<p>Well this has been interesting and informative. Thanks for the responses. I checked out a number of other well-known schools in this region and see that some of them do, indeed, treat this subject up-front. Some simply ask parents to consider enrolling as a multi-year financial commitment or warn that initiating FA after the first year is more difficult. But others tackle the issue of the “FA two-step” head on: if you don’t seek FA in year 1 the door will be closed in years 2-4 absent a massive change in circumstance. Bang! With a disclaimer like that, I don’t think anyone can claim ignorance. And if a parent plays roulette with their kid in that situation… Well, good luck, kid.</p>
<p>Of course, as I mentioned, there are others (including my daughter’s school) that appear to be more receptive to late career FA requests. This is more in line with the way colleges handle FA where students become increasingly “needy” as they blow through the college war chest. Since many first-time PS parents’ only prior brush with FA may have been from their own experience at well-funded colleges and universities (where the practice of initiating or increasing need-based aid awards in subsequent years is common) this seems like something schools who are not need-blind should take pains to clarify. I suspect that as public school systems become increasingly exposed there will be more new families entering the private school world with college as the misleading precedent. Page 7 of a CC message board probably isn’t sufficient public notice… :-)</p>