You can usually write a “letter of special circumstances” to the financial aid office. Schools that require the CSS Profile already get the special circumstances because there is a section for it in the form. If you only did a FAFSA, call the admissions office and say you would like to write a letter of special circumstances. (One other warning: if, for instance, your spouse had a stroke in early 2019, the special circumstance of income loss might not affect college costs for the coming year but for the next. In my experience, schools vary on this.)
@caracomo I’m not saying don’t try, but don’t get your hopes up. Our EFC was around $26K if I recall (we don’t bother filing FAFSA anymore) and Berklee expected us to pay nearly full COA anyway. It was such BS. Even after having to fill out the CSS and jump through hoops to even talk to anyone there…
Reality is the average COA at Berklee is nearly $40K even for students at the lowest income levels. Obviously, they don’t even attempt to meet need for most students. Which is kind of crazy because when you look at their numbers they really don’t have a high % of kids getting aid or taking loans or graduating with debt…so they must be getting mostly full pay families. Where the low income kids are getting more than their family’s entire income to pay for school is beyond me. Something doesn’t add up there IMO.
ETA - For clarity, over 60% of students at Berklee don’t even take out federal loans yet average COA ranges from around $37K to nearly $49K regardless of income. (per collegescorecard.ed.gov)
Of course, obviously there are exceptions.
@jacole Congratulations on the admit to Berklee and Belmont and CalArts!!! So sorry about the money. You said it perfectly. That’s a downer! Hope you can figure out something!
@tripletmama - Congratulations on your D’s Berklee scholarship! I’m so happy you’re almost at the end of the road. With 2 entering college this year (not to mention your ballet S), it must be a big relief!
@compmom and @dbandmom thank you for the input. We did fill out the CSS also. Berklee even called us and asked us some specific questions about our finances. Berklee is meeting need for my s based on our EFC with a combination of scholarship, grant, and loan, but that EFC is just waaayyyy higher than what we have to spend. We would have to take out major loans to pay the balance.
@CaraCoMO that utterly sucks. I took out huge loans for my D so I feel you. In the end we decided it was worth it. For S, doesn’t look like it will be necessary, in part because he doesn’t want to go anywhere that will leave him in serious debt.
@compmom Thanks fro asking about why we are not excited about Calarts. I have been trying to investigate Calarts since my son was accepted. I have found very little about Calarts unlike other schools. It is high rated on a few listings for songwriting and that is why we applied. We submitted video audition so we have never been.
The student reviews that are online seem mostly to be written by nonmusic majors. A lot from animators, film, and acting. Nothing from songwriters or performers. Some reviews from the more. common majors denigrate the music students and describe them as “weird” and “drug addicts”. I have seen reviews from employers who say students are really workers. They come and go as they please. They are not reliable. This does not surprise me because the environment seems easy going rather than rigorous. I read somewhere that classes are pass fail. I have also read multiple times that it is a clothing optional campus and that people swim nude in the campus pool.
I do not think my son would be really comfortable with the environment at Calarts despite having gone to an art magnet school with many creatives. My son is conservative liberal or maybe even a liberal conservative. College is a lifestyle. You don’t just go home at the end of the day.
If time and money was not option I would fly out there to see Calarts myself. But both are tight right now since it is the end of high school and son is graduating in 2 months. My son is thinking really hard right now about Calarts because his girlfriend lives in San Diego and is going to school there. I do not want to make this huge decision because he is chasing romance.
Finally I have heard some music and watched videos of some students on Calarts website and have no question that they are well done. It is the environment that I am not buying into.
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There have been various articles or posts about EFC and how it is calculated. There were a large number of these posts in the USC thread (not music related) because that school is so expensive, and even with academic merit, the numbers are still so high. What many parents reported was that EFC seemed to assume that parents would “cash out” or dip into other asset pools like home equity or savings to meet the EFC they calculated. So parents who had little free cash flow, but did have some equity/savings were being given EFC numbers way higher than what they are comfortable with. We’re not eligible at all, so never filled out any of these forms, but that’s the gist of what I’ve read.
@SuzeViolin @PercussionMama @dbandmom Thanks for your kind words and input. It’s confirmed, he was denied from JSOM. Extremely disappointed. He really wanted this. I’m having a hard time hiding my tears, and right now, he doesn’t want to talk about his other options. I know all will work out in the end, but this has been hell.
@RMSqueencat All i can say is i’m so sorry. We love our kids and we want to see them excited and happy. sending you tons of virtual hugs!!
