<p>I had not thought of that, good point. Child #3 is probably the strongest student, but he wouldn’t bring any diversity (geographic, racial, cultural,etc.) to the less generous school. And because of his stats, it probably was pretty clear it was a “safe” school for him.
It seemed counterintuitive that practically the least competitive of the schools in the running would not have made a more aggressive FA offer to him, but these comments suggest that it could have been expected.</p>
<p>Great explanation Mom2.</p>
<p>Two years ago, I created a spread sheet of the 10 colleges that my second child got into with merit and need-based aid listed. For the most part, the schools were within several thousand dollars on their offers. I showed this sheet to the FA folks when I talked with a couple of the schools. They were mildly interested at best. One school pointed out that the schools offering more were ranked lower! Who the student is does matter in the negotiation. Child 2 was not a standout aside from offering geographic diversity.</p>
<p>I don’t know if parents have thought much about how precarious need-based aid amounts can be. For our first child, we paid a lot the first two years (the need aid and merit scholarship together did meet the EFC but it was a huge pricetag). Two year later the EFC basically split when child two started. With two in at the same time, we paid no more than a state school for each. Child 1 is graduating this spring. If child 2 was depending on need-based aid, his COA would jump and the “good deal” would not be such.</p>
<p>A neighbor’s father died and the family inherited money. The following year, the school where the child attends pulled out all of the need-based aid (this top LAC only offers need-based aid). The family was now faced with a 50K bill. Rather than spend the inheritance on the child’s tuition, the student returned home to the state school. It was painful for the kid. Grandpa’s death had not figured into the planning. Personally, I much prefer having scholarship money. At least it doesn’t vary much.</p>
<p>A neighbor’s father died and the family inherited money. The following year, the school where the child attends pulled out all of the need-based aid (this top LAC only offers need-based aid). The family was now faced with a 50K bill. Rather than spend the inheritance on the child’s tuition, the student returned home to the state school. It was painful for the kid. Grandpa’s death had not figured into the planning. Personally, I much prefer having scholarship money. At least it doesn’t vary much.</p>
<p>I wonder if in cases like this, the student can take a year off, and then return? (not go to the state school in the intermission.)</p>
<hr>
<p>*I had not thought of that, good point. Child #3 is probably the strongest student, but he wouldn’t bring any diversity (geographic, racial, cultural,etc.) to the less generous school. And because of his stats, it probably was pretty clear it was a “safe” school for him.
It seemed counterintuitive that practically the least competitive of the schools in the running would not have made a more aggressive FA offer to him, but these comments suggest that it could have been expected.
*</p>
<p>NYDad…are you saying that Child #3’s stats are higher than his sister’s stats, yet SHE was awarded merit at the less generous school, but he wasn’t? Even if the school thought it was a safety, they still should have offered merit. They couldn’t lose. If he didn’t come, they wouldn’t pay anything…but if he did, they get to include his high stats.</p>
<p>“I wonder if in cases like this, the student can take a year off, and then return? (not go to the state school in the intermission.)”</p>
<p>Unfortunately,this would not “fix” the 125K inheritance fully. The EFC would drop back some with the money no longer being income but a parental asset. However, the parents really did not want that getting nibbled at (they did eventually pay off their house with a big part of it so it was protected when child 2 applied. Child 2 chose a state U as the family did not want another elderly relative passing to throw things).</p>
<p>A couple of other issues-if your child earns a lot at a parttime job or spends the summer at an internship that pays well, that can cause a spike in the EFC. Colleges take on a bigger percentage in the student’s assets when calculating EFC.</p>
<p>nyd1959 - thanks for starting this thread. it’s very interesting and helpful.
