<p>Sorry, Scubasue, should have read the OP more closely.</p>
<p>Just be aware that the school most likely CANNOT by its own rules give you more than COA less EFC less merit money in terms of financial aid. So the absolute maximum you can get from this school is restricted by that formula. most likely. Your will get the full Stafford loan amounts (subsidized if allowed by need) but that and the merit award is all that is guaranteed. If your EFC next year is $23K and the cost of the school is, say double that, the need would be reduced by the merit award, and then what ever is left, most likely be addressed with self help. </p>
<p>In other words the school is almost certainly not going to be making up for the increased EFC. i don’t know a single school that would do that. The big question is whether they will even continue to meet the same proportion of your need that they are doing now. The EFC is the least you will be paying unless you get a merit award that exceeds need, is the way I look at it. So next year’s EFC is the best case scenario in terms of the amount you have to pay. That the school does not guarnatee to meet the need, means that it is likely you will be asked to pay more than EFC.</p>
<p>D already sent the email requesting review/increase in her merit aid. From what the adcom told her on our visit there, I’m fairly confident that will happen. What we don’t know is whether or not the grant will be reduced a matching amount. </p>
<p>We’re intimately familiar with tuition increases: My S is at our state flagship. Tuition increased this year by 16%. That was an improvement over the previous year when tuition went up by 20%!</p>
<p>Just called FA. The rep I talked to said the Asst Director would be more than happy to talk to me about next year’s situation. I’m waiting for a call back. Maybe they are going to cough up some details? I’ll let you know what she says.</p>
<p>With S1 we found that to be hard information to get out of schools also. (He was a NMSF, so we were asking what would happen to his need-based aid if he made NMF and got an increase in his merit aid from that.) I can’t recall, but that may have been because I was trying to ask the scholarship people instead of the finaid people. The admissions/scholarship office doesn’t understand the question (need-based aid is completely separate, they say). But even the financial aid office doesn’t like playing with hypotheticals. In the end at most schools we just found out by waiting to see what they did, which was ok because it was a same-year thing.</p>
<p>It usually stands to reason that increase in merit would reduce any grant money.</p>
<p>An increase in merit means your need is now smaller, so now less need-based grant money from their own coffers will be awarded. It is similar to a freshman outside scholarship, the FA office would reduce their grant by the amount of the outside scholarship. (The outside scholarship benefits the college, not the student, typically). YMMV…</p>
<p>Sometimes schools will reduce self help money (loans, WS) when a student receives an outside scholarship.</p>
<p>For grants, however, the schools are usually substituting their money (grant) for their money (merit award).</p>
<p>Still…if you have a difference in EFC, merit money is not dependent on that…better to have more of that than need based aid which is dependent on your financial circumstances from year to year.</p>
<p>Still waiting for the phone call. But, yes, again…I’m aware that grant money will likely get reduced when EFC goes up. What I was wondering is if it is usually a dollar for dollar amount. </p>
<p>Net price this year is about what our EFC would be next year, so we’re not talking about a situation where they’d be giving us more than we need if the grant isn’t canceled.</p>
<p>FWIW Here is one real-life example (just one. Not saying this represents all private schools or all financial aid decisions; just one, for which I have the actual numbers):</p>
<p>2010-2011 COA was $53,150
EFC = 21224
Grant = 20,030
Work Study = 3000
Sub Loan = 3500
Unsub Loan = 2000</p>
<p>2011-2012 COA was $54,500
EFC = 35359
Grant = 10,920
WS = 3000
Sub Loan = 4500
Unsub Loan = 2000 So EFC +14135
Grant reduced -9110</p>
<p>2012-2013 COA was $56,615
EFC = 29876
Grant = 11,920
WS = 3000
Sub Loan = 5500
Unsub Loan = 2000 So EFC down -5483
Grant increased +1000</p>
<p>Year 2010-2011 we had a senior and a freshman in college. Obviously these are the FA awards for the younger kid. My husband is also self-employed and so our income varies. The private school grant did fluctuate with the changes in FAFSA EFC (school also requires CSS Profile), but not on a dollar-for-dollar basis. YMM(will)V.</p>
<p>Archiemom, that’s really interesting! Thank you. Looks like once they take it away, you’re not gettin’ it back. </p>
<p>Just got a call back from the Asst. Director at FA. She says that if our EFC goes up, even as high as 23K, D will most likely keep 70% of the grant, which has been their policy the last few years. She did emphasize that is not a guarantee BUT explained that the absolute worst case scenario is that half of the grant would be canceled. </p>
<p>I’m going to email her now, summarizing what she just told me and ask if I got that right, with the hope of getting something in writing. But, she sounded very sincere and convincing. </p>
<p>Still not sure we are willing to pay that much, but we aren’t immediately ruling it out at this point either. </p>
<p>Outside scholarships only affect aid if they exceed the unmet part of the need–also good to know. </p>
<p>Whew! Not fabulous news, but not as bad as I imagined either.</p>
