<p>Hi, I was just wondering how flexible Barnard’s financial aid is supposed ot be.
My EFC was about $16,000 but between my parent’s mortgage and the loans they are still paying for my sister’s school they can’t afford that. If I get accepted would I be able to
talk the financial aid department into giving me more money?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I think the financial aid department gaurantees it will meet 100% of your need, but it will not all be in grants. You may have to take some out in loans or do work study. You can of course try talking to the financial aid department, but you must realize a lot of people attending Barnard have that issue – they can’t quite meet their EFC. Mine is 35k but I have extenuating circumstances (my dad has a severe illness) and therefore we need a large emergency fund. While you most definitely can write a letter to the financial aid office (or call them), you must realize they may not be able to do anything for you. I plan on making up the difference by working a part-time job and (hopefully) getting a little scholarship money.</p>
<p>But I am just another senior, so definitely wait to see what someone who has actually gone through this experience posts.</p>
<p>My D is in the same boat as you - our EFC is around 13K and even that is too much for us to pay considering the aid package will also include student loans. However she applied anyway and we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Unfortunately, from what I read on the Barnard threads, Barnard usually asks for more than your EFC. FWIW - my advice is to wait and see what the aid package is. If you get a better aid package from a comparable college you might consider approaching the FA Office and requesting a review based on the other school’s offer and your extenuating circumstance.</p>
<p>Barnard calculates your “need” based upon the FAFSA, their own form and one other online form that I can’t think of right now (maybe I blocked it?? LOL). They do take having siblings in college into consideration, and they also will have mortgage info and such. BUT you must understand that part of your financial aid package WILL be in loans and work study. You can always go and talk to them when you get a financial aid package, but again, nobody here can tell you what they will do…</p>
<p>Oh, and looking again at your original post where you said “loans they are still paying for my sister’s school”…maybe she is now out of school. So, unfortunately, I do NOT think they will take that into consideration. It never hurts to talk to them, though, and see. </p>
<p>College is not cheap. And Barnard certainly is not, though they do offer decent aid. You and your parents will have to decide what is best for you and your family. </p>
<p>Best to you!</p>
<p>Thank you so much, I guess I am just going to have to wait and see</p>
<p>hey guys, but barnard does not meet full need for international right???</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They do not guarantee to meet “need” for international students. You are correct.</p>
<p>efc is enormous!!! still can’t afford it. now what?</p>
<p>You and/or your parent can talk to the financial aid office if their EFC is way out of line with what you thought it would be. Just make sure no errors were made…</p>
<p>But chances are that things might not change and you might need to consider attending another school that might be more affordable.</p>
<p>When I went to a prospective students event, Barnard said financial aid packages were non-negotiable.</p>
<p>I am not really talking about negotiating. Just asking to be sure all the information was included that should have been.</p>
<p>We received a beyond amazing financial aid package to Barnard…my accepted D has a sister in college, I am sure that helped. Waiting for FA package from Harvard still…wondering how they will compare, if, at all?!</p>
<p>Harvard is more generous ^</p>
<p>I agree that Harvard will be more generous.</p>
<p>Also, you are correct that having a sibling in college makes a significant difference in the aid package you receive. And when that sibling graduates, BE AWARE that your financial aid will go DOWN!</p>
<p>Yes, in essense our family contribution would double.</p>
<p>My D received nothing from Barnard for financial aid. I have noted on other threads that Barnard does not cap home equity when they look at financial need which probably affected whether D received an award. D has received merit scholarships from two other schools and we are seriously condidering their offers. Because D received no aid from Barnard, there is no way we can afford $250,000+ for the four years. Does mean that a spot will be available for someone on the waitlist!</p>
