Spinoff of college scholarships

[Grace is Sufficient]

I'm wondering what your responses would be to the idea of applying to slightly 'lower tier' schools than a student might qualify for... Would it maximize scholarship offers if the student were among the best of those applying to the school?

 

Pros? Cons? Other?

 

TIA

[Gwen in VA]

Merit aid is basically an incentive the college provides so the student might be more likely to select that college. (That is why ED applicants are LESS likely to receive merit aid -- ED applicants are already coming to the school so the college does not need to entice them!)

 

In order to receive merit aid, the student MUST be highly desirable to the college -- otherwise the college would not provide the carrot of merit aid. A college can view a student as highly desirable for many reasons -- special skills (think sports or music), strong academic abilities, potential to provide leadership on campus, etc.

 

I would assume that many students do attend a lower-ranked school in order to receive aid. We were told unofficially that UVA's full-ride scholarship was almost never refused and that the Echols dorm (UVA's sort-of honors dorm) was full of kids who turned down Ivies because of money. (Paying the full amount at UVA is about 40% of what an Ivy costs).

 

I think the question for you is -- what does your student want at a college? If he/she can get the academics and the extra-curricaular experiences he/she wants at a college that offers him a full-ride, go for it! :)

 

However, there are colleges and colleges. There are many colleges that we would not have been thrilled to let our kids attend, regardless of money. We visited some colleges that made us cringe. No incentive could have made my kids go there!

 

College is an intense 4 years, during which your child will make many major decisions about life, career, location, and possibly even spouse. You need to feel good about the college your child attends.

 

To maximize scholarship offers, I would say you should encourage your child to pursue his or her dreams and passions. That may result in merit aid and will under all circumstances result in a more thrilled and more skilled kid. Leadership is important, but it doesn't need to be of the Eagle Scout kind. Volunteering seems to be important to colleges right now. But most important -- help your kid to pursue his dreams.

[Nan in Mass]

I know families who have done it. I think lots of people do it. But I think you have to be careful. Just because a college is cheap (for your student) doesn't necessarily mean it is going to be successful. A student might quit college and be without a degree because he doesn't make friends, or can't study because of the distractions, or gets lost, or can't find anything there to get excited about, or finds the city depressing or scary, or the country boring, or gets discouraged because he isn't learning anything he couldn't learn better on his own (a problem for homeschoolers, who have been trained to teach themselves and constantly ask themselves if they are learning or wasting their time), or is homesick far from home, or has trouble balancing family obligations and non-college-going-friends living at home, or lapses into apathy along with an apathetic student body. That student might be better off finishing a more expensive college, one with a good department in whatever he is interested, an alive student body who is doing more than just waiting for real life to begin, and a comfortable living situation. I've seen a number of students take the cheaper way and fail because the college wasn't a good fit. Some of these were doing CC the first few years, living at home, and didn't find it enough different from high school to inspire them to keep going. Some of those couldn't manage to study at home. At least in a dorm, even with all its distractions, everyone around you is supposed to be doing very little else but studying. A few working friends who are free in the evenings can be a great handicap to a CC student. But some of the ones we know who have failed were at 4-year colleges, ones that looked fairly good, in theory, but either had a dead student population or apathetic profs. There are so many colleges, though, that it seems like if you were careful choosing, this option would work fine. I just think you should still choose carefully. And of course, for some students, any college at all that they can afford is a great blessing.

-Nan, who has watched way too many of her son's friends try and fail

[Storm Bay]

From what I've read, some of the top university educations in the States do not come from the top tier universities/colleges. A couple of books to read are, 40 Colleges that Make a Difference and Getting in Without Freaking Out. One of them went through how colleges become top tier, and it isn't necessarily based on their top notch education the way you'd think it would be. I hope my dc go to good colleges/universities with no grad school where the sole "product" is the undergrad student. Of course, it will be up to them.

[Renee in NC]

I attended a "lesser" school because they gave me a full tuition scholarship. The reason they did this? My SAT scores were 200 points higher than their average and helped to "up" their average. They did this despite the fact that I was a 10th grade drop out with a GED.;)

 

The school was fine for me as I was med school bound and they had a very strong science department due to their pharmacy school. Their current SAT scores are much closer to mine (even taking into account the scoring changes of 1996.)

 

I later transferred because I got married and moved. I was offered another full ride (plus some) at another school. It was a waste of time and energy - the school's academics were TERRIBLE! Their current SAT average is less than 900.:glare:

 

Free can be great or it can be "you get what you pay for."

[Tokyomarie]

My daughters did/do attend colleges that are slightly "lower tier" than they are qualified to attend. As others have mentioned, doing so is a bit of a risk and a double edged sword. Every school they did apply to was one that we felt could be a good fit for one reason or another, not just any old school that might give them merit aid. Merit aid was a major consideration in the final choice of college but only after we decided the there was a reasonable chance that a given school could meet their academic need.

