does anyone know if tulane give additional money to the presidential scholarship money if you run into trouble paying the tuition at tulane
Are you asking if Tulane will award you a bigger merit scholarship if you can’t pay the rest of the cost? Did you get need based aid?
Were you gapped or are you asking for possible help with the “parent contribution”?
If you were to get more merit, the school might reduce any need based aid.
I doubt that the school will increase the merit award once you’re a student. If you qualify for more need-based aid, then that could come from the FA office. The merit award likely came from the Admissions Office, and wasn’t likely based on need.
ask @fallenchemist
I can’t imagine that they would hand out additional merit aid for someone having trouble paying. The question of affordability should have been worked out before you accepted the school’s offer of admission. If your family’s financial situation has changed significantly since that time I woudl try calling the office of financial aid and see if something can be worked out.
Be ready with your documentation before you call- the bill from the rehab center you are paying for an elderly parent, letter of termination from your employer, etc. I think you will find a financial aid officer kind and sympathetic (may not be any money left to give, but at least you will get a fair hearing) if it’s an unexpected and financially material hardship. Absent documentation and just a rant about “how the heck do you expect us to afford this?” not sure you’ll get the same level of engagement.
I’ve heard it’s also a good idea to have a break-out in front of you- your kid’s summer earnings and how he’s prepared to cover books and lab fees, how much he expects to/hopes to earn during the semester and where that can go, etc. I think you’ll get a lot further if you show the self-help component as well.
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the bill from the rehab center you are paying for an elderly parent,
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Even that may not get you more money. Many schools believe that bills for your kids come before bills for other relatives. Their position is often, “if you’re going to be supporting others, then choose a school that you can still afford.” Schools don’t want to give more money for situations like this because then they feel like THEY are paying that rehab bill.
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The question of affordability should have been worked out before you accepted the school's offer of admission
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^This. It can be very easy to get caught up in the hype of wanting to send your child to an expensive school because that it what his/her heart desires, but paying for college is a 4 year commitment. Life has hiccups and families seem to always have more than their share, so a home repair, car replacement, dental work, or similar can play havoc with the household budget if a family is “stretching every dollar” to afford college.
Mom, I never said the appeal would be successful (i have no idea what the extenuating circumstances might be in this case, obviously). But from the situations I’ve observed, a family which presents a coherent picture of an unanticipated financial hardship, with documentation, and how that impacts the budget, is MUCH more likely to get attention than the run of the mill “I can’t pay my bills how the heck do you expect me to pay tuition” type rant we see on the financial aid boards here.
A school which is already giving merit aid to the kid clearly wants this kid to show up. Is there more money? I have no idea. Are the parents already doing everything possible, is the kid saving most of the summer earnings? I have no idea. But asking for a meeting to review aid this late in the game needs to have a plan, documentation, and be conducted in a spirit of “we’re all doing what we can to make this work”.
NOT- “give me more money because I need it real bad.”
@blossom I know that you weren’t saying that. I just wanted the OP to realize that schools can be strict about support for “non-immediate family members,” (and we don’t even know if that’s a possible situation here.). There are many American families who “send money” to grandparents or poorer relatives abroad. Many/most schools will not adjust aid for that.
More likely, when looking at the OP’s past posts, Tulane was going to be about $15k more per year than their other choice, so perhaps coming up with that additional $15k (over the other school’s costs) has proven to be more of a challenge than originally thought.
I think this student is a returning sophomore…not an incoming frosh.
YEARS ago there was a thread here on CC about how parents’ perspectives about paying for an expensive school would change and excitement would wane after writing a few big checks…and likely seeing and feeling the impact to the family budget. Perhaps that’s what’s going on.
Or, as mentioned above, perhaps some of “life’s hiccups” occurred last year and money was diverted to those expenses, and the family now realizes that different “hiccups” will likely occur this next year and the later years. If they already suspect that they may end up “short” this year, then it would be reasonable to be concerned that this will happen again and again.
But again, I know that you weren’t claiming that the family would get more money in that instance.
Mom2- I know we are fully aligned on the “well last year my muffler fell off so I couldn’t put any money into the college fund, but once my kid starts at Dream U nothing bad or expensive will ever happen to us again” fantasy!
