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I am glad I found this site. Our daughter is a Junior in a very good school. She has a 4.6 GPA and 1470 (V770+M700) SAT score and a 238 in PSAT(M78+V80+W80). We live in the Bay area and have a combined income of over 200K. Itis somewhat very misleading and is the result of a sudden spike in my earning in the last two years in a very uncertain job market. What are the chances of my daughter getting any financial aid? Also, we got sucked into a sales pitch from a group called National Student Financial Aid based in Carsn City, Nevada who wants to sell us a $1095 service to help find the most financial aid. They claim to have helped people with $300k+ annual income get almost full financial aid. Anyone has any experience with these guys? My wife is sold on the sales pitch and thinks it is a wise invertment. I am very skeptic.Is the money spent worth it?

By Wadad (Wadad) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 06:32 pm: Edit

I have no direct experience with National Student Financial Aid, but am very skeptical. Check with the Better Business Bureau or ask for some references. Use one of the EFC calculators on the web to see what your Expected Family Contribution would be. Most of the very top tier colleges and universities (the Ivy League, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, etc.) give no merit aid. There is a significant amount of merit aid available for students like your daughter at colleges and universities not quite in the top tier.

By Wadad (Wadad) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 07:08 pm: Edit

A simple search of the web produces the following link to info about National Student Fianncial Aid of Carson City Nevada:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/education/nsfa.html

By Thedad (Thedad) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 08:53 pm: Edit

Wow. Thanks, Wadad.

I've been able to spot weasel phrasings in several mailings from different orgs...it looks like there's a lot more chaff than wheat out there.

By MD Mom on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 09:07 am: Edit

Actually Swarthmore College does give merit aid because my daughter applied early decision and was accepted with a tentative offer of $22,000 in merit aid.

By Wadad (Wadad) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 09:42 am: Edit

Swarthmore's merit aid is only for those from the Delaware Peninsula and 3 counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Other colleges may have some specific merit aid available based on critera like this, but in general the most highly selective colleges say they don't give merit aid, only need-based aid. This is what Swarthmore's web-site says about merit aid:

Q: Do you have merit-based scholarships?
A: Most of our funds are distributed on the basis of a family's financial situation but, each year a few scholarships are available on the basis of merit alone through our McCabe Scholarship program. These awards provide a minimum annual grant to cover tuition. No aid application and no separate application form is necessary. McCabe Scholars are chosen during the admission process and all admission applicants from the Delaware Penninsula and from Delaware County, Chester County and Montgomery County in Pennsylvania.

By Kadzus on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 11:35 am: Edit

Wadad,

Thanks a lot for the Web link. Looks like these guys are indeed blood sucking con artists. I wish there is some way to warn parents not to fall into this trap.

MD Mom,

Congratulations to your daughter. My daughter also has Swarthmore in her list of schools. Is Swarthmore as good as what I have been reading from various postings here?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 12:14 pm: Edit

Interesting thing about Swarthmore from PR's THE BEST 345 is how applicants compare it to others:

Swarthmore often loses applicants to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and Dartmouth

sometimes loses applicants to Amherst, Wesleyan, Columbia, Brown, and Williams

rarely loses applicants to Vassar, Haverford, U Chicago, Penn.

Based on that alone, it sounds like a pretty good school.

Heh. The first line about academics reads: "A Swarthmore education is not for the weak of heart."

Lines from students: "At times I feel like I signed up for married life with the Marquis de Sade...then I remember that I've learned more in one class than in four years of high school."

"First you think they're out to get you. Then you think they're out to get everybody. Finally you realize they're just too damned smart...."

First semester classes are given pass-fail and notes say the prof's availability is extraordinary, even on weekends.

As for campus life, "It's surprising how social a place the library is" and "Swat is one of those places where you can attend an open mike comedy improv group, a pterodactyl hunt, a frat party, and a movie all in one night." (ah. they don't sleep. I remember being able to do that. thedad)

By Dadster (Dadster) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 11:02 pm: Edit

Nice find, Wadad.

Kadzus, your income, however dicey it might be, will probably prevent you from getting any need-based aid unless it drops in a major way and you have the W2 to prove it.

Your best bet for merit aid is for your daughter to apply to a variety of colleges, including some where your daughter would be in the top echelon of applicants. Schools generally use merit aid to bolster their stats and attract students who might otherwise attend an even more selective school. Including an extra few schools in the list is probably a good idea - if one comes through with a surprising grant, you can try to leverage it at the other schools of comparable quality.

Scholarship searches can be time consuming and fairly unproductive. It seems like most of the scholarships one finds at fastweb and the like are either too specific in their requirements (e.g., must have need, be a minority, and live in Kansas) or are a national contest with a huge number of entries.

Local scholarships are worth looking for. The high school's guidance office would be a good place to start, as would the aid office at a college in the area. These are often a bit less restrictive (except for geography) and less competitive.

By Mdmom (Mdmom) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 01:14 pm: Edit

Wadad,
We live in the Baltimore, Maryland area and on my daughters early decision acceptance letter and financial aid information it said that they are offering her a $22,000 merit scholarship so I guess the information that you gave must be outdated.

Kadzus,
Thank you. Yes Swarthmore seems to be a first rate institution. It was my daughters first choice so she applied early decision. From the stats that you listed it appears that your daughter would have a pretty good shot. Our daughter had a 1570 SAT and an extensive art portfolio so I think that helped her out a lot. Best of luck to your daughter.

By Sjparent (Sjparent) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 01:23 pm: Edit

Thanks for everyone's support and especially the link that Wadad sent on NSFA. I registered on this site as sjparent(Kadzus)as the site rule seem to have changed since I started this thread. Anyway I am really happy to find this part of the WWW. You guys are so helpful and so much good information here. You will see me around a lot.

Good luck to all. Mdmom, you should be proud of your daughter. Wish her all the best at Swarthmore.

By Wadad (Wadad) on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 01:42 am: Edit

Mdmom, congratulations on your daughter's acceptance to Swarthmore. It's a great school -- for the academically inclined probably the best liberal arts college in the country. (I'm an alumnus, so I may be biased.)

On the merit vs. need-based aid question, I was just repeating what I'd seen on Swarthmore's web site. A closer examination of Swarthmore's Common Data Set document shows that last year they awarded 2 non-need (that is merit) based scholarships. Your daughter is clearly a stand-out in Swarthmore's very qualified applicant pool.