<p>I don’t see Fordham coming up with additional money for a sophomore based on a transfer package offered by Sarah Lawrence. </p>
<p>I don’t either, Thumper, but it’s worth the try. They might. IF they are not meeting EFC, they might cough up some extra, but they aren’t going to replace the Direct loans with grants. But one never knows without trying. My one son got a $10K grant his junior year out of the blue. So OP should hope for the best, and make his case, but prepare for the worst. </p>
<p>Getting a new grant from Fordham “put of the blue” is VERY different than saying “I got this financial aid award from Sarah Lawrence when I got accepted to transfer there.” </p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence meets a higher %age of need! costs more to attend! and has deeper endowment pockets than Fordham.</p>
<p>I agree. But might as well try. No harm in trying. OP doesn’t really want to transfer, but with this option might as well see what current school will do. Should OP just throw up hands and not try? Just go to SLU when s/he would prefer to stay where is? Though the net cost would be less commuting to SLU, the OP is going to have quite the commute to go there. The Metro North station is not right at SLU, so there is a good 15-20 minute walk to the school, not to mention the additional time travel fro GCS to Westchester Count as well as the time/distances from the NYC subway/bus to the GCS. Both ways. Fordham LC is probably a much easier commute for him. So there is a time/money factor involved as well. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse, would you happen to know any possible reasons why your son received the $10,000 grant? Was it for his grades? I have a 3.5 GPA and am very close to being on the Dean’s List so this gives me hope! Thank you for understanding the reasons why I am also so hesitant on attending SLC-being a commuter in college is already hard enough, and SLC doesn’t seem like an ideal place to commute to. My parents are very strict when it comes to dorming and considering my package, as well, I don’t think dorming is much of an option.</p>
<p>@Thumper1…actually I did some research and Fordham has a much higher endowment than Sarah Lawrence! SLC’s endowment is about $75 million, whereas Fordham’s is $600 million! Being a Jesuit school, Fordham also has this “vow to poverty” and reserves their money to help out students of need. </p>
<p>Finding out all this new information makes me even more determined to get my very much needed financial aid. </p>
<p>I really do hope my letter of appeal does convince Fordham! How do you think I should address the SLC issue? Should I start off by saying "The lack of adequate financial aid has caused me to apply to other schools. In fact, another selective school with a $50,000 tuition has offered me $47,000 to attend. I really want to stay at Fordham but with the current financial aid package I have, it doesn’t make any sense for me to.As a low income student I didn’t understand how burdensome those loans would be. SLC offered $19,000 much more (even with a smaller endowment) and I want to know if there is anyway I can stay at Fordham by having help with this difference. </p>
<p>Should I mention the Endowment disparity, as well? It just doesn’t make sense and doesn’t seem very fair. But I want to be respectful and not rude at the same time…</p>
<p>(Thank you for all your help on this and a special shout-out to BrownParent for the suggested phrasing)</p>
<p>
What is the Dean’s List GPA?</p>
<p>Fordham doesn’t care about Sarah Larwence’s endowment. It’s nice that Fordham has more in their endowment, but that does not necessarily translate into increased financial aid for you.</p>
<p>Re: your grades…in our experience, top students got additional scholarship awards in subsequent years. Sometimes these were departmental scholarships, and sometimes special endowed scholarships for upperclassmen. In both vases, the students had GPAs that wer actually higher than the minimum to be on Dean’s List.</p>
<p>the minimum to be on the Dean’s List is a 3.6…my spring term GPA last year rounds to a 3.6 but my cumulative is still a 3.5. I know I can bring it up but it’s been so stressful having to balance my first year of college while still applying to other colleges. </p>
<p>I only mentioned the endowment part because a previous comment said that Sarah Lawrence has “deeper endowment pockets” than Fordham when in fact, it is Fordham that does. Could this help my case stronger, though? I’ve been told that Fordham does have some moral foundations when it comes helping students of need, which I definitely am. Should I call them about my appeal to see what’s up? </p>
<p>You can certainly ask Fordham to reconsider your aid. I was obviously mistaken about SLC and their endowment. But really…that isn’t going to matter ONE bit to Fordham. What are you going to say “SLC has a smaller endowment and gave me more aid than you. So I think you should give me more aid.” </p>
<p>Think about it…Fordham could just say…hey…you applied to,transfer. If you have a better offer, take it.</p>
<p>Again I ask…what is your NET cost to attend SLC? Isn’t it a more expensive college than Fordham? Will your out of pocket cost be less to attend SLC? </p>
<p>My son got a departmental award. Do ask if there are any out there and given your situation if any consideration can me made. Again, it’s not something likely to happen, but sometimes departments have discretionary funds, awards and might be able to assist you. Also, talk to the financial aid office.</p>
<p>Thumper, though, yes, SLC is more expensive than Fordham, and the commuting cost is another $2K, not to mention the time, it looks like SLC is giving OP nearly a full ride for a commuter and there might yet be TAP for him to get to even cover some discretionary costs. Yes, it’s a better deal financially than Fordham where OP’s parents are paying $6K a year AND the OP 's aid package includes Perkins and the full Stafford loans. Fordham would integrate all entitlements including unsub loans in their package. </p>
<p>I don’t know what your EFC is…it appears to me that SLU has decided to give you more than your need which is why the loans are not in your package. I don’t think Fordham will do this. It’s truly a small chance, but do give it a go. They might come up with something to make it a better deal than it is.</p>
<p>@Cptofthehouse, may I ask what the departmental award that your son received was? I’ve been going crazy trying to apply to special restrictive scholarships stated on Fordham’s website that @4kidsdad also included in this thread but the way they handle the scholarships is just a mess! No one knows what I’m talking about when I ask how to apply to them on the phone, and more than a handful of them have embarrassing typos on their description pages…(one of the scholarship descriptions couldn’t even spell medicine right!). Needless to say, it’s been very difficult contacting departments for additional aid, so I would really appreciate the help in knowing which department helped out your son so generously. 
