Award does not mesh with NPCs, EFC, income or assets - can anyone advise?

Paying for College
1

<p>Bear with me, CC'ers, as I sure appreciate all the help I receive on these boards. Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed light on the following:</p>

<p>Our 2013 AGI is $48K. We had a 30K rollover in 2013 (never saw money). Our EFC is $3270. The College of Wooster NPC returned a figure of around $3700.</p>

<p>Following, is what was received from Wooster after we provided further info in terms of W2s and the IRS Tax Transcript.</p>

<p>Deans Scholarship 18,750
Auditioned Talent Scholarship 8,000
Wooster Grant 5,750
Pell Grant 2,480
Supp Ed Opp Grant 1,500
3 loan types 6,500
work study 2,250</p>

<p>Total 45,230
Room,board,tuition 53,600
Difference 8,370</p>

<p>I have read enough scenarios on CC to know that schools calculate need differently and they use their own definitions of need. I get that. We did have retirement contributions of around $4500. </p>

<p>The College of Wooster is a school which is said to meet 100% of student need. Does this mean they calculate their own EFC for us, and that it should be $6500 from the student and around $10,000 (after fees) for us? </p>

<p>My daughter loves this school, and we're still waiting for a couple more letters from similar schools she also really likes...Trying to be a realist, but disheartened (as everyone seems to be) with how we'll make this work. Plus Loans are not an option.</p>

<p>I also realize that the figures listed below are generous, in comparison with others listed on these boards. It's all relative, though. We cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip, so I am looking for things I might have overlooked or wondering if there is a consideration I have not broached with the Financial Aid Office. My daughter is a good student, but no hooks or reasons they would badly want her (except the performing arts department - her interviews/auditions were wonderful with those folks).</p>

<p>Thank you for reading and any advice :-))</p>

2

<p>I’m didn’t think Wooster guaranteed to meet need. I would check that first.</p>

3

<p>As you said, the school can determine your needs under its standards. If you had a $30k roll over, the school might consider that an asset. You also contributed more to 401k this year, another asset.</p>

<p>Call and ask why the different awards are what they are. Just because the school lists the COA at $53 doesn’t mean it has to be. Can you get cheaper R&B? Can you cut down on personal expenses?</p>

4

<ol>
<li> Wooster does not meet 100% demonstrated need as indicated on their CDS (Section H Page 3)</li>
</ol>

<p><a href=“http://www.wooster.edu/_media/files/about/know/commondatasets/common-dataset.pdf”>http://www.wooster.edu/_media/files/about/know/commondatasets/common-dataset.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>they also do not indicate on theri website that they meet 100% demonstrated need</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.wooster.edu/admissions/aid/”>http://www.wooster.edu/admissions/aid/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In addition, Wooster uses the FAFSA to determine eligibility for Federal aid (FM) and the CSS profile to determine Eligibility for Institutional aid (IM). They used the FAFSA to grant you Pell, Stafford loans, SEOG WS (if your D has Federal work study as part of her package). The school used the CSS profile to disburse their own funds.</p>

<p>You FAFSA EFC is not necessarily = (in most cases it will b less than the EFC the school gives you).</p>

<p>Differences between the IM and FM models include:</p>

<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>

<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>

<p>FM defines income as the “adjusted gross income” on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>

<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>

<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>

<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>

<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a family’s capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>

<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of “independence.”</p>

<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>

<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not “declare” independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>

5

<p>I follow/read Lynn O’Shaunessy some and bookmark some of her stuff. This is where I got the thought that the COW meets 100% of need…but yes, should have talked to the schools themselves before helping create the application list … but my daughter’s stats and our finances do not allow for very many on that list. Now extremely worried that Denison’s scenario will be the same story (haven’t received the letter), but they’re also on this list:</p>

<p><a href=“List of Colleges That Meet 100% of Financial Need”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In terms of the total COA and living off campus, etc, the College of Wooster is a total residential place - nobody lives off campus…and yes, I’m extremely frugal in terms of being able to buy books, etc.</p>

<p>Thank you for info about institutional methodology vs. federal methodology - it’s helpful.</p>

