<p>Well, luckily for you, at the vast, vast, VAST majority of colleges, that poor student is not getting a free education.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is private and can distribute its money as it sees fit. They seem to want to extend an education even to those families who can’t afford it (as opposed to those who spend their money on other priorities… which the school has no control over).</p>
<p>Extending financial aid to people who really need it is just one of many ways colleges can fulfill their mission of creating a diverse student body. I don’t see what’s so controversial about that.</p>
<p>
And what percentage of college applicants have a divorce and/or remarriage among their parents? And listing FAFSA EFCs at a profile school for all these applicants would help how?</p>
<p>I think the better solution would be there is a pop-up disclaimer that appears when you hit “enter” on the NPC that describes when the NPCs work well and when not so well. Actually I bet the CC community could write a better disclaimer than any other group.</p>
<p>I don’t even see it somehow prioritizing aid to very poor kids or for diversity. There IS a formula. The rules say that, whatever School X’s formula is, it has to be equally applied. The formula basically covers: here is what you have, this is what we think you can take from that to pay for college. The family that has nothing (a calculated bar,) no assets, low income, has less to contribute. Less straw to spin into gold, in the first place. </p>
<p>Most families, while they are financially stable, make discretionary choices with their money over the years- they live at a certain level and accumulate perks and assets. They may have chosen a nice home for good reasons, but those were money choices. In contrast, the poorest families never had that luxury. </p>
<p>It sounds like OP’s family hit some sort of wall and expected some sort of supportive response. I’m sorry he didn’t get that. But OP hasn’t told us the details. The devil is in the details. It is rare that a family with a sudden downturn, but assets of some sort will see their financial aid package magically converted, after years of having had choices, just because things are tough now. </p>
<p>And, when you look at percent of kids getting aid, how much is distributed, it says zip about what you may get. Some kids get a very large financial award, others may just get a few thousand. It doesn’t tell you that YOU will get anywhere near that average. </p>
<p>And this is WHY you spend some time researching about financial aid issues, scholarships, and integrity of college’s offers after you get accepted, NOT rejoicing about how the path to success is right in front of you.</p>
<p>Um…you should research financial aid issues, scholarships, and integrity of college offers BEFORE you apply.</p>
<p>And always be prepared to walk away if YOUR financial criteria are not met.</p>
<p>INtparent, regarding professional judgement…These are done on a case by case basis even AT colleges who do professional circumstances considerations. No college is required to do these, and Swat isn’t the only generous school which doesn’t. In addition, even for schools that do these, there is no guarantee that YOUR consideration will be reviewed…it’s case by case. AND lastly even IF reviewed, there is no guarantee that it will result in an increase in need based aid.</p>
<p>^ And, profession judgments can be reviewed after all other finaid packages are issued- after all freshman and returning students. Could be July or later, when you get an answer. Plus, the dirty little secret that if you fuss with them or get nasty, they are allowed to end the discussion. </p>
<p>Hmm, this is very concerning.
Should a very low income student (say, 0 EFC as determined by the FAFSA) apply ED to any school?</p>
<p>If you need to compare FA offers, then don’t do it. If you do apply ED, do not stop working on other applications for one second even if acceptance is received until you have the financial aid offer in hand and know you can make it work. You are not obligated to withdraw your other applications until you have reviewed your FA offer (and don’t let the ED college or your GC to try to force you to do so). The kid who had a problem last year stopped working on his other apps after his acceptance, which put him in a bad position when he realized the FA was not adequate.</p>
<p>Of course, the applicant has a responsibility to meet the deadlines set by the FA office at the ED school to get paperwork in so the ED school can return the FA information. </p>
<p>Fredjan…here is the rub. No, you do not have to withdraw any other applications unless you accepted the ED offer. BUT…you will be looking at that ED offer in isolation. It might be the very best net price offer you get from all of your schools…but it could very well be the worst net price offer. You won’t know…because you will only have that ONE offer on which to make your ED acceptance decision.</p>
<p>@Fredjan that is a million dollar question. I believe if you need to compare FA offers you should not apply ED. Some posters have stated they believe ED really favors well off families for this reason.</p>
<p>Well, at some schools the student receives both the acceptance and the financial aid notifications at the same time.
