This discussion was created from comments split from: Appealing Finacial Aid Packages.
I am also trying to figure out an aid award at Hampshire and curious how your situation turned out. I am bracing myself for a call to financial aid tomorrow; I really hate these kind of things. We have an expected EFC of $0. I am a single mom with a total income, including child support, earnings and the value of free housing I receive, of around $10,000/year - living in NYC. My ex-husband lives abroad and makes less than $8,000 per year - and due to a currency deflation it is currently closer to $3,500. Almost the entirety of that income goes to me as the child support that is a majority of my income. Between us, we have incomes totaling about $15,000. So we are pretty much as broke as you get and qualify for the whole Pell Grant. I did the Net Price Calculator and went and talked to the director of financial aid who was very helpful and friendly. The NPC gave me an out of pocket cost of about $4,500 after all grant, loan and work study money. The financial aid director told me that they meet about 93% of established need, which calculates to around that same $4,500 amount. This is what we applied ED2 expecting to pay - and it was going to be rough and already included her taking out max loans and working to pay for part of her school. But when our award letter came in, the Hampshire Grant was about $4K less than the NPC had indicated and our out of pocket cost after loans and work study is closer to $9K - double what was estimated. This amounts to more like a 15% gap between need and package vs the 7% I had been told - again double my expectations. $4-5K may not seem like a lot to people, especially when we are already talking about $60K in financial aid ($50K in grant aid, including Pell). But for us, it could really be make or break. I don’t have the credit or income to allow me to borrow. I can probably get personal loans from friends and family of about $2K but I don’t have resources on that end either.
Everyone who advises on appeals says that you need to provide new info. I don’t have any new info, but I also just can’t understand why the information given me both by the NPC and in person by the director of financial aid would vary so dramatically (at least at my income level it is dramatic) from what was awarded. My one ray of hope I am holding on to is that perhaps they failed to translate my ex’s income from the foreign currency, which looks more like $3K/month, to US dollars, which is more like $3k/year - and perhaps are overestimating what he can contribute. It seems doubtful to me because it was so clearly spelled out in the documents I provided, but I am hoping that perhaps that is a clue. Any advice people can give me is much appreciated.
Unfortunately the NPC is not accurate for business owners, divorced/blended families and dealing with non-custodial parents.
Again, Hampshire does not meet 100% demonstrated need. That 9k sounds about right ( I had a kid who was in foster care last year who got a similar package- 0 EFC and from NYC).
If you apply for a PLUS loan and are denied, your daughter will be eligible for an additional 4K as an unsub loan. This and your daughter getting a summer job (2 if necessary) can help close some of the gap. If this is truly going to be unaffordable, you have until Feb 1 to toss in a CUNY app, if she has not already done so (you need a financial safety)
I sent you a PM
Get that CUNY app in…
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We have an expected EFC of $0. I am a single mom with a total income, including child support, earnings and the value of free housing I receive, of around $10,000/year - living in NYC. My ex-husband lives abroad and makes less than $8,000 per year - and due to a currency deflation it is currently closer to $3,500. Almost the entirety of that income goes to me as the child support that is a majority of my income. Between us, we have incomes totaling about $15,000. S <<<
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It’s often shocking for low income people to learn that colleges don’t have a ton of money to give them. EFC means little/nothing to colleges. It’s just a federal number and for fed aid. The Feds can’t ask/require/expect the colleges to give money the colleges DO NOT HAVE.
BTW…once your child is 18 and in college, does your Ex’s child support end? Your writing suggests that you’re a smart/educated person. Is there a reason why you’re not working? At some point, CS will end, right? Seems like this may be a good time to be seeking employment.
We’ve already got a full ride SUNY acceptance so CUNY not necessary. Eugene Lang also likely to give a HEOP full ride.
I am a smart, not college-educated person who stayed home for important personal reasons and has been out of the workforce for a very long time. I have another high-needs child at home and so am limited in my work opportunities but looking into that possibility. The child support is not court-ordered. My ex and I have a very collaborative relationship. He will send all he’s got, but that is not much.
I’ve repeated this a few times, but I was told explicitly by the director of financial aid that they meet 93% of each students demonstrated need and she confirmed that my need would be total. That 93% does include student loans (max) and work study and I understood that. Nonetheless that still leaves more like 15% rather than the 7% I was told. It also doubles the NPC estimate, which again the director told me was generally reliable, especially considering that my only odd situation is the non-custodial and he has basically no income beyond what he already pays as child support. I am hopeful that there was a mistake with the currency conversion. Though @sybbie719’s experience (if her amount did not include loans and work study) indicates that perhaps it is what it is.
It probably is what it is. HAmpshire does NOT guarantee to meet full need for all. Plus the calculationnfor need based institutional aid is completely up to the school. It’s a very expensive college. You got a lot of aid from them…just not enough to cover the costs you need for your kiddo to be able to attend.
Sounds like your child has affordable options and should select one.
