"Financial AId"
Family Sacrifice Helps Connecticut Private Schools Weather Recession
The Hartford Courant ran a piece last Thursday (Connecticut’s Private Schools Have Suffered Only A Glancing Blow From Recession) covering the relief that Connecticut schools are finding in many a family’s commitment to their best education options. Yes, enrollment is down a bit. Yes, financial aid requests are up. But, in the [...]
Read MoreBoone Pickens Brings Boarding School to Students in Need
Boone Pickens is doing what I’d do if I had either a pile of money and/or a magic wand- providing the foundation and support to bring the benefits and opportunities of boarding school beyond those who can pay the tuition.
Pickens donated $2.5 million for the T. Boone Pickens Training Center at Happy Hill Farm Academy. [...]
Carnival of College Admission is Back!
AdmissionsQuest is thrilled to host this edition of the Carnival of College Admission.
We first hosted way back when the Carnival was just getting started. Now look at it… it’s has exploded in size.
Congrats to Mark Montgomery over at Great College Advice for building the CCA into a real powerhouse of blog posts.
So, lets go ahead [...]
When Market Realities and Mission Conflict
You’re a seasoned admission director, new at your current school and enthusiastic about this exciting opportunity. Within a year, you have established a marketing strategy that includes the usual glossy viewbook, flash presentations, E-Newsletters, bump mailings along with the requisite round of school fairs and informal receptions. By the third year, application numbers have improved [...]
Read MoreTuition Insurance
Tuition insurance is a product that I had put out-of-sight/out-of-mind over the years. But the New York Times ran a brief conversation (What You Need to Know About Tuition Insurance) with “Mark Kantrowitz, an expert on student loans who publishes the Web site Finaid.org” (NYT) that merits mention.
While most of the conversation covers college tuition [...]
Making Lemonade
Over the summer, articles from prominent national publications have flown across my desk on almost a weekly basis, each in one way or another decrying the state of college admissions, financial aid, college affordability, college testing and more. It can be gut-wrenching, but in the spirit of being handed lemons, it’s also an opportunity to [...]
Read MoreSupporting a Private School Student in Need- Directly and Personally
The power of the personal decision to act is in full view in the LA Times article, Off to private Brentwood School, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
David and Jacki Horwitz responded to news coverage of Lorelei Oliver’s work to find and fund private school for her son Kamal Key.
Several phone calls, e-mails and meetings [...]
Fluidity is the Order of American Higher Education: Moving Beyond the High School Graduation-Four Year Undergraduate Model
A few years back I wrote piece about spending a post graduate year in boarding school before moving on to college- “A Post Graduate Year; what’s that?” The reasons for pursuing a PG year proved consistent among the students and families choosing an extra year of high school- graduating young, improving maturity, more academic preparation, [...]
Read MoreIn Any Market, the Down Portion of the Cycle Offers Buying Opportunities: Private Schools Are No Different- Carpe Diem
In a piece for SmartMoney (The Private School Pinch), Neil Parmer makes the case for the current private school admission cycle as a buyers opportunity. He doesn’t sugar coat the costs but he makes the case for- and provides ideas and examples- of the negotiating and buying opportunities available to parents.
Boarding and private schools [...]
Parents and Schools Working to Maintain Private School Opportunities
Diana Costello has written a snapshot of the school and family sides of the private school admission process in the lower Hudson River Valley for the Journal News and LoHud.com (“Parents still paying up for private schools“).
She chronicles the thinking and decisions of families as administrators work to keep their schools full and parents [...]
Shared Sacrifice: Jim Wickenden Echos the Call
Jim Wickenden, principal of his eponymous firm, Wickenden Associates called out school heads in the name of shared sacrifice in his blog post titled “Setting an Example.” Citing school cost cutting efforts, Jim notes the symbolic importance of school heads sharing in communal sacrifice and the message that a school heads public sacrifice would send.
“…And [...]
Steady Application Numbers- Increased Aid Applications: Confirmation of what we’ve been hearing
Admission professionals have been telling us the same story throughout the school year. Applications and inquiries are steady. Financial aid requests are up.
Using interviews at a few schools and with the National Association of Independent Schools, the New York Daily News ran a piece (Private schools see more financial aid requests during recession – [...]
Ross School Offers Merit Scholarships
File this under the ‘fantastic opportunity’ category.
Ross School in Bridgehampton, NY “is offering $20,000 annual Merit Scholarships for students in grades 5-11 who demonstrate academic achievement and exceptional promise” in a number of areas.
Have a demonstrated talent for the Arts, Athletics, Community Service, Math, Media, Music (Jazz), Science, or Theater? This may be [...]
The Public Versus Private Equation: Families Work to Reach Decisions
I read a couple of articles over the past few days that, combined, provide a good pictures of the thinking, priorities and sacrifices that families are grappling with in their ‘public or private’ school decisions. With a generally more conservative outlook about future earnings and home equity gone as a banking option families are struggling [...]
Read MoreBoarding School Podcast Sustainablity Series
In light of the economic downturn, school sustainability and adaptive strategies have been hot topics for a number of months. No one is spared from the realities of a shrinking economy- schools, families, students- we’re all impacted.
To encourage a conversation about the options available to families and schools, AQ’s Boarding School Podcast hosted a four [...]
