Could this be a case of "admit-deny"?

Paying for College
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<p>Son was admitted to a need blind college, but his financial aid package isn't anything like the average aid stats listed on Collegeboard, etc.</p>

<p>I've read this article linked in a previous post regarding colleges
"admit-denying" students:
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/financial-aid-leveraging%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/financial-aid-leveraging&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I was wondering if my son's financial aid package being so inferior to the school's accepted student average could possibly be a case of "admit-deny"?</p>

<p>I'm not complaining, as he was given a $12,000/year merit aid scholarship and I don't think the college is obligated to give my son anything, but son would not have applied if he knew then what he knows now.</p>

<p>Here's the numbers:</p>

<p>Tuition: $48,000-$12,000 merit aid-$16,371 EFC= $19,629 need.</p>

<p>Financial aid stats as reported on College Board versus son’s FA offer:</p>

<p>College Board: 84% of need met.
Son’s FA offer: 100% need met, all by loans.</p>

<p>College Board: Average financial aid package $24,710.
Son’s FA offer: $12,000 merit aid, rest in loans</p>

<p>College Board: $19,000 grant/$4,600 loans (72% grants/28% loans/work study.)
Son’s FA offer: 100% loans/0% grants</p>

<p>Average debt upon graduation: $27,152.
Son’s FA offer: 4 x $19,629= $78,516</p>

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<p>sketchy,</p>

<p>please explain what you mean by your post. I read the article, but need clarity on the collegeboard stats you have listed. Are you talking about the calculator on collegeboard. Thanks! this does sound interesting.</p>

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<p>On Collegeboard.com and other sites you can look at a profile of the average financial aid packages given to accepted students. </p>

<p>The part of the linked article that I was referring to says:</p>

<p>Some schools have no choice but to gap students once they've exhausted their aid budgets. Others will intentionally gap poor students so severely that they decide not to attend in the first place—or, if they enroll, the long hours of work-study and mounting debts eventually force them to drop out. Called "admit-deny," this practice allows a college to keep poor students out while publicly claiming that it doesn't consider a student's finances when making admissions decisions.</p>

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<p>If the $12,000 merit scholarship is from the institution, I think Collegeboard may factor that in as part of the FA package in the form of a grant. If he didn't have that merit aid, he might have gotten that same amount as a grant.</p>

<p>So -- I don't this is an admit-deny, just a package loaded with loans!</p>

<p>Cost of Attendance (I assume that you meant this instead of Tuition) - EFC = Demonstrated Need</p>

<p>$48,000-16,371= $31,629</p>

<p>College Board vs. son's FA offer:</p>

<p>College Board: 84% need met
Son's offer: 100% need met</p>

<p>College Board: Avg FA package $24,710
Son's FA package: $31,629</p>

<p>College Board: 72% grants/28% loans & work-study
Son's FA package: 38% grants/62% loans</p>

<p>I guess it could be worse -- I hope some other schools have better packages for you.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the clarification. I guess what bother me is my son's ratio of grants/loans and debt upon graduation vs. the stated averages. </p>

<p>There's absolutely no way he could afford to attend with the package offered, and I'm sure the college is aware of that.</p>

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<p>What kind of loans did they give you totalling $19,000?</p>

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<p>According to the College Board statistics, your son did better than average: the college met 100% of his need. We may not like it, but loans are considered financial aid, and they are factored into every statistic you see about the percentage of need met and the amount of aid given (except of course at the handful of colleges that have eliminated loans).</p>

<p>The fact that you have decided that this is too much debt is not something the college should have foreseen. Many people do take on that kind of debt.</p>

<p>I think "admit-deny" is more like giving him 50% of need, even if all scholarship.</p>

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<p>
[QUOTE]
According to the College Board statistics, your son did better than average: the college met 100% of his need.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>HUH? offering "alternative" or "private" loans as part of financial aid is NOT financial aid - IMO. any kid with a co-signer can get them
The max a freshman can borrow for Stafford loans is $3500. I doubt sketchy's son qualified for Perkin's loan on top of it.</p>

<p>This is a scam so schools feel good about offering you a "comprehensive" financial aid package.
Same thing happened to my daughter 7 years ago. She got a very nice merit scholarship with her acceptance letter but nothing else other than Stafford loans. The gap was filled with alternative and PLUS loans. haha.</p>

