I didn’t see a Class of 2021 thread for decisions and scholarship discussions yet so I thought I would create one. I got in the Accelerated Accounting Program and my stats are 1370 SAT, 3.85 W (in a top public MA high school), 6 APs, all honors or AP in high school, lots of community service. Got fin aid package back. Can go to Siena for a little under $18,000/year. A little disappointed…I was hoping for a better deal especially given my family’s financial situation. Maybe they didn’t like my essay?
@ciara2021 Was your aid package financial aid or merit or a combination? Just curious - my son’s stats are very similar to yours.
@ShepMom It was both merit and financial. I got the Presidential Scholarship of $17,500, which is the highest merit they give and then I got both the Federal Pell grant and a SEOG grant for a total of $6,870 and then Siena gave me a grant of $9,500, so in total I would have to get loans for $17,115 a year. I have a very low efc too, I’m raised by a single parent and there are no assets. Maybe they can’t give much this year in terms of school-based grants?
17.5 is not the highest merit they give, my son got 19K and his SAT score was lower than yours by 100 points, he also got into the accelerated accounting program. Also, keep in mind that just because your EFC is low, it does not mean that college will met 100% of your need, some college explicitly state that they do, and some just state how affordable they are. Overall, your package is pretty good, but you can certainly negotiate for more especially if you have offers from other schools. Is there anything in particular that attracted you to Siena and their accounting program? I am asking because I am a controller at one of NYC’s financial services firms and I have never heard of Siena prior to college fair that I attended with my son, honestly, if I saw a resume for an accountant from Siena, I would be like “Siena what?” We applied because it was no fee and it’s a safety school for us. If you are interested in accounting, there are wonderful programs at UMass Amherst, if you want to be in the NY region, SUNY Albany has an amazing accounting program, well-known in NYC, people get hired by Big 4 and large firms all the time, or go on to work at big Wall St banks and become very successful. They will most likely give you a generous out of state award because your stats are really great for it.
@babysladkaya Did they ask if he was Catholic? I don’t know if that has anything to do with scholarships or not but I think I accidentally clicked the wrong box. I liked the area but it was a safety for me too, hoping that they would give me a significant amount of merit aid. I’m not sure if I even want to do accounting anymore anyway. I was just a little thrown off by the amount because I’ve already gotten in to Miami’s Farmer School of Business as a Supply Chain Management major and into the scholars program there with 19k in merit aid. Honestly, I’m not even going to bother negotiating with them, I agree with your point they are not well known and the ultimate appeal of it was the area and the accelerated program along with the Law School program but I can get that somewhere like Hofstra, which gave me 26k in merit aid.
And I have gotten into SUNY Albany (although on the tour I did not like it as much) and have applied to UMass business school.
@babysladkaya Siena actually has a very good accounting program and their students are recruited by the Big 4. The campus is beautiful and the college experience is fantastic. Many students do not want the SUNY Albany big college environment and Siena is a much better choice for them.