Interesting to know that ED is not necessarily “binding”, of course.</p>
<p>ED IS binding. The only out is if the financial aid is not affordable. Read the fine print for each school. Some are very clear and even state that one should not do ED unless the student plans to attend if accepted.</p>
<p>At MOST colleges with rolling admissions, or even early action at many places…you will NOT receive a financial aid package until March or so…but in plenty of time to make a decision for May 1. You will NOT have those financial aid awards to compare to your ED acceptance/financial aid award in the very vast majority of cases.</p>
<p>You may receive an early read. But most ED decisions come out even before you can file your final Fafsa and CSS. What some schools issue is a preliminary aid report, subject to final review the following spring. </p>
<p>You really do have to “read the fine print” for everything about finaid. If you are 0 EFC and everything is straightforward (in finaid terms) and applying to a college known for generously meeting full need, that’s one thing. If you’re talking other schools, it can be a crapshoot (those schools that are stingier or layer in loans.) And 0 EFC or not, most expect a student and a family contribution. </p>
<p>Since most people don’t understand enough about finaid, I do agree to consider being able to lay out all offers together. </p>
<p>D2 got a ED preliminary read, which was the $ we anticipated. But I had forgotten part of her own income and had to revise. Her aid did change. Because this was student earnings, the change was small. But your ED app includes an estimate of the family’s app year’s earnings, before those actual tax documents are released. A mistake or a mis-assumption can cause a larger issue.</p>
<p>The ED schools that meet full need…most of them have a fall early priority FILO g date for the Profile or their own form (if they use one). </p>
<p>For FAFSA only schools…NONE guarantee to meet full need for all…and as Lookingforward points out, the FAFSA isn’t available for filing until January 1 of the student’s senior year…which is after some ED decisions are already sent.</p>
<p>If accepted ED, you will receive a preliminary financial aid package, but you will have a VERY short window of time to either accept…or not…the offer of admission and the aid. You don’t get months…you get a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most FAFSA only schools do not meet 100% demonstrated need, leaving you with a gap. Schools that use the profile or their own forms to distribute institutional aid will ask for additional information, which may mean that yo may not continue to have a 0 EFC.</p>
<p>For example, if you have a 0 EFC due to using the simplified means test, you may have assets that the FAFSA does not look at but the Profile does. </p>
<p>Federal Methodology is used to determine eligibility for all federal funds, such as Federal Pell Grants, Federal Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG), Federal National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Federal Stafford loans, Federal Perkins loans, and Federal Work-Study.</p>
<p>Schools that distribute their own institutional funds use an Institutional Methodology and their professional judgment to determine eligibility for their school’s scholarship funds.</p>
<p>Two distinct formulas assess information reported in the aid application process. The traditional institutional methodology (IM), developed by the College Board and refined annually by economists and aid administrators, determines the expected family share of costs. IM is the dominant standard among selective national colleges. Most schools that use an institutional methodology to disburse their own funds use either the CSS profile or their own FA form.</p>
<p>The federal methodology (FM) through the filing of determines eligibility for federal aid. All schools require students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents to at minimum file the FAFSA if they are requesting FA. The only thing the FAFSA does is determine one’s ability for federal aid, (pell grants, seog, stafford and perkins loans).</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>
<p>Keep in mind that the Ivies and similar schools calculates your financial aid using a combination of both the federal and institutional methodologies.</p>
<p>If the contribution calculated using the federal need analysis is higher than school’s calculation, the higher figure must be used.</p>
<p>@thumper1
Yes, it is binding, though not to the extent that you <em>must</em> withdraw every application as soon as possible.</p>
<p>@lookingforward
The institution in question is in fact an ivy… it would be very unwise to ED a school like Carnegie Mellon or Johns Hopkins. And yes, it is education - there must be some contribution, and that’d come in the form of summer jobs and on-campus jobs.</p>
<p>@sybbie719
Thanks for the details. </p>
<p>Note, however, that institutional methodology can vary by college, so different colleges’ net price calculators will give different expected family contributions. Also, different colleges have different expected student contributions (student loans and work earnings), which also add into differences in net prices.</p>
