Not for PG year. That is strictly business. Boarding schools blew up the PG counts for only one reason: collect from families chasing a preppie sport college career. I'm well aware that a lot of preps in Maryland and in the DC area underwrite some kids through.
I know of one from Smithtown East not paying a dime for his PG year.
It would either be need based (somewhat likely) or some false daddy bragging (happens a lot). I know two of the preps that are most prolific to follow the PG model. The objective is to never athletically scholarship them. At Deerfield, one where in the past I've been involved in fundraising and done alumni off campus interviews for years, the new old joke is the May 15 squared. May is after all the acceptances, wait lists and deposits are done. It is also the time these boarding schools get frantic calls from sports people and parents begging to take a kid who didn't pass admissions. That's the part where the boarding schools explain the deadlines and acceptances have passed, but will review the academic and sports folios. If a kid indeed is committed to Duke, UVA or wherever for sports and is graduating from high school the standard deal is making exception for full pay and a $15K donation. $15K by May 15.
I'm a plenty proud alum of one of these schools and sent one son to another and the only reason to attend one is to gain the academic and social experience boarding schools offer. Cheapening that cheapens those schools (and I am not sorry to put it that way) and cheapens the experience for the kid and his future.
If you think boarding schools are doing something else, that would make you an easier mark for the boarding schools than you were for the lacrosse showcase guys. Think about that.
