As long as the Ivies maintain that they do not give athletic scholarships, I don't think we'll every know "definitively." Unless and until they openly designate aid as an "athetic scholarship", I suspect that the suspicion will always be there that they do. And as long as people like the Colgate coach make comments like they do, the suspicions will have a certain amount of credibility. I think that if a student has some unique credential that makes them a very desirable student for a school, that they will get some sort of preference both from and admissions standpoint and from a financial aid standpoint. Admissions officers are becoming more and more honest on the admissions aspect of this, and I think it's naive to think that it doesn't affect the financial aid aspect as well. I think that a big difference is that schools that give athletic scholarships don't need to consider need at all, whereas the Ivies do. When I talked to a financial aid counselor at one of the schools that my daughter was accepted at, I bluntly asked her "If my daughter had better SAT scores, or were a great athlete, or had some unique skill, would her financial aid offer been better?" She answered that our income was above a "ceiling" so those factors didn't come into play. The implication, of course, is that if our income had been below that ceiling, that her financial aid would have taken her credentials into account. This is entirely consistent with what I hear from most college advisors, especially those who have worked in admissions departements at selective universities. If, for whatever reason, you are highly desirable to a college (and athetic skill is possibly the most visible desirability factor), you'll be treated better by the school. One admissions director and financial aid director said "We WILL have an orchestra and a football team and . . ." Clay > -----Original Message----- > From: Richard S. Tuthill [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 11:58 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Colgate Financial Aid > > The recent quote from Coach Vaughn of Colgate confirms that > Colgate awards > preferential need-based aid to athletes. In fact, what he said is > basically > the definition of preference. This is exactly what some schools such as > Union, for instance (until this year), maintained they would not do. Does > anyone know, definitively, whether or not the Ivies do or do not award > preferential need based aid to athletes? We have had this discussion > before > but it would be interesting to know if there is any new information > available. > > Btw, Union now gives preferential need-based aid in the form of > loans > which do not carry an absolute requirement to be paid back. But only > foreign nationals can get them. (You will be forgiven for shaking your > head > in wonderment.) > > -- Dick Tuthill > > HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to > [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.