i got into amherst college but the financial aid i got is really low… my family contribution is more than three times my fafsa EFC and even though my family owns a business, other schools have given me around my EFC while looking at the same documents (css, tax forms/idoc, etc.)
i plan on appealing but does anyone have tips on what to do? i know that amherst is willing to match the offers of peer schools, but what are peer schools for amherst?
Peer,schools for Amherst…Williams, maybe Bates, any of the Ivies.
Where did you get the terrific financial aid?
wellesley and carleton… still waiting on financial package for other schools
I would think Wellesley would be considered a peer school. I don’t think Carleton would be.
Ask…but remember that different schools treat business deductions in different ways.
thank u! i also have swarthmore fa package in the coming… should i wait for that or just ask with wellesley?
They may have misunderstood your finances. We had that last year. Two other schools were offering a decent amount of FA. The school where D wanted to go told her that after a preliminary review of her FA she would get almost nothing. Since this was about a 30K difference from other schools I called the school and did not mention the names of the other schools but said there has to be a mistake since the other schools were also meet full need. While I could see a few thousand difference this was too much. I asked them for a professional review. After discussing it with them it turns out that they had misunderstood something very basic about our finances, if I had not approached them I never would have realized it, it was based on the questions they asked me when we spoke. She ended up getting better FA at this school than the other two, I never had to show the offers from the other two and for the record was an average student for the school.
@thumper1 is correct when it comes to self employed families.You may want to ask your parents if there is something unusual on their tax returns that could be subject to interpretation. For example a large business loss that is unique to the reference year. If there is maybe your parents can explain why it should be allowed or is a legitimate business expense.
However run the NPC at all 3 schools before you call. If Amherst is in the ball park of the other two, then there may be a mistake. In this case it may not be so much about matching as getting them to understand your finances. One of your parents who understands the finances should probably be the one to call. Maybe they can spot the mistake.
thank you for the advice and personal experience! i will contact the financial aid office about a professional review first, before resorting to matching financial aid packages.