@TheYellowBiscuit I’ll provide this much: UR provides a site at newspiders.richmond.edu that links to a lot of useful things, including the AP and Dual Enrollment policy.
I am not an expert, but I don’t see anything on UR’s page about the Richmond Promise program that suggests that it is only for two years. What you might be seeing is that it looks like the program only started in 2014, so maybe there are students who didn’t get that scholarship when they first started at UR.
how big is little dicky on campus?
@TheYellowBiscuit here is a link from UR’s website which may help address your concerns http://financialaid.richmond.edu/forms/PDFs/consinfo.pdf <<read through this carefully, it has a lot if good info.
As far as I am aware, the Richmond Promise is a 4 year commitment, as long all eligibility requirements continue to be met- total parental income is less than $60k, student is eligible for need based aid, etc. If parental income rises above that threshold, you would still be eligible for UR’s generous (meets 100%) need based aid, but you might need to contribute some to your costs as their need based aid formula calculates, which could be paid for through federal student loans that you can take out yourself. If your parents income or assets had a large increase they might be expected to contribute some $ toward their efc.
UR’s financial aid office has been very responsive and helpful to my family over the years. I think it would be a good idea for you to ask them for more specifics about the Richmond Promise, so you know more about what expect in the future if your circumstances change.
I am not sure what they sent you concerning loans, but you are permitted to supplement your financial aid award amount up to the Cost of Attendence with loans or outside scholarships. So on top of UR’s billed costs of tuition, room and board ($62,730), UR adds on $2160 for books, supplies, personal expenses and incidentals, and the federal student loan fee of $60, to get a COA of $64,890 - more info here: http://financialaid.richmond.edu/undergrad/cost.html
I don’t know whether they gave you a work study award as part of your package. If they did, those funds will not be applied toward your bill, you must earn them throughout the school year, so you need to come up with those work study funds over the summer/save throughout the school year to have that amount to put toward your bill before each semester starts.
Outside scholarships can be used to reduce the self help portions of your financial aid award (work study, loans) before UR reduces your UR grants. I know this is all very complicated and confusing. UR’s financial office personnel are very responsive and helpful, I urge you to reach out to them:)
@ANormalSeniorGuy :)) pretty much everyone on campus knows who he is, but his popularity has died down a bit. Everyone was obsessed with Lil Dicky last year when his album dropped, though, so a lot of people here own the album (including me). Some of the frats and other orgs have been trying to get him to come to campus, but who knows if that’ll ever happen (his fee is apparently an issue budget wise).
I got accepted to Richmond and W&M. According to Niche, food and dorm at Richmond are much better than W&M’s. What’s the actual experience? And how is the level of stress or workload at Richmond?
Thanks a lot!
^ We thought the food at UR was great. We liked the “food court” set-up, although I think that many schools do that nowadays.
@londondad Agreed. UR has great food and I like the set-up. W&M’s food is pretty good too, its not terrible. @jackwang0703
Thanks for the information. Yes, I reread the financial information and it says that aid will be provided for eight semesters or something to that effect. I think that you are correct.
@mamag2855 Hey, it’s you again! Somehow, I feel I should have expected this as you are very helpful. 
Thank you so much for all the information!
“Outside scholarships can be used to reduce the self help portions of your financial aid award (work study, loans) before UR reduces your UR grants. I know this is all very complicated and confusing. UR’s financial office personnel are very responsive and helpful, I urge you to reach out to them:)”
Thanks again! 
D1 goes to W&M. She’s not a fan of the food but does love the school. If you put the work in you’ll do fine academically. When she visited UR to see D2 she thought that her dorm was like a hotel. So housing at UR is much better than W&M, so is the food. Both schools are terrific.
@LMHLAW3 That’s pretty awesome! You have very impressive children! I hear so many great things about UR’s dining and dorms. That’s got me really excited to visit soon, I hope that I will be able to see a dorm or see if one is open or something. I also liked your comment about academics. I come from a school that has failing departments and is not the best; however, I am very willing to put work into my studies. I just fear that UR would be too much of a jump sometimes.
UR seems a lot mellower than W &M. I know that if you want to get top grades at W&M you do have to put in a lot of effort. D2 at UR seems a lot less stressed than she was in high school and does not have the same work load that her sister does. Granted one is a jr. and one is a fr. TheYellowBuscuit, if you got accepted you can do the work and succeed.
@TheYellowBiscuit Richmond strikes me as a lot of things from research, but academically relentless has not been one of them. A lot of students are taking pretty chunky workload and they seem to be OK. I recently found out that guineagirl is doing double major + double minor, and I will probably end up doing a dual-degree major + regular major + lang minor (w/ study abroad); these might end up being too much for you if you are legitimately concerned about your abilities, but if you just stick with a few categories, I think you should be perfectly fine; I hear a major-minor or even double major is generally not too bad with UR’s system. Best of luck!