<p>Folks - I learned the hard way - always ask for a sample financial aid package - ask if need based grants are offered as well as merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>My son's predicament is that if the college's aid package was similar to the published stats, he'd of been able to attend.</p>

<p>Example: need=$31,629 x .72(published % of grants)= $22,773 in grants
$31,629-$22,773=$8,856 loans. Debt upon graduation: 4 x $8,856= $35,424</p>

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<p>Muffy333, we were offered a subsidized Stafford loan, with the remainder is Parent Plus loans.</p>

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<p>JustAMom, please don't shoot the messenger! I didn't say it was right; I agree that it's pretty outrageous. However, the fact is that the loans are included in the aid figures schools report. When you look at the statistics, it's important to know what you are looking at, what's included, and what's not.</p>

<p>Averages are very tricky things to look at. Very few individuals actually get the averages. Let's say there are two kids: one who gets a $20,000 grant to meet full need, and one that gets no grants and only loans to meet 50% of need. The averages would show that the school gives an average of $10,000 in grants and meets 75% of need. How useful is that to an individual kid looking at the FA statistics? Not very.</p>

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<p>Not shooting the messenger at all - sorry you took it that way!</p>

<p>The fact that schools do this is downright deceiving and infuriating. Any school can give a need package that meets 100% of need if they include PLUS loans and/or alternative loans.</p>

<p>I don't know if this school gives need based grants or not. Some schools put all their grant money into merit scholarships and don't make that clear at the outset.
If the school has a merit based scholarship program this is a valid question to ask. The trick is to find a school that will balance your merit scholarship with need based grants if you need real financial help.</p>

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<p>Actually, I'm not sure the Parent Plus Loan is considered in the "financial aid" total. But the stafford and perkins and any other student loans are. </p>

<p>The school "gapped" your child. Remember, when you are reading averages, there are some students who get more and some students who get less. That is what makes the average an average. This school didn't guarantee to meet full need....and they didn't. Congratulations on the $12,000 merit scholarship. I know that doesn't seem like a lot right now, but it does sound like a nice merit award.</p>

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<p>Good advice to not rely on the average stats. My son only applied to 3 match schools and a instate safety and was accepted by all, but so far the financial aid package from one other school is less than they originally stated, and we're still waiting on the last package. At least our instate school's merit aid covered the whole cost of tuition.</p>

<p>The responses on averages got me thinking. The university my son applied to consists of separate colleges according to major. My son's majoring in computer art, and the acceptance rate for that major is reputed to be around 28%, much lower than the university's average acceptance rate. Art schools aren't known to be generous with financial aid. I'm sure the college looks at their competition, and factor their aid offers on the competition's net cost of attendance, and the fact that there are a lot more people in line if my son can't afford to go there. Just good business if true, but still kinda stinks.</p>

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<p>If you read the language of a college's common data set, which is one of the canonical places where financial aid statistics get reported, it's clear that parent loans and alternative loans don't count as meeting need. So your son definitely didn't get anywhere near 100% of his need met, though the school may have wrapped it up to look prettier. I hope the rest of the offers are much nicer.</p>

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<p>Wouldn't offering median FA package statistics be more helpful than providing averages?</p>

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<p>Keep in mind, too, that college board statistics could be outdated, or just off...</p>

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<p>USNWR subscription service gives a good breakdown of average financial aid packages for each school. Their data is probably for entering class 06 or 07 but most schools haven't improved significantly.</p>

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<p>Did the school require the profile, their own financial aid app or just the FASFA? In other words, are you quoting your federal EFC or an EFC that the school came up with? </p>

<p>I'm just wondering, because maybe the school determined that your EFC was more like 30K and 15K of the alternative loans (if that is the breakdown) are not in fact considered aid by that school. </p>

<p>With that in mind, your son may very well have received the same percentage breakdown of aid that is reported. 12K/4K, and of course, as everyone else if he hadn't gotten the 12k as merit he probably would have gotten it as need-based.</p>

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<p>This just seems so unfair to me. It's almost like they are setting up these families to fail. Either by having tons of loans upon graduation or the student not attending at all. It really is disgusting.</p>