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<p>excellent point, and it’s the position the school has. You’re not going to make a decision to leave or stay over some small award…and no way is a large award forthcoming.</p>
<p>Note to affluent parents anxious to get their kids into top schools so applying ED: Prepare to be full-pay all four years…even after the excitement wears off and you are feeling the pinch.</p>
<p>Happened to a family we know. They got caught up in the get the kid into a top school ED and forget the cost. Then they had to pay, and the realization that the cost X4 was close to a quarter million dollars and they had two more kids to go, hit full force. Their DD transfered to a SUNY, where the next one went. Sometimes you gotta feel that pain before you understand what it means. I am just finishing a 14 year PLUS sentence because we took out hefty loans to pay for our first one. </p>
<p>I also know people who have done this. And not necessarily for the “top” schools. With all the information available out there, people who get into this situation really have no one to blame but themselves.</p>
<p>Yup. I’ve had 14 years of blaming myself.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing. You’re essentially asking for financial aid (that’s the “discount”) and there is no proof that you CAN’T pay JHU’s COA. You don’t like and don’t want to pay full freight. Financial aid is for people who need help. Now we can all argue what constitutes “need” but if you can prepay four years, whatever the definition, you don’t meet it.</p>
<p>This is exactly why I will not have my children apply ED to any college. We just can’t afford to go for prestige/name or the supposed admission boost over college costs. Now if parents can afford full pay (my siblings could), then students can do ED (my nieces and nephews did) for whatever reason they please.</p>
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<p>OP, to answer your questions, you can check the common data set for any college and see what percentage of kids are full pay. It varies. JHU’s website says 44 percent receive some form of financial assistance, so there are a lot of people in your boat.</p>
<p>I think the reason people are becoming frustrated here is the way you are positioning your dilemma. You are not having to “shell out the list price” because you don’t have any hooks. You are having to shell out the list price because your child set his/her sights on an expensive college that you were willing and able to pay for. Being poor or lower middle class is not a “hook”–it is a fact of life and I don’t think you mean to suggest that it is an advantage. As for “deserving a small break,” why? What does “deserve” mean in this scenario? Every dollar JHU doesn’t get from your family–who can apparently not only comfortably pay full price, but can pay for all four years up front–is a dollar that can’t be used to help a student who might otherwise be unable to attend. The institutional priorities of JHU and most other colleges are such that they don’t WANT a student body made up of only affluent people. They want a range of life experiences among each entering class.</p>
<p>Both of my kids received additional scholarships from their departments after freshman year - but they were competitive and merit-based. Then, my D received some sort of $5000 mystery award during her senior year that is still leaving us scratching our heads. No one in financial aid seemed to know where that $ came from - but they gave D a refund of her entire $5000 student loan (not federal loan, but from a private lender). So…sometimes you get additional funds for subsequent years, but I wouldn’t count on it.</p>
<p>I agree a (merit) dept grant is about the only possible option.</p>
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<h1>That must have been an old policy (before the economic downtown), although there is a loophole. Here’s the website statement-<a href=“http://benefits.jhu.edu/tuition/grant.cfm:”>http://benefits.jhu.edu/tuition/grant.cfm:</a></h1>
<p>Full-time faculty, staff or Bargaining Unit members are eligible if you:</p>
<pre><code>complete a minimum of two consecutive years by October 1st or February 1st and continue through these dates in a full-time position, and
if you are on an authorized leave, your leave does not exceed one year in duration after which you return to full-time employment
</code></pre>
<p>The two-year minimum employment requirement will be waived for faculty and staff that come to the university directly from another college or university (within 30 days) where they were previously eligible for a similar dependent education benefit. Proof of eligibility is required from the prior employer. Waivers submitted for new faculty positions will be reviewed on a semester basis. Please see sample Waiver Letter for required language.</p>
<p>(off to search the job listings…)</p>
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<p>I believe that this is the exception more than the rule. A few schools do have policies that will preclude a student from applying for FA in later years if a FA application was not submitted before matriculation, but most schools have no such policy (at least one that is available on the school web site).</p>
<p>^^^That is a pretty standard policy to prevent families from using “no FA” as a hook then applying for FA after matriculation.</p>
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<p>Sorry, but I disagree that it is “a pretty standard policy.” There are some schools that will not allow a student to apply for institutional FA until junior year if FA was not applied for as an incoming freshman (Colby, Smith), and there is at least one school that flat out says that a student who does not apply as an incoming freshman is never eligible for institutional FA (Bryn Mawr), but again, those schools are the exceptions, not the norm.</p>
<p>Edited to add: at need-blind schools, there is no such thing as a “no FA needed hook,” because finances are not part of the admissions decision.</p>
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What are you basing it on?
