I am the proud parent of a student who applied for Early Decision 2, and got accepted to American University. She is an international student and we only have money for the first year of education. US education is super expensive for people coming from poorer countries, but we still aspire since the education there is far superior and this is a land of opportunities after all!
My daughter DID NOT apply to any other school for early decision. AU was her first choice and we are really excited that she got in. She also got a scholarship from AU, but that comes nowhere near covering the remaining 3 years of tuition. We really were hoping for a better scholarship package and were planning on using my savings to cover any remaining gaps. But as things stand, there is no way we can afford all 4 years at AU.
In reading through the various posts here and at many other places, I’m thinking that we’re not doing anything wrong by requesting release from ED2 and telling AU that we’re unable to attend for financial reasons. However, the tone of responses I’ve been getting from AU over e-mail has left a bad taste. I’d like to get the community’s thoughts on a few things:
AU says:
"American University is committed to supporting students who demonstrate financial need"
and
"If American University is your first choice, we encourage you to apply Early Decision".
That makes things sound very positive and hopeful. But now their tone is essentially, “You are doing a bad thing by not attending. You said you will attend, so now you MUST attend”. There doesn’t seem to be quest to understand the problem (lack of funding) and work with the student to fix that problem.
We are focused on all 4 years, and we don't have that much money. But AU seems to be stuck on the fact that we submitted a financial certificate that showed that we have money for the FIRST year. They essentially keep saying - "You told us you have money. But now you say you don't have the money".
Why are they stuck on just the first year? Is that just AU, or do other universities behave in the same unthoughtful manner?
Would love to hear from people who HAVE successfully "rejected" an ED admission due to finances. Do schools inherently expect you to go into debt JUST to honor the binding ED acceptance? Do other schools make such a fuss as well?
We don't think we're doing anything wrong here. I do understand the importance of ED and honoring commitments. AU remains my daughter's dream school. If I hit the jackpot tomorrow or get money magically from wherever, I'd be very happy to pay it to AU and have my daughter go there. But I don't think I'd ever recommend anyone else applying to AU and deal with their admissions process.
There’s another smaller school where my daughter is receiving more scholarship and I’ll be able to use my savings to cover the gap. While AU is more prestigious and would probably provide higher quality education, we don’t want my daughter to graduate college with loads of student loan debt when she does have the option of going elsewhere and graduate debt-free.
I realize that this may come across as whining and I should probably ask these questions of the AU admissions folks, not forums like this. But I just wanted to get thoughts from folks here.
Really appreciate any constructive and thoughtful responses that educate us. I have friends with kids graduating high school in the next few years and I want to be able to share my experiences and guide them accordingly in coming (or not) to US for their undergrad.
I am copying and pasting the same answer I gave your daughter when she asked the question:
ED decisions are not binding IF you do not have the financial means to pay after the award/aid have been given. So since you did not get the Financial Aid/Scholarships you needed to attend, you need to let your AR know that you will not be attending due to financial reasons. There are a number of AU ED students who do not attend for financial reasons every year. There is no legal remedy that AU can pursue to make you attend or submit the deposit. If they determined that you were in bad faith breaking your ED agreement (like if your parents were multi-millionaires and clearly could afford to send you to AU) the worst that they could do would be to tell other private schools that you broke your ED agreement. Then those schools might not accept you - this would be very unlikely to happen. For US students AU might hold that against the High Schoo/GC that submitted the ED and be less likely to accept ED from that school in the future. BUT this is ONLY if you truly could afford to go and were just choosing another school over AU.
Additionally:
Tell AU the exact monetary amount that you would need for your D to attend the school. If they are unwilling to come up with the additional funding, put the deposit down on the other school. I would talk to the rep of the other college and tell them that you in good faith had an ED contract with AU, but they failed to meet your financial need even after appealing. Financial need is the ONLY out for ED agreements and as long as you tell AU that is the reason, then you have honored your part of the agreement. They failed to honor their part of making it financially feasible for you. Additionally, AU does not get to determine what is financially feasible - you do.
