<p>I have been told that being a northeast regional college, that Stonehill doesn’t have a lot to award in true “free” financial aid. I have been told that your aid package will mostly be loans and that there will be a significant balance that will not meet your EFC. This really does make sense given the size of the school. For those of you that received a free merit award, you are very, very fortunate.</p>
<p>Thanks gopats…I am quite discouraged by that info., but I guess it’s good to know this in advance. We won’t keep our hopes up for merit scholarship. </p>
<p>And tutugirl, she is not interested in playing soccer or running track in college, although that may have given her some $. </p>
<p>I have encouraged her to apply to a few more schools that are slightly less expensive and where she may have a better chance of getting a merit scholarship. It’s too bad, because she absolutely loved both Stonehil and Fairfield U., got accepted to both, and thought she had a decent chance of getting a merit scholarship…no luck getting $ at either, so far.
Thanks so much for your input!</p>
<p>While I know this school is very good, the admissions office doesn’t seem to reflect the standards I expected. Emails go ignored/unanswered, when you call no one has the same story and they aren’t very pleasant. Even on this board no one knows how merit aid works, some get it with their letters, some get nothing with no notice of when they might know if they are getting it at all. </p>
<p>Dean of Admissions posted on his blog on 1/20 “CONGRATULATIONS to all the accepted students frmo our Early Action program. We have just started reading Regular Decision applications.” (Note typo.) Yet when I called last week they said letters were being mailed yesterday. I believe we will get deferral or even denied at this point, it’s just a crappy way to get info. I couldn’t run my business like this.</p>
<p>Sorry for the vent, just frustrated.</p>
<p>While it’s ok to vent parentofone, you should try to think about the hundreds of people calling admissions a day! We too had to wait, and it was hard for us -and we were sweating it- but it will come when it comes. I know it’s soooo hard, but you WILL hear from them!<br>
Don’t let your frustration cloud your judgement! Stonehill is an amazing college! FYI: it’s like this everywhere not just @ Stonehill!<br>
trust me- it will be ok!</p>
<p>D received early action decision letter today, so don’t assume deferral if you haven’t heard yet! No merit award info.</p>
<p>Finally got some info from fin aid office regarding merit scholarships…letters will be sent about 2 weeks after receipt of your acceptance letter. If you don’t get anything in the mail then, you can call fin aid office and they will tell you whether or not your are slated to receive a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>S accepted. Decisions were made before Jan. 15th. Letters just didn’t get printed and mailed until the 25th. What a process. Lynnmo thanks for the merit aid info. Just have to wait and hope something comes to lower the cost of tuition.</p>
<p>I was accepted to Stonehill however, as someone mentioned before I am leaning more towards Loyola University Maryland. Anyone know which one is a better choice?</p>
<p>@lynnmo – I truly would be surprised if your D does not get a merit scholarship. Know someone here at my office whose daughter got either $12 or $15 k per year, and her gpa was not as high as your daughter’s/ but ECs and sports were very similar.</p>
<p>(sad note, however, she dropped out after staying at school only about a week. Worked for the rest of the semester, moved back into her dorm at Stonehill in Jan 2010, and again, only lasted a few days before dropping out again – currently commuting to school in Boston; a happy freshman finally)</p>
<p>Oh, that’s too bad! What didn’t she like about Stonehill? Why did she drop out? </p>
<p>As for the scholarship, I called and my daughter is not slated to receive a scholarship. She is extremely disappointed and is planning on contacting admissions to see if they will reconsider her.</p>
<p>Wow, lynnmo, I am surprised about no money. these schools are just way too expensive for the average family IMHO. My d has applied to mostly large out of state publics, annual cost between $27k and 44k per year, and merit aid has been only offered by one of them so far (UVM, the most expensive, and only offering $6 k a year, not too impressed.)</p>
<p>Boss’s daughter a real homebody…not sure what happened there, but she clearly wasn’t ready for dorm life. She probably should have been forced to tough it out! Easy for me to say, I guess…</p>
<p>IMHO, full retail price is just ridiculous for stone hill as well as many other new England area privates. My d applied to mostly large OOS publics, who won’t give her much aid, but price tags are as low as $28 or 30k per year.she just got $6k a year from UVM, but it’s SO expensive to begin with…mid-$40s.</p>
<p>Oops error there…thought my first post hadn’t made it thru!</p>
<p>My daughter applied to UMass Amhest…she liked the campus and everything they had to offer -but the large class sizes for many of the gen ed classes definitely woud not suit her. She does much much better in a smaller classroom. I’m getting worried though, that we really won’t be able to afford the schools she loved, such as Stonehill, Fairfield, Assumption, etc. and she will end up at a large school. We filled out the FAFSA and our EFC is too high, although it’s impossible to have saved enough $ the past 18 years to be able to afford $45 - $50k!/year. And how much debt do we and she want at the end of four years!?! Unfortunately, middle class workers get the short end of the stick when it comes to affording a private, smaller college. Good luck to you and your daughter, and keep your fingers crossed for some merit $!</p>
<p>I feel your pain…finished up the fafsa Saturday and our EFC is $53 k annually. haHa!!! We sat our oldest down in September and told her we have budgeted $25 grand a year for her schooling. Beyond that she is responsible for loans. She has already gotten into some great schools (Including Penn State – her #1 choice) so shell have a tough decision to make. But we have younger kids still to get thru college, husband and I both working. Same amount is already budgeted for our sons. she was initially upset at her “budget” but it’s best we laid it all on the table.</p>
<p>Just thought I would share… I had really been worried that my D would not be able to attend any smaller college or university due to the high costs…Stonehill is her first choice, but still have not heard back from them after she emailed to be reconsidered for a merit scholarship. She just got awardedtwo merit scholarsips- $12K from Salve Regina and $17K from Catholic University! We are all thrilled and proud! We are still holding out hope that Stonehill or Fairfield will come back with some merit $…we’ll see.</p>
<p>Two great schools. CU would give great opportunity for internships in the D.C. area. Salve is beautiful.</p>
<p>Just received my acceptance letter yesterday (Regular Decision), and I’m going to a Skyhawk Welcome Day tomorrow! I know the financial aid discussion has been mostly for Early Action applicants thus far, but does anyone have any idea when Regular Decision applicants will received notice of their financial aid status? </p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance! My daughter was accepted for Early Action. She got a letter stating that we will receive her financial aid award letter in mid-March. We are expecting it in the next week or so!</p>
<p>How does Stonehill compare/differ with other schools such as Fairfield, Assumption, etc as far as the types of students that go there, selectivity of acceptance, overall feel of the campus, etc</p>
<p>Any info would help!</p>