I was recently accepted to Brown, Northwestern, and Cornell, all great universities that I’d love to attend, but they each gave me financial aid packages that were almost entirely made up of loans. I’m in a middle class family of five, so my parents make decent money and have good savings, but absolutely cannot afford tuition that is $75k/year…my mom is currently working part time as she is in graduate school part time, and I have two younger siblings that are close behind me and will attend college soon.
I’ve heard of appealing for more aid, so I wanted to know if anyone has done it at schools like these, and if they’re generous or if it’s even worth it.
You got $0 in financial aid from these schools? If so…your family income must be over $180,000 a year…maybe higher…or you have significant assets…or both.
Appeal for more aid based on…what? Is there some financial crisis that is not reflected on your financial aid application forms?
None of these schools gave you need based aid…so it’s not like you have a need based offer to present to any of them.
It sounds like your family is full pay at most schools based on your income and assets.
Did you apply to any schools where you could have gotten merit aid…that would not have considered your parent income?
Yes, I am in Florida, and attending UF is my affordable option if these other schools don’t work out…I just wanted to know if these schools had a generous appeal process. I’ve heard from a few Northwestern admits who also received mainly loans that they appealed and they were pretty generous…just wondering if its possible at all to be able to alter it even a little bit
Also- i know one person mentioned my past thread about missing a financial aid deadline, but that never happened,
it was just a question…I did everything on time
Northwestern University has the sixth largest endowment of any US college or university (not counting UTexas SYSTEM & Texas A&M SYSTEM) and has a substantial commitment to assisting admitted students with financial aid.
Perhaps an appeal can add that the family’s savings are in contemplation of having multiple children in college simultaneously.
These schools have run the numbers you & your parents submitted and, by their formulas, you don’t qualify for their need-based aid. They are seeing substantial income as well as assets that, by their policies, families can be expected to tap to pay for college.
Here are the main grounds for appeal:
I made big errors on my FA forms, way overstating income and/or assets. Here are the correct numbers. Please run them again.
Our numbers that we submitted from 2016 overstate our true ability to pay because there has been a major change in circumstances in the meanwhile, namely, _____.
I am attaching my FA award from your peer school, _____. You are my first choice but the only way I can afford to attend is with a similar FA package. Please reconsider your package in light of this award.
A one time event can distort one’s income picture. For example, the sale of a family business when the proceeds are going to be reinvested in another business as start up funds or restricted due to bonding requirements…
All of the schools that you mentioned meet 100% demonstrated need. Cornell and Brown do not provide any merit money.
If you have received no need based aid then the schools believe that based on your family’s income and assets that they can afford to pay. Unfortunately there is a disconnect between what the school believes that you can afford and what your family feels that they can afford (this is not unusual).
Based on what you have written, right now you have no basis for an appeal. How old are your 2 younger siblings? will they be in college the same time as you? Unless at least 2 of you are in college at the same time, you will see no change in your financial aid package.
Schools don’t provide need based aid based on siblings attending college innthe future. Simply put…there is no guarantee that your siblings will ever attend college in the future.
Also, need based aid is applied for annually at the schools you are listing…so when you apply in the future, your income also could be higher,mormyour assets higher.
The school isn’t going to give you aid based on a maybe situation for future years.
I didn’t see anything in the OP’s post that noted any extenuating circumstance…just that his parents can’t afford the costs of these schools.
So…is there some reason these schools should reconsider yournheed based aid? And how much would you need in aid to attend?
Adding…you posted in the fall about having gotten an extension for 2016 tax filing. In many cases, this is done for those who own a business or are self employed.
Are your parents business owners? Are they self employed?
Are your FA packages substantially different from when you or your parents ran the net price calculators for these schools?
From the expensive private schools’ point of view, your parents have significant assets that can either be tapped to pay for college on a pay-as-you-go basis or that will provide the wherewithal in the future to pay off loans if they can’t or don’t want to take cash out now.
UF sounds like the rational decison here, for sure.
But I wouldn’t pick on the OP – the NPCs are very unrealistic for a middle to upper-middle class family, especially one with 5 kids, those that live in high COL areas, etc. How is it that a family making $175K is treated the same as one making $5 million…they both are full-pay. That doesn’t make it affordable for the $175K family with 5 kids living in a high COL area etc. Yet kids on lower ends get full rides.
@thumper1 OK thanks. But same logic still applies. Colleges are unrealistic about families’ ability to pay. Understandably, resources are limited. But Cost of Attendance at many schools has become unrealistically high.