I hear this trope frequently that "when they do get in, they often find that there isn't any financial aid on offer."NutmegCrunch wrote: ↑Thu May 02, 2024 9:04 amParents of high schoolers should read the book, "Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions" by Jeffrey Selingo. It was extremely enlightening about the current college admissions landscape and how/why the highly selective schools got that way. Students with very solid test scores and grades in challenging classes (AP, IB, etc.) will still need a "hook" in admissions for those schools - and when they do get in, they often find that there isn't any financial aid on offer.lacrossemwj wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 2:35 pmDisagree about these kids getting in on their own. The college admissions landscape is the wild wild west these days. Of the top 25 lacrosse schools, students are not getting into Boston College, Northwestern, UVA OOS, Florida OOS, Michigan OOS, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, USC, or Harvard these days without a serious hook.BigRedChant wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 2:08 pm I am pretty confident that the great majority of girls that play high level lacrosse can get into almost all the schools that play mid to high level lacrosse on their own.
Lacrosse recruiting is more about what the coach is looking for/feeling … and some of these coaches are entirely unpredictable
That caliber of student will often get substantial merit aid (and potentially athletic aid) at a less-selective institution that may not offer Mom and Dad a prestigious decal to slap on the back of the family car, but will still provide an excellent undergraduate education.
What I don't understand is how a parent or student who is at all concerned about financial aid at say an Ivy isn't well informed about the financial aid formula their family will be put through after acceptance. The player is typically informed far in advance of the formal admissions acceptance, which is the ED process timing, that they have a slot, the "hook" necessary to be accepted. Typically, the coach has already reviewed the student's credentials with Admission. Indeed, that's important to understand as it adds considerable confidence to the likelihood.
So, the student-athlete, with such "hook", is aware of the likelihood of admissions far in advance. Not a 100% commitment, but close.
And this provides many months of opportunity to investigate pretty darn well what to expect with the need-based financial aid process, based on income and assets of the family, number of siblings, etc. Indeed, this should have already been investigated prior to even pursuing Ivy attention, much less accepting that 'slot'.
This is actually pretty darn transparent, there are few significant surprises for any student applying, athlete or not, if they've done their homework. It's accurate that the application for financial aid is made independently of admission and only post admission, but the criteria and formula are publicly available. Just don't lean on the Ivy coach for specific answers as they are forbidden to make any such commitments.
I can't speak to non-Ivy financial aid at schools that have more discretionary processes that may or may not be related to athletic merit or academic merit, but aren't most such available to know prior to actual admission?
None of the above means that a more selective school is necessarily the best answer short term cost-wise for any given student, much less that there aren't multiple paths to life success, however that is defined. Certainly the motivations and drive of the student are by far the most important determinations of traditional 'success' measures, not the school.
But let's not traffic in the the notion that the very most selective schools aren't highly supportive financially based on actual need nor that there are major surprises for those who have done their homework.
If a student-athlete does not have a parental situation that understands these processes, which indeed can happen with some families, hopefully the student-athlete will seek counsel from school counselors or the coach will detect that situation and direct them to the Financial Aid office for direct discussion. That sort of situation is highly likely to be full or close to full ride.
But for the middle class family where financial aid is still relevant but parental involvement is available, come on parents, do your homework. It's not that hard.