The Unfortunate Link Between Friday Food Fights & FAFSAs at The Bay!
I have a few comments about the recent melee (i.e. near riot) that took place last Friday at Weston’s Cypress Bay High School (CBHS), among the largest in the nation with over 4,300 students.
If you hadn’t heard, there was a food fight in the school cafeteria during lunchtime that erupted into a chaotic frenzy and spilled out into the courtyard. Thousands of students gathered to witness the commotion and fracas, as one student, a 17 year old, was arrested for allegedly striking a school official and he now faces felony charges. For the rest of the school community, the incident remains an embarrassment coming at the end of a school year that unfortunately saw a fair share of unwanted media attention.
Let me first say that Cypress Bay is a top high school, producing outstanding college-bound students every year. It is far from a “troubled” school, as it was referred to in Saturday’s Miami Herald headline. They may have faced their share of challenges this year (sex scandals and food fights will attract headlines), but to label it “troubled” is a bit unfair, no? For what it’s worth, Cypress Bay has earned an ‘A’ grade for 8 of the last 9 years and the last 3 in a row. That’s far from “troubled”. I had the privilege of working with several 12th graders who are bound for great schools like University of Chicago, UPenn (Wharton), Cal Tech, NYU, University of Florida, Elon University, The Pratt Institute, and University of Richmond, among many others. And those are just the dozen or so kids I personally worked with — about 98% of the 1,000 12th graders are college-bound.
The problem with CBHS, and the reason this incident got so out of hand, is that the school is simply too large. The administration and faculty don’t have the manpower to control a student body of over 4,000 when they get rambunctious and prank-happy on a Friday in May. Frankly, I give credit to the school, its students, Principal Neely and his staff for maintaining order during the other 179 days of the school year. Friday’s episode could have happened anywhere, but the images that circulated among social media in recent days revealed a chaotic sea of teenage outburst. This could have been an Ultra Music Festival without the beating bass.
What does this have to do with college planning? Despite it’s terrific record, the US Department of Education notes that only 60% of CBHS seniors completed a FAFSA this year (as of April 26). This means that, notwithstanding the noble efforts of the college counseling office, the message is not getting through to the minions that every applicant should complete a FAFSA in order to qualify for aid and some scholarships, including Florida’s Bright Futures. The conclusion is that the BRACE office, like the rest of the adminstration at CBHS, is simply overwhelmed. Friday’s episode is just a symtom of a much bigger problem.
If you feel that your family deserves personalized attention — in terms of funding college, finding a discount, or gaining admission, then you need to check out one of my upcoming workshops. I’m holding two next week – one in Broward and another in Miami-Dade. I’ll cover:
- The biggest mistake parents make with FL Prepaid and other 529 plans
- The crucial questions parents should ask of every school on a student’s college list
- How a ‘pricey’ private college can cost less than a state school, even considering Bright Futures and FL Prepaid
- Why it’s taking, on average, 5+ years to graduate from college today and how to buck this trend
- How to compile a list of schools that maximize chances at both admissions and financial aid
- How to decipher the complex financial aid formula and identify rules that can cost you (or save you) thousands of dollars
- More!
This event is will not cost a single scoop of mashed potatoes. I do promise, however, that you will leave with valuable portions of information that can save the typical middle class family thousands of dollars off the cost of college. With the school year nearing it’s end, it’s time to get a plan together on how you will pay for college for your children — before the laziness of summer kicks in. The best way to start is to attend my workshop.
Click here to register and to get more info. I look forward to seeing you there.
Best,
Pete

Hi Pete, we will be deciding within the next week which of 3 colleges our son will attend. I do agree with some of what you say but not all. Yes, there are schools that will give more money than others , depending on your students academic record, etc but they may be “no name schools”. We in the US ( & I count myself among them) are too “name conscious” , maybe rightly so as the “name” college degree may open more doors than the no-name. We are becomning too elitist & thats why many of us are paying “too” much for college. We will be turning down a very generous merit aid offer in favor of a lower need-based offer because of which school is a better fit ( for lots of reasons) for our student. It kills me to look that gift horse in the mouth but we’ll bite the bullet & do it. Shame on us.