<p>Still have to find out what admissions says about increasing her merit, and what effect that will have on need based aid.</p>
<p>Good for you, Scubasue. Do reiterate it in the email and keep in touch with the fin aid. And, yes, getting the merit aid increased would be good , if possible because that would stay as is as long as your DD keeps up the academic requirements. Something to consider there too, as I can tell you, I have one who lost his merit money.</p>
<p>Yeah, well, 3.0 was what my son was supposed to maintain too, and he could not do it. It happens quite often, more often than one reads or hears as it is not braggin’ news.</p>
<p>cpt, I do worry about that with my S2. He’s not the type to be distracted by partying, but he’s not the most organized student, so I could see him letting things slip and having trouble with his grades. It’s definitely something we’ll have to take into account if he wants to attend somewhere on a merit scholarship that we couldn’t afford without it.</p>
<p>Our kids had to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep merit aid. We made it very clear that we would NOT make up the cost difference if they lost that aid. They both graduated with GPAs well above the threshold.</p>
<p>Another thing to think about is years 3 and 4. Will your family be able to keep up with tuition increases? Is it possible that there will be additional income in those years? Just be comfortable financially that you can support all four years at this school.</p>
<p>not discounting that its a distinct possibility here either–just sayin’ if that does happen, it’s not gonna be my problem. OK…well I’m sure I’d have a HUGE problem with it, just not one that is going to cost me any money (other than the plane ticket home). So far, her merit award is $19K. We wouldn’t even be able to think about making that up for her.</p>
<p>Do look at schools past trends of tuition increases it may be of concern
My oldest D school increase tuition/room/board over 4 years, creeped up 14k</p>
<p>I think the real life situation shown is one that is typical, though not for every student. You would be paying $21K next year which is over what your EFC would be for your daughter alone, be aware. So though the school may be taking into account that your son is also in college, they are still not meeting full need determined by their COA-EFC. I think that some sort of verification from the financial aid officer that your DD will most likely still get 70% of her need based grant in her package, and that it will not, in any case be reduced to less than half, is important for you to have, and is also about as good as you are going to get from then. </p>
<p>Just be aware that the cost of the school will go up each year. With girls, some of that can be mitigated when they go off the meal plan, as I have noticed they tend to eat less and not take as much advantage of such plans, and some savings can be eked out that way. If there is inexpensive off campus housing that the kids tend to use after freshman year, some of the increases can be addressed there, unless it’s an expensive area and the cost increases typically. Freshman housing, as a rule is the least expensive, on campus, as a lot of schools go to apartment and suite arrangements for their upperclassmen, and the choices are limited by lottery. All of my kids got a spike in housing costs after freshman year because of that situation and it’s not as though you can just pick an inexpensive room as chance can play a role in what your choices are. Also, even moving off campus to supposedly cheaper lodgings was no savings in money after adding in all the additional purchases. You have one in college now, so you know what I mean.</p>
<p>So good luck in dealing with the school and getting some idea as to what the aid packages will be in future years. You’ve hit on a very dicey area of the financial aid world when one has more than one in college. Works both ways in terms of uncertainty, with other kids entering college later as well as leaving later as in your case.</p>
<p>My friend went to a private school, by her 4th year she had to take out a private loan. In contrast, my roommate at a public school qualified for work study by 4th year because she had accumulated so many loans. I think it highlights how private schools do not support you at all by your 4th year, while public schools have to abide by more laws I guess that limit your loans (my public - UVa - meets 100% of demonstrated need btw).</p>
<p>Hazelorb,
Don’t know about UVa, but a lot of schools that say that they meet 100% of need, but they are meeting the need with a lot of loans. At one school my son was accepted to, they meet our need with the offer of $26,000/year in loans (combination of Stafford and Parent Plus.) That was a public school. I don’t think there are laws that limit the amount of loans you can take out at publics. </p>
<p>About the future tuition increases: That is MUCH more of a concern with public school tuition in my state. Taking into consideration the difference between the double digit increases in our state publics the last few years, and the 3-5% increases at this private, the private school <em>could</em> become cheaper than the public VERY quickly. (Turns out 4% of 52,000 is less than 15% of 24,000.) This is a real threat. University administrators and state legislators are starting to thrown around the “semiprivate” word more and more frequently, too. </p>
<p>Also, regarding saving money on room and board. This is a residential school–students are required to live on campus all 4 years, so there won’t be any saving money there.</p>
</p>