People have a hard time staring at their credit card bills and realizing that despite good intentions, their past spending levels (let’s say past four years for argument sake) are a reasonable proxy for the next several years. It is too easy to pick out a birthday dinner at a restaurant where you ordered a bottle of wine (when you usually don’t) or to glance at the “what was i thinking” charge when you bought your sister a handbag for her birthday instead of the jokey $5 gift you usually give each other. Then folks think “wow, if I just stay away from restaurants on my birthday and cut back on gifts surely I can make it work for college”.
Well- you’ve now trimmed a grand total of $200 off your annual spending ($100 for the meal? $100 for the bag?).
I have enormous sympathy for people who look at that college bill and wonder where it’s coming from. But there are no financial fairies, and if the traditional mix of aid, savings, current income, and loans-- all at realistic amounts- don’t add up, it is frustrating to have to re-tool this late in the game.
OP- if you’re still there- get some documentation together, put together the narrative of what you’re trying to accomplish, and email a financial aid officer to set up a conference call with anyone else who needs to be involved in the discussion.
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Mom2- I know we are fully aligned on the “well last year my muffler fell off so I couldn’t put any money into the college fund, but once my kid starts at Dream U nothing bad or expensive will ever happen to us again” fantasy!
People have a hard time staring at their credit card bills and realizing that despite good intentions, their past spending levels (let’s say past four years for argument sake) are a reasonable proxy for the next several years. It is too easy to pick out a birthday dinner at a restaurant where you ordered a bottle of wine (when you usually don’t) or to glance at the “what was i thinking” charge when you bought your sister a handbag for her birthday instead of the jokey $5 gift you usually give each other. Then folks think “wow, if I just stay away from restaurants on my birthday and cut back on gifts surely I can make it work for college”.
Well- you’ve now trimmed a grand total of $200 off your annual spending ($100 for the meal? $100 for the bag?).
I have enormous sympathy for people who look at that college bill and wonder where it’s coming from. But there are no financial fairies, and if the traditional mix of aid, savings, current income, and loans-- all at realistic amounts- don’t add up, it is frustrating to have to re-tool this late in the game.
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This is so true.
I think that’s why we often see juniors posting that their parents told them “not to worry about money,” but then in spring of senior year, suddenly the parents are thinking, “hmmm…we’ll be lucky if we’re able to consistently pull out $1200 a month from the current family budget, but that’s not enough.” No wonder there’s a thread about many families burdening themselves with big college debt.
But, back to the OP. @blossom is right. If you find yourself unable to pay the tuition bill and it’s because of a reason that can be shown (huge medical bill not covered by insurance), then you get the receipts together and present the info to the FA office.
However, keep in mind that if you are somehow given more money, it would likely be a one-time grant based on whatever the circumstance was. The merit amount wouldn’t like be increased, and therefore the following semester and following years would still be the same merit amounts.
If you’re asking for the merit award to be permanently increased so that the next 3 years’ net cost is lower for you, then I don’t think that would happen.
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additional money to the presidential scholarship money if you run into trouble paying the tuition at Tulane
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It sounds like you’re not “up against the wall” just yet, but you have some concerns that you might come up short for Fall’s bill. Or, maybe you have fall semester’s money figured out, but not spring’s, so you’re brain-storming now.
If you’re thinking that you might be short for fall’s bill (or you fear that you might not be able to afford the monthly installment plan), then you need a plan NOW. You don’t want to have an outstanding bill at the end of a semester because many schools will not let you register or begin school the following semester if there is an outstanding bill. Last fall, there was a divorced mom who paid half of her child’s Fall bill after aid. Her Ex was supposed to pay the other half ($4k)…and he actually said that he did! But, in fact, he didn’t. Then when it came time for the child to register for spring classes, the student found out that there was a “hold” on his spring registration that would not be lifted until the bill was paid. Ugh! There was some desperate financial gymnastics that went on during the 11th hour, including begging the Ex to apply for a Plus loan, knowing that he’d get denied so that the child would get $2000 more in loans per semester. Adding in some borrowed funds from grandparents, the bill was paid. Luckily the shortfall was only about $4k that semester. If it had been a larger amount, who knows what would have happened.