we r reviewing f/a packages now. we’ve input the offers on a spreadsheet and it’s very helpful to see how the offers vary from one another. we found it helpful to look at free money given as a percent of the total coa. there are wide differences in the school’s offers.</p>
<p>hornet - thanks for the tip on the summer employment for the student. that is also helpful information to have.</p>
<p>The way I was told that some schools parcel out their aid is this:</p>
<p>Your kid is an “A”, “B” or “C” admit. that is the grade that admissions gives to the application. The "A"s will get any merit aid if available, with left overs going down the pike. Those kids who are applying for financial aid have those grades sent on over to that department.</p>
<p>The A’s get full need met if at all possible. They are the crown jewels of admissions. THe "B"s are accommodated the best they can be, with more loans and self help in the package. The "C’s get what’s left.</p>
<p>In schools that have a need aware admissions policy, the "C"s might get rejected altogether with more level aid packages given.</p>
<p>But I don’t think fin aid bothers to think about what another school might offer a candidate. They are trying to stretch the money they have as far as possible and their job is not to assess whose qualifications are better, other than how admissions has tagged them. THere are colleges where admissions and fin aid are done together, and in those the packages are more tailored.</p>
<p>Of course the schools know what the competing schools offer. When we were dealing with FA last year, we asked the FA office to match the packages. They asked us what the schools were and requested a copy of the award letter. I bet the competitor’s award, along with our extensive financial data from fafsa and the css profile would be studied for the school’s personal calculations on how to improve and maintain their competitive level.</p>
<p>Colleges have a very good idea what their competition is offering. What they offer YOU depends on what they have to give and how badly they want you. If what you want is the best offer, and if you are a top student, you either aim high (to colleges that have large resources) or aim low (to colleges that have some resources and will feel that your child is a catch).</p>
<p>Mom2CollegeKids, Child #1 and now Child #3 have been admitted to a prominent school which meets 100% of need. I use the term “merit” aid too loosely, because the bulk is university scholarship money – looks like “merit”, but I think actually is all need based. Basically whatever amount is necessary to fill the EFC gap after federal grants, work study and a $3,000 student loan. Both were exceptional students.
Child #2 attends a different not-quite-so prominent school that does not meet 100% of need. He was not quite as good a student as the other two, but still very strong. He was rejected at the the school Child #1 and Child #3 will attend.
Child #2’s current school is the one that made the least competitive offer to Child #3 – at least $10,000 less than his other offers. In fact, Child #3’s offer from the same school is about $6,500 LESS than his brother’s actual financial aid package for this year.
Which is why I was scratching my head over why the school would offer Child #3 not only substantially less than the other schools who accepted him, but also significantly less than they already give his brother, who was not as competitive a student.
It must come down to the fact that the school does not “need” Child #3 in this particular year to round out its class based on his grades, gender, geography, race or whatever.
And of course based on the fact that the school likely does not have as much to spend as its competitors.
As to the “merit” vs. need based discussion, one of the schools which accepted Child #3 did package its very generous FA offer with a clearly designated renewable merit scholarship. This made us think long and hard about the school even though it was not one that he otherwise would have rushed to. Our EFC is low and has been since the recession hit, but we continue to hope that our finances will improve over the next four years, which would reduce the need based aid Child #3 will receive in the future. (Which would be fine by us, believe me!!)</p>
<p>NYDad, your model on how you would give out aid as an enrollment officer would not get very far at most schools. Giving $50Kpackages to the most needy kids is going to deplete your money much more quickly than getting some kids who show a $10K need that you can meet fully. Also, you are ignoring the fact that there are kids tagged by admissions that the school really wants, and their needs have to be met first.</p>
<p>What is often done, is after the top kids’s packages are put together, there has to be enough kids to accept the schools’ offer of admissions and to increase those chances, you want the money to stretch the furthest. If you have $50K to distribute, you are covering your odds a lot better by fully meeting the need of 10 kids needing $5K apiece… over offereing the entire “cake” to the one needing the full $50K. Also when you need that much money, the inevitable increases in future years are going to be tough for such a family to meet whereas a family whose is so close to meeting the cost of the school is going to have a lot more wiggle room in dealing with the gap. You have to also understand that the "need " figures are just on paper as calculated, and true need is usually a heck of alot more. In other words, that $5K need family probably thinks they need much more money than that and a $50K need family who is likely to still have to cough up $5K or so in expenses is going to have a difficult if not impossible time doing so. I have seen kids here on