Will acceptance rates increase for those who can pay full price in 2012?

Parents Forum
1

<p>What do you think?</p>

<p>Will colleges officially drop the need blind statement. Have they already unofficially been accepting those kids that they know can and will foot the full price? </p>

<p>I had previously read about a few colleges admitting to this at least when taking kids from their waitlist. Have you heard of any?</p>

<p>Will this be a new strategy for those attempting to get into the top schools?</p>

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<p>I hope not. Middle class applicants have to scrap for aid already, as despite what colleges seem to believe, many families cannot devote 50% of their yearly income to school…</p>

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<p>If they do this by substituting full-pay students for full-need students, it could actually benefit the middle class by helping to keep tuition costs down.</p>

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<p>[News:</a> Not So Need-Blind - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/10/29/findiscrimination]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/10/29/findiscrimination)</p>

<p>here is the article I previously saw. It mentions a number of schools including Case Western talking about the issue.</p>

<p>and another article </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>a previous cc thread
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/617095-need-blind-vs-need-sensitive-admissions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/617095-need-blind-vs-need-sensitive-admissions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and another article</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1865949-1,00.html[/url]”>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1865949-1,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and another
<a href=“Colleges Accepting More Students Who Can Pay Full Fare - The New York Times”>Colleges Accepting More Students Who Can Pay Full Fare - The New York Times;

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<p>"I had previously read about a few colleges admitting to this at least when taking kids from their waitlist. "</p>

<p>By the time colleges go to the wait lists to fill spots, the FA well for the year has often run dry. Colleges have been choosing full pay wait list kids over those who need FA for quite a while. It is not a new trend.</p>

6

<p>They probably already have. But the need-blind thing is a total myth - the admissions officers all know the financial status of the applicants (they are PAID to know); the only question is how they use the information. </p>

<p>Don’t think of it as aid (after all, the schools set the price to begin with), but the level of discount.</p>

7

<p>I hope so… saving since kids birth should have some advantage over parents who valued new cars, bigger homes, ect over education costs.</p>

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<p>And what of the kids? Did the children leap from the mother’s womb presenting a cunning plan for a college fund at birth?</p>

9

<p>what about the kids?..Kids whose parents didn’t prioritize education costs will get financial aid and still get into a college…no biggie.</p>

10

<p>It’s one of the tactics I used. We didn’t apply for any financial aid from the college where my son applied ED. Don’t know if it made the difference, but he was admitted.</p>

<p>I flinch when I write the big checks but I’m not sorry I did it. I tell myself we wouldn’t have been offered anything but loans anyway, but sometimes I wonder.</p>

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<p>What makes you say that? Many middle class families are passed over in fin-aid situations.</p>

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<p>^If they are middle class, then maybe they should have saved more. There is a college for everyone…</p>

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<p>No, that is something that parents plan for and something every bank, insurance company, financial planner, newspaper and media outlet tells parents endlessly. When our oldest, now graduated from college, was a couple years old our financial planner was saying over and over and over that a public in-state education was going to be $80,000 a year…he was pretty close to the mark so none of this is new news. High cost of college is an almost three decade old prediction. I feel sad sometimes that while the model has cracks in it and the costs I think are gong to stabilize or even come down alittle in the future it will be too late for our kids so we paid for their colleges in the middle of the recession at the all time high…kind of a bummer.</p>

<p>But goodness, I think I left the hospital back with number one with a flier stuffed in the free diaper bag with the free creams, ointments and diapers that was about “how to save for your child’s education” promoting some plan. </p>

<p>Being need blind is meaningless. My kids could have gotten accepted at dozens of schools…that we couldn’t realistically pay for and still be able to retire before we pass away…so you’re accepted…you still have to pay for it. Even a “meets need” school might determine your need is less than your budget tells you is prudent. It’s all semantics.</p>

14

<p>Will acceptance rates increase for those who can pay full price in 2012? Absolutely !! It allows great students in without taxing the coffers of the school .</p>

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<p>It has been known for a long time that there is only need aware, except for few schools like HYPS. Even schools like Penn and Duke say we have $x for FA. If they were truly need blind, how do they magically hit that dollar amount every year. Five years ago, when D1 was applying to schools, her GC told the class not to apply for FA unless absolutely necessary. When D1 was WL, I wrote letters to let those schools know that we were full pay and would be very happy to pay.</p>

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<p>I guess this is just one of the cruel facts of the world, that parents who are (rightfully so) more concerned with their retirement than their children’s recipience of a world class education will rarely be able to write checks for $50k + every year. Of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, and plenty of help for the poor. But we slobs in between have to scrap where we can.</p>

17

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<p>The top universities in this country are free to you. They are hardly scraps.</p>

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<p>It seems Bay missed the memo that middle class people do not get free tuition. That’s only for <50k less or whatever.</p>

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<p>BBB,</p>

<p>How are you defining middle class, then? HYP and others are free for those making less than $65K, then only 10% of income up to $180K or so. UC tuition is covered for those making less than $80K. (These numbers are tweaked every year, so I may not have them exact, but they are in the ball-park).</p>

20

<p>Bay, HYP accept a total of ONLY 4500 students a year, which is less than 1% of the total # of students applying to colleges each year. I hardly think that saying “look your kid can get great FA at HYP” is a comfort to 99% of the non-HYP college bound kids or their parents! And UC FA is often partly covered by LOANS- its not all GRANTS, like HYP.</p>