A few more PFS questions...

<p>Grejuni, I just sent you a PM.</p>

<p>for schools where admissions decisions are separate from financial aid, does admissions make a decision then forward the acceted applicants to the financial aid office, or does it work some other way???</p>

<p>That's a mystery to me too. It is no point to review the financial documents of someone that has no chance to be accepted, or to spend time reviewing those docs and only find later that applicant is not admitted, unless this is a very simple process. If that's not the case then at what point do they start the FA process?</p>

<p>we have a admission officer (GammyV something like that) here to answer questions. hope he's around.</p>

<p>oh ya, i think Gemmav maybe. me2</p>

<p>Yes, in my experience, at those types of schools, admission officers forward names of admits to the financial aid office to calculate the awards. You are correct that they do not waste time calculating the potential awards for those who are going to be denied admission.</p>

<p>Yes, the EFC threw me for quite a loop. We have a second house that through the vagaries of the real estate market has about 350k worth of equity in it. Our actual combined earnings though are under 100k supporting 3 kids. Based on that, the EFC came up at 32,000 a year which would be unworkable. I put down the amount able to pay at 5k (which would still entail us going further into debt) but i figured honesty was the best policy. I did send an email to the two schools D was really interested explaining my shock and got fairly comforting replies. I guess I'll know in a few days but I must say I am worried. The falling stock market has really screwed up all of us in this financial aid hunt.</p>

<p>Well we finally received the good news and written acceptances today. My son was accepted into Exeter. The kicker is we received absolutely NO financial aid. There was $13,000 between our "offer" on the FA form and our EFC from SSS. Exeter went strictly by the SSS report and gave us nothing. </p>

<p>I am really disappointed because now my son may not be able to go to boarding school at all despite being accepted. I can't even get a second job to pay for it because I already have two jobs (that probably hurt me on the sss form too!) !</p>

<p>I just want to give my son this opportunity so badly that this kills me! If I didn't have another child I would consider taking a 3rd job but that wouldn't be fair to her cuz I'd never be home. </p>

<p>It just seems like we are being punished for working hard. The more you work the higher your income, the more they make you pay. It's a vicious cycle! </p>

<p>Anyway- I am sorry for the rant- I have put so much into this process and this is such a sad ending...</p>

<p>I would call them or write a long e-mail. You barely need anything! I'm sure they will understand. Maybe even talk to someone at Experience Exeter re-visit?</p>

<p>We are in a very similar position and I don't know how to manage it. My s was offered admission to one of the Ten Schools without aid. The SSS form said we could afford the school completely, assuming we would sell our house and liquidate the kid's modest 529 (which isn't really possible.) But the cost of this school is over 30% of our gross pay. With taxes, union dues, health care, student loans from grad school, the percentage is even greater. We were terrified of an award that asked us to pay 50% of costs. Paying the whole thing is simply impossible. I've put in a call and email to the financial aid office but have heard nothing yet. Any advice?</p>

<p>I can tell you that at the day prep school where I am a trustee, with similar generous aid to that of the top BS's, this year no one will get a cent more than what SSS says they need unless they have very unusual expenses like extreme medical costs. Even then, it will be hard. The aid budgets are stretched to the max by the increased need as per SSS of existing students. Meeting those student's need is the priority and that alone is very difficult.</p>

<p>This is painful for all, but the money just isn't there. Every school wants to support as many kids as possible so the SSS number is where many will draw the line now.</p>

<p>As with colleges, most families that are not truly wealthy have to rely on three things to pay the EFC: savings, income and loans. In this economy that's pretty tough for many.</p>

<p>Where are the loans? I was told there are no loans available for bs.</p>

<p>Some of the schools offer loans. Home equity loans have traditionally been big and hopefully by this summer credit markets will be going again. This would also effect private loans some take. Talk to the schools, they'll have all the info.</p>

<p>thanks hmom5, I have a call in to the fin aid officer for info and just waiting for a call back.</p>

<p>The FA report that was sent to the schools we applied to didn’t factor in my 2nd child’s day school tuition. E.g. they said we could make a total fam contribution of $15K but it doesn’t indicate on the one page summary that that’s for two children. WIll the schools understand this without our contacting them again?</p>

<p>wcmom1958 - the form has a place to put each child in. So, if you had done that, you would get an EFC for each. Are you applying for FA at the day school?<br>
I have 2 summaries - one for each kid and both say “contribution” and list it for “all students” and then separately for each student.
If your form does not say that, I would try to get it clarified.</p>

<p>P.S.
I know most of these posts are from last year, but assets are taken into consideration. Schools do NOT expect you to sell your house, but they do expect you do use a portion of each child’s “education savings” (# years left including college divided into total is how much per year), and they expect that if you have large amounts of other assets that you would leverage them.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply, Linda. Am new to this. It’s hard to explain. When we first did the SSS app we entered tuition for the day school under “dependents” and the info didn’t show up in the final summary. Last week we completed one for the day school (we didn’t do this last year and didn’t know we needed to) so what has shown up only now is that our total is for two children. What I’m concerned about is timing. If an offer was drafted before this week, the FA office would have to dig to find tuition for child #2. I’m nervous that we’ll get an offer that expects “total family expenditure” without considering child #2. And since #2 is in a new school with no endowment (we live in the remote west) we need more FA for child one. I’m sure this sounds confusing. Hard to decipher right now what are the real barriers and what are just the worries that get blown out of proportion while waiting.</p>

<p>Linda, probably a little late now, but did they give a different amount for each child’s EFC or was the total given for each child and the school will figure it out? We’re assuming that the school sees there is another child and splits the EFC.</p>

<p>We got a different amount for each child, but only because my son has a job and some of his $ is calculated in. They must see your total EFC, but i don’t know for sure.</p>

<p>I imagine they’d give you the total, and then divide the total by the number of kids going to private schools and put that amount next to each child’s name, unless it’s a scenario Linda S described above, in which case a certain amount is added for the child who is expected to contribute.</p>