Can I Negotiate Financial Aid?

Paying for College
1

<p>I got into my dream college, which uses the CSS profile, but their EFC for me using the CSS was >50k, and the FAFSA estimated EFC wa 17,075. What can I do with this? Can you ever ask a college to change the way they calculate EFC?</p>

<p>The difference is b/c of our family farm, which we live on and operate, so the FAFSA doesn't count it, but the CSS does. The problem is, we can't just sell part of it every year, and our income isn't high enough to pay the EFC, or even take that much out in loans and be able to pay it back (I have 3 sisters going to college after me!)</p>

<p>Our income, for a family of 6, is ~70k. 45k is really just too much, 4 years in a row, and then 3 sisters after me if they calculate it the same way for the schools they go to too. This is insane! My dad is 56, and one sister will go to college years after he should have retired. If we all pay 45k/year, it will cost like 720k!</p>

2

<p>Unless you have some really extenuating circumstances that was not mentioned when you filed the Profile, (medical bills not covered by insurance, care for an elderly parent, etc) your EFC is probbably not going to change.</p>

<p>The federal methodology (FM) determines eligibility for federal aid(federal loans, pell, federal work study).</p>

<p>Stanford uses the IM to determine how it gives out their funds. </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>Your EFC will change once there are multiple children in college at the same time.</p>

<p>If this school is going to not be financially feasible for your family I hope that you do have a few applications in at schools where you can get merit money.</p>

3

<p>Talk to someone in the financial aid office of the college you want to attend. Colleges handle the data in the CSS Profile in different ways -- the online calculators for "Institutional Methodology" may not accurately reflect how the college will handle the assets. So the best thing to do would be to go over the figures directly with someone -- assuming that they are willing to work with you.</p>

4

<p>A gap like that will be unlikely to be closed. I suggest you very seriously consider schools that use the FM as opposed to the IM.</p>

5

<p>Soccerfanatic,</p>

<p>I feel for your situation as we are a farm family too. </p>

<p>All I can say is what we told our S when he was a freshman. Simply this....we have x amount of money we can spend toward his college education. We will not take out loans, but once we get all three kids through college, we would try and help him pay off his school loans. If he wants to go away for college, he needs to pick colleges that he had a good chance of getting merit and/or need based financial aid (we, like you, have a much lower FAFSA EFC than Profile EFC). </p>

<p>I know it is hard to saddle a 15 year old with that type of information, but we didn't want him to get his heart set on a particular college and then get them dashed because we couldn't afford to send him there. My S applied to 12 colleges, a couple were "dream" schools but a couple he applied to mainly because we knew he was a good candidate for merit aid. I just have to believe that come April, things will all work out.</p>

<p>If I remember correctly, you got accepted to Stanford. That is just such a huge honor and accomplishment! I hope you and your family are able to make this work for you, but if not, hold your head up high and move on.</p>

<p>Hopefully, it is not too late to find colleges with late application deadlines. Try to find colleges that give good merit aid or that use the FAFSA only. </p>

<p>If you are in CA, check out University of Redlands and University of the Pacific (Stockton)...Redlands has rolling admissions and UOP, the deadline, I believe, was this weekend. Both calculate EFC using the FAFSA (I'm pretty sure UOP is just FAFSA but you might want to double check). Denison in IL just uses the FAFSA. I don't know the deadline for USC, but I hear they give good merit aid (as does Baylor in Texas).</p>

<p>Good luck,
FresnoMom</p>

6

<p>Check the dates for merit aid applications also. DD was going to put a last minute ap into Redlands, but the priority date for consideration for merit aid has passed, I believe.</p>

7

<p>Soccer:</p>

<p>Congratz on your great accomplishment ! !</p>

<p>With your FAFSA efc of 17K, you should def. talk to your aid counseler for reducing ur family's EFC to a manageable level that you father can handle.
Ask your dad to negotiate with them on your behalf. You may pitch in by writing a letter how much you wanna go to Stanford and why Stanford has been your and your dad's number 1 school. </p>

<p>Tell them that your family's not sitting on millions, and your farm is your family's income source.</p>

<p>College Fin Aid officers should be more than willing to work with your family.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

<p>BG</p>

8

<p>Thanks a lot for all of your guys' input! Apparently, Stanford won't negotiate until we have our 2005 tax returns in, so I'll have to wait in anticipation.</p>