<p>Fredjan, your question as to whether a zero (or very low ) EFC should apply ED, is one that is debated among a number of us here. Some strong members who have given a lot of great advice and are quite knowledgeable say that it is a good idea as it gives such students a boost in admissions to top schools that are most likely to give full need. So if a student with high need really wants a school like Swarthmore, which is highly rated for giving excellent aid and does meet 100% of need as they define it, those who feel that way would say, go ahead. If the package is not affordable, just turn it down and move on, as is permitted with ED. That is what the one poster who was accepted to Swarthmore ED did when his/her fin aid package was not close to what was needed to go there. This poster had a family business situation that Swarthmore did not take into account assets, income that the family did not have at its disposal to keep the business going which was the source of money for the family. This also can show up with families who, say invest in real estate and rentals. I have a friend who made a modest income, under what Harvard says will get full need, but those buildings that are in not so great neighborhoods so cannot get mortgaged as slum rentals at a cost that would not impede the income flow, prevented him from getting financial aid. To sell the buildings or borrow against them would reduce the income flow, plus those buildlings were the parental retirement nest eggs. . So, even the schools with the best financial aid overall, can end up not meeting a particular student/family’s need. </p>
<p>Easy to say, just let it go, but harder to do with the momentum of ED. Also if the offer is doable but with great sacrifice, the problem bccomes whether or not, this is really the best sceanrio. Maybe another school will come up with more money. In one case, Carlton assessed a family business far differently from Swarthmore, though Swarthmore’s fin aid is better overall for more students. A school might integrate the PELL grant into a package vs giving it as an entitlement as schools are permitted to do. Some schools limit aid to FAFSA EFC, some do not.
A lot of this may not make a whole lot of difference to a family where there is some give, but for those with Zero or very low EFCs, that required student contribution, integration of PELL, whatever feature in a given school that other schools might not have, may make it truly worthwhile for a student to comparison shop. A thousand dollars a year could mean a lot of money, sacrifice and issues in some families, and when you have offers on the table, it is likely that a kid who can get into Harvard, might end up with a deal where he has money in the pocket, paid for summer programs, a lap top, etc which means the least amount of stress for a family vs a single offer that says kid has to come up with $4K student contribution and work to earn $4K in workstudy per year. Not trivial, IMO, and that is a package I’ve seen offered to Zero EFC kids from very generous schools. And yet, that could be the best offer the kid gets, depending on what other schools he’s eyeing.</p>
<p>There was a parent who was asking about ED at CMU. CMU guarantees to meet full need (as they define it) during ED only. They will also do a pre read and give an estimated aid package even before ED. The kid had very specific reasons for wanting to go there, and the family was willing to pay what CMU was coming up with their estimate, even fully understanding that there may be better offers out there. This was all out on the table. They were not concerned that RPI, Case, JHU, some other school might well come up with a better offer, because CMU was what they wanted if the family could swing it. In that sort of situation, ED is great even if Fin aid is important. The family has made the commitment that they will pay what they can, or a set amount for a school. But often families are hoping to pay as little as possible and every dollar will count, and yes, it would make a huge quality of life difference if a student could get into a like school for a few thousand dollars less. In a case like that ED, is not a good idea because you really don’t KNOW what you can get better.</p>
<p>Each year, kids who apply and get accepted ED get buyers’ remorse when they see peers getting into better schools, getting better deals than what the EDers got, and those kids who went ED picked a best bet school when really any number of schools would have been just as good or better if all the info were on the table to compare. Kind of hurts when you decided to pick Villanova as your ED school and your classmate who is similar in your situation picked, say BC and he got in there with an aid package that is better than yours. If only you had applied to both and gotten to pick.</p>
<p>My son has a best friend who is a twin, and this actually happened to the twin who applied ED, got very little fin aid from a full need met school, but family felt they would make the stretch,and then were standing with mouth agog when the twin who applied RD had an array of choices that his brother certainly picked over the ED school, given the price differential. ED school was picked to try to get sure entry on the best possible school, so certain factors made it not the first choice school necessarily. With 3 kids in college for 3 years, (4 yrs as the decision was made for the one to take a gap year to take advantage of the fin aid break with more in school all together), some schools simply give a better deal than others, and the ED school came up with a package just close to what the family was willing to pay, and twice what the other siblings got from like schools. Not a good deal, but this is a family that has the assets so it was not going to do a whole lot of damage. A family with a zero EFC? That could be a crushing blow and a real problem. </p>
<p>@sybbie719, thank you very much for the post above re federal vs institutional basis for aid. I hope there’s a way to put it somewhere in the pinned financial aid info here on CC.</p>