Financial Planner for college tuition advice

College Confidential has extensive threads on the parent forums about colleges which give good merit aid. Check it out. Don't be disheartened by the "oh god, he only got a 780 on his math section what ever will we do..." those parents and kids just give me hives. There is also a really good thread called something like colleges for my Jewish B student (this is neither just for Jewish students and everyone's definition of a B student on this thread is pretty different..some are more like upper B +s and some are barely B-. It is a warm friendly thread with lots of good advice. IF your kid already knows what academic area she is interested in, that too can help guide you through the merit aid maze.

In many cases, merit aid is given to potential.students who are more desirable to a particular school. If your student has great extracurriculars (especially leadership roles), or a talent the school is seeking, or if your student falls into a demographic or geographic group the school is seeking, or if you student is a stronger scholar than the average (above and to the right of the Naviance graph) you are more likely to see a discount ("merit scholarship") to attract you to a school.

But each school has a different policy, and not all of them are transparent.

jasper said:

What a racket. Next thing you know, they'll start taking airline points.

You can get points, but as yet they do not accept them. I fully intend to pay for tuition via Amex, so we can get a couple flights out of it (especially if child goes someplace she might have to fly too and from) Most colleges also offer installment plans, but I think there is a fee for it.

And, it is a bit of a racket. Once you complete the FAFSA, you list all the schools, so they know exactly where your child is also applying. We were told to put the schools in alphabetical order, because there is a perception that if you list them in order of your child's preference, the colleges at the top might give a lesser award because they believe you will pay a bit extra to let your kid go to her top choice.

max_weisenfeld said:

In many cases, merit aid is given to potential.students who are more desirable to a particular school. If your student has great extracurriculars (especially leadership roles), or a talent the school is seeking, or if your student falls into a demographic or geographic group the school is seeking, or if you student is a stronger scholar than the average (above and to the right of the Naviance graph) you are more likely to see a discount ("merit scholarship") to attract you to a school.

But each school has a different policy, and not all of them are transparent.

Yes, that's one of the approaches we
Are thinking of taking. However some of the rejections this year seem so crazy. Top students being rejected or wait listed at schools that were totally safeties in my mind, so we have to recognize the fact that schools are overwhelmed by solid applicants. (Unless the schools are thinking there is no way this A+ student is going to go here.)

Good advice, thanks all.

shh said:

(Unless the schools are thinking there is no way this A+ student is going to go here.)

This.

"You can get points, but as yet they do not accept them. I fully intend to pay for tuition via Amex, so we can get a couple flights out of it (especially if child goes someplace she might have to fly too and from) Most colleges also offer installment plans, but I think there is a fee for it."

We've had experience with three schools, and all of them charged a substantial fee for charging tuition on a credit card. In fact, you could buy a three round trip tickets to Europe in the summer, and then some, for each year of tuition charged.

My daughter's school does not change for it, only $25 per semester for the installment plan.

We started a 529B account through Schwab. We move some money into it every month for both kids.

Sorry, 529, not 529b. Info here:

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/accounts/college_savings/529_plan

shh said:

But if we wouldn't get any aid schools that give merit scholarships could help us.
And that's all besides the point...I am looking for help, but I also want to know my daughter's scores before we start looking seriously...and he sent a dramatic letter that was really unwarranted, because I told him we'd touch base in a few weeks after we got the results.

I would not pay anyone to fill out a FAFSA or CSS. Both are linked to your tax returns, so there isn't any point in paying someone to do that. There are some questions that many people fill out erroneously and then create problems, so you do need to be careful.

As for applying to colleges, there is quite a bit of finesse and nuance involved. There are schools that are consistently popular in this area, which mean that they are more competitive for students here than they would be for kids applying from elsewhere. ( hello...BC, BU, GW, Georgetown, NYU, Villanova, Lehigh, Lafayette) so if your child is dying to go there, you need to apply early decision, and be ready to pay list price.

Financially, and admission wise, it is good to look at schools that do not draw heavily from this area. Those schools are looking for geographic diversity and are more likely to give you merit aid. Once you receive merit aid from one school, you are in a better position to negotiate with another school that is your child's first choice. Once you have been admitted, they can only say no to any requests or more aid.