OP- do not bank on the currency conversion to save the package. Currencies fluctuate- no college will reassess your aid on a weekly basis depending on what is going on in your ex H’s home country. A particularly generous college WILL agree to a mid-year assessment if something cataclysmic happens but I am not aware of any financial aid team with the personnel to respond to every ad hoc movement of the dollar. One year your H’s income will be overstated based on “past 30 days value to the dollar” or whatever benchmark a college uses, and another year it will be understated.
But if your package is currently unaffordable, I’d take that as a sign that you will struggle for four years to get on top of combination of loans, work study, summer work, plus bridging the gap.
My point was not about a currency conversion. It was that they used Egyptian Pounds AS IF they were dollars and thus calculated his income at about 10-15X what it is in reality. I understand that there are people on this board who are quite resentful of the fact that their hard-earned incomes in the top 10% of this country’s income pay what they see as inflated tuition that might go to a handful of kids from the bottom 40% of income earners, but I am quite well-versed with the financial aid policies, have communicated directly and clearly with the financial aid office and am planning to send my daughter to a school that values providing support for students like her. They report that they adjust awards upwards for about 50% of those who appeal and many students I know have worked closely with them to make it possible for them to go.
I was looking for advice on appealing a financial aid award that did not live up to what was originally estimated NOT a barrage of comments that imply either that I am ignorant or, more maliciously, that I do not know my proper place, have already gotten more than I deserve or should expect and should just attend another school. It is fine for people to provide a dose of realism in a sensitive manner, but many of the comments here have themselves been ignorant and I have seen several comments elsewhere in these forums that would dissuade students and their parents for shoot for things that they may very well be capable of achieving.
How was the income reported on the non-custodial parent Profile? If your husband said it was in U.S dollars…that is what would,have been used. Otherwise, HE should have converted to U.S. dollars when submitting the forms.
If this was an error on his part, contact Hampshire…and ask THEM what to do. They will most definitely want documentation of the actual earnings he made…in U.S. dollars.
I most certainly am not suggesting that your kid is not entitled to every single cent of aid that you can get and I apologize if you have misconstrued my comments. I am sorry that I triggered such an emotional reaction.
I assumed that you had already gone over the financial aid application and ascertained that there was no “clerical error”, i.e. a misplaced decimal point, or assuming that foreign currency was a USD. Therefore, I was suggesting that to assume an ongoing conversation about currency conversions was not likely.
I will back off of this discussion since it seems to have hit a nerve. You should pursue every single avenue you can to make your kid’s education possible. However- Hampshire is neither known for its ability to attract kids who need every single dollar-- nor do they pretend that they can meet need across the board for its student body. You are always on sturdier footing trying to negotiate with a college which publicizes that it “meets full need”- even if they define need differently than you do. At a minimum, you will get their attention even if ultimately they conclude they don’t have any wiggle room.
Good luck to you. FYI- there are a lot of schools which will move heaven and earth to get a student if they decide they want what he or she brings to the table. Hampshire does not have that reputation, but kudos to you if you canmake that happen.
Too late for me to edit. YOU will not have access to that non-custodial parent Profile form. At all. Your former husband will need to deal with any inaccuracies or reporting errors he made when submitting that form.
if your net price is currently $9k the loan is probably not included. Your daughter will be offered a combination of subsidized and Unsubsidized loans to lower your net price. This should now bring it down to ~$3500. If this is the case, you D should be able to get a job( hopefully starting now, work through the summer to chip away at this amount. You will still have the option of taking a PLUS loan. If you are denied, your D will be able to borrow an additional 4K as an unsunb loan.
If your D is eligible, I would definitely talk to your GC about ACCES-VR. If she is eligible it can close the gap (hopefully to the point where you may not need the loans). It is a long process that will take a couple of months with the appointments. You want to start the process ASAP so that everything is in place before she goes to school.
Eugene Lang, Parsons and the New School do not give full ride packages to HEOP students. I would not put all of my eggs in that basket. If you live in MYC housing is not part of your package. They cover a lot, you daughter will have Lians in her package an even through HEOP the packages are not 100% demonstrated need. I have sent students to Lang parsons and new school ( I have a 2016 grad there now who started in HEOP this fall).
I don’t think that anyone has been nor has it been their intent to be resentful toward you, has thought of you as being ignorant or conveyed that you should be put in your place.
Most of the people on the boards have been around for a long time and have helped many families navigate this process. There is a wealth of information from financial aid officers, teachers, guidance counselors, APs, college access coaches, college admissions people, HR people etc.
The other side of the coin we have seen people get into situations where the money got over their head and the child had to be pulled out of school to find another affordable option.
I promise you that people are only trying to help you if you let them.
Also consider,
If you do not have adequate health insurance that your child will be able to use in MA, your daughter will need to purchase the school health plan. This will be a ~2000 dollars that is not included in the list of fees your FA package.
I had to look through my binder to find the FA package for one of my students who got accepted to Hampshire last year. Like your D, she had a 0 EFC (foster care). She was ranked number 5 in her class and her SAT scores were in the 1300’s.
