TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Apr 15, 2019 8:20:05 GMT -5
hoops... did you say that some places without a standard for entry give merit based funding? I'm confused. Our local private actually doesn't give any need based adjustments before K, because pre-k isn't mandatory... so if you can afford to pay for it, your kid can go to pre-k, but not if you can't afford it... (i do think they assume if you can't afford it then you have head start? but still, its a bit backward in my thinking.) I think it is because it is not mandatory and a lot of nurseries around here keep the kids till they are ready for Kindergarten. They have some special nurseries actually that are for 2, 3 and 4-5 year olds but they are half days (so not sure how they would allow a parent to work) vs full day daycare. I think they are more to give stay at home mom a break and give the kids some socializing time. We considered 2 of them for this fall but decided against them due to distance ; they were not close enough that MIL could do drop off and pick up and with my job I could not guarantee I could always do it.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 15, 2019 8:20:50 GMT -5
hoops... did you say that some places without a standard for entry give merit based funding? I'm confused. Our local private actually doesn't give any need based adjustments before K, because pre-k isn't mandatory... so if you can afford to pay for it, your kid can go to pre-k, but not if you can't afford it... (i do think they assume if you can't afford it then you have head start? but still, its a bit backward in my thinking.) I would say where the "standard for entry" means "you have to still be able to pay tuition"...yes (technically that's a standard of entry, but not really, it's pretty well open to anyone who wants to attend, realizing that practically speaking the tuition is a barrier of entry if not a standard. No academic standard of entry). I wasn't saying the merit funding goes down to pre-K, just that the schools themselves do (pre-K here is free for all). The private schools here (not a huge metropolitan area) will take you if you can pay the tuition. They also offer both merit and need-based funding. Maybe some of the "no standard for entry" will change if they are ever at capacity. As it stands, the schools are generally small and needing more students to continue to keep the doors open.
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TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Apr 15, 2019 8:26:41 GMT -5
Just to add to the above : even in DC for your inbound school (public school within your location limit) even if they offer Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 (some do not) you are only guaranteed a seat Kindergarten and above.
The lower grades you have to get a spot through the lottery system and may not get in. But kindergarten and above every kid is guaranteed a spot in their inbound school.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Apr 15, 2019 9:11:01 GMT -5
Interesting discussion.
Back when the Boy was in kindergarten they didn't have all day here. We had K-Plus. So he went to morning kindergarten at the public school (we have a great public school system here) and then we paid like $150 a month for him to go to K-plus in the afternoon. The purpose of KPlus was to "reinforce what they learned in the morning". So it ended up being all day kindergarten. They only let that go for two or three years. Then it was determined that they were giving an unfair advantage to the wealthy kids in town because not everyone could afford the K-plus option. They switched to all day kindergarten after that.
He's at University of Dayton know. They have a very transparent merit aid award system. Essentially if your GPA is in this range and your ACT score is in this range you get $xxx. They have like 4 tiers of merit aid levels. DS is at the highest level. They also give credit for AP classes. That's it. It's straight across the board when it comes to merit aid for academics. They have a generous endowment but I don't know about need based aid. We do fafsa every year but mostly so he gets the $500 per semester book allowance/grant from the university for completing fasfa. Our "expected family contribution" is about equal to what he owes after his merit aid.
I can see though where he was at an advantage because we were able to afford to send him to any camp he wanted to go to and participate in all extra activities he wanted. We didn't pay for tutoring or test prep or anything like that. But he did definitely have advantages in life because of our income level.
My bestie is a neurosurgeon. She put herself through school. She actually got a cosmetology license during her undergrad so she could pay her own way through school. Her dad refused to fill out fafsa because "they government didn't need his private information" Her family was definitely at the poverty level growing up. She would have benefitted from some need based aid. FWIW She can operate on me any time.
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laterbloomer
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Post by laterbloomer on Apr 15, 2019 19:36:41 GMT -5
Like local private schools that go down to Pre-K for admittance. There is actually a standard for attending school even at the Pre K level. The Pre K's I know of the kids need to be potty trained, verbal and maintain a standard of social behaviour that does not endanger the other children. If they don't hit that standard they are looking at special needs and those programs are definitely need based.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 16, 2019 7:42:51 GMT -5
Like local private schools that go down to Pre-K for admittance. There is actually a standard for attending school even at the Pre K level. The Pre K's I know of the kids need to be potty trained, verbal and maintain a standard of social behaviour that does not endanger the other children. If they don't hit that standard they are looking at special needs and those programs are definitely need based. Social behavior is not the same as MERIT requirement which is the thing you mentioned. If you're concerned about endangering others, then you're not talking about merit at all. Just like you could meet a college's academic requirements for entry, but they might not let you in for all kinds of other reasons, including safety of students. You also seem to be talking about requirements for continued attendance, as opposed to admittance. You can get your kid into pre-K literally by signing up a form and sending it in if you want to. You could send your kid to Pre-K and get them admitted without anyone knowing anything about them other than that they've had vaccines and that they meet the age requirements. The process is surprisingly simple, most pre-K's won't ever even meet our daughter unless we bring her with us when we go look at the place. Most of the ones in the area even actively advertise that not being potty trained fully is fine. The admittance standard is literally "do you meet the age requirement? You do? Ok, you're in".
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busymom
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Post by busymom on Apr 16, 2019 12:16:14 GMT -5
On my Mom's side of the family, the push was that each generation should try to do better than the previous generation. Not to disrespect their elders, but to make life better for their own kids. With a few exceptions, most of my cousins have done VERY well. My Grandma would be proud of all of the college graduates, and some of her grandkids even earned their doctorate. Not bad, considering my Grandparents on Mom's side of the family were both immigrants.
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