RE>Ivies & Scholarships
Dave Bender wrote:
>I saw today where it was touted that the Ivy League schools put together
>programs without any athletic scholarships.  This is in essence half true.
 
>One of the intersting little items revealed by the investigation of the price
>fixing scam perpatrated by the Ivy League schools is that finicial aid
>packages of student athletes varied by up to $10,000 from school to school.
 
Once again, the myth of Ivy "athletic" scholarship is being perpetuated.  While
it may be true that some athletes received up to $10,000 more financial aid
from one Ivy than another Ivy, or it might appear that an athlete has received
more $$ than a regular student, there was NO money given out to an athlete
SOLELY based on his or her athletic ability.
 
However, it's entirely possible for one school to "massage" the financial aid
calculation in order to offer the most attractive aid package to a student,
whether the student is an athlete or not.  The bottom line is, aid in the Ivy
League is given based on demonstrated needs, not academic or athletic
achievements.  The public often fail to understand that there is no magic
formula by which each college arrives at an aid package.  The Congressional
Methodology provides a common ground for aid calculation, but each institution
is free to use its own guidelines on top of that.  A well-endowed college may
be more generous in student aid because of its financial well-being, while
another Ivy may choose to give students more loans in the package than the
grant aid (money you don't have to pay back).  Another possible scenario is, a
student applying to more than one Ivy may actually have a first choice among
those schools.  If she provides different financial information to different
schools hoping to gain aid advantage from her first choice, then it could
result in a better FA package from that school.  Cynical?  No, it actually
happened here at Cornell a couple of years ago.  The difference in aid packages
was in thousands of dollars.
 
To better understand how need-based financial aid works, I recommend the
article "Winning The College Aid Game" by Kristin Davis, in the January 1993
issue of the Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.  I believe this article is
the best, and most succinct treatise on college financial aid I've read in
years.  For those of you who are parents of college-bound teenagers, this is a
must read.
 
Tom Y. Tseng
Cornell '87