<p>I have been accepted ED II to my first choice LAC. I am an international student.
My parents can only contribute $10,000 a year (my dad makes 22K a year and my mom makes around 47K, we have very limited assets).
My first choice college is guaranteed to meet 100% demonstrated need.
Their financial aid award leaves my parents paying 16,000 a year and me 750 a year, almost 17K total.
We cannot afford this amount but I really want to attend this college - I love it so much!
I want to appeal my financial aid award - any tips, what should I write, or anything else I should know?</p>
<p>*My parents can only contribute $10,000 a year (my dad makes 22K a year and my mom makes around 47K, we have very limited assets).
My first choice college is guaranteed to meet 100% demonstrated need.
Their financial aid award leaves my parents paying 16,000 a year and me 750 a year, almost 17K total.
*</p>
<p>Are you saying that your parents pre-tax income is about $57k and the school expects your family to contribute almost $17k at a “full need” school? That seems rather high. I would think the family contribution would be no more than $10k.</p>
<p>Are you sure that your parents have minimal assets?</p>
<p>I wonder if the problem is that you’re an int’l student and this school normally includes a federal student loan in its packages…which it can’t do for you.</p>
<p>You can politely ask them how they determined your family contribution and ask for a review. You can mention that your family cannot come up with $16k per year. </p>
<p>Does your ED college guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need for all students, or only for U.S. students? Not all colleges meet 100% of demonstrated need, and even fewer meet 100% of demonstrated need for international students.</p>
<p>Yes, I was just going to say the same of dadx3, a lot of schools that garauntee 100% of need for U.S. students do not make the same promise to international students (it’s a lot harder because international students don’t get federal aid, which is part of the mix of aid that full-need schools give out). I would talk to the financial aid office and see if something can be worked out. Make sure to gather your financial documents so you have them at hand and can use them to answer questions.</p>
<p>Of course you can appeal an award - - the real question is how likely is the appeal to be successful. The answer, of course, is, “that depends.” If your appeal consists of just asking for more money b/c you family can’t contrib the designated amount, not much chance of success. Your chances of getting a larger award increase considerably if you are providing new info to the school or if there is a unique circumstance that the forms can’t/don’t take into account. Also, be aware that, increasing the overall award to reduce your family’s contrib may mean increasing the loan portion of the package (not the grant). </p>
<p>In the meantime, don’t w/draw your applications from other schools; if the ED school’s award doesn’t meet your needs, you may have to decline the offier of admission in favor of a school that your family can afford.</p>
<p>If you were a US student & your parents had an income of $70,000 I expect that your FAFSA EFC would be around $20,000.
( that is what ours was last year)
So a $17,000 EFC is extremely generous.</p>
<p>EK4…wow, that is a high FAFSA EFC for an income of $70k. Do you have a lot in savings or other assets? Does your student have an income or savings? If so, that may be why it’s that high.</p>
<p>The calculators don’t estimate a FAFSA EFC that high for an income of $70 for - say - a family of 3 with one in college. Typically, with little assets, no student money, the EFC would be about $10k or so. Not $17k or 20k.</p>
<p>Our D had income- and our income was about $78,000 but it has always been about 1/3 to 1/4 of before tax income, more so now that we have only one child ( who isn’t even a child) at home.</p>
<p>( which is why for our oldest, it was just as expensive for her to attend a full need met expensive private, than to attend an instate public. Unfortunately, our youngest didn’t have any need met options)</p>
<p>This may have played a serious role in your EFC…depending on how much she earned and how much she had in savings on the days that you filed.</p>
<p>According to the calculators…If you have an income of 78k (which is higher than the OP’s), family of 3, one in college, no big assets, no student income/savings, then your EFC should be about…$13k-14k per year.</p>
<p>However, if you add $8k in student earnings and say - $4k in student savings, then EFC jumps another $3k.</p>
<p>“that is a high FAFSA EFC for an income of $70k”</p>
<p>The CSS/institutional “EFC” is often higher than FAFSA EFC - - and home equity can show up as a big asset (bumping up the EFC). I’m surprised the aid package requires OP to contrib only $750/year; standard packages include about $1.5 work-study (without the promise/gaurantee of a job) and $2k contrib from summer earnings (again, no promises).</p>
<p>If an international student does not get federal loans that that alone could make his EFC higher by about $5500, $3500 in Subsidized Stafford Loan and $2,000 in Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, as he is not eligible for that.</p>
<p>If an international student does not get federal loans that that alone could make his EFC higher by about $5500,</p>
<p>I’ve often wondered about whether a school that typically puts full federal loans and work study in a package will just add that amount to the “family contribution” for an int’l student. The assumption being that the student should try to get a student loan in his own country for that similar amount. If that’s what’s going on, then that would explain the $17k.</p>
<p>It does make sense that a school isn’t going to give a “better package” with no loans and work study to an int’l student…and then expect domestic students to work and do loans.</p>