Confused about COA ref. EFC

Parents Forum
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<p>
[quote]
. I'm curious as whether or not you folks out there found the general information regarding percentage of need met as derived from say USNWR, or other sources, to be accurate based on your personal experience.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, I did not find information concerning "percentage of need met" to be in any way accurate, except for schools that guaranteed to meet 100% need - and those colleges all determine "need" according to their own formulas. </p>

<p>That is not all bad news, however - and here's why; years ago my son applied to 2 colleges with similar aid policies. Both did not promise aid for all students, but would meet 100% need if they gave any grant aid at all.<br>
College #1: Received letter, accepted, but "not able to offer financial aid" - despite acknowledged need of ~$20K. College offered to place S on waitlist for financial aid. </p>

<p>College #2: Received letter, accepted, stunningly generous financial aid offer. Arrived at college, heard from many other student complaining of being turned down for aid.</p>

<p>The difference between college #1 & #2 are simply that one chose to offer aid to S. and the other didn't. </p>

<p>The good part is that a a college that offers aid to some, but not all, students has less pressure on their financial aid budget and may be able to be more generous than a college that is trying to divide the pie among more students.</p>

<p>Some other factors that may have bearing on whether your kid becomes the lucky one:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Position in applicant pool or unique strengths/talents: colleges that do not promise to meet full need, allocate their need-based aid by the same standards as merit aid - they give more to preferred students and/or students who meet particular recruitment goals (for example, increasing geographic diversity, improving school gender balance, increasing minority enrollment, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>Degree of interest expressed: This is the gotcha - too much interest is a disincentive to the college offering aid -- they are using their aid dollars to entice students who would not otherwise attend. </p></li>
<li><p>How student fits with college typical demographic: Another gotcha -- the more the student looks like all the other students in terms of various profiling characteristics, the more they fit in the category of either "will probably enroll without dollars" or "we've already got dozens of students just like him." So it helps to stand out in a way that fits into "we really wish we could get more students like that" -- for example, a student who is strong in math & sciences applying to LAC inundated with artsy, literary types. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>You need to spread the applications around, take a long hard realistic look at your in-state public options and safety colleges that may be likely to offer significant merit aid -- and don't count on anything. ESPECIALLY with 2 in college. (see note in follow up post)</p>

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<p>Notes on the 2 in college thing. When you have 2 kids in college, the FAFSA EFC for parents contribution will be split among them -- so if your parent contribution would be $30K, with 2 in college -- on FAFSA - it becomes $15K each.</p>

<p>That does NOT mean that the individual colleges will bridge the gap in aid. They may... but they may not.</p>

<p>I had 2 in college during my d's first year; d. attends a 100% need school, using Profile. S. was in a public college which charged ~$3500 tuition. </p>

<p>School gave my d. financial aid based on her situation only, and indicated that financial aid budget would be revised upon receiving specific enrollment verification and COA information from son's college. D attended a private college, roughly $45K COA, and assessed her need as roughly $25K. Son's college's cost of attendance, as reported by their financial office, was ~$17,000 ($3500 tuition + $11,500 room, board & incidentals). </p>

<p>Upon receiving that info, d's college increased her grant by ~$3500 -- obviously subsidizing my son's tuition but not living expenses. </p>

<p>The bottom line: the 100% need private school was willing to consider my son's situation, but they weren't going to subsidized costs that we weren't actually paying. So you can't expect a windfall if one kid gets a full ride or attends a cheap public school -- the other school will want to see what you are actually paying.</p>

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<p>Sorry Nightengale I didn't mean it that way, and I apologize for the miscommunication. What I was trying to say was that EFC vs. COA are two different kinds of numbers, and that different universities calculate and utilize each of these numbers differently. For a Profile school, the EFC number is not really applicable. And for an EFC school, the number doesn't take into account the impact of that EFC on the family --- to the university it's irrelevant (there's that word again) whether there's cash-on-hand to cover the EFC or whether there's a non-custodial parent involved who refuses to pay anything. As for the COA side, I don't believe there's a standard basis universities use to calculate that. I do know that at D's schools it doesn't include things like travel home for Christmas or Thanksgiving, the more expensive course books, lab fees, dorm repair assessments (assigned to all residents of a dorm whether they were the cause of the repair or not), social activities, many study abroad costs, etc. etc. etc.</p>

<p>Or taken from another viewpoint, if the EFC/COA quotient could be reliably applied to all universities, wouldn't that pretty much eliminate the need for having a financial safety on the application list?</p>

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<p>I guess with one child in school, and one about to attend, it might behoove you to apply early action/decision for your soon-to-be freshman. That way you can use his FA award letter and enrollment verification to leverage, hopefully in favor of, a higher "need" based award for the child already enrolled. I see a strategy developing here. Conversely if you wait the school child #2 has been attending may claim all, or most of thier need based aid, has already been distributed by the time you made up your mind about your upcoming freshman child. Better to jump in with the pool full vs. half empty. Of course your impending freshman's school might drag thier feet until you pony up some heavy cash. This would protect them against your sending your freshman elsewhere and foregoing the housing deposit in favor of a more need laden finacial package for your child already enrolled. Essentially the old head and shoulder fake. Trust me I've seen more dishonest things than that done in this process.. but that's another thread.</p>

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<p>Just spoke to my D's school. They have verified that "need" based aid is not entirely based on need. A HS student with a "B" average and 1200 SAT may have far greater financial need than an "A" student with a 1300. Chances are the B student, assuming he/she is not a star helmeted athlete or a URM, would get less even though his or her need may be more. I could tell the FA was not entirely comfortable relating this to me but since my D is an "A" student I think she assumed I would understand the school would rather bet on the kid with the higher stats, despite the fact that his/her need was not as great. I'd always thought merit aid was used as incentive for the brighter kids to attend. Apparently there is more in play… as many of you have said. The upside is my D can probably get good "need" based aid as well as the merit she’s already getting owed to her GPA. Trust me, if that's the case I'm not giving anything back, but I do wonder if this is the way it is supposed to work. Please not this FA person suggested a letter describing your increased costs with two kids in school was a good idea.</p>

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<p>It's only in schools that meet 100% of need that this doesn't happen, and even then it does to some degree - the school decides what your "need" is. And in most of those schools, there is no "merit aid."</p>

<p>You ask if this is what's "supposed" to happen. Other than with federal funds, limited as they are, there is no "supposed." It's each college's money, and they can spend it as they choose. There has always been "preferential packaging" - a preferred student may get more grants and a not-as-preferred student may get more loans, even if their need and the dollar amount of their packages is the same.</p>

<p>The colleges' interest is getting the students they most want to attend. Their interest is not so much in the individual student. They are building a class and a community, and they know what they want that to look like. And they use their money in financial aid accordingly.</p>

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<p>I'm no expert, but my guess is Nightingale's DD's school, which doesn't meet 100% of need, has little incentive to pony up more aid. They already have her. The enrollment manager will say she's likely to just take more loans and stay and the money needs to be used for enticing freshmen through the gates.</p>

<p>What the aid officer described is what they do to bring in top freshmen, I'd be surprised if they used the same strategy to retain an upperclassman.</p>

<p>I think someone dealing with 2 schools that don't meet need is pretty much going to find that the concept of splitting EFC really doesn't apply. Wouldn't the second child's school be more likely to deal though, to get him in the door? Especially if these are not very selective schools in this economy?</p>

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<p>I know of just one case where an upperclass student was able to negotiate more aid. In a nice way, the student told the school that she would have to transfer otherwise. She wasn't exaggerating the family's financial situation, and the school reduced the "gap" some. Might be worth a try.</p>