@LMHLAW3 Thank you for the confidence.
@MON824 Did you decide on Richmond? I do have concerns as I feel like my foundation is weaker than most (especially in science and mathematics);however, I feel that I can overcome that since I will have much more resources at Richmond. My issue is that I don’t want to suffer to greatly the first year, because of my lack of ability.
You have a very impressive and ambitious goal there! Wow! I would love to do a double major if possible; however, I don’t want to become over stressed as I have many personal issues.
@TheYellowBiscuit We were just at Experience Richmond and part of it was meeting with teachers in your major. My D found out she only has to take 4 courses to minor in one of her areas of interest. She is a
looking to double major & double minor as well after learning more about the requirements, but who knows. It was much less work than she thought & will take those classes as electives to do so. Our tour guide told her the same so we are very encouraged.
Please don’t doubt your abilities! You would not have been accepted at UR if they didn’t feel you were up to the task! You don’t declare a major your 1st yr anyway, you can see how it goes, meet with your advisor and go from there. Call the school & ask questions but don’t decide not to go unless you are basing that off of real knowledge of requirements, not assumptions. A degree from UR is a great thing to have, so what if you don’t double major or minor? If you try & it’s too difficult just drop one of them, but you’ll never know until you try and what a shame it would be if you didn’t choose UR because you thought you weren’t able to handle it, when you would have been perfectly fine…
@TheYellowBiscuit a lot of kids at UR double major! The advisors and professors work with you to make it possible. I think you will be fine at UR! College is a hard transition no matter where you go, but all the people at UR are so friendly and truly make the campus a family. You will not suffer there. The professors are very accessible for offices hours and there are a lot of peer tutors in the Academic Resource Center.
@TheYellowBiscuit I decided on it! If you check the map online, I’m that weird, lonely star in Alabama (so lonely)
I feel like you should be fine. I don’t know exactly where you are academically, but even if you are lagging behind, I’m sure your roommates / professors would be ready to help. Be sure to adopt the (usually private school) mindset of asking questions and being friends with instructors; you’ll be able to benefit from them. Also, the benefit of going to a school where you are “lagging in introduction” is that everybody around you should be helpful if you ask them. If you make good friends and are not shy about asking, I’m sure you’ll get far.
@cloudysmom how was your experience Richmond day? Any advice for those of us going this weekend?
@barb2021 We thought it was great, very well done! No advice other than ask questions! The last event, aside from the ice cream social, is meeting with teachers in your major, or area of consideration. Perhaps think of questions ahead of time, there are tables set up where you can say hello and ask questions. My D asked about minoring in French as well as Art History, which was helpful.
Also, in the new Admissions bldg, Queally, where you go for the event, be sure to see the info at one end of the hall. If you enter front door go left, bins on the wall about each area of study, VERY helpful do after check in walk over & snag those! If you have already paid your deposit you get a sticker to wear, it’s on the reverse of your name tag. They encouraged her to put it on & she was treated with Congrats from staff wherever we went, which made her feel good. I didn’t realize that many kids there were still deciding, I thought it was just for kids who were going for sure but that isn’t the case.
If you haven’t been to the area before, be sure to walk around Carytown that evening, lots of interesting shops & great restaurants, we highly recommend Can Can, esp for breakfast!
@TheYellowBiscuit As others have noted, UR would not have accepted you if they did not think you have the ability to succeed at UR:) You have already shown that you worked hard and did well in high school, despite many challenges. There is free tutoring available at UR, as well a writing center where you can get help, multi-cultural and student support services, an excellent counseling center, and many, many students utilize these resources, my own included. The advising and career development services are also wonderful at UR, and they truly want you to be successful and explore whatever you are passionate about!
You also posted that you were wait listed for the ANSWER program for students of color. I am wondering if they might be more inclined to squeeze you in if they are made aware that you were admitted as part of the Richmond Promise program, and that you are looking for some extra support to address some concerns and questions you have about attending UR. If you send another email to the coordinator of the ANSWER program with more specifics about your situation, perhaps they would still be able to accommodate you in the program, or they may be able help you arrange to meet with someone else from admissions or student support services, when you attend the 4/22 Experience Richmond Day. Was there any contact info. in your admissions package for whom to contact with concerns or questions? In my experience at UR, support staff have been very helpful whenever I have needed help with something.
They offered you admission along with awesome financial aid because they truly want you to enroll and attend, and they believe you would be a successful UR Spider!!