<p>Okay, I apologize if this answer has come through recently already, and especially if it's a dum-dum question, but I'm very short on time at the moment and really kind of need to know this...My son is applying to several schools. Something somebody said to me got me to thinking and now I'm wondering if we aren't throwing away $$ on the fees...once you've applied and been accepted, can you compare School X's financial aid package with School Z's package before accepting one of them? Or do you have to agree to attend a school before they roll out their offering? I'm fairly sure he'll be accepted at several of these schools and he would be happy to attend any of them. We are hoping to angle for the best aid because we are dirt-poor folks. Are we on an okay track here, or is my outside source correct that my son will have to agree to attend School X before they'll extend the aid package? Thanks so much for any and all help!</p>
<p>Your friend is wrong, wrong, wrong.</p>
<p>As long as you submit your FA paperwork as soon as you can after Jan I (before schools’ FA deadlines) you will get your FA package before you have to accept to attend any school.</p>
<p>BTW…</p>
<p>Since you say that you’re “dirt poor,” is your son applying to schools that are known to “meet need”? </p>
<p>Most schools do not have much aid to give, and if you don’t carefully select schools, you could end up with a handful of acceptances and no affordable choices.</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>What schools is he applying to?</p>
<p>What are his stats?</p>
<p>I see that you’re in Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>Penn St is lousy with aid and merit. It’s one of the most expensive state schools in the country so fed aid doesn’t come close to covering its cost. The instate cost of attendance is about $28k per year</p>
<p>Where all did your son apply and did he apply to any schools where he’d get a lot of merit?</p>
<p>Sorry to be delayed getting back…!</p>
<p>Thanks for your input, Mom2collegekids. I am at work so I don’t have all the info at hand that you asked about, but I can give you a rough sketch of my son’s stats first off…ACT scores, low 30s. SATs, 2100+. He’s been Distinguished Honor Roll all four years of high school, National Honor Society, AP classes, Honors classes. He has good volunteer work under his belt. His essays are strong. He has a very solid work ethic.</p>
<p>His intended major is Computer/Software Engineering, which is not a routine major at many colleges, so our search for schools that meet need <em>and</em> meet this criterion (as closely as possible) has been challenging. It’s been a bonus to find a couple who don’t charge application fees. So far, he’s lined up these places for consideration:</p>
<p>MIT
Penn
Drexel
Case Western Reserve
U of Virginia
U of Chicago
U of Notre Dame
Carnegie Mellon </p>
<p>His first pick is MIT but obviously his choice, once he knows what he has to choose from, will be based largely on the financial aid offered. I have read that Drexel is not known to be incredibly generous but he was interested because it’s a PA school and they have majors in his area of interest. So I guess we’ll see.</p>
<p>I am personally surprised that the FA paperwork has to be submitted as soon as it does for most schools–I will have to work off the last pay stub of the year because my company tends to not have our W2s sent out until the last minute in January.</p>
<p>Perhaps your friend confused accepted with enrolled? You won’t know any schools FA package until after acceptance but you certainly can compare them before enrolling. </p>
<p>QLM</p>
<p>Well, I feel so much better hearing this. I didn’t think she was right, but had to make sure. Panic is a wonderful thing, wouldn’t you agree? :)</p>
<p>maybe your friend meant that you won’t know FA package until a school “accepts” your child. </p>
<p>But, YOU don’t have to accept the “acceptance” until after you’ve seen the FA package.</p>
<p>I don’t see any financial safeties on his list. What if he doesn’t get into any of those schools or a school isn’t affordable (Case doesn’t give great aid)</p>
<p>Is he a NMSF? What was his PSAT?</p>
<p>Did he apply to any schools that would give him assured merit for his stats?</p>
<p>Do you know what your EFC will likely be?</p>
<p>I’m not sure about FAFSA, but I think you can use the pay stubs to start FAFSA, but I think it won’t be totally done until you can use info from W-2s…but maybe I’m wrong.</p>
<p>every single thread i see mom2collegekids on, she’s commenting on people’s financial situation, like bringing up their lack of a financial safety even though it wasn’t the point of the thread.</p>
<p>gets annoying sometimes.</p>
<p>^^^
Sorry that you’re annoyed, but many students and parents are much MORE annoyed (and devastated) in the spring when they find out that they have a handful of acceptances and none that are affordable because they didn’t have a true safety.</p>
<p>So, if I can help avoid that situation, it really doesn’t bother me if I might annoy someone who doesn’t have to worry about money or doesn’t care to give someone a “heads up” about something that they may not have thought about.</p>
<p>This OP made it quite clear that financial aid packages are very important because…in her words…" *We are hoping to angle for the best aid **because we are dirt-poor folks.[/**I] "</p>
<p>M2CK…I’m certainly not annoyed at all, and I totally see the point of pointing out safeties. There are some answers I don’t have for you but I’ll clarify what I can.</p>
<p>I need you to define “safety” however. You mean a sure-shot-will-be-accepted school with good FA? </p>
<p>I hate to sound ignorant, but I don’t know if he’s NMSF. I’ll have to ask him about that. I don’t know the exact PSATs either although I know they were high. I didn’t think that was as important as the SATs and ACT, both of which he did well on, although not top-end. I am also not sure of schools applying to that assure merit based on stats. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine what our EFC would be. I earn less than $24,000 per year, and while we do have additional income at the moment from their father’s death benefits, that goes out the window as each child graduates. I guess from that perspective we aren’t as “dirt-poor” as we WILL be.</p>
<p>The last thing I’d like to say on this is that while I do believe he’ll be accepted at 3 or 4 of these schools, if he should happen to <em>not</em> be accepted at any of them or if the FA isn’t what it needs to be, he can always go to school at the Pitt campus not far from us. (Why is he already not planning that, you ask?) We both want him to be away, to have that experience. I think being away at college is a great way for a kid to start thinking independently. He wouldn’t get a lot of aid at Pitt either most likely but he could live at home (grumble, grumble) and work, and he’d get a degree in the end. We just want something different so he’s shooting for it.</p>