<p>My familys' EFC is much lower than BC's award package. What am I supposed to do?</p>
<p>take out loans if you want to go to BC or choose a school where you got a (hopefully) better finaid package.</p>
<p>I really don't know what's going on with BC. My D was accepted there and also did not receive any financial aid. D was accepted to ND, WAsh U and Carleton college and received very substancial merit money from WU and Carleton. We had to practically jump thru hoops to satisfy the BC fin. aid officer when she caught something that seemed out of the ordinary. No other school made us go through that! I said it once and I'll say it again, BC is VERY STINGY with fin. aid. They have such a huge endowment...what DO they spend it on? I almost want to fling my D's award letters to these people and say, "these schools really want her and are making it possible for her to attend."</p>
<p>I would think about taking out loans except I plan on going to law school after college ($150k more in loans).</p>
<p>mominchicago: did they end up giving you any more money?</p>
<p>Brenny - I am sorry to hear about your financial aid problem with BC. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common practice of BC. I am sure there are a few students receiving good financial aid packages, but BC has also offered appalling poor assistance to many top students with significant financial need. The word is out in my New England Area school to avoid BC to avoid heart break - if you need financial aid.
Today I was unable to open the article below - but it is about how BC and other schools practice admit/deny that is admitting students but then providing such poor financial aid that there is no way the student can attend. </p>
<p>Economist's View: Changes in the Cost of College across Income ClassesCalled "admit-deny," this practice allows a college to keep poor students out... Syracuse, Boston College, and Boston University are among the highest-profile ...
economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2005/10/changes<em>in</em>the_.html - 108k</p>
<p>Brenny: I haven't heard from BC yet. I don't expect anything to change. Someone wrote that when they resubmitted material to FA office, all they changed was the loan type from unsubsidized to subsidized.</p>
<p>daffymom: we are a middle class family with an income over $135K, not poor but definitley not able to pay $48K/yr. when we have another child who will be going to college in a couple of years. I think it's appalling what BC and these other schools do. My youngest D will definitley not be applying to BC!</p>
<p>I wish they weren't able to get away with it. It's just wrong.</p>
<p>mominchicago, my family makes less than $135K a year, our EFC was 33K but we have been offered nothing but stafford loans of $3500! It makes me mad when I see people on this board complain about "only" getting 70 or 80% aid! Even going to our state school is going to cost around 20K.</p>
<p>I just want to cry. my daughter’s EFC this year is 6500 and we got ZERO! yes 0 from Boston college that she is attending right now. No loan, no grant nothing. what is wrong. I just dont know what to do. Last year, we got $8500 of loans and grants with EFC 19000. Am I doing someting wrong. I appealed twice and they gave us $500 more. I just dont know what is wrong 
please help me. My daughter went through so much hardship with a rare disease. She deserves the education at her dream school. I do not want to ask her to transfer, it will really break her heart. :(</p>
<p>Is BC a FAFSA-only school? </p>
<p>If so, then that’s usually a strong suggestion that it doesn’t have the money to give.</p>
<p>If it’s a CSS Profile school, then maybe it doesn’t promise to meet need? Or is there an NCP income that is being considered?</p>
<p>I don’t understand why she didn’t at least get a loan. At a minimum, she should get a Stafford loan. did you ask why she didn’t get that? The only way I can think of as to why she wouldn’t at least get offered a Stafford unsub loan would be if she has a non custodial parent and his income/assets are toooo high.</p>
<p>How did you pay for her first year?</p>
<p>Mom2…EVERYONE who completes a FAFSA is able to take out a Stafford loan…income doesn’t matter.</p>
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<p>The above is from the BC website under financial aid frequently asked questions. It says that BC is committed to meeting the full need as it calculates it for all students. </p>
<p>There have been two recent posts about students who say they have very low EFCs and didn’t receive aid from BC. If the above is true, I would have to wonder what is on their Profile form that is not on their FAFSA.</p>
<p>I have sympathy for those whose FA from BC has been so disappointing. Hopefully the word will get out to counselors and applications to BC will fall. However I see in this thread, as I see in many others, posters who are outraged that they are expected to pay an amount for a year of college that is equal to a high percentage of their annual income. This view puzzles me. Parents are told repeatedly from the day their children are born that they have to start saving for college. While investment losses have certainly taken a bite out of college savings over the last few years, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect middle class families to have put aside some college funds. Absent unusual circumstances, it’s hard for me to see how a family with a current annual income of $135K couldn’t have socked away some kind of college fund over a period of 17 years. Yet I rarely see a poster say “We have $XXX in annual income and a college savings account of $YYY” when discussing a disappointing aid package. Do so many people really think they have no obligation to save for a child’s college education?</p>
<p>For freshmen students, I would have viewed the little to no aid for a low income kid as a probable “admit/deny”. However, after reading a post about a rising soph who is apparently doing well there, has parents who have had job loss and other financial reversals, and who received no aid for the second year after it was given for the first, I really have to wonder what is going on at BC…either their endowment is in bad shape or perhaps they practice admit/deny? Either way, their website info is very misleading…they need to be a bit more upfront about the way they calculate need, imho.</p>
<p>My understanding is that BC offers need based aid only and meets full need. This rising sophomores grades would have no bearing on their financial aid award if that is the case. Perhaps I am wrong about BC’s financial aid policy but it’s what is on their website and what is on College Board’s as well.</p>
<p>That being the case, the family income/assets have yielded a family contribution that is HIGHER than these families feel comfortable paying. BC uses the Profile to disperse institutional aid.</p>
<p>*EVERYONE who completes a FAFSA is able to take out a Stafford loan…income doesn’t matter. *</p>
<p>I realize that, but if you don’t have need, would one show up in an FA package? Or would you just have to ask for an unsub one to put towards EFC?</p>
<p>Even without need, the Stafford loan would show up as an option on the finaid package. We didn’t qualify for a penny of need based aid with one kiddo in college and the Stafford loan was on the list every year as a choice.</p>
<p>Need only comes into play when determining subsidized vs. unsubsidized Stafford loans. Students with financial need are usually offered subsidized Staffords. Students without need are offered UNsubsidized Staffords.</p>
<p>Was the OP late to the table?</p>