Academic Money

We asked once the coach had outlined the offer for our 2016 - which was he was supporting him through admissions and guaranteeing a spot on the spring roster, and in return our 2016 would apply early decision.  Once the coach made that "official" (which he did after a pre-read from admissions) we completed the financial aid forms online and reviewed them with the financial aid office over the phone.  The school also offers merit awards for various different academic levels and some non-academic categories that seemed to allow some leeway for them to give out awards for those without 4.0s and high SATs/ACTs.  For 2016s school they had him tell the coach that he wanted to be considered for a merit award and the coach had to ask admissions. The coach delivered the results of that inquiry back to our 2016.  

The coach then sent a summary type email to 2016 with where things stood after discussion with admissions and made sure that 2016 (us really since we're paying the bill) understood our potential costs.  

The process might be a little different from school to school but I went through this a few times on the board as we hit each step and those here who had been through it before guided me through.   

You are most likely going to sit down with the coaches (you, son, mom) and discuss - probably before the tour and after.  Ask all your questions and tell HC that as part of their "process" you'd like to get an overview of how financial aid is handled and how academic money is distributed.  It's OK for you to ask the financial questions both while you are there onsite and after.  

Thanks for your thorough response, sounds like its okay for the parents to speak up and ask questions during the visit in regards to financials.

It's unclear from your post whether the application being solicited would be ED, EA, or RD. Those are critical distinctions, because ED commits an applicant to the school (barring some contractual back out conditions - including to a certain extent financial aid issues).

But generically, here is the way it should work to get to the information you need: when you visit the school (I'd suggest you do if the school is one S would attend), make sure the visit is coordinated with the coach and includes appointments with financial and admissions officers. This would be the "pre-read" process. For admissions, you would have prepared the academic stats (official transcript, test scores, HS profile, etc.); for financial you would have on hand several years of tax returns, an up to the minute financial statement (showing net worth and type of assets; e.g., retirement v. non-retirement),

Also have the current year's taxable income in mind (even though we're still in the current year). Keep in mind this critical point; if the info you provide to financial aid is not completely accurate, no accurate reading can emerge.

i feel that the parents have every right to be present and ask all the questions they want of admissions and financial. Conversely, they should have no input on baseball - all the conversations should only go through your son until the final sales speech by the coach which usually has parents present.

When you talk about "very high academic" colleges, that category tends to have very very very few academic scholarships (if any) and instead doles out aid based strictly on the financial condition of each family - all applicants (athletic or non-athletic) are measured by the same standard. (e.g., Amherst, Williams.) moreover, even if there are a few academic schollys available, all students theoretically stand on equal footing - athletes have no advantage.

Make sure you get whatever FA offers in writing. Of course, the amount offered is totally contingent upon your figures being accurate. You now know what shortfall will be. 

Not to sound ignorant but what is ED, EA and RA? as far as transcripts and test scores son has already sent these to the coach to have the Admissions Director review. School is very high academic so it sounds like scholarships might be limited. Wife and I will only address tuition and financial aid questions, baseball is on my son.

My wife and I asked many questions when we sat down with the coaches at school - baseball related, campus life related, financial aid, and others I'm probably not remembering.  We stayed with the coaches when the player host took son off for the day and continued to ask questions.  It didn't seem like anything was off limits question wise when we were there on campus.  Prior to and after the visit 2016 handled all contact with the coach.

A few additional notes - I did ask about financial aid and merit awards when we sat down with the coach.  He did reply but I never really got the full process until later.  If you have the opportunity to sit down with admissions/financial aid while you are onsite then I would do that.  

Once I was in touch with the Financial Aid office they had me complete the Net Cost Calculator online, print it out and send it in.  I actually just completed it and then called the office and reviewed.  You could complete that (with 2014 tax returns) and bring with you if you meet with them.  

And finally - go online and look for their academic award or merit award info.  If available the criteria should be clearly outlined.  It was for several of the schools that recruited our 2016.  

Can you give me an idea of how much financial aid is typically available in terms of percents? is 50% a reasonable expectation?

Financial aid and Academic Awards are different things.  The financial aid part is going to be different for everyone based on the family's financial info.  

The academic awards I have seen have been listed in $ amounts.  I have seen three different "packages" of what's offered and the awards ranged from $5k per year to $25k per year.  One school sent us an overview that had a grid of SATs/GPA ranges and the amount that would go along with each.  I would not consider two of the schools to be High academic though even though they are in an "academic" conference.  I'd say the school son applied to is on the higher side of that conference but probably "mid" in the overall scale of academic schools if that makes sense.  

Search (school name) academic merit awards and see what you come up with.  

MK did a great job of outlining this oftentimes confusing step of the process.

In our experience, there can be a lot of money available, depending upon the school, the family's resources, etc.

We are in this process again with our 2016.  The first school is a "list" price all in of about $61K.  They've offered $29K per year in merit money.  My 2016 is no scholar, but this school has resources.  This is not financial aid as we haven't done a FAFSA or similar for the school.

Thanks

I think the process is different with every school.  It may differ with the OP's school so let us know how it goes.  Part of the difficulty is that most of the info is filtered through 16-18 yr olds so I was getting info from 2016 after he'd discuss with the coach (sometimes via text since he was at school) and then I'd have to try to figure out what to do from there.  This board provided a lot of guidance so I'm happy to help if I can.  

Could the conversation go like this, Parent says "I can afford $x,xxx a year for four years to send my son to your school.  That's all my family can afford.  Can your school make up the difference?  If so, my son is ready to ________ today (ED, EA, sign, committ,)"

It's all about the right fit, but some of the fits are soft and some are hard.  For some families, the money is a "hard" fit.

