<p>I just got my letter today, and I'm so bummed.
I was accepted EA SFS.</p>
<p>My fam is <150k, dad is self-employed, one house, two cars, no cabin/boat/anything like that.
My sister and I go to 10k school, but that probably doesn't count.
And I got ZERO financial aid. </p>
<p>I know my family is upper middle class, but I was so shocked to get nothing when Princeton for example would give someone in my income bracket an average of 30,000 grant. I didn't realize packages could be so drastically different. </p>
<p>Should I try to negotiate or am I just SOL?</p>
<p>How did you find out about the financial aid. Is it posted on line somewhere?</p>
<p>My daughter got $1000 in aid. Are you kidding me? yeah, I am looking to see if I can appeal this. We are I guess middle to upper middle income family; don’t get aid but can’t afford to pay $57,000 either. GU doesn’t do merit aid, I know. I think only doing need aid is a bad policy. I think GU should take some of their huge endowment and do BOTH.</p>
<p>BTW we got a letter in the mail yesterday. My daughter had applied and was accepted early admission; maybe those aid letters went out first. A friend of hers also accepted EA got her letter yesterday too.</p>
<p>^^ Question: You got your EA letter yesterday as in you never received it in December? Or did you get deferred december and you got accepted into the school as one of the 10% who get accepted after being deferred EA?</p>
<p>@spt.leonidas: I believe the above poster is referring to the financial aid letter by “letter” – so the daughter’s friend was accepted EA back in December and received her FA letter yesterday.</p>
<p>Yes – terrible (nonexistent) financial aid for me too. Blech, very upsetting!</p>
<p>I was under the impression Georgetown covered everything up to the FAFSA expected contribution?</p>
<p>They claim to meet need, but like every school that says so, they do <em>not</em> use FAFSA alone to define “need.” They use the CSS/PROFILE plus their own internal formula.</p>
<p>This happened to me too, although I am international. My total family income is about $30,000 and I got in with absolutely no financial aid or financial assistance whatsoever. Try not to think about how great it would be to attend because in the end you may not be able to afford it - and it can be very hard to cope with rejecting a place at Georgetown…</p>
<p>Our son was accepted EA at Georgetown SFS.</p>
<p>Just received his Georgetown financial aid award: $0</p>
<p>SO…wonderful that my daughter was accepted EA to Georgetown but with $1000 in aid doubtful she will be attending. It is frustrating that she can get in but can’t go. Wonder how many people will turn GU down solely because of aid (or the lack thereof)…</p>
<p>morgan:</p>
<p>GU is NOT Princeton. GU is not as rich as HYP. Comparing apples and oranges is wasting your time unless you were accepted to P’ton. </p>
<p>Hint: GU does not offer merit aid. Hint 2: Home equity is an asset. The wealthiest schools HYP+Stanford+MIT – cap home equity at ~1.2 times earnings. Most other private colleges who use Profile do not cap it, or cap it at the old rate of 2.4 times income.</p>
<p>kysanee:</p>
<p>GU clearly states on their website that they provide little finaid to internationals. Indeed, few US colleges are both need-blind and meet full need of internationals.</p>
<p>you guys are asking for the schools to offer merit aid if im reading correctly. The only problem is with a school like Georgetown, almost everyone would qualify. i hope this helps</p>
<p>bluebayou:</p>
<p>I’m aware of this and I was aware of this at the time of application. Regardless, it was an awful experience.</p>
<p>Did they offer anyone student loans?</p>
<p>ksan:</p>
<p>why should it be an “awful” experience. You sent in $75 to play the lottery (expecting a US college to give you a free education), and if you have taken Statistics you should know what the lottery odds comprise. Unfortunately, you didn’t ‘win’ (like thousands of others). </p>
<p>IMO, you are looking at this the wrong way. Sure, the outcome is extremely disappointing, but it should not be “awful”.</p>
<p>It seems that for every <10K EFC parent who refuses to let their high-achieving student think about applying to anything but the local CC or state school for financial reasons there is a >50K EFC parent who fails to understand that at 99% of the nation’s colleges that usually means “full pay.” If you are a “full pay” family who can’t afford a $55,000 per year education why would you apply to schools that only offer need-based aid? I think Georgetown is pretty candid about their financial aid policies so I can’t blame the school. I do wish our high school guidance offices did a better job of explaining to students and families the ins-and-outs of financial aid and how it relates to the college search. Short of that they’d be doing the parents of their students a great service by directing them to College Confidential’s “financial aid” forum.</p>
<p>bluebayou: I knew that Georgetown and Princeton would be different, I just didn’t realize how different. I’m not very familiar with East Coast schools and endowments and all of that.</p>
<p>I know that the financial aid process probably makes sense big picture, but I was just commenting on how bummed I was not to receive any aid. I was just curious to see if anyone else was in my position, or if maybe I was an odd case and could try to negotiate my package a little. </p>
<p>Also, I understand that Georgetown doesn’t have merit aid, and it makes sense to me why they wouldn’t. It just means I probably won’t be going there.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, morgan, the financial aid $ reads a lot like USNews’ ranking. The top schools give the best need-based aid – by far. The lower ranked schools give merit aid to entice students from attending higher ranked schools. Those in between, such as Georgetown and Boston College, aren’t as wealthy as the top schools, and they don’t offer merit aid as do many of the lower ranked schools. Unlike many merit aid schools, however, GU and BC do meet 100% of financial need – but only as they calculate it. Probably the biggest difference is treatment of home equity. HYP & Stanford and MIT cap home equity at ~1.2 times income. Other Profile schools don’t cap it at all, or cap it at a much higher threshold.</p>
<p>It never hurts to appeal, particularly if your family has extenuating circumstances, such as high medical bills.</p>
<p>Good luck in your search.</p>
<p>G-town is NOTORIOUS for BAD Fin Aid. My friend had to appeal twice and will be entering his sophomore year in the fall, and he may not actually be able to attend…it sucks. I’m sorry to all ya’al. I’m still waiting for my letter on fin aid :/</p>