There are also ways to restructure assets to reduce the parental contribution from your assets, but I gather from your previous posts, that it isn't something you are interested in.

All of the above is understood. We don't need help filling out the forms necessarily, and don't really have assets to restructure (or hide) but we will have two in school at the same time, so we need to play our cards right, so to speak.

I agree that you really do not need help filling out the forms. There are some decent books out there on these issues-- go to Barnes and Noble and cruise the college section--.

I will also have the 2 in college next year so we are researching colleges both for merit and need financial aid. both geographical diversity and having gpa and sat scores in the top 25% of the colleges students scores yield the best results. I have to think the common application and students applying to so many schools have created some havoc with the college acceptance process.

We are also having the conversation at home that the college search includes financial consideration so falling in love with a college which means paying list price is not going to happen here...

These are some really good points! Great thread. I think Maplegal is right on target: "geographical diversity and having gpa and sat scores in the top 25% of the colleges students scores yield the best results." I would add that 1. ACT scores can replace SATs; 2. A high GPA can offset less stellar test scores; and 3. Ethnic diversity is important to schools that don't have it, but your kid has to be comfortable so weigh all relevant issues in the mix (my daughter turned down several schools that would have loved to have her because she felt uncomfortable in a homogenous student body).

That said, if your kid is crazy for one particular school, I would suggest not putting him/her off because you don't think it's affordable. I almost didn't allow my daughter to apply early decision to her first choice because it was expensive and had a rep for not offering scholarships. I changed my mind after speaking with an admissions counselor who said the ED would not be binding if I didn't receive enough money to be able to afford it.

In the end, she got a significant merit scholarship for all four years that offset the extra expense. Yet she wasn't geographically diverse and her scores weren't in the top 25 percent according to Naviance. She just happened to be what a particular program at the school wanted that year.

Shh, if the guy is giving you a hard sell and you aren't comfortable, don't use him. There are others.

I don't know shh, but I couldn't agree more: this year's seniors are getting WL or denied at places they'd be welcome in any other year. Others are getting in and getting cash and the adults in their world are saying, Huh??? Bottom line: it's insanely competitive, far worse than I've seen it before in many years at a local independent school.

deborahg said:

2. A high GPA can offset less stellar test scores;

Our family has direct experience with this situation. I can tell you that a top-3% GPA will offset non-commensurate test scores ONLY for small liberal arts schools (Colgate, Middlebury, Lafayette, Bowdoin, Oberlin, and the like). That profile will not be competitive for Ivy League, Duke, WashU, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, or even Tufts. But I have seen the opposite: Kids with very good—but not top—GPAs, and with top SAT/ACT scores who can get into Ivy Leagues and similar.

GPA is not included in college rankings; SAT/ACT is. It makes a difference if the student cannot help the school rise in the rankings or maintain its rankings.

dont discount the value/importance of a good recommendation letter from teachers -- schools want students who are highly engaged. While my sons had solid grades and test scores i am convinced the recommendation letters helped put them "higher on the stack".

This goes for grad school as well as undergrad

new207040 said:

dont discount the value/importance of a good recommendation letter from teachers -- schools want students who are highly engaged. While my sons had solid grades and test scores i am convinced the recommendation letters helped put them "higher on the stack".

This goes for grad school as well as undergrad

Letters are important in distinguishing candidates with similar numerical profiles, but they are unlikely to offset inadequate test scores. Cynicism alert: recommendations are not included in college rankings (ie, you'll never see in US News and World Report, "87% of enrolled freshmen at Institution X had superb recommendations.").

hamandeggs said:

I don't know shh, but I couldn't agree more: this year's seniors are getting WL or denied at places they'd be welcome in any other year. Others are getting in and getting cash and the adults in their world are saying, Huh??? Bottom line: it's insanely competitive, far worse than I've seen it before in many years at a local independent school.

We had/have a school that is practically embarrassing itself by throwing money at my kid. Three separate letters have arrived offering more each time. I am still not sure exactly which of her qualities it is about her that they want but - as mentioned - she fits some sort of demographic that they really really want to fill.

That said, she has chosen to go to a different school instead! C'est la vie...

@kmk, where? Not the one you mentioned to me last? Message me!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/how-the-college-admissions-process-works,35625/