<p>D finished freshman year at Emory. For 2011-2012 we received minimal fin aid, which I attributed to an unusually robust income in 2010 and the fact that she was accepted off the wait list (I have heard on CC that WL kids get virtually no aid). Minimal aid was specifically: 2 Stafford loans (1 unsubsidized, 1 subsidized) plus work study. Total: $7000.</p>
<p>2011 was much worse, financially. 2011 income was 57% of 2010 income. Assets were depleted to pay for tuition plus living expenses. I applied for aid for the 2012-2013 school year and just got the fin aid award -- 2 Stafford loans (1 unsubsidized, 1 subsidized) plus work study. Total: $9000.</p>
<p>I will appeal, but here is my question: does anyone have first hand experience in appealing an award and getting more aid? If so, what do you feel were the key components of a successful appeal?</p>
<p>The fin aid office already has: personal and business tax returns for 2011 and 2010, so they can see the drop in income. </p>
<p>My EFC on the FAFSA for 2012-2013 was $23K. </p>
<p>I realize this does not correlate to the actual aid I will receive, but I am stunned at what I was offered. I am self-employed (so is my husband) and I have learned on this forum that self-employed people get battered when it comes to fin aid.</p>
<p>Any info appreciated.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC is meaningless except for Pell eligibility. You are not eligible unfortunately.</p>
<p>Emery is a Profile school so they evidently took a deep dive into your assets and business expenses and determined your need. You can try an appeal but they are not usually successful unless there are large unpaid medical bills or an error.</p>
<p>Hopefully you have a plan for your D to finish 4 years at Emery with this level of aid.</p>
<p>I go to Emory and they are a school that claims to meet full FA, but as many Emory students will tell you they’re only very generous to families making under $50k (but this is a school where over 30% of the students’ families make over $250k so many don’t really worry about it…) And as a Profile school they use their own formula to determine how much aid to give based on their own level of resources and an in-depth look at your financial situation (more than what FAFSA will tell them). With that being said, what likely happened as does for many who are self-employed is that you took out a lot of deductions from your gross earnings which led to a much lower AGI and thus a much lower EFC. The Emory FA people probably added a lot of those deductions since they deem it to not be a qualified deduction and thus should be counted as part of your income. What whats your total gross gross earnings and your AGI? My guess is that there’s a huge discrepancy between the two. But from the looks of it it looks like your daughter got no real FA, but only the maximum Stafford Loans and WS (which isn’t even real FA like grants or scholarships). Try running Emory’s NPC (<a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator) and see what you get. If the amount the NPC says you’re supposed to pay is much lower than $49,180 (Emory’s COA minus the $9k your daughter got) definitely mention that in your appeal. Besides that the only other way the FA here will budge is if you have extenuating circumstances such as high medical bills. Your daughter can always look it merit options offered by Emory. The big one they have for rising sophomores or juniors is the Deans Achievement Scholarship (which gives you $10k per year off tuition for your remaining years) but the deadline for that passed about a month ago (and most people who get it here have 3.9+ GPAs and significant ECs at Emory so if your daughter is qualified definitely apply next year).</p>
<p>^thanks – that’s exactly what I needed to know. You’re right – we basically got zero fin aid. </p>
<p>I ran the calculator – thanks for the link – it came up with $38K so I’ll mention that. We also do have some serious medical bills (H is older and had Stage IV cancer so he’s always going for tests and they’re usually not covered fully by insurance). I don’t think D would qualify for merit, but it’s good to know it’s available.</p>
<p>It’s a pricey school. I think they’ve been very successful in creating an impression in peoples’ minds that they’re generous with aid, but I think the reality is very very different.</p>
<p>Here’s an update – if anyone has anything to add about what I should include in my appeal, glad to hear it.</p>
<p>I just spoke to my financial aid advisor. Basically she said she can’t understand how we’re able to pay our mortgage with so little income. Her exact words were: “Are you going through a short sale?”</p>
<p>She then explained that in their experience, people like me must have “access to other resources” to pay your bills (i.e., I must be hiding assets). I asked: did you notice that my assets dropped in half from 2010 to 2011? Isn’t it plausible that we have been living on our existing savings to meet our obligations?</p>
<p>She reluctantly agreed that I might be right. Lovely.</p>