Last Year AU accepted 768 ED students and 683 attended that means 85 students declined admissions even though they signed an ED contract.
AU is trying to protect their “yield” - any school that you would have entered into a binding ED agreement would also try to get you to attend. I know it is disappointing for you and your daughter, but she is not the only one who will have to decline admissions based on financial reasons. I think it is very wise not to take on large loans and go with the affordable choice. She can be successful regardless of the prestige of the university. In fact, sometimes it is even better to be the big fish (top student) in a small pond (less prestigious college). For future reference to your friends, AU is not known for giving out generous aid to International students. Most of their aid goes to US students.
Tough situation and I’ll give you some tough love. First know that American is known for giving mediocre/poor financial aid. Not always, but many kids have been disappointed over the years if you look at their discussions on CC. I say this because it’s important to know who you are dealing with. American wants your money and they value their stats so they might play tough. Secondly, I’m sure your daughter doesn’t want her family to become poor just to send her to her “dream school” so I’d stop calling it that.
@sahmkc is giving good advice. Know what number is feasible to make it for 4 years of education. Do you or does your daughter think grad school is in the plans too? Start planning early. If American can’t get close to your number, then you’ve given them a chance and they owe you a release.
Just email AU to say you didn’t understand the way financial aid worked and you hoped the scholarship would be enough to help you through the 4 years, but it’s not.
(You DID apply for financial aid right?)
You don’t have the money so you’re released from your ED commitment. Just send an email to Admissions to say AU remains your daughter’s top school but as it’s unaffordable, she won’t be attending in the fall. That’s it. From that declaration you are released from the ED commitment.
There may still be time for her to apply to a few other schools that are known for her interests if you tell us what it is, and around May 5 there’ll be a list of colleges that miscalculated yield that she can also apply to.
I have a few ideas in case your daughter doesn’t pursue other colleges.
A number of AU students finish their degrees in 3 years, especially if they are able to bring in credit for Advanced Placement courses (or equivalent) or college courses take during high school. Maybe your daughter could do that as well? Even graduating one semester early would represent significant savings.
You do know that they will award a scholarship every year, right? My son has gotten essentially the same amount of aid in need-based aid and merit-based scholarship every year. Also, each year, you can appeal for more aid if the family’s financial circumstances have changed since the prior year.
I spread out what I owe each semester over 5 months of equal payments through AU’s Payment Plan. It’s still hard to meet the payments, but not as overwhelming as trying to come up with it all at the start of the semester.
Students who move off campus can save money that way, as on-campus residence hall rooms and the meal plans are very expensive. Because all students have to buy a Metro Pass through AU each semester ($130 for unlimited subway and bus travel), transportation is not difficult. Some student organizations pay a significant stipend for serving in leadership roles (my son gets $2,000 paid over the course of the semester). My son never buys books; he rents them. I would guess that being international means your daughter would not be eligible for a work study job, but there is an electronic bulletin board for part time jobs in the community, like providing after-school care for children, catering help at parties, doing yard work, babysitting on weekends, etc. My son had a friend who served as a live-in nanny for a family near AU. Her room and board was covered and they gave her some cash, too.
Thank you all very very much! I wanted to make sure that we’re not doing something wrong. And no, we’re not multi-millionaires We’ve tried every which way and just can’t make it financially.
@sahmkc - Really appreciate your detailed response and @BlackCrow3 - your ideas are also much appreciated.
After a lot of back-and-forth with them, we’ve sent the final e-mail to AU letting them know that my daughter will not be attending.
@pooraued2student I’m sorry it did not work out, but I think it was the right decision for your family. It’s really important to help your daughter focus on all of the positive aspects of the college that has offered her the aid she needs to attend. Some students get too attached to their “dream” school and then have issues adjusting to the school they attend. Best of luck to your daughter!
We’ve tried every which way and just can’t make it financially.