I've read a lot on this board (and other places) about the lack of merit and athletic scholarships at Ivy League schools, with all of it being "need-based." Princeton's website, for example, says it is one of the most generous and shows tuition and fees for current year to be $66,700 with the average grant for a student in the 2022 class at $53,100, so net cost is $13,600. Sounds great, right? Well, I've gone through the process of filling out their financial aid estimator (with estimates--didn't have all the exact info handy) and, being in the upper-middle class bracket, the calculator spits out zero in financial aid. Really?? Of course, I would love my kid to have a full ride at his dream school (merit/athletic combo), but we've fully expected to have to pay something out of pocket, just not to the tune of $272,000 for one kid! I realize the "upper-middle class" is a broad category, but I don't think most people in that category have the ability to pay that for one child to go to college. We certainly don't (especially given the high cost of living where we are) and I don't think it makes sense for a kid to come out of college with significant debt, even with an Ivy degree.
I've always thought we wouldn't cross a school off son's list that offers a baseball position until we see what they have to offer in terms of the full package. With that in mind, we've been talking about doing an Ivy tour of sorts in January when he has a few days off from school so that he can get a feel for the schools, the area, the baseball facilities and the weather (especially being west coasters!). It turns out that Yale's winter prospect camp coincides with our dates, so he could attend that as well.
Now I'm torn as to whether we should even go visit if, at the end of the day, we're going to have to pay full sticker price at one of these schools. May be better to cross off the Ivy schools now and devote our energy to other high academic schools where the "full package" is actually affordable for those of us who don't qualify for any aid. I'd hate to have him fall in love one of those schools after visiting, get a baseball offer and then have to tell him the bleak reality that we can't pay for it.
I know many of you have been down this road and maybe (I'm hoping!) I am missing a piece of the puzzle??