I was curious if anyone has had any luck with appealing a financial aid offer from a UC? My son is only eligible for loans and us a parent plus loan. When you send in a letter for a circumstantial appeal, is it best to ask for your COA to be reduced by a certain amount or is it better to have the school offer a reduced price if that is what they are going to do?
I have the same question.
You can try either way, but I doubt you’re going to get a dime unless you have a serious situation such as large medical bills not covered by insurance.
Most UC aid is from Cal Grants and Pell Grants. You don’t qualify for those. They have some UC grants, but again, those are for lower income students.
On what basis are you seeking an adjustment? Simply saying that you can’t afford XX will mean nothing to them.
Did your son apply to any affordable schools?
At the end of last year, you were concerned about costs. Did you have your son apply to any schools that FOR SURE would give him large merit for his stats? If not, why not?
Most of us “Californians” aren’t eligible for grant aid from the UC’s either.
We all use a combination of 529 accounts, savings, living modestly, and watching our expenses.
You’re full pay there? I wouldn’t expect any money because they’re likely counting on your full pay dollars.
I hope you don’t intend to finance his education with loans. How much can you afford to pay without borrowing? Has he been accepted to any affordable schools?
This post was a specific question that I was asking for some assistance in writing an appeal letter. Sounds like you have not written such a letter. Sounds like you have had no reason to write such a letter and yes I do have a very serious reason for writing this letter that I do not wish to divulge here. I really thought that College Confidential was a place to come to support one another. I have been in touch with the school and they have told me how to go about providing all the documents/receipts etc that are needed. The school was very helpful.
If you had stated at the beginning that you have a “very serious reason” and that you have documents to support, you may have gotten a better answer.
You may think that some/all weren’t supportive but you didn’t provide that info. You didn’t need to disclose what the reason is, but you should have stated that you have something valid to present with documentation.
Instead it just appeared that you have a high EFC but can’t afford to pay it, which is the case for many with high EFCs and schools rarely care about that.
You need to contact each college and find out their procedure for a special circumstances consideration. The colleges will tell you what they require, and this could,vary by college.
At the very least, you will be required to provide documentation of your financial issue to the school. For example, for,medical bills, you will likely need to have documentation that the treatment was necessary and not elective, that there were unreimbursed expenses (this could require bills as well as EOB from any insurance you have). But really…the colleges will tell you what THEY want. You will need to provide them with everything they ask for to document your request.
Several things to remember:
- Colleges are not required to do special circumstances considerations. Some do and some don't.
- Special circumstances considerations are done onna case by case basis, so even if someone here from the colleges you need has the same issues, there is no guarantee the outcome will be the same for you.
- Some colleges do not even look at these requests until April.
- If it's a job loss issue, some colleges have a "waiting period" from when the job was terminated before they will review.
I would suggest you make this call first thing Monday morning to each college.
mom2collegekids: I did not believe I had to disclose my reason for special circumstance appeal. I was asking for a response from people with experience in attempting an appeal. You made a lot of assumptions about our family situation as well as assuming that I thought that we could just get a reduction in the cost of going to school simply because we thought it was too much money!
I realize you do not know me at all. You have no idea of what experience has been with our son getting in to school, how we have educated ourselves about the process, including paying for a college financial advisor a few years back BEFORE our circumstances took this turn that we are needing help with an appeal.
My original question was posed to those with the experience of sending in an appeal AND whether to specifically ask for a certain amount off or not. Thankfully, I now have had several people on this board send private messages and I have been corresponding with them. I appreciate people’s kindness and wanting to help. I now have had enough UC parents respond to me that I am completing the paperwork today and sending it in.
Thumper!: thank you for your reply. Yes, I have already spoken to the colleges financial aid office and was sent the instructions for the letter, plus documents needed, receipts etc. I have had several conversations with private and public schools. Everything is ready to be sent in except I wasn’t sure about whether I should specify an amount to ask for a reduction and so far, all of the responses I have gotten directly messaged to me say the same thing which is none of them specified an amount. Thank you for your kind reply.
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I did not believe I had to disclose my reason for special circumstance appeal.
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No one expected you to disclose the private reason, but you should have stated that you HAVE a special circumstance and documentation. Instead your OP just highlighted that you were only offered loans and wanted to appeal for better FA.
You would have received more helpful responses if your OP had simply included a statement like: “we have a special circumstance with documentation that we’d like to present to the school.” Your privacy would have been maintained.
Garbage in, Garbage out.
@mom2collegekids She did state it
Sometimes it is better to go to private messaging. I tend to be reluctant to talk generally if it really won’t get enough specific information but I don’t want to share some info generally, and back and forth one-on-one can perhaps get better information. Sometimes I do send PM to a poster, and some communicate and some don’t.
A student actually sent me a nasty PM back asking why I was ‘stalking’ her!
Social media can be vastly misinterpreted.
And with parents trying to figure out how to pay for their S/D’s college expenses with challenging financial situations.
moms2collegekids: Why would you end your last posting “garbage in, garbage out”. Are you directing that at me? Are you intending to be purposely mean and disrespectful? I don’t get that…why be like that? Did you not get that I was asking for help?
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“When you send in a letter for a circumstantial appeal…”
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Yes, @Fishnlines29 , I did see that. However, that didn’t indicate that the circumstance was unique or “rose to the level” which might warrant Professional Judgment to lower the EFC.
We frequently see people post that they need to appeal for more aid because of their circumstances: high mortgage payment, high credit card debt, high tax area, younger kids in private schools, supporting relatives overseas, and so forth. Those won’t warrant a public univ adjusting EFC. Heck, we’ve even seen people claiming “circumstances” and wanting adjustments because their costly lifestyle “must” include dance lessons, club dues, 5 car payments, etc.
While we don’t want or need to know the private details, if there was some sort of general clue, such as high uncovered medical bills, breadwinner lost job 6 months ago, younger disabled child with costly daily expenses, etc, we would have been able to better advise from the get go. Because we weren’t, our early responses didnt’ fit. We gave “garbage out,” because of vagueness.
We give better advice when we sort-of know the situation (without private or revealing details).
Now, if the OP has a “special circumstance” that colleges will accept and provide more aid, then contact them with documentation and see what they say. You can try giving a figure that you need, but that alone won’t mean much to them. In fact, if you were to say, “We need $15k per year in grants,” and they know right away that that is not happening, they may just shut down the whole conversation.
It’s a place to get information. Which is what “garbage in, garbage out” means. If you give vague information, you get vague answers that may or may not be helpful. If you’re specific, you get specific answers tailored to your situation. It’s doesn’t mean she’s calling you or your post garbage.
Often what seem as invasive questions to the OPs are just follow-up questions by posters so they can give better informed answers. Often these details will completely change the answer. It is rare that the intent is to be judgmental. Thankfully, it is just not that type of board.