Schools have set amount of money for FA, not unlimited fund. They figure out how much they are going to spend for each class with a small amount of variation to take care of unfortunate events of major economic catastrophe in some student’s lives after they have matriculated, like lost of jobs, death in the family, major medical bills…They are not going to reward a family that doesn’t apply for FA and uses all of its college savings (60K) the first year then expects the institution to give their kid FA for the remainder 3. It is only logical. </p>
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<p>I’m basing it on my personal experience. What are you basing your claim on? If it is indeed “pretty standard policy” that schools will not consider a FA application for institutional aid from a second through fourth year student who did not apply for FA before matriculating, than it shouldn’t be that hard to find that policy spelled out on each school’s web site. I’ve only seen it in limited instances, as noted above. This leads me to the conclusion that it is not “pretty standard policy.”</p>
<p>You believe everything you read on each institution’s website? I am basing it on common sense, years on this site, and what I know of people who tried to game the system.</p>
<p>This is on Cornell’s website for FA:
It works both ways. If you didn’t get FA first year and your family’s financial circumstances remain relatively unchanged then you should also expect your aid to be $0 for years 2-4.</p>
<p>If your family makes 50K, you didn’t apply for FA the first year, and then ask for aid second year, don’t you think it would be a big red flag to the FA office?</p>
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<p>I will take what a college puts on its web site at face value until proven otherwise.</p>
<p>The Cornell quote makes sense, although it does nothing to support your position because it says nothing about any kind of restriction on FA awards if a student did not seek FA as an incoming freshman. I’ve already acknowledged that some schools have a policy as you describe. My disagreement is with your assertion that it’s “a pretty standard policy.” Until either of us comes up with some empirical evidence, it’s just one person’s opinion against another’s.</p>
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<p>I agree, if the student applied for FA as an incoming freshman. But, in my experience, very few schools will tell a student that they can’t apply for institutional FA from sophomore year on if they did not apply as an incoming freshman.</p>
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<p>Maybe, maybe not. And as previously mentioned, for need-blind schools, it shouldn’t make any difference, as a decision to apply or not apply for FA as part of the admissions process will have no bearing on the admissions decision. So for need-blind schools, if a student is possibly eligible for FA, there’s no strategic reason to hold off on applying for FA until after freshman year.</p>
<p>Most schools do not meet full need at all…ever. So being able to apply for institutional aid in subsequent years really has no meaning.</p>
<p>The policy about applying in subsequent years really is for international students where it is applicable. The websites for some of those schools that meet full need clearly say that international students cannot apply in subsequent years if they don’t APPLY as incoming freshmen. There are a handful of schools that have the same policy for domestic students. </p>
<p>But really…it doesn’t matter in the vast majority if cases. Just because you can apply in subsequent years does not guarantee you will receive institutional need based aid at the vast majority of colleges. </p>
<p>Any student can file a FAFSA at any point in time for Direct Loan eligibility. And if a students family income drops to low income level, and they become Pell Grant eligible, they can receive that as well.</p>
<p>I personally know domestic students who thought they would have a better chance of getting admitted if they didn’t apply for FA, even if the school was need blind, then tried to apply for FA subsequent years and were denied.</p>
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My kid’s GC advised students not to apply for FA because it would be a hook. Something they didn’t publish on a lot of college web sites either.</p>