My S was overloaded this fall trying to keep up with his school work while writing all of his application essays, so he bumped his top choice (Colorado College) from EA to ED2. This is a bit scary to me from a financial aid perspective because I understand doing ED gives you no wiggle room to negotiate and we have a lot of need. I did the NPC and CC would supposedly offer more than any of the others, but the one thing I am unsure about is that the CSS Profile included non-custodial parent income, and I have not seen my ex-spouses tax return. However, I can say that he is currently unemployed and a full time student, though he does own a house. Also the tax returns provided were for 2015, which was before he quit his job and went back to school. One of my son’s other schools (Earlham) is known to put together pretty sweet aid packages, but we are still waiting to hear from them! In fact, their EA notification date is the same day the ED2 application is due! The catch: Earlham does not use the CSS Profile.
So here’s my concern: CC is obviously a great school and the highest ranked on his list. I believe he would be happy there if accepted & I actually believe he has a good chance based on what I know about his essay/course ideas and his writing skills. I believe there is solid “fit.” I would just love to hear back from students or parents of students who were accepted at Colorado College and have high financial need (our EFC for my single parent household is under 4K)–to hear what the school offered and whether or not it included the dreaded Parent Plus loans. NPC quoted around 10k–basically room & board, but again–I only entered my income and not the ex-spouse’s. I’m also curious–should my son be accepted and bound to that ED commitment–would CC work with us after the ex-spouse provides his 2016 tax return showing the greatly reduced income? If not, would that be justification for exiting the contract? Thanks to anyone in advance for thoughts on CC in particular or ED restraints/ex-spouse income issues. S’s only other option would be RD for CC, but I understand that is next to impossible.
My guess is it would be hard to reach someone now given the holidays but I highly recommend calling the FA office at CC. I’m sure they would be helpful giving some insights specific to your situation.
I just have to ask…WHY was this change necessary from EA to ED 2?
If it were me…I would make sure your son has all of his other applications either submitted or ready to submit. If CC works out, he can withdraw them. But he needs to apply to other places NOW because CC is not a slam dunk for him financially.
Speaking as a admitted EA student… CC gave me a grants+loans that brought my net price to 10k less than my efc, quite generous actually. Still not perfectly doable but not bad at all. Being a smaller school with relatively high endowment, I believe they can make it work for you.
@thumper1 Time constraints. Not to worry–he applied to several other schools EA, 3 of which have already accepted with merit aid plus one state school. So it looks like he has options although the only need based aid extended thus far has included Parent Plus loans, which I definitely want to avoid. Lawrence U is working on a need offer which our admissions rep said we could expect early Jan. CC was always his first choice, but we backloaded the essay (s) believing that was the only one he wouldn’t need an extra push to complete. He was taking 3 honors classes at the local community college this fall so it just got to be overwhelming.
I wouldn’t call it a prudent decision but water under the bridge at this stage in the game.
It will behoove your son to take the CC supplemental essays very seriously. The school is becoming VERY competitive and EA/ED1 applications were up quite a bit this year. CC places a heavy emphasis on its essays to determine fit.
Wow, guys–really? I wasn’t looking for a spawn-critique here. I’m not naive about this–I understand how competitive it is, and I know how important the essays are. I came here looking for hard facts about aid, and actually–I later realized that what I came looking for didn’t matter because the college provides an “out” in cases where the funding isn’t enough. My S is also fully cognizant that this is not the ideal situation, and as @doschicos points out–water under the bridge at this point. Things will work out the way they are supposed to. For the record, the ED2 deadline is Jan. 15th so he has not technically pulled the trigger because of some other notifications that should arrive just prior.