I advised her going in the she would not be eligible for the James Baldwin Scholars program (which would cover everything).
Her package was as follows:
Hampshire College Scholarship 32,146
Innovation Scholarship 10,000
Pell 5,815
SEOG 2,000
Work study 2,900
Subsidized loan 3,500
Unsub loan 2,000
total aid package; $58,361
However, Hampshire’s COA for the 2016-2017 school year is $66,287
https://www.hampshire.edu/offices/2016-2017-tuition-and-fees
Leaving a gap of $7,926. She would have been able to reduce that gap by $5,000 due to additional funding for children in foster care and the rest though a couple of outside scholarships that she received at graduation along with working over the summer.
However, since some of her outside scholarships were small one time scholarships, she did not want to worry about the yearly increases in tuition and fees and coming up with ways to fill the gap for the next 4 year (yes, you must come up with a 4 year financial plan).
She ultimately chose a school in state that met 100% of her demonstrated need, where she could use her foster care funds to reduce her debt.
It sounds like you have one good option for “new information”. Ask your ex if he can send you the CSS info to see if he converted before submitting those numbers. If not, you now have something compelling to appeal. You already know this though. Savvy, as well as hip mama:)
Even when your issue is not an error or misunderstood situation, meaning they “meant” to give you that number for Ds contribution, you can still appeal to see if they can bump it up. Even $3k would make a big difference here. Well worth a shot.
Please don’t see slights and insults where there are none. Trust me, lots of folks here will flat out say what you are implying folks mean here. The ones that don’t say it don’t mean it.
I am one of those NY taxpayers paying full freight for my kid. I don’t begrudge your D a cent of FA. My first 4 years of school cost $300 a year bc of FA and scholarships. Otherwise, i would not be where I am now. After that, I paid $90k for the next 4 years in loans. Many times over the years I have regretted those loans. But it was a necessary evil. I am now financially secure and debt free. My kids don’t worry about $. I am here bc my hip mama fought for me.
On the downside, my choices were limited due to $. It was a reality I had to deal with. Your D may as well. But you are doing the right thing by seeking all options! Good luck and PM me if you need and advice!
Also having gone to school at a 100% need-meeting school your child may be asked to take on some debt, not a lot, but some. The equivalent that I graduated with was manageable, and I was able to get a job in NYC and pay it off quickly, once I concentrated just on the principal. If you allow some debt, she may be able to choose the school that best suits her, like Hampshire.
For my kids, our metric is to have no more than $26K debt total for all 4 years put together. I know that sounds like a lot with your income level, but in NYC she can pay off that amount, esp it she comes home to do this. If you decide to try to pay off debt early, make sure that the loans can be structured that way from your lender before you sign on. Make sure that each month she can put extra funds toward the principal. (Most loan repayments are configured so that the student pays off the INTEREST first and then the principal so that after half of the loan cycle, the student can wake up to discover that, you know, 5 years of payments have gone by and the principal remains intact. All of the interest payments were up front; principal at the rear)
Some companies allow you each month to 1) pay that month’s interest-loaded payment and then 2) any additional funds you can stipulate in writing to have them applied to the principal and then 3) ask the loan company EACH TIME to refigure your loan payments based on your new principal amount. This is one way to get your principal down quickly and your loans paid off.
Thanks HRSMom - I really appreciate your perspective and support as someone who has been on this side of things. Sorry to leave without updating. Long story short, I sent in the appeal with my financial info and a very sincere letter about why this was so important. I made direct contact with the FA director, who is the person who originally told me that the net cost would be less, and the committee reviewed the appeal and gave an additional grant that cut the net cost in half. We’re now in a position where part-time and vacation work for my daughter and getting some ad hoc gigs for myself will cover the gap. So she is Hampshire bound and very excited about it. Btw, the FA director is an incredible woman who was a single mother herself when she went back to college at Smith (where she worked prior to Hampshire) and I think is just a good and sensible person. My experience has been that actually Hampshire does really stretch to make it possible for you to attend if that’s where you want to/are meant to be - and my daughter is not a top stats kid by any means (quite the opposite - she falls on the very low end of their admitted students stats). I do think, though, she is a perfect fit and she really showed that in her application. My sense too is that Hampshire is doing a lot of real work (not just talk) to align admissions with mission and not just take kids who are excited about no grades or want to coast - but people who would really benefit from their unique set up. And I think part of that is that they are directing a lot more of their limited $ toward need-based aid and have had an uptick in first-generation college students, URM’s and low-income kids. My daughter will still be in a pretty small minority, but it feels like things are moving in a good direction.
After having done a lot of research, it seems like increases in aid are pretty common if it’s somewhere both parties want you to be - just not enough to close a $20K gap or something. But I think being honest with the college and asking for what you need is worth trying and would always advise that before throwing in the towel. Yes, there are a lot of more affordable options and my daughter could have gone full-ride to SUNY and especially CUNY. But for low-income or first-generation kids in particular, the support that small colleges can provide can be make or break and well worth fighting for.
Fantastic news, congratulations @hipmama !