Appeal for more financial aid

<p>Sad news I got kind of low financial aid for the new school year. Can I appeal for more financial aid after my freshman year or is the whole thing a fixed package. Thanks guys!</p>

<p>Financial aid changes with your family’s EFC. However, if your family’s situation remains largely the same, your package will be largely the same.</p>

<p>If you received a better financial aid package elsewhere, you can try appealing now, but I don’t know how successful people are with appealing at ND.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>in a word - yes. </p>

<p>you can definitely continue to work with the fin aide people up to and past the 12th hour. at least, we did, and were highly successful in doing so. the fin aide people at ND were EXTREMELY helpful to us, in this regard. </p>

<p>you need to make a very nice case for yourslf, be polite yet persistant, and be willing to do whatever it takes. you also need to be realistic . . . if you are a top candidate ( honours program, etc etc ) and/or also have something like an admission to MIT or an ivy to reference . . . . . they’ll probably be more inclined to help ya out. </p>

<p>last thing - the prevailing “wisdom” about fin aide at ND is far from accurate. ND is a private school, and they have lawyers. not everything they say is as it seems at first impression. if you have something they can use, they can and will make it work. with that said, at this level nobody is going to do it for you. make something happen for yourself. good luck.</p>

<p>I called the financial aid office today, and asked if i could appeal and they told me that i couldn’t unless things had changed. I just visited ND this weekend and fell in love with it, and i really want to go. MY efc was 0, and they expect my parents to pay $8,000 per year, just because we own a house. </p>

<p>Can somebody help!!!</p>

<p>arturoc11
Congratulations! If I understand your post correctly you are being offered a Notre Dame education for $8000 per year. What a blessing!
Many pay more than 6x that for the same opportunity. While their means may be different, a lot of sacrifice can be found in providing for a ND education. Those who are full pay and generous benefactors of ND provide funds that will help you because of what you will contribute to ND’s community. Only your family can decide if what ND offers in return is worth it.
If you have been accepted to ND, you are a student of merit and can expect to enjoy the benefits of your achievements at many institutions. No doubt you will be an asset wherever you go.
Good luck!</p>

<p>Hey Arturoc11,</p>

<p>Take it from another low income student-more than your EFC is tough. But you do have options if you really love Notre Dame. You can work part-time. And I think some people would count themselves lucky if they left college with only $32,000 in debt. If your EFC is so low, maybe use a competitive aid offer from another University to bargain?</p>

<p>Best of luck in your decision.</p>

<p>LAKETIME & APACHITO,
thank you for your helps, this is a very hard decision esp. since UCLA will be free my first year, and Berkeley is only asking for something around $2,500 per year in loans; Notre Dame is totally different than these UC, or atleast from Berkeley, and i liked everything about it, so my parents want me to appeal and if i cant i guess ill have to take out some loans.</p>

<p>Arturoc11 - my daughter is in a similar situation with full tuition at a few schools. Can’t decide what to do sinks ND gave nothing. They think we can pay it all.</p>

<p>My EFC was zero and Notre Dame only gave me a total of 15,000 in scholarships… That means that ND will be about 40,000 per year… So with an EFC of zero and a 47,000 scholarship, you should be really happy</p>

<p>thanks, would i be able to get loans to pay the $7910 each year since my parents credit is somewhat messed up since our house was in foreclosure?</p>

<p>FAFSA EFC means nothing at Notre Dame. They calculate their own through your FAFSA, CSS, and IDOC. They include income, assets, debts, budgets, expenses, and a slew of other things to do it. This can help some and hurt others.</p>

<p>

You should be able to take out federal student loans on your own, but the Stafford only goes to $5500 for freshman year. There are some others, like Perkins, but I don’t know specifics. Maybe ask in the Financial Aid forum.</p>