[DeltAlum]

KillarneyRose wrote:

"The thing that is really irksome is that, in order to really afford college, a family has to either be destitute so that they can get student loans and grants or really, really wealthy so that they can write the tuition checks."

Exactly!!!

Before I even start, please understand that I am strongly in favor of fanancial aid for low income students. They deserve it.

When our daughter went to college, I was in the same financial position as KR's husband. Then, after a "corporate merger," and being out of work for a year, I accepted a job for half that amount. You can do the math.

So, let's take a look at someone else who I think deserves it. Ok, so it's our son and I'm prejudiced.

-One of two Outstanding Freshmen.
-Freshman Senator

-One of six Exceptional Sophomores
-Sophomore Senator
-Regional essay and speech contest winner.
-State and national contest winner in vocal music.

-One of six Exceptional Juniors
-Junior class VP
-National Merit Semi-Finalist.
-Math presentation on graph theory to students and faculty from all over the country at Rutgers University.
-State award in vocal music.

-One of two Outstanding Seniors -- class of 450
-Student Body VP
-One of twelve Outstanding Seniors in the school district
-National Merit Scholar
-Honors Diploma (all academic courses either honors or AP)
-Outstanding Student in Performing Arts
-4.4 weighted GPA
-Presidential Medal for hundreds of hours of community service.
-Regional awards in writing and public speaking.
-"Perfect" math scores in both SAT and ACT.
-Homecoming King
-Leading roles in school musicals. Select choirs.
-State winner in vocal music competition (competing nationally this week)

Enough. You get the picture. So, he's a smart, popular geek!

We also decided our kids could go anywhere they were accepted -- which was everywhere they applied.

So, guess what the almost identical financial packages were from two "highly selective schools? (I won't name them, they all have pretty much the same entrance requirements and cost about the same -- but one is in the Chicago area and one in Boston -- you can probably figure it out.)

These numbers are approximate:

Cost (without travel and expenses) $40,000/year.
Need based scholarship: $0.00
Merit based scholarship: $0.00
Guaranteed loans (Univ and Fed) $29,000/year
Family out of pocket direct $11,000/year

Come On!!!

Again, I strongly believe that the kid with the 3.0 GPA from a "poor" family deserves a big scholarship!

But our son doesn't?

They BOTH do.

Schools should offer both Need and Merit based scholarships!

By the way, there is one exception at the schools who offer only "need" based scholarships. They offer full athletic scholarships. I've got no problem with college athletic scholarships, but do think it's strange that they are the only "merit" based money available at these places. Are they run by the NCAA?

Thankfully, our son realizes the dynamics of our family financial situation and took the big scholarship at an excellent state university (although out of state for us), instead of bogging himself and us down with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of loans.

What is also interesting to me is that the other schools who offered decent scholarships, by and large, were state supported schools outside the state in which we live. Of course their tuition costs are generally double for out of state students.

The kicker to this story is that now we're receiving letters from these "highly selective" schools wondering why he chose to go elsewhere?

Go figure. They can't seem to.