Thanks to everyone taking the time to help me with all this stuff. Financial burden will weigh heavily in our decision process. Son is also applying to a couple of the academies and has a very good shot of getting in but would have to try and walk on if he wishes to play baseball. Current school of interest would allow him both opportunities but at a price tag. I'll be so much happier when this is all settled.     

Never assume that you will not qualify for need based aid. Some private schools with healthy endowments will award grants in excess of the balance of your FAFSA Expected Family Contribution. Here are a couple of good resources.

College Board Net Price Calculator.  I have found these estimates to be very accurate. If the school you're looking at does not participate, they may have their own calculator on their website.

http://studentnpc.collegeboard...articipating-schools

Thanks for starting this thread, Standball!  Lots of great info....

I am going to have to have my wife go through this thread to explain it all too me.

Not sure if other posters answered your question:

ED  Early Decision (if you get in, you commit to go)

EA  Early Action (notified early of acceptance; don't have to commit)

RA  Regular Acceptance

Ahhh, thanks

Standballdad,

Which Service Academies and where are you at in the process?  I may be able to assist...

Financial aid is given on a year by year basis - there is no four year commitment because both the family's and school's finances are subject to year by year fluctuations.

I found that the calculators each school is required to have on their websites were more accurate if a family had no assets and only w-2 earnings and less accurate if a family had a small business. (In other words, the simpler the tax return and fewer assets, the more accurate the calculators.) Even then, calculators only provide a rough indication of what the family will be required to pony up. The financial aid office has much more detailed and accurate info. Also, especially if a family has a small business, heavy financial planning the year the first FA is based upon, can really impact the amount of aid. (And good financial planning in subsequent years can also help.)

Most "very high academic" schools will use additional financial aid forms over and above FAFSA. These will be online - probably on the admissions page.

Schools in the category described by OP will probably range from list prices of 50 - 65k. Even an award of 20k per year, leaves huge shortfall. 

For all parents, financial considerations are often the last thing thought about in the process - but the first insurmountable problem. I don't think many middle class families can amass the 250k needed to fully pay for these schools; virtually no amount of financial planning can get a middle class family to that amount if they have more than one child (without exhausting the retirement money).

There are several ways of reducing the hit. For example, a kid who has the stats to get into the top academic schools, can "drop down" to lesser academic schools (schools which award academic scholarships) and reduce the sticker price. A kid can go to a school in the state system. A kid can go to a JUCO and then transfer. Also, as I mentioned above, financial planning could help in many circumstances. If the kid knows his intended major and plans after college (recognizing that most kids change their major), a family could home into the school which provides the best bang for the buck. There is no magic bullet - the schools OP is addressing are expensive and even with financial aid, the family will feel the financial pain and - quite possibly a decline in living standards for the duration.

The ED v. EA/RD trade off is tough. Coaches will of course press for ED and often will tell a family that he has influence ONLY in the ED phase. The flip side is that an enforceable agreement is made; and a kid breaking the ED agreement will oftentimes effect his HS and HS Guidence counselor's reputation and ability to send further students to that school. For D3 especially, this is a huge monkey wrench in the process of finding a school - because without ED, 100 guys could show up for the first day of practice. ED is a little like the NLI for D3 athletics.

An academy often overlooked is the Merchant Marine Academy. Very low end D3 baseball wise; free education, virtually 100% employment (starting salaries approaching 100K right out of school); a degree carries with it many options. The downside, it's the forgotten uncle of the service academy world.

It should not be to hard to do a worst case/best scenario...with your wife's help of course.  .   It is the same way in the fenwaysouth household.  Go to the net price calculator (as MidAtlanticDad suggests) for the school  and start figuring out financials for your specific household.  Call the Financial Aid office and request time from a FA Officer.  I do this sooner rather than later as this is their busy season.  This is your worst case financial situation....just need based financial aid no merit money

The best case would include some merit or academic schollies.   Ask the Admissions office about these.  In my experience you really don't need to involve the coach (D1 or D3) because he will hand it off to his academic liason who will eventually refer you back to Admissions.  So, cut to the chase and ask Admissions directly.  Admission will tell you about schollies available, requirements and so forth.  In our experience the major merit scholarships were for ED applicants only.   So, if your interested in the "full boat Presidential" scholarship you need to be prepared to apply ED or EA.  Oh, and by the way the lower the admissions percent the less likely you'll get merit schollies.  But you won't know exactly until you go through the whole process.  Good luck

Navy is his top choice then AF. He has his panel interview coming up with all the academies to potentially get our Congressman nomination.   

My wife is going to call the admissions office prior to our visit.

I'm an AF Academy grad. and I work with all academy applicants yearly.  If you have any questions feel free to ask.  Happy to vector you with good intel.  Feel free to PM me with specifics.

Good luck.

Sent you a PM

 No PM there, try again and we'll connect tomorrow.  Happy to help

Screwed it up should be there now. I'll check back in the morning. Thanks

You can (and should) ask about finances....especially if your son is really interested.  My son didn't talk to any D3's but a friend is a head coach at a fairly pricey one.   We had some conversations even though he knew my son wouldn't attend so it never got really serious.  In most cases, you can find a chart with academic money somewhere on the website (look hard....it's  usually kind of "hidden")   It will show GPA/ACT scores in some kind of chart with an amount next to it.  That's "Academic" money.  Financial Aid is completely different....(grants, loans, etc) and is dependent on family income and their expected financial contribution.  Coaches likely won't be a huge help in that department.....but normally will be able to get you in touch with the right people

Thanks, we are going through the website now.