I am in a bit of a bind here and I’d love to get some advice from you all.
I was recently accepted to Williams RD but was also shocked that I received no financial aid whatsoever. I had really pinned my hopes on the fact that Williams is known for its generous financial aid policy. Now, I’m accepted but I think I would be crazy to actually attend and pay so much per year for tuition only. My family is definitely not that financially well off to be able to burn that much money just for my four years in college, and I think it may be a problem because of assets. I’m trying to do an aid appeal, but I have no idea how to go about it. How do I get the financial aid office to give me more aid to be able to attend?
Right now, I have a few other options on the table, but none are as good in terms of academic quality. However, they are all cheaper than Williams. If they reduced the cost by around 40%, my family would be much more open to me attending, but with the enormous cost, I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend.
I know for appealing, we should explain any changes in finances, but there haven’t been any changes, so what do I send? Williams sent me an aid appeal worksheet form as well.
Right now, I’m lucky I also have my in-state honors college on a full tuition scholarship from national merit. It’s hard though, to come to terms with having to attend my in state university (it is huge). I’ve always imagined leaving to go to college, so even the thought makes me depressed.
Finally, my EFC is not nearly as high, it’s much more reasonable and actually affordable for my family
Williams is generous with aid for students that need aid. Based on your family income and assets they determined that you have no need. Your family may have to sell off some of their assets or get a home equity loan. If they are unwilling to do that then Williams is not an option for you.
Williams is a meets-full-need college that determines its own EFC based on Profile data and whatever its unique formula uses. FAFSA EFC means next to nothing here, other than for federal aid (Pell grant, subsidized direct loans, work study, etc.). Williams looks at primary home equity while FAFSA does not, so if there is a huge discrepancy between the two EFC numbers, home equity would be a good first guess as to the reason.
Without knowing anything about your family’s financial situation, the only advice I can give is to fill out the Williams appeal worksheet as accurately and completely as possible, and attach any additional statement or supporting documents as you feel might be appropriate.
If you have a lower EFC on the FAFSA than what Williams is calculating off the CCS, is your primary residence one with a really (really) high value and no debt? If so, your only appeal might be “Look, our house is worth $2M but we actually LIVE in it and can’t sell it, so while it is priceless to us, it really isn’t worth $2m today.”
@twoinanddone nope! gosh, i wish we lived in a 2 mil house
i’m guessing this is a financial bind that many middle class students find themselves in?
still trying to accept my state U as well! it’s decent but comes as a big disappointment to seemingly end up where everyone else is going as you might imagine
Many full pay families can’t afford $70,000 per year. I’m sorry if that is your situation. Were you accepted to any private schools that gave you a significant merit scholarship?
If you don’t have an extenuating financial circumstance, you probably won’t get financial aid from Williams on appeal. You can try. Realistically, you are probably looking at attending the state university with the honors college.
It’s really hard to appreciate your situation without any context. If you’re part of an average middle class family with middle class income and middle class assets, it’s difficult to understand how Williams offered nothing in need-based financial aid. Williams is known as a very generous school with a huge endowment and a corresponding financial aid budget. Combine that with their meets-full-need policy, and it doesn’t add up. Of course, there is no exact definition of “middle class,” so maybe there’s a disconnect there.
It is common for posters on these forums to feel “middle class” despite having top 3% household income. Even the very well off may not “feel rich” if all they see in the media are stories about CEOs, politicians, actors, professional athletes, etc. who have plutocrat-levels of income and wealth.
However, one significant class of students who are not necessarily from high income/wealth families may get no financial aid at many of the colleges that claim generous financial aid: those with uncooperative divorced parents.
A state honors program on full scholarship is equally prestigious to me as Williams at full price.
Have you or your parents looked over your FA application to make sure there were no errors? I would appeal your FA, but I wouldn’t expect much, if anything to come from it.
If Williams thinks your parents can pay $70,000 a year, your parents either have a VERY high income ($200,000 a year range), own real estate other than your primary resident, have large assets, are self employed (and deducted a lot of business expenses that were added back as income) os some combination of the above.
You are not low income or financially needy. It’s just that your parents can’t pay $70,000 a year. There is a difference between being in financial need, and not being able to pay the calculated family contribution.
And you wrote this in your January thread…
So…you knew in January that finances likely were going to be an issue.
Luckily, you also said…you have a full ride or something to your flagship…and honors program. So, you do have an affordable option.
It’s not realistic to think that Williams will give you almost $30,000 additional need based aid when they have calculated you have no need…and nothing financially has changed since you submitted your financial aid applications.
@ucbalumnus not part of the class of students you mentioned. Also, what qualifies as top 3%? If in the top 5%, I doubt full pay would have been the issue
The first thing you should do, IMO, is to find out exactly how your EFC from Williams is so much higher than your FAFSA EFC. There are a number of reasons why it could be. Some could be from Self employed income, equity in a primary residence, divorced parents, assets that siblings have. It could also be a mistake, though I doubt that. But that is a possibility you should eliminate and you really should understand why Williams, one of the most generous colleges in terms of financial aid has come up with the contribution figure it has.
I agree with the other posters who are saying that the gap is way too much to likely be narrowed to any degree. Unless there has been a huge gaffe and misunderstanding.
@thumper1 agreed, I’m not financially needy in the sense that I lack the basic essentials, but my family isn’t able to afford sending me to that college anyways. While financially needy students would most likely receive enough financial aid to attend, my family has not.
This is not unusual at all. We are pretty much full pay everywhere but can’t actually afford that. We can afford the ballpark of full pay flagship option. Schools aren’t actually as generous as they like to advertise.
Appeal, but I would not be optimistic you’re going to get them to move that much and I would start loving your affordable plan B.