Here is a useful tool to use with your daughters to help them understand the various aid packages. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletter.phtml
@twinmom17 If you took screen shots of the NPCs for each college, you could then appeal for more aid. Some of these results are certainly expected. No financial aid for BU is common as is 14k for UMass for good OOS students. I don’t think our neighbors kid gets anything to speak of for Wash U. So back to your opening title, you can appeal and would have a stronger case if your calculated expected outcome differs greatly from what they offered. Usually the NPCs are fairly accurate.
And one more piece of info, you said that you were still waiting on Brown. Even though that is in RI and you said they want to leave a state that is 40 miles wide, the fact that it is a small state could help you in this case. You can ask to be waived from the residential requirement and commute to Brown. Some local kids do that.
You’ve missed the app for it but I don’t understand why Alabama could not be considered and Louisiana (Tulane) is fine. UA is a great school. Plenty of high stat NE kids going to Bama at an insanely reasonable cost.
@blossom Anywhere is better than Rochester for neuro right now. The neuroscience department is in disarray with a huge controversy causing a significant number of faculty departures. Google Florian Jaeger.
Actually, you cant because the net price calculator specifically states that the results does not constitute or imply a contract
@sybbie719 The NPC is certainly not a guarantee but OP might have more of a case for appeal than we simply need more. I don’t think folks often get more but if she wanted to try it could be a small bit of something. Certainly some of these results should have been expected. A place like BU isn’t generous with UMC candidates.
If there is any descrapancy between NPC and your actual aid, there is either some special factors (e.g self employed) or input error at either end. Screen shot does not help nor important other than for your own record. Just ask for FA reconsideration to clarify. I actually just experienced that recently. The first estimated FA package for my younger one was a few thousands off from the NPC. I know the EFC should be very similar to the FAFSA EFC at this CSS profile school as my older daughter goes there too. Even the FAFSA was submitted with DRT, the school asked for tax transcripts for verification. A couple weeks after they received the transcript, the FA was revised to the expected level.
Merit aid at Boston University is highly competitive.
Boston University does NOT guarantee to meet the full need of all accepted students.
I’m not sure why anyone thinks this family would get more additional aid got BU.
Thank you…I will look at the NPC and pursue but with little hope. No, I did expect to not merit aid at many of the schools we applied to, but you never know so we let them apply. And we did not expect much FA…just thought with two going at once and knowing what we make, I thought we might get a little… I guess that’s what a lot of people think. 
New to this. And did not realize that our ability to pay is only one part…it’s our ability to borrow. Learning as I go. Thanks again…
I could be wrong but I thought @MYOS1634 mentioned the NPC screenshot idea to appeal and she is a smart cookie
Very important @twinmom71 What is your EFC? For privates that is not split 50/50 for two in college. Is your EFC manageable? Most colleges don’t even meet your need. The idea behind the EFC is that you have saved a third, will pay a third from salary and will borrow a third. The financial landscape has greatly shifted in the last few decades and UMC families in NE can no longer afford NE privates in greater number. I would have thought UVM and UConn would have also been on their lists. You CAN get merit aid from UVM.
Certainly the world does not revolve around USNews rankings but… For NE you have:
56 UConn, #66 UMass, #97UVM, #107 UNH, #156 URI and UMass Lowell, #181 UMaine. That looks regionally strong to me considering that there are thousands of unis.
^Yes @gearmom is entirely right, I meant the NPC screenshot idea in case the offer is way off base, as a legitimate reason to start an appeal.
@twinmom71 Don’t regret starting this thread. It’s been very instructive. Most of us are learning as we go, and it’s a raw subject! Good luck.
The reason why screen shot is only for your record is there is no way to control or track the numbers you entered. It can be a reason for you to appeal, but not a reason for them to consider.
@domarge If only the top 50 schools are acceptable to your family and you are middle class or upper middle class then you need to plan early to save. These top schools are only easily accessible to the very wealthy or very poor. Helping middle class/upper middle class kids is not part of their objective. @twinmom17 's twins are just normal very good students with normal ECs. For example, unless you play for the school, the uni at that level won’t care if you played varsity sports. The application landscape has change with the ease of the common app and global connectivity. The whole world is trying to get into the top 25 schools and there are no shortage of people willing to be full pay. Your guys are normal good students based on their stats you provided. If both your families are fine with paying for the rank then there is no issue. Because they are so large and have strong secondary school systems, based on population, places like UConn and UMass likely have a larger population of good/very good students ironically. If you pulled it apart you’d find that these kids are with their peers in the top quarter of those admitted and that is a sizeable number of students. But again, you pay for what you want for your family.
Get in touch with the office of financial aid, right away, because they can’t commit anything if the pot is empty. Lay out the issue, go over the details, you may have made errors on their forms, or it may be that they’re estimating things based off of last year with no one in college. And you should definitely bring up existing scholarship.
But UVa, WashU etc don’t see Fordham as a competitor so they won’t match $ for $. But this is a nothing ventured nothing gained situation. It’s only going to cost you time and a bit of agita.
Make the calls! And Good Luck with everything!
Yes, I appealed financial aid results and received more money for my daughter. I didn’t expect it, and my speculation is that it’s more a factor of how much they want her to attend. Our whole college process, though, was focused on finding colleges where she would be at 75th percentile or above on grades and scores, and that would be a really good fit for her. She also only applied to colleges that historically have very strong merit aid. She did get the maximum amount of merit aid at each school, but for private colleges that still left quite a bit to cover. I had a high EFC, but also mitigating circumstances that I documented in the financial aid appeal. Southwestern University (FAFSA only school) is the school that gave us and additional $10,000 in grants as the result of the appeal. I also appealed at Trinity University (FAFSA + CSS Profile), and they said nope. No harm in asking. If they really want your kiddo to attend they may come up with some additional funding, but you won’t know unless you ask. I think a college that has an abundance of very highly qualified applicants doesn’t need to incentivise students to attend. A college that is trying to increase their average gpa and test scores by getting more highly qualified students to attend is more likely to come up with something if your kiddo fits that bill. Trinity University has been moving up in the rankings in recent years, and I think they do not need to work as hard to get highly qualified kids, so I was not at all surprised that they said no.
Our son is waiting to hear about his appeal from Ithaca. 5k would probably be enough, but I don’t know that it’s likely they’ll up the offer at all. He’s got the SAT scores to put him in the top quarter, but his GPA isn’t anywhere close to the top quarter (it’s probably closer to the bottom quarter than the top).
It does not hurt to ask University of Rochester if she is leaning in that direction. I know one grad and one current student, both hard-working, intellectual, and non-partiers. I think you might have more luck with them than BU and UVA, which don’t offer a lot of merit beyond the big scholarships.
If my high stats D were choosing, she would pick UMass-Amherst over Tulane and OSU, btw. UMass honors has worked hard to overcome its party school image, and the 5 college area is a really nice place to be a student. It would also cut down on your travel costs.
I am in the same exact situation right now. My parents do very well, but I am absolutely appalled at the aid offers we have been getting.