</p>
<p>You’re also right in that it sort of seems that SLC gave me a full ride for with TAP I have about $52,000.
So NET cost would probably just the transportation…which I’d say would be $3,000 over a schoolyear?
Are MetroNorth tickets really that expensive? I know monthly metrocards are about $112 but how much are monthly MetroNorth monthly tickets?</p>
<p>The difference between SLC and Fordham’s gift aid is about $19,000. In my letter of appeal, it states to write down how much I am requesting. Since I get about $28,000 from Fordham and another $19,000 would actually exceed tuition, how much should I actually ask from Fordham? This is assuming my EFC is 0. ( I don’t want to stress out my parents anymore). Also, I know tuition goes up, so how much should I ask from Fordham? </p>
<p>Oh and thank you^1,000,000 times for this! I really appreciate all the help and advice. :> </p>
<p>Well…how about asking for enough aid to cover Fordham EXCEPT for,the transportation costs? The thing is, I think you got more grant aid from SLC, and honestly, I think it’s unlikely that Fordham is going to give you grants to replace those loans.</p>
<p>My son did not go to Fordham, so the departmental award at his LAC would not help you. YOu need to talk to the department heads, professors of courses you took and did well, and see what is there for you at Fordham. Could be nothing. Could be something. </p>
<p>What is your EFC? Is Fordham meeting need as defined by EFC, and using loans to meet it? List what you are offered at SLC and what Fordham’s package is. Also list the COAs of each school and show that the net means your parents who can ill afford it have to pay $6K and you are taking out heavy duty loans which is not a good thing for someone from a family that is not going to be able to help much in repayment. </p>
<p>The Metro North monthly pass will be about $200 a month, yes. Look it up if you want the exact number. </p>
<p>You ask Fordham what they can possibly give you, what ideas they might have. You also hunt down the dept heads, profs you know, grad students and ask if there are any dept awards Also ask the Dean of students. You look everywhere, anywhere you can think about. You have the summer. If it doesn’t pan out, then you transfer.</p>
<p>I got about $41,900 alone in Sarah Lawrence Gift aid and from Fordham I only got about $17,000 in gift aid. Is gift aid different from grant aid? Because I know I also got the Pell Grants but that’s only about $5,000. </p>
<p>Grants and gift aid are the same…they are need based awards that do not need to be repaid.</p>
<p>I don’t think it likely that Fordham will replace your loans with grants…or give you additional grants. But sure…ask. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.</p>
<p>Deleting…wrong thread!</p>
<p>So I was doing some calculations and the difference between SLC and Fordham’s school aid (not including TAP/FAFSA) is $24,500. Do you think that’s weird of a number for me to ask? I really want my appeal to be successful and I hope that number doesn’t instantly tick them off and reject me…I’d like to come to a compromise of course but seeing as how that’s the difference…should I still ask Fordham if they can help match that difference?</p>
<p>Fordham is not going to give you aid that exceeds their cost of attendance. You are asking them to more than DOUBLE your need based grant aid.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you put a letter together that asks them to reconsider your financial aid. You can say that you really prefer to stay at Fordham but have gotten a very good offer from SLC. Then include that offer so the financial aid folks at Fordham can see it. </p>
<p>You might get more money, and you might not.</p>
<p>hi everybody! thank you for all your help. I’ve discussed with my parents and I am strongly leaning towards attending SLC because of the better package. But one thing that stands in the way is actually the cost of the commute, as many of you noted could easily add up to more than $300 a month. Churning out more than $300 a month for transportation is going to be very difficult for my parents and me so I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice as to how I can call SLC about the commuting costs? I do want to attend but spending over $300 a month on transportation is very expensive and nearly impossible due to our low-income. As I’ve mentioned, my father has plenty of other expenses to take care of, which is why I doubt we can pay over $300 a month for the transportation fares. Thank you! </p>
<p>You can ask SLC, certainly ask. However, given that you will be paying a lot less going to SLC than Fordham, that $300 expense just is part of the SLC cost. If the Direct Student loans are not in SLC’s aid package to you, they will likely suggest you take out that amount in loans available to you. It’s still a net savings from going to Fordham.</p>