<p>Hi, I was wondering how difficult or easy it is to appeal Financial aid decisions?</p>
<p>There will be meeting times set up with the financial aid guys at CPW – you can sign up for a timeslot, then discuss your financial aid package with them. </p>
<p>It’s certainly easy to discuss. Whether it’s easy to actually get your aid decision amended in a significant way, I don’t really know.</p>
<p>Is CPW the only time when we can discuss financial aid appeals?</p>
<p>thanks mollie.</p>
<p>I was wondering because my package is on the high-end of affordability.</p>
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<p>Absolutely not. You can call or e-mail the FA office. Many people however, prefer to do it at CPW, because
a) they prefer to operate face to face
b) they can bring all the relevant financial information with them and spread it out over a table, so there isn’t a tedious e-mailing of amended documents back and forth.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the FA office is pretty good at amending awards if something is wrong or was left off of the original application, or if circumstances have changed between the filing of the application and today. However, if your family can afford to pay, and prefers not to, then they have much less sympathy.</p>
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<p>What about using another aid package from another school to assist in the process?</p>
<p>^ Don’t expect to be able to negotiate terms with MIT based on better FA offers from other schools. Every admitted student will have better FA offers from other schools. Talk to the Financial Aid Office directly to get the best information about your particular case.</p>
<p>My family pays full freight, and we were in this situation 3 years ago. We’re now in this same situation again with our son, who was admitted to a couple of higher-ranked schools with no merit aid and to a safety school with a very large scholarship. Here’s what you can consider, when weighing MIT:</p>
<ul>
<li>You’ll be able to work at MIT, if you wish, and that includes paid research over the summer.</li>
<li>If you’re currently covered on your parents’ health insurance, MIT will allow you to opt out of the student coverage, which saves money (more than a thousand dollars, but you can look up the exact figure).</li>
<li>If you live in a dorm with a kitchen and opt out of a dining fee, you can save several thousands of dollars per year.</li>
<li>Remember that when you’re off to college, your parents will have somewhat lower expenses at home. It’s worth calculating.</li>
<li>If you were admitted to MIT, you should be able to apply to and bring in several thousands of dollars of scholarship money. Get going on that, if you haven’t already, because it’s getting late. </li>
<li>An MIT degree = good chance of employment after graduation, which in this economic climate, is definitely not the case, even at some top schools.</li>
</ul>
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<p>Absolutely right. Particularly when you consider that a lot of other schools offer merit-based aid, where how much aid you get is dependent on how much they want you. MIT admissions is need-blind, and MIT’s financial aid is merit blind. MIT states quite clearly that they want to meet the full financial need of each student. That is to say, they want to work out how much the family can afford to pay, ask for all of that, and then give the student the rest in FA. So for a student from a very poor family, an MIT education including room and board will be free. The objective is to ensure that nobody has to turn down an offer of admission from MIT because they cannot afford to attend.</p>
<p>So if MIT has in some way gotten it wrong, and they have asked for more than the family can afford to pay, then they are very willing to adjust the package. Most of the appeals, however, are from those who can afford to pay, but would much rather not do so. Those folks are usually out of luck.</p>
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<p>Alright, so Im not going to use Columbia’s offer to appeal. What I was going to show was my parents monthly expenses dont allow for much extra at the end of each month.</p>
<p>would demonstrating little disposable income demonstrate in decreasing my parents contribution?
My mother has openly told me that even with my aid packages, we cant afford the difference, and that I would be taking out the loans.</p>
<p><strong><em>bump</em></strong></p>
<p>@nk9230 - MIT’s Financial Aid Office can best answer questions related to your family’s particular situation. The folks there are very professional and would be very happy to talk with you. Truly. After going through this process this year with my son’s college search, I’m convinced that MIT’s FA Office is one of the best out there.</p>
<p>But to high-school students reading this thread, who are thinking of applying to MIT: Be sure to talk with your families about how much you can really afford BEFORE applying to your “dream schools.” MIT’s FA website has an online calculator that will enable your family to get a pretty good idea of how much MIT thinks your family can pay. All colleges and universities will expect a family to take out a certain amount of loans, if they can’t pay the full amount. Thus, perhaps the FAFSA reports the family could contribute $25,000 towards costs of around $50,000 per year. The university might offer a grant of $20,000. That leaves a gap of $5,000 per year, a gap the family (or the student) could cover with loans, spreading the cost out over a number of years. Learn about all of this BEFOREHAND and save yourself some potential heartbreak.</p>
<p>Really, it’s not just the student who needs this education. It’s the parents.</p>
<p>Also be aware that it works SLIGHTLY differently for internationals, in that MIT normally includes in its calculations an amount to cover domestic flights home at holidays. Since you cannot fly to Malawi for the same price that you can fly to Cleveland, for internationals, trips home are not normally included in the calculation, but in exchange, the amount that the student is expected to earn in contributions is also cut.</p>
<p>Read the FA website, they do explain everything quite clearly, but I echo CalAlum’s comment regarding learning about this in advance. As to any individuals personal situation, contact the office. I doubt that anybody on this board is qualified to answer.</p>
<p>Would having much better other need-based offers (from Caltech and Harvard) possibly lead to a better MIT package? </p>
<p>(My parents and I will meet with FA people at CPW, but it’s our first time going through this process.)</p>
<p>book_worm- I read on MITs website that they do not meet other offers. I would, however, bring them along anyways. It would be better to be overprepared than to be underprepared. They can always just say “I’m sorry, we will not be reqiuring that document.”</p>