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Schechter Life | High School
College Guidance: Financing a College Education
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Need-based Financial Aid
Timetable for Applying for Aid
Frequently Asked Questions About Financial Aid
Helpful Financial Aid Links
As increasing college costs put more stress on family resources, the topic of financial aid can be a decisive factor in the college search for many families. The College Office strongly encourages students to honestly and openly discuss with their family the role of financial assistance in the college selection process. While we believe that the total cost of college should not be the primary factor which shapes the college search, availability of financial aid frequently plays a critical role in the final decision about which college a student attends.
There are two basic types of financial aid. One is merit based (academic or other talents) and the other is need-based, requiring a family to submit financial documentation which establishes their eligibility for aid. A third party, the College Scholarship Service (CSS), serves as an impartial agent in assessing eligibility.
Merit Aid Merit aid can come from a variety of sources. The most common are: college sponsored scholarships for academic merit; corporate or non-profit scholarships for academic merit; government sponsored scholarships (military academies, state scholarships); and multi-cultural scholarships.
Need-based Financial Aid
This is the most common form of financial assistance. Since private colleges cost more than Exeter, most colleges have an even higher percentage of students on need-based aid. Exeter provides need-based aid to more than a third of our students.
Every family contemplating applying for need-based aid should determine what their approximate eligibility will be by completing the means test offered by the college board. This can be accessed online at various financial aid websites, including www.collegeboard.org, or in print materials.
Timetable for Applying for Aid
It is vitally important that students and families not wait until senior year to find out about ways to finance their education. Although the federal forms are not filed until January of the senior year, others should be filed in the fall, and the timetable for merit scholarship applications can be as early as the summer before the senior year. Please review the scholarship section on our website for further details.
The College Office encourages parents and guardians to discuss financing higher education with their children in order to assure that college planning will reflect family circumstances and will promote the search for any and all means of supporting our students' aspirations. Please contact the College Office if you have any questions regarding financing your child's college education.
Frequently Asked Questions About Financial Aid
Q: How can I tell if my child is eligible for financial assistance for college?
A: Take a means test and see if the child qualifies for need based aid. www.finaid.org is an excellent place to get started.
Q: How do I find out about merit scholarships?
A: The College Office has a list of colleges and organizations that sponsor merit scholarships. There are many others that may be accessed through various local and national organizations. (ex: Rotary Club, Tylenol, NH Charitable Trust, etc.) Please review the scholarship section on our website.
Q: If my child receives need-based aid, won't a merit award just get subtracted from the need-based aid offer?
A: In some cases colleges subtract the outside award from the whole package, thus reducing loans and self help as well as grants, while others subtract outside awards from loans and self help only.
Q: What if our family doesn't qualify for need-based aid but isn't prepared to pay the full cost of a private college?
A: Perhaps merit scholarships could help. Also state colleges with a lower price tag should be considered.
Q: My child recieves finacial aid to attend Schechter, should we expect the same amount of aid from colleges?
A: Probably not. College is more expensive and institutional and federal methodologies are different than the formula the private schools use.
Q: Does it hurt my chances of admission to apply for aid on my application to college?
A: It depends. The means test will determine first if you qualify for need-based aid. From there, it's a question of whether the college is need-blind, meaning that it will consider students for admission regardless of whether they need financial aid or not. If a college is need-aware (and most colleges are), a student's financial need may indeed affect the admission decision.
Helpful Financial Aid Links
To assist families, we suggest using the most helpful and commonly used financial aid web resources:
www.fafsa.ed.gov: The FAFSA website (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This is a financial aid form that all colleges require of financial aid applicants. The forms become available in December and the earliest the form can be filed is January 1. Parents and students should visit the site in late fall to register for a personal identification number (PIN).
http://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp: CSS Profile website. This is a financial aid form that some colleges require in addition to the FAFSA. Colleges that require this form typically list two deadlines: the first is the deadline by when the student should register for the CSS Profile and the second is the deadline by when the student should complete and file the CSS Profile.
www.fastweb.com: Find scholarship money by doing a free Fastweb Scholarship search.
www.finaid.org: Information about scholarships and loans. Includes a Financial Aid Estimation Calculator.
www.armyrotc.com/rotc/Schlr4yr/index.htm: Army ROTC 4 Year Scholarship Application and Information.
www.nrotc.navy.mil/scholarships_application.html: Navy ROTC Scholarship information and application.
www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/scholarship/: Watch out for scholarship scams!!!
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