<p>I guess I need to pick up the phone and see if someone can walk me through the entire thing and see if there is any hope coming from anywhere else … :-(</p>

6

<p>the $6500 from the student is loans, and that is considered aid.</p>

<p>when you say, room, board, tuition is $53,600…then how much more is books, fees, transportation and persnal expenses?</p>

<p>how much can your D earn over the summer to contribute?</p>

<p>you say that Plus loans arent an option? Is that because of credit issues? If so, then if you apply, and get denid, then your D will be given $4k more in loans.</p>

7

<p>I do get that loans are considered aid - I probably phrased incorrectly.</p>

<p>The $53,600 is: tuition, room, board & fees. </p>

<p>Books, transportation (we’re within 3-4 hrs) and personal expenses, I feel I could piecemeal together readily enough.</p>

<p>Not sure what is realistic for her to earn over the summer…we will need to get creative in figuring that out.</p>

<p>Plus loans aren’t an option for the following reasons: credit (If we’re approved we cannot afford them) and if we are denied and she absorbs them, it becomes too much debt to be supported by her liberal arts major (unrealistic)…in the event that we couldn’t work hard enough to make it happen without the base loans for my daughter, we would have to find another school option.</p>

8

<p>O’Shaunessy stretched the definition of “100% need met” for her list. As she stated in the article, she included some schools meeting “94% of need for most students”. So basically, don’t use that list.</p>

9

<p>I think the others have explained to you that Wooster does not guarantee to meet full need. This is an issue one runs into with any number of colleges, as few schools do. And even if Wooster did, they do not use the FAFSA government methodology to define need, so you are still likely to have gotten a gap between what your EFC is, and what you need to contribute to go to that school.</p>

<p>The NPC is supposed to be the source that tells you what that gap would be on a school by school basis. The problem there is that it’s an average. You can have your head in the freezer and your backside in the fire, and be, on average, very comfortable temperature wise. So with NPCs you get averages. There are some students who will get full need met at Wooster and some who won’t even get as much need met as your student. How far off from the average your student is, I don’t know, BUT, I would rerun that NPC and that is something I would bring up to the school in terms of them coming up with a more accurate idea as to what prospects would need to pay. That they are not meeting their own NPC costs is a bone one would have to pick. Not being to meet full need to a given standard is one thing but then having some hidden, secret standard that one chooses and then not even bothering to meet it is pretty poor, in my opinion. Yes, a lot of schools do this, but it really puts people like you in a hard spot, and I would let the school know about this.</p>

<p>I think a great lacking in the common data and any fin aid lists is that one cannot see how far off a school is from the FAFSA EFC. I would like to see those schools braggin’ on meeting 100% of need put against what they meet in need using the EFC standard. The data is right there to come up wtih those numbers. Some posters have said that the NPCs are what gives that info, but one can’t glance at a list and get a quick sense as to how these schools using their own methodology really stacks up in terms of meeting need. Some schools meeting 80-90% of their own need could well be doing better than other schools bragging on meeting 100% of their own defintion of need. Heck, I can come up with need formulas so that I meet 100% of need, heh, heh, with little or NO money. </p>

<p>But I would run some NPCs on some of the other schools for which your student has some packages in hand and compare how accurate their estimators are, and how Woosters fares, and have a word with fin aid. Do start with Admissions, thanking the officer who admitted the student, letting them know that the package falls short in regard to what you need, your EFC and Wooster’s own NPC, and ask for advice on how to approach this with fin aid, and also ask if any merit (which Admissions likely dispenses) could be scraped up as this is your student’s clear first choice. . Then you need to talk to fin aid. There could be other issues there that you aren’t getting. Yes, retirement plan contributions for the 2013 year are added back to income. Any qualified rollovers from plan to plan should not have been treated as income Some things to make sure are taken into account properly.</p>

<p>Good luck. </p>

10

<p>first take apart your package (take out the work study because you have not earned that money yet)…</p>

<p>Look at how much you need to meet the direct costs (tuition/room, board, fees). You know have a 10k gap. I would recommend contacting the financial aid office and request an appeal of you package or ask for a review. usually they will want some documentation (this is where you can explain the rollover). Let them know that this was a one time occurrence that artificially increased your income and assets. </p>