Daughter is Senior in High School, applying to Boston University ED, Has potential to get in based on requirements, but what if the Financial Aid Package is not good enough? (Estimated Cost is 60k for school, and hoping to get 40k in FA, and we could take a PLUS loan for 20k I suppose)
She’s not applying to any other schools ED (of course), but was going to apply to 6 other schools (regular).
I know there are a lot of threads on this, but I could use some help.
Have you run BU’s net price calculator to get an idea of what it may offer in terms of financial aid? BU does not have a good financial aid reputation, but there may be embedded merit or preferential packaging that can result in a high stats student getting a better than typical offer. However, the school may be less likely to do that for an ED applicant.
It looks like your actual parental contribution will be $0. Seems like she needs to find a net price of under $10,000 peryear (which is the realistic self-funding limit with federal direct loan and work earnings that a student can come up with).
I did run the calculator, and the FA pkg was 25k or so, plus 10k in self funding. So we’d need to come up with over 20k (rounding, it was close to 30k/year) - so I didnt think that would work for us.
Which would mean - if she DOES get in, and they do NOT give us enough FA, what are our options? (this is alot of assumptions, I know…)
If we say ‘we cannot come up with 30k/year, based on redoing mortgage, etc etc…’ would she be blacklisted and not be able to get into a ‘lower’ state school? (would the Guidance Counselour not help her out at school if she turns it down…)
If you ran the calculator and it suggested that the aid would not meet your needs, than it is not a school your daughter should apply to ED. ED is binding, but a small percentage can get out of it due to FA reasons, but those are usually folks who have had changes in financial situations post application.
Thank You. I read a bit on it to think that if the FA is not ‘adequate enough’ that she could reject the ED. I didn’t see anything about a ‘change in financial situations’ discussion, just ‘not adequate’.
You are correct. If the FA is not sufficient you can decline. However I don’t think you’re being realistic. If the NPC shows you can’t afford it why would you ED? If she can get in do it under RD with the chance to compare FA offers and, potentially, use an offer from a peer school to get BU to come up with more $.
Thank you both. It doesnt make sense, financially, to go with ED. She just has her heart set on it, and she read that getting accepted ED there is easier than regular decision (less applicants). There is no other college she would apply ED for if she doesnt do this one
I would be concerned that she has “her heart set on it” and you’re letting her apply ED knowing that you will likely not be able to afford it. Don’t you think it will be more devastating to her to have the acceptance letter in hand and then have to tell her “no”?
It’s ok for students to not apply ED anywhere. It sounds like in her case, that would have been the better option.
I think you are right. She has not applyed yet. And perhaps we talk to her before she does, and have her apply regular decision. That way, indeed, we can compare financial packages, and explain it to her that way…
Many people choose not to apply ED anywhere in order to retain the right to compare financial offers at the end of the process. You might want to consider that option as well.
All correct. I think she just wanted to apply ED here, because she thinks (or read) that it is easier to get in then, because fewer people apply then. Perhaps fewer people apply then, because they cannot compare FA pkgs…
Is she currently aware of the BU net price calculator result and your inability to afford the parental contribution shown? She needs to know now the cost constraints before finalizing her application list and possibly getting set up for a big let-down in April (or when an ED admission comes if she applies ED anywhere).
We didnt see the BU Net price calculator til today (when I found it thanks to someone else here posting it in another thread!) - does every school have a calculator?
The first thing you need to do is set a budget for how much you can afford without loans. Letting your daughter take out the federal student loans ($27k for 4 years) plus $80k PLUS loans means you’re paying $107k for a Bachelor’s degree. If you can’t pay that now, how will you be able to afford it 4 years from now?
Tell your daughter how much you can afford per year and make sure she understands that any school that costs more than that will come immediately off the table.
Yes, every school has a calculator. You definitely should run it on any school she is considering.
It’s been covered, but I’ll repeat. Yes, you can decline for FA reasons. However, in my opinion, one should NOT apply if after running the NPC it is obvious that the aid isn’t going to be there.
Most schools do have an online tool or NPC. You should run a few to see how results compare. You can get out of ED if the aid does not meet your needs, but if you know ahead of time the NPC is not cutting it, then it is disingenuous to apply ED.
For the above reasons, my D – who loves the school – won’t do ED either. BU does not promise to meet need and its net price calculator delivered an estimated cost to us that was more than $10-$15K more than our “need.” Better to find out now.
My D will apply regular (by Dec 1) and hope for merit + need-based aid to make it work. If not, no BU.