CoMoMom at least one public Ivy ( my daughter may attend this particular school and I asked the question) uses both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA, and they use the FAFSA EFC. They met 100% of our need using the FAFSA EFC. I was surprised to learn this.
Our EFC is high. I’m waiting for a call back from Fin Aid office. I’m hoping for more.
The answer that I got was that it was not our income but that we had too much in assets – specifically the equity in our house. Hopefully you will get better news than we did.
Got awesome news. They took a second look and came back with a very generous package. Thank You Vandy!!!
very excited
@Disneydad that’s great. How did you do it? Email, phone call? What did you say? We’ve been in the same boat but no help. Did they find a mistake somewhere?
@Work2Live I called financial aid and was put through to my son’s “counselor”. I explained that my son is very interested in Vandy and that I wanted him to go there but that I probably couldn’t at the current package. I explained that we had other offers that left me with a lower family contribution. I was specific as to at least one other school in order to indicate that we had real options. I asked why Vandy’s EFC seemed higher than others. We discussed possible reasons and I offered to email my tax returns. In the email I explained some special circumstances regarding family finances and a reminder that we live in an high cost of living area.
I received a call the next from the same person with an increased grant. She did state that they were able to reinterpret something in my tax returns.
I definitely recommend calling. It certainly won’t hurt.
did any of you email the FA office? i emailed them on march 25th with more info about my financial situation and they replied on monday saying they’ll take a look at my file again, but it’s friday night now and i haven’t received a reply? would you say this is standard?
Thanks @Disneydad. Without getting specific was your FAFSA EFC much lower than Vandy?
Our FAFSA EFC was lower. Fin aid officer on first look said that FAFSA is Keats lower when there is another college student in the family. Vandy does not discount as much. I also had some weird interest income that was a one time thing unrelated to assets that threw off our numbers.
The FAFSA EFC is really not meaningful to most schools except for the purpose of federal aid. It lacks a lot of information that is provided in the CSS Profile.
With Vanderbilt using the CSS profile, about how much does their need-based grant decrease when an older sibling graduates college? For the FAFSA EFC, my understanding is that it typically doubles, but will the CSS profile change that?
I think we saw about $6000 less aid when one sibling left college and dependency. Other changes in our finances may have affected that number though. Interestingly, our FAFSA EFC barely changed at all. Perhaps had less income that year, and the actual change due to the sibling was greater, and the two met in the middle around $6000.
Does the financial aid increase when a younger sibling starts college?
Yes, it should. Will reduce your EFC.