<p>Here is what I plan to include: specific bank statements from 2010 and 2011 showing drop in assets; home equity account showing increase in debt; property tax bills and mortgage statements showing our monthly housing debt (it’s probably hard for her to believe property taxes could be $24k a year on a house worth $875K, but it’s true); and medical bills and canceled checks showing how much we pay out of pocket for cancer survivor H to make sure he’s still in remission.</p>
<p>Anything I should add (or exclude)? I’m a little concerned giving them too much information.</p>
<p>They will probably also ask for all the information for your self-employment info. Based solely on what I’ve read above I believe that’s whats driving the EFC.</p>
<p>It’s probably the $875,000 home that is killing you most likely. The median home price in the greater Atlanta area is $100,000. it’s probably very difficult for an underpaid and overworked finaid officer to look at that and NOT look for deductions and all that stuff. I think it’s always best to have a reasonable number in your head that you ARE willing to pay. Best of luck with the appeal. Maybe if you are in San Francisco or somewhere that the median home price is multiple hundreds of thousands that might be help…to show that you are not living above your means and genuinely need financial help. I think San Fran is the highest market in the country with median home prices in the $600,000 range.</p>
<p>Related to momof3boys reply, I wouldn’t give them the details on your property taxes. Other than medical costs, they really don’t care what your expenses are, thinking that you “chose” to live in an expensive area etc… I think she’s right that someone is looking at $875K house and saying “what the heck? they can support an almost-million-dollar house and they want help to send their kid to school?” </p>
<p>I would print out their NPC computation and include that. And definitely document the medical expenses, because they can exercise professional judgment about that.</p>
<p>^thanks mathmomvt and momofthreeboys. I’d invite them to my home just so they could see a) I have no yard – nothing, and b) the roof leaks and the boiler’s 20 years old, and the galley kitchen was done cheaply circa 1982, etc. But you’re right – the person reviewing this just sees a number and compares it to their own situation. And unless you live in the NYC area, you don’t understand these house prices.</p>
<p>What amazes me is this: they see your income documentation (we were verified so we have given them not only tax returns personal and business but also verified this info with the IRS), but they don’t ask for any asset documentation, which results in them not believing your assets. Kind of wierd, huh? “We don’t know what assets you have” then why not ask for asset documentation instead of assuming someone is lying?</p>
<p>D has been gathering fin aid award stories from her friends. Apparently the way to go is: be salaried, and be divorced. A friend of hers whose dad makes much more than me is getting $30k grant/year from Emory. </p>
<p>To be continued…</p>
<p>Still, all you can prove with asset documentation is what you have . . . not what you don’t have. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if they’re claiming you have money buried in the front yard, you might want to show them the photograph of no yard!</p>
<p>^^ha ha! And no money tree either!</p>
<p>This would be unconventional, but it might be worthwhile to give a very brief description of the home. Not what’s broken necessarily, but just something like “this is a simple 1600-square-foot 4BR home built in XXXX on 1/8 of an acre.” Really where you’re screwed is that not only are you self-employed, schools don’t consider cost-of-living in their formulae. You live in a super expensive area, but they’re considering it as if you had your income and assets in Anytown, USA. But if their NPC shows that even with those assets and your income you should be getting aid, then hopefully they will eventually come around. Keep trying!</p>
<p>^thanks! They actually suggest I include a income/expenses worksheet. It’s very easy for me to document that my expenses exceed my income and that we have liquidated CDs and taken money from savings to pay for her tuition. </p>
<p>Don’t both Profile and FAFSA ask for assets? I think they don’t actually compare 2010 to 2011 because if they did, they would have seen that our assets decreased by $70K. </p>
<p>I think it’s really easy for them to say no, and count on people not appealing.</p>
<p>I would also get an updated valuation on your home’s actual resale value as of today. I always put that as the value of my home, rather than what I think it should be worth. Don’t inflate the value - rather deflate it, maybe even get a free once over by a real estate agent and find out what you could actually get for it in today’s market.</p>
<p>And then get your property taxes adjusted too - if you can :)</p>
<p>PhotoOp, just curious, but do you re-value your home every year? We had a RE agent give us a realistic resale value before filing FAFSA/Profile for freshman year, but we didn’t re-do it for sophomore year, just put down the same number. I don’t think home values in this area have changed too much in a year. Zillow doesn’t have an estimate for my home, so I can’t follow that to see if the value is changing.</p>