I had applied for a fee waiver when submitting via Common App and it doesn’t say on either portals if it was granted, so how do I know if I have to pay it?
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I still haven’t gotten my fin. aid portal so idk what to do
Check your spam folder and otherwise email the financial aid office. Good luck!
@AcademiaSavvy what was your interview for SP2 like?
@DancingwithStars They were very nice and didn’t make me nervous at all. They started off my telling me what the program was like and then asked me a couple questions. Although they didn’t know much about the field of the research I’ve worked in, they were very intrigued and it seemed like they liked me. They also complimented me on my knowledge of Barnard!!
@AcademiaSavvy what kind of questions did they ask you in the interview?
@AcademiaSavvy @calmom I wanted to second @calmom’s comment about receiving a FA inquiry not being indicative of a positive decision. What we were told by a FA official was that Barnard uses a financial aid system that imports data from the CSS and FAFSA and then uses this to produce an “indicative” offer. This takes literally a couple of minutes. This system is automated and so this occurs for everyone submitting an application.
When the FA office receives word that a particular student has actually been admitted, that offer is then reviewed by a FA officer, finalized, and sent out. There are exceptions to this–HEOP students, Gates Scholars etc–and in those cases winners of those scholarships are automatically channeled to the FA officer handling those students.
We were also told that once a FA file is opened, a link and document request is automatically generated. Our experience was that Barnard was incredibly efficient.
@exlibris97 Okay, thank you! I wasn’t sure about the process.
@exlibris97 – at the risk of reading tea leaves, for my daughter we got the automatic portal link, but we also got a request on the portal for additional information pertaining to something in our tax return. A human had clearly looked at our tax return and made a very specific additional request, including using the legal name of a family asset. Is that routine at this stage of the game too? I know the answer is likely yes, lol, sigh.
It does sound like they are a thorough and efficient shop and I know we’re a month or more out from decisions – so I swear I won’t read too much into this and no need to warn me not to get hopes up. 
@AlmostThere2018 As I said, the automated system apparently flags up applications where something needs clarification, and those folders are then passed to an FA officer to resolve. I also didn’t mean to suggest you shouldn’t get your hopes up. There is nothing wrong with being positive and Barnard’s entire admissions process is extremely holistic and individualised, so you have ever reason to be hopeful! Best of luck!
The woman at the post office informed me me financial aid documents would arrive to Barnard by Tuesday the 20th and it still states “Not Received” on the portal, so should I call them and ask or wait until Friday or Monday?
You should wait. Barnard financial aid office said that it takes about 5 days to process and record on portal. My daughter’s documentation arrived on Monday and we saw the status changed to “Complete” on Friday.
@AlmostThere2018 - I think that @exlibris97 is generally correct – the initial questions are probably flagged by the automated sytem, and it would make sense to send out inquiries immediately. I seem to remember also receiving questions about an asset from Barnard.
However, I also want to say that the financial aid award we received on admission was clearly NOT something automatically generated but clearly one of those that was manually finalized by a financial aid officer I know that because it made no sense, and when I sent an email detailing my questions, I got a phone call the next day from the head of financial aid who was very happy that I had contacted them. It turned out that the explanation was very good news – but there was a contingency in my financial aid situation and the award could not be finalized until that contingency was resolved.
@AcademiaSavvy I know a student who works in the financial aid office and she said they are incredibly busy. There is no need to panic.
@exlibris97 So how long should I wait to call then?
Does barnard consider demonstrated interest at all in their decision?
@AcademiaSavvy - I would wait the five business days and then contact financial aid if your docs aren’t posted by then. Good luck!
@violagirl26 - yes, it’s my understanding that Barnard does consider demonstrated interest based on a couple of lists of colleges that I’ve seen.
A dean of admissions from a top 20 LAC laughed when I said some school (don’t remember which) didn’t consider demonstrated interest. He claimed they say that because they don’t want to be swamped by kids who are showing interest just to bolster their app, but don’t actually care. He said it always counts except in most big state schools. It never hurts to show the love.