American fianacial aid department garbage?

<p>Are there any other accepted transfers that have to wait until late May to see what kind of financial aid package will be offered? Absolutely ludicrous. Every school that has accepted me has provided a very timely(within a week), preliminary package based on information provided, except AU. What gives? I am going to SIR to UCLA after the second week of May, I guess if they haven’t provided a package, I won’t be attending. Sucks because D.C. would have been really interesting.</p>

<p>AU was the only school to give me trouble with FA as well (Freshman applicant).</p>

<p>Got accepted, got online info to check all the goodies and the FA space said they needed additional info from me since I was considered independent. Ended up contacting them and they got back to me saying they wanted my parents tax return information before they released an FA offer. I’m nearly 24 and haven’t received a dime of support from my parents in 6 years, but they were somehoe going to take their finances into consideration before giving me an aid award? I understand they’re a private school and can deem any policy they wish, but c’mon . . . my parents have no legal obligation to help support my education - even if they could. I’ve lived on my own supporting my wife and myself for years and it was my opinion that my parent’s records would be a gross misrepresentation of my financial standing. Frankly, I was really turned off by a school that WOULD take that sort of thing into account and I found myself not even wanting to attend anymore just because they treated the situation the way they did. I told them I wasn’t going to provide it.</p>

<p>AU is not unique. My son will be attending law school and every law school he applied to required my income on his financial aid application. Only the fafsa considered him to be independent.</p>

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<p>I’ve heard LSes do this too, but that’s usually beause LS is more expensive than undergraduate education and by time the student gets to LS, they’ve maxed out a lot of their financial options from attending undergrad.</p>

<p>Besides, AU undergrad isn’t LS. Although the price tag might seem otherwise.</p>

<p>OP, do you have response deadlines at other schools that are prior to the date you are scheduled to get your financial aid from AU? Is yes, then you should contact AU immediately and explain your time constraints. If no, the it seems this is merely an annoyance. Surely by this time you know what kind of FA package would enable you to attend and will be able to review and react to AU’s offer without delay.</p>

<p>mommaJ, yes, the actual response date for AU is before the date. I actually told them this. They replied they knew, and I should call and ask for an extension. It’s their school, they can do what they want. I was really liking the location, since I have already lived in L.A. and wanted to be on the east coast.</p>

<p>I want to second and third how much I hate the financial aid department of AU. I want to go to AU, but I need to know what kind of aid I will be getting to see if I can actually afford it. But still no response. I called and the told me that it would be late May. Really??? I told them, I have to SIR to UCLA by then and would actually much rather SIR this week. It is my plan to get all my ducks in order. But of course, stupid AU is lousy. Makes me just think, maybe I should go to a school that can actually offer a package at the time of acceptance. How hard is that?</p>

<p>I also have the same problem. I still haven’t received the financial aid package but I really want to go…</p>

<p>I had to turn down another school that wouldn’t extend my decision date in order to wait around for American’s financial aid package (because I’d rather go to American if the aid is good). However, now, if the aid isn’t good, I am pretty much screwed =p Late may is quite ridiculous, and is definitely going to mess up everyone’s college plans.</p>

<p>The person I spoke with today said that packages are being finalized this week and are undergoing ‘quality control’ right now. Everything sounded like it would be out by the end of the week. …nearly 2 entire months after my admittance. :P</p>

<p>My aid package is up on the MyAU portal. Absolutely atrocious. Aside from a PELL grant, it consists almost entirely of loans, and even then covers just about half of the cost of attendance, despite my EFC being 0. So glad I was accepted to Georgetown! </p>

<p>Sorry, AU. I wanted to like you.</p>

<p>Congrats on Georgetown.</p>

<p>Is this school worth it? It’s so expensive…</p>

<p>MagicPasta - is what school worth it? AU? Before this year, I may have questioned it as well. My daughter had a wonderful (and that is an understatement) first year and it was worth every penny. She held leadership positions in several clubs, saw great guest speakers, excelled in her classes, and made close friends - and that is only a fraction of what made the year great for her. The school exceeded her expectations.</p>

<p>i just got my AU financial aid package too and they only gave me about $5000 from my pell grant. Will that be it? They seriously have nothing to give me as AU grant?</p>