may wish to diversify their student body beyond the wealthy or they may believe that funding education for the less fortunate is serving the public good.</p>
<p>So, in summary, the motivations are primarily altruistic, either by the school, its alumni, or both.</p>
<p>Charity is certainly a reasonable moniker for need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are given to students with high grade point averages in high school and, usually, high SAT or ACT scores as well. They are awarded to students based solely on performance, and are given to students without consideration of their finances -a kid on welfare and a kid with a multi-million dollar family will get the same amount of merit money if the meet the academic requirement.</p>
<p>Merit money is usually given as an incentive for high-performing student to attend. The Ivy League schools do not give merit scholarships, for example, because they have no need to try to attract more high performing students. The private school that my daughter attends gave her a very large scholarship, because they wanted her to attend, and knew that she had the academic qualification to go to higher ranked colleges.</p>
<p>Need-based scholarships are grants and other aid given to students who would be unable to attend the school without that help.</p>
<p>The reason that need-based scholarships/grants are given might vary from school to school. Some of it comes from a sense of charitable giving - helping the less fortunate is a respected thing to do in this country. There are great kids out there who have a lot to offer to the world, but need a little bit (or a lot) of help to gain an education.</p>
<p>Another reason for schools to give aid is to enhance the environment of the school. A classroom discussion of students from similar backgrounds may not be as stimulating as a discussion among students from a full spectrum of political, economic, racial, religious, etc. backgrounds. Helping poor urban or rural students attend can enrich the lives of the wealthier suburban kids as well as helping the poor.</p>
<p>Alwins…what is your concern? Why does it bother you that colleges choose to give monetary awards to some students? I’m not sure I understand the reason for your question and apparent annoyance that this happens.</p>
Wow,I didn’t know that, I’m clearly lost in this subject.
I am a latin american student in my last year and was wondering if any universities gave grants to students (Definitely merit based).
I have, of course tried google and wikipedia for USA tertiary education information, but I dislike the aspect of clicking blue links on words I don’t know endlessly, I enjoy books or articles much more, and since books are longer and I can take them anywhere, I am looking for one.
I stumbled upon “The International Student’s Guide to the American University”, but it was written in 1993 and I worry it might be outdated.
I don’t need to focus on USA universities at all, but most seem to be either there on in the UK.</p>
<p>To all the other answers, the whole non-profit sense has come as news to me, I thought that private institutions where profit-driven. I will definitely return when I have read up more on the subject.</p>
<p>
I have no clue where you got “bothering” or “annoyance” from. Seriously, not a clue.
As I said, I am a student and I want to know why would someone give me or other students money/free tuition. Knowing the reasons, I could estimate wether there is a chance I could study for free.</p>
<p>AIWins, only a very small percentage of students study for free, most pay a portion of their tuition, and often have loans as well as grants and scholarships. This would be particularly true for international students.</p>
<p>In the US, there are many organizations that are structured as not for profit - there are several specific categories set up as part of our tax code. For your purposes, they exist for charitable purposed. Perhaps in your country, they would be considered part of the government, but not here. These include Churches, Hospitals, Schools, and many other organizations. We do have for-profit schools here as well, but you won’t find many of them discussed here, because their purpose is different. In many countries the same would be true of secondary education (and in some even elementary schools) where only those with money can afford to educate their children. It is different in the US. Here it is considered to be of benefit to everyone if people are educated, so our public schools exist to provide free education through the secondary level. At the college level, tuition is largely based on the cost of providing the education, and any associated services. Scholarships, grants, and loans are all given to help students afford their education. Scholarships are most likely to be based on merit - the most help is given to those most likely to do well, because that is money well spent.</p>
<p>I am not familiar with the book you found, but it is probably a good place to start. Even if it is outdated, it should provide good historical context. I doubt the basic structure of our system has change much since it was written.</p>
<p>That really cleared it up, thanks.
I reckon only there might only be a few international students being rolled for their education, but I thought I could at least give it a chance.
What kind of students are the ones they target for these grants, I mean, what is this merit? I don’t think they’ll care about standarized tests since SATs and ACTs aren’t taken around the world.
Let me specify before getting any further, I am trying to get into computer sciences, I am interested in a few particular colleges due to accquaintances and a few research groups I’m interested in (and of course, the experience of studying abroad).
Now, I’m specifically interested in Artificial intelligence and Game Theory, i.e: building engines that beat other humans and other engines at chess, videogames, tictactoe, poker.
I don’t want to be very specific, but I have made quite a few “contributions” and have a few unfinished projects I plan on finishing by next year. Even if I don’t get notoriety outside the actual community which plays the game, is this kind of things colleges are interested in?</p>
<p>It seems you are asking a few different questions.</p>
<p>Grants/scholarships are awarded to students for short answer - because what if Einstein could not afford to attend college? The schools are investing in the future through awarding/rewarding high achieving students.</p>
<p>Financial aid (grants/scholarships) is not easy to come by for international students. There are a few schools however that are “need blind” in admissions and even fewer that will “meet need”.</p>
<p>Your contributions may likely help you gain admission to some schools, but they will not specifically be part of the evaluation process for aid. In fact, the school that would probably be best for you offers no merit scholarships at all.</p>
<p>I’m hoping happymomof1 will see this. She regularly posts the name of an organization that can provide assistance to international students in terms of answering questions regarding colleges in the U.S.</p>
<p>The website you need is <a href=“https://www.educationusa.info/[/url]”>https://www.educationusa.info/</a> Read through everything there so you understand how tertiary education works in the US. Then follow the links to find the advising center closest to you: <a href=“https://www.educationusa.info/centers.php[/url]”>https://www.educationusa.info/centers.php</a> The counselors there are expert at helping students from your country find good places to study here, and can tell you which colleges and universities here have admitted students like you in recent years. EducationUSA is a not-for-profit organization and any fees that might be charged go to directly support the functions of that office. Many of the advisors are volunteers. All of them pride themselves on offering accurate, unbiased information. </p>
<p>You also should spend some time in the International Students Forum here at CC. Look for anything posted by b@r!um who is one of the resident experts on finding aid.</p>
Why would that be? I mean, what is the best school for me?</p>
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<p>Thanks for the information, it was delicious.
I was surprised to see there was a center near me, I’ll definitely be heading there soon.
I checked the forum but I really don’t have much hope now.
Will confirm if I really don’t with the educationUsa people.</p>
<p>Colleges spend money to make money. Colleges use scholarships to “buy” the students they want. By controlling the students that attend, they can control their rankings and charge more for tuition. They don’t have to buy all the students…just enough to raise their statistics.</p>
<p>Colleges also use aid to raise net tuition revenue. If I am a college that costs 50K a year…would I rather lose a family that can afford it to another 50K college? No…I’d much rather give them a 10-15K discount to get them to pick my college. 35-40K a year from a family is better than 0K.</p>
