<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Did anybody here contact to RU's financial aid office for re-evaluation and receive feedback? I wrote an e-mail and left a voice mail to my councellor one week ago since my family's special situation, nothing feedback so far. Money is a issue to make school final selection.</p>
<p>What should I do next?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>call the admissions office and (keep calling till you talk to someone), any admissions officer can guide you with the next steps… keep calling as you have few days to get it done … good luck, hope it works out for you</p>
<p>Don’t call the admissions office–they don’t have anything to do with need-based aid and won’t be able to help you. (merit-based, yes; need-based-no.)</p>
<p>I would continue to call the FA counselor assigned to your D. If you don’t get a response within a reasonable time, I’d move up the food chain and contact the FA director.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.enrollment.rochester.edu/financial/officeinfo.shtm[/url]”>http://www.enrollment.rochester.edu/financial/officeinfo.shtm</a></p>
<p>Last time I contacted my D’s FA counselor I got an email response to my question within a week.</p>
<p>Did you ask a general question or did you send in a formal request for a FA re-evaluation? If you made a formal request, did you include all the relevant supporting information like explanation of medical debt, job loss, etc?</p>
<p>Thank you dudefromnowhere and WayoutWestMom:
I can’t help calling them again today. I told them I don’t want to leave a message again. Of course, I have to retell the “story” from the very beginning and I was told to re send the request again…
WayoutwestMom: You are right. (merit-based, yes; need-based-no.) I read most of your posts, just curious why you are so familiar with these procedures.</p>
<p>Well, I have two children. The one at UR is my younger so I’ve been through the process twice now. (I was unexpectedly widowed halfway thru D1’s undergraduate so I had to learn the FA process and learn fast. Steep learning curve.) D2 is at UR on merit. D1 had need-based FA.</p>
<p>I’m also by inclination and training a researcher. (I’m a librarian.) I know how to shape data searches, check sources and cross reference to find answers.</p>
<p>BTW, have you tried sending your formal request via certified mail? That way you know it’s been delivered and when. You also have a legal proof of delivery.</p>
<p>We asked the financial aid office to re-assess our daughter’s award. Described the situation and asked to speak with someone. Someone arranged a phone call (we live in a different time zone) and it didn’t seem promising after my husband spoke with the FA officer. However, received a revised FA award worth exta $2000 earlier this week. Still not a huge grant, but anything willl help.</p>
<p>It is possible to re-assess the merit-based scholarship, but I would caution everyone to be thoughtful before pursuing that option. Appeals are not guaranteed to work, and the reasons for an appeal must be legitimate and thoughtful. Many people attempt to compare merit-based scholarship offers among various institutions, but our process is specific to the University of Rochester and the individual student applying. If you feel you have been offered significantly higher merit-based scholarships from our peer insitutions (i.e. highly competitive) than it may be worth pursuing.</p>
<p>Hey McConklin,</p>
<pre><code>I emailed my FA counselor Mr Dan Abbott around 8 days ago and have been repeatedly sending him emails with regard to re evaluation of my need based grant since the current amount of aid is inadequate and my Parents’ actual income is lesser than the estimated one on the CSS. I still havent received a reply and I really want to attend Rochester. However, the admission reply date is 1st May and so I cannot accept an offer of admission if i cannot afford to attend. Please tell me what to do as I am very worried and am extremely eager to attend Rochester. I have also tried calling but for some reason could not connect.
</code></pre>
<p>p.s. thanks for all the help on collegeconfidential, you really have been a great help :)</p>
<p>Thanks karachi. I would recommend calling and asking to speak with your financial aid counselor to at least get a sense for when you can expect to hear back from him regarding your need-based aid package. You should also call the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and ask to speak with your Admissions Counselor - he/she can help you navigate the process of making what I know can be a very difficult decision. In fact, you might want to consider speaking with your Admissions Counselor first if you have had trouble contacting your financial aid counselor. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.</p>
<p>I just received my financial offer and am wondering if I should, and can, ask for a reevaluation. Is asking a family/parents to put in around 30% of their annual income normal?</p>
<p>And if I were to ask, how would that affect my financial aid award? Would that increase the loans, work-study, and/or grants? I only received those three, so that’s what I’m assuming.</p>
<p>scionn–30% of the annual pre-tax income is a pretty much the common expectation for the family contribution at most private colleges and universities.</p>
<p>You can ask for a re-evaluation, but there is no guarantee you will get a larger award. </p>
<p>If you have the maximum Stafford ($5500) in your award package, that’s the limit for freshman federal student loans so that can’t increase. Work/study funds are limited so I wouldn’t expect a huge increase there.</p>
<p>Thank you WayOutWestMom. 
</p>
<p>I doubt I’ll be able to attend Rochester now, but I’ll make the final decision with my parents after considering all the financial offers I’ve received.</p>
<p>How about if the actual EFC is much greater than the calculate EFC? Would reevaluation be something to consider?</p>
<p>Don’t give up! I had to give them a couple of calls before I finally got to talk with my counselor. He was extremely helpful and understanding and made changes to my package on the spot U of R is EXTREMELY generous.</p>
<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>Finally, I received a revised merit award worth extra $2000 yesterday. I do think if you don’t expect too much, it is possible to have a little increase.</p>