I’m so thrilled to read about the new acceptances! To those of you who did not get the merit $ you were hoping for, I want to tell you that my daughter did not receive academic or music scholarships. She really was expecting something, and it was hard to deal with this news, but she came to realize that there was no question that the college and the music department really wanted her, there were just lots of behind-the-scenes factors that they had to consider. It took us a while to work through our situation, and ultimately I realized that if the $ for the scholarship that she didn’t get enabled someone else to commit to the school when otherwise they might not have been able to, it was “all good.” Once students get to college they don’t (or shouldn’t!) talk about their scholarships, they are equal and are there to work and learn and support each other in this endeavor of making music, which is really important to our world.
So it basically boils down to whether or not the finances work out, and going through the arduous process of trying to figure this out, including appealing when necessary. But it does not define one’s self-worth, none of this process should, although understandably it can take a while to get to the place where one assimilates that.
Anyway, I hope I haven’t overstepped, I just wanted to offer some reassurance to those who are not thrilled with their $ offer, at the same time that I contribute my “huge sigh of relief” to those whose financial offers are such that they can attend.
@RMSqueencat sometimes we just cannot hide our tears, it’s ok, and we have to take time to get through things before moving on to next steps. Thinking of you!
Congrats on the Berklee admission decisions. Whether you get money or not, it is very tough to get in (we know many very talented students who were rejected.)
@RMSqueencat I’m so sorry. And I know it’s tough as parents to keep our emotions in check. Just be as supportive as you can, give him some “grieving” time and he’ll soon to ready to look at other options, even if it includes the idea of a year at another college and trying to transfer to JSOM in the future.
Has anyone received FAFSA info from New School? We saw the scholarship info in the letter but when we go to the financial aid link it does not have any info. I’m not sure if that means we aren’t getting any or it’s just not ready to view yet. I think it said something about taking up to 7-10 days, so just curious if anyone else received information.
@RMSqueencat although some of us have not posted on here about tears… there have been a few nights of it around here. My D did get in some very good schools, but the very top ones alluded her. There was definitely was some grieving. It took her 2 days or so to finish that and move on to the ones she was accepted to… as a parent I too grieved with her. There was a lot of self doubt… questioning whether her hard work even showed… whether it was all worth it. A relative told me… who was a professional musician… you have to learn to take rejection as a way to motivate you…There is always going to be rejection… He said that he had 30 professional auditions and was thrilled to win 3 of them…
@AmyIzzy I have the same question about New School FAFSA letter. The acceptance letter says it’s coming in 7-10 days, but on the Admissions Portal it says “View your FAFSA award letter” as if it already exists. When you click on that it asks for a different ID # than student ID, and a password (but what password?), then it says if you don’t know either of these, do such and such. S tried it and it seemed to not get him anywhere. I’m trying to get him to sit with me to see if we can get it to work. Maybe it needs the 7-10 days and then it will work because the special ID # will be provided then.
This journey has certainly been interesting. When DS shifted gears from music tech to performance, I wish I’d sat down and read last year’s thread before embarking on his search! But we’ve learned a lot, spent some quality time together and in the end, I think he’s on an excellent path. What I take away the most is that it really comes down to numbers. And I love what someone here said is that it’s not necessarily that they don’t want you, it’s they don’t have space for you. I’m anxious for a decision to be made and plans to go forward (especially as he’s leaving for BUTI 6 days after graduation). So thanks everyone for the advice and sharing in the excitement and disappointments.
@PianoMom88 I had trouble getting a new sign in but I learned the student # is the one they sent by email during the application process that starts with an N and later you have to put it the one that looks like Abcd123. Luckily saved all the old emails. But use the phone # they give for tech service (I think it’s under the sign in where they say “having trouble signing in?”) and call them tomorrow if you can’t set up a sign in. They answered right away and walked me right through it.
But then when I sign in, it has me select the school year and seems to indicate there is info but you can’t click on anything. So guessing just not ready yet.
Thanks!
@AmyIzzy Thanks! S and I got as far as getting the NetID and Student ID, but it wouldn’t let us change the password, it just froze. I will call to double check tomorrow, but you’re right, it’s probably not ready yet.
I did just sign up to attend Admitted Students Day on 4/14. Our only visit has been audition day; haven’t really seen or experienced the school at all (all I saw was the lobby of the music building). S is super-excited about the possibility of Mannes. Admissions email came saying teacher studio assignment is coming “shortly.”
It’s so hard to watch them face disappointment — and not be able to fix it. Just completely sucks. Sometimes just validating their feelings and assuring them that “this too shall pass” can help a little. One thing I’ve noticed is that my kids are more resilient on their own behalf than I am. They feel the feelings and move on.
Jacole I believe CalArts is progressive/innovative but certainly excellent in its way and not “weird”! PM’ed you!
@Jacole - I concur with compmom. CalArts isn’t “weird”. Our daughter has a friend there who doesn’t like it because it’s so far from the heart of LA and he feels isolated. But it is highly regarded and has some well respected instructors.