 

My oldest, who was well qualified to attend an Ivy or other highly competitive college did not apply to any because of the reality that unless she received merit aid, there was no way on earth she could afford to attend unless we mortaged our house and our retirement and everything else in between. We simply do not qualify for ANY form of subsidized need based aid. She could not qualify for any aid- any loans would have been on OUR backs and we just weren't willing to go there with two more coming up behind. In hindsight, I do think she might have been better served in some ways at a more competitive college than she attended simply because the peer group would have been more similar. Where she did attend, she engaged well with her professors but was sometimes frustrated that relatively few of the other students showed the same level of curiosity and engagement with the coursework as she.

 

My other daughter is doing well where she is, but for some reasons might have been better served at an instate public university that didn't give us merit aid. At the time, the decision was excruciatingly difficult and it is only now that I see that the other school might have actually advanced her toward her goal in a better way.

[Sharon in MD]

Our ds is a senior in high school this year. We visited lots of schools when he was a junior and a couple more this fall. He decided to only apply to the schools we felt were a good fit and where he genuinely would be happy to attend. We did not apply ED anywhere precisely because we didn't want to get our hands tied. I personally feel that ED is a bit of a racket because they don't have to offer you anything to entice you to choose their school.

 

I think the most important thing to do is research the places they think they might want to go....then hit the road and visit the ones you think are real candidates, if at all possible. We originally thought that ds wanted a small school with a good engineering dept....more along the LAC model. But after visiting some bigger schools with more impressive labs, he decided the lab facilities and research opportunities really matter more. He also decided, after spending hours in the car to go visit a few places, that he wanted to stay with in weekend driving distance from home, so that narrowed the search too. I don't think it is a good idea to apply to schools unless you really think you want to go there. You might wind up with a nice scholarship but a very unhappy student.

 

Anyway, long story made short....his dream school turned out to be Drexel in Philly, not a top tier, but a darned good engineering school. He applied there and three other places. So far he has been accepted at three and been offered merit by all three. But, we tried to make sure that everyone we had contact with at Drexel knew how badly he wanted to come there and how seriously in need of merit aid he would be. They came up with a half-tuition scholarship....renewable every year. It isn't a full ride, but the other two schools have only offered a 1/3 tuition scholarship so far. It has brought the dream school within reach. I would also add, that since Drexel is a co-op school, with the expected co-op money he should earn added, it puts them in the same price range as our big in-state university would cost if he went there and paid full fare.

 

I guess my overall advice would be to look at schools not just as top-tier, second tier, etc, but as how they fit your student. There are many factors that make a school a great fit that have little to do with rankings. And make sure the admissions folks and any persons of influence know how sincere your student is in their desire to attend that dream school, I may be wrong, but I think it really helped in our case.

[cathmom]

Last year my son applied to 6 schools. Most were where he would be an "average" student - Davidson, William and Mary, etc. His first choice was U of Minnesota. He was accepted there, but the financial aid package would have had him graduating with about $30,000 of debt and working every spare minute and all summer. He was planning to go there until he heard from his safety school. They offered him a full ride! It pays for everything. He is in the Honors program, a leadership program, and has been accepted for the International Honors program and will be studying in Poland next semester, with school-sponsored trips to Estonia and St. Petersburg. This despite the fact that they hardly ever let freshmen go! Because their semesters are later, he will not be able to work this summer, so it's a good thing he doesn't need the money.

 

So do I think it was worth it to go to a place where he is above-average? You betcha! He is getting INCREDIBLE opportunities that he wouldn't get at a school where he was just another great student, and he is getting to take advantage of those opportunities because he isn't working all the time! His job of writing for the student newspaper pays his cell phone bill.

 

He does wish that more students were more serious about their studies, but honors students are allowed to take special honors classes, so that helps. And he is considering living in a special dorm for more serious students next year.

 

Now, we didn't apply to this school for the purpose of being offered merit aid, it was just his safety school, which is a good idea for any student.

[Grace is Sufficient]

I appreciate all the responses. My oldest is only a sophomore, so I'm just beginning to think (anxiously!) about the nuts and bolts of what comes next... You've given me some good things to consider.

 

Thanks so much to all of you!

 

(I'll continue to monitor the thread in case any more wisdom is forthcoming...)

Edited December 30, 2008 by Grace is Sufficient
Accidentally posted before completion

[Pamela H in Texas]

It is important to consider the fit of the school more than the money. Top-tier schools are not necessarily better at all, much less better for an individual student.

 

I will say that I'm shallow enough to have enjoyed getting to consider one of the top schools in the country. And I do kinda get a kick out of my daughter's options (that she's passed up--2 officially and one will be soon). But generally, I know that her choice is better for her and that those other 3 schools wouldn't be best for her for multiple reasons.

[Gwen in VA]

This thread is reminding me of last April and those nightmare decision days.

 

Ds1 had two full-ride scholarships -- one to a USNWR top 15 LAC and one to a state school that did top research in his area of interest. (He had eliminated all other colleges by April 2). I was going bananas over the decision. My son was upset beyond belief -- how difficult to decide between a better school with smaller classes etc. and one that did top research in the area. Gulp.....

 

Several people pointed out that only 25% of Americans have a bachelor's degree, so merely graduating from college gives you an educational background that only 1/4 of all Americans have.

 

Deciding on a college is difficult and prayer is essential.