This past October I made DC juniors and parents aware of the recent changes to the NACAC bylaws that would allow for colleges to “recruit” students more aggressively to attend their school. Here is an article in the Washington Post that explains these changes and how they can impact college admissions in the future. This is a very big shift in college admissions that will have a large impact on how colleges “recruit’ students in future years and offer them merit based scholarships.
Please keep in mind that there any many colleges in the United States and each will determine what approach to take as far as offering merit based aid. The perspective I am providing you in this post is an overall point of view based on national trends, feedback I have received from college admission professionals and have read in various news outlets.
Below are reasons why I think it would be advantageous to be patient when committing to attend a college. If you read the article above, you will see that one of the NACAC bylaws that was removed was that colleges should not recruit students if they have already committed to attending another college. So even if you decide to commit earlier to attend a college, another college that accepted you can come back to you with a different scholarship or financial aid offer.
- Colleges are having a more difficult time meeting their “Yield”. The “Yield” is the number that colleges budget for based on the number of students that they accept vs. the number of students that choose to attend. Because of colleges not being able to meet their “yield”, when they have a better idea of who is going to attend (in April), and they see the gap compared to how many students they anticipated would attend, they may be willing to offer more merit or need-based scholarship money to students they accepted in order to encourage them to attend their school. If a student commits earlier (December or January) and pays their deposit, that college may not be as inclined to offer them more money because they know the student is already attending; therefore, they offer aid to other strong students who haven’t committed yet.
2. Colleges may not provide the “best” financial aid offer to a student hoping they accept the lower offer. This is strictly my opinion and not something I have read or heard. However, I know colleges today are spending a lot more money to get analytical data on “demonstrated interest”. Take out the students who applied and were accepted through Early Decision, because they have to attend if they were accepted. If the data a college has suggests that a student is likely to come if they are accepted, and they then accept them through the Early Action, Rolling or Regular Decision deadlines, then why wouldn’t they provide them a merit-based scholarship package that may be a bit lower than what they could have offered and see if that student commits to attend? If they do, and ask no more questions, they just got that student to attend at a lower cost to them. At worst, you may have to accept the fact that you will need to accept what was already offered. If you can be patient however, ask if you could receive additional merit and/or need based aid in April, then if the college hasn’t met their “Yield”, they may be more inclined to provide you with more merit or need based financial aid.
3. The control has shifted from the college to the student. One of the big reasons the Department of Justice “forced NACAC’s hand” to remove these bylaws is because they felt that the student should be recruited more and should have more control in their application and decision making process. If the student (and parent) can shift their mindset to understand that the “ball is in their court” more, then they should approach these colleges as businesses who have the ability to give them more money. If they do this, and the student has shown great demonstrated interest toward a school they would like to attend and are at the high end or above the college’s posted mid-50% test scores and/or GPA, then they should be a bit more aggressive in asking for more merit or need based financial aid.
One last point I would like to make is the importance of how you approach financial aid counselors when asking if it would be possible to receive additional financial aid.
- You should have this discussion with a financial aid counselor at the school, not an admissions counselor. If the admissions counselor tells you that there is no more aid available or “this is our final offer”, ask if you could please speak with a financial aid counselor. They are the ones that have control over the financial aid “pot” of money.
- At least talk on the phone but ideally try to meet in person. Emailing a request is not that personal and will be viewed as such. Making the conversation more personal is going to help. You should at least talk to the financial aid counselor over the phone but if you can have a face to face conversation that would be even better.
- It would be best if the student was the one that asks. Parents, I know this may be tough to do, but have your senior be the one who initiates the conversation with the financial aid counselor. This lets the counselor know that the student is serious about coming to their school, is showing great interest in attending and is also showing great initiative and maturity which can also go a long way.
- Do not ask for a certain amount of money. To go into a conversation with a financial aid counselor and say, “we need ____ more to attend (college name) or we’re not coming” is probably viewed as threatening to the financial aid counselor and will probably result in them denying your request.
- Be honest about your financial situation. Sometimes parents don’t let the financial aid officer know where all their money is going or what other debts they have. If you are not upfront and completely transparent about your finances to the financial aid officer, you may not receive the most aid you could have in the end.
- Make the financial aid officer know that you will be an asset to their school. Approach the conversation with the financial aid officer from the perspective of “selling” yourself to them. You want them to want you on their campus so therefore, they should “invest” more in you. Be polite, respectful, thankful for what you already have received, completely honest and the rest will take care of itself.
In the end, we are called by God to be good stewards of what He’s provided for us. Please make the best financial decision you can when deciding on where you will attend college. If you pray about your decision, are proactive and diligent in your communication and make wise choices, God will make it clear as to what college you should attend.