<p>You are probably right about the home equity, but I think Barnard does make some sort of adjustments. Their financial aid people have told me that they didn’t have a cap – but my daughter was receiving aid all 4 years, and the math never worked out if I used the full home equity figures. So I always figured they must have some sort of other numbers coming into play to discount the home equity – maybe they were taxing it at something lower than the 5.6% formula used for liquid assets, maybe they were giving me an increased asset or income protection allowance because I’m self employed, maybe there was an extra discount for people who live in states with inflated real estate values, maybe there was some sort of sliding-scale cap at lower income ranges. (Aid was far more generous in the years that my d. qualified for a Pell grant than in the years she didn’t, so it could be that there was a special cap or discount for Pell-qualifiers). </p>
<p>I’m just speculating because I don’t know – but they were able to tell me the value they used for my house, and as I said – I did the math – there is no way that they were counting 100% of the home equity and at the same time giving us the grants that we had. </p>
<p>Obviously every family’s circumstances are going to be different – I just don’t want future Barnard applicants to give up before they start because of assumptions made about home equity. When my d. was applying to colleges, it was close to the height of the real estate boom here in California – so my house on paper was worth almost twice what it is today – and no CSS Profile school would have been remotely affordable according to the figures I got from online calculators. So I just had a frank talk with my daughter about the max I could pay, and then followed a hit and hope approach. </p>
<p>In the end we got lucky with Barnard, not so with any other college that looked at home equity. </p>
<p>But this is also why I so actively discourage financially-needy families from ever applying ED. If you’ve got a home-equity wild card in the deck, then there is no way to make a decision on college until you can see all the cards face up. (Dumb metaphor, but I hope I’m getting my point across.)</p>
<p>Sorry things did not work out so well for your daughter – but I really believe that things happen for a reason. My daughter actually wanted to go to NYU, but of course the aid there was a joke. When all the financial aid awards were in hand, I simply said to my d, “God wants you to go to Barnard”… and in hindsight I was right! 
My son had a more circuitous path through school, and ended up as an older transfer student at a lower ranked public state U. – where he was presented with an amazing fellowship opportunity that probably meant more to long-term career success than any thing he possibly could have gotten at his first, more prestigious college. So you never know – what may seem like a disappointment in April may turn out to be a true blessing in October.</p>
<p>Re post #15 (siblings and financial aid).</p>
<p>Barnard looks at the actual COA for a sibling in college, so the contribution may NOT double when the sister graduates. Also, if the sibling goes to grad school and you are helping pay for grad school, Barnard <em>may</em> consider your actual pay out in calculating the aid award in those years. So you may want to talk to the financial aid staff to get a better picture of what your aid will be like in later years.</p>
<p>On the other hand, assuming that Harvard comes in with the same or better aid… I am not sure who in their right mind would turn down Harvard for Barnard. I mean… as the parent of a kid who never would have had a chance at getting into Harvard, it’s easy for me to tick off a list of factors to rationalize why Barnard is much better than Harvard 
- but truthfully, if money is not a factor, Harvard is Harvard. Barnard is not.</p>
<p>Given what I now know about Barnard and what I also know about Harvard (from a friend of my daughter’s who attended there), I would encourage my D to choose Barnard if she had that choice. No joke.</p>
<p>In terms of actual quality of experience – I agree with you. We have friends/family members who have done undergrad at Harvard, so are fully aware of all of the drawbacks.</p>
<p>But bottom line, there is a prestige factor that counts for something, especially in some majors. </p>
<p>I’m not the type who is blinded by prestige and would never counsel anyone to pay substantially <em>more</em> for Harvard… but unless there is a particular draw toward Barnard over something that Barnard offers and Harvard doesn’t (example: prospective dance major) – it’s hard to make an honest case for paying <em>more</em> to attend Barnard. </p>
<p>On the other hand… even if my daughter had very strong stats, she probably would never have applied to Harvard in the first place. She did apply to, and was rejected, by Brown – and probably would have chosen Barnard over Brown if she had the choice at the time and finances weren’t a factor – but we kind of have to assume that radannie’s daughter applied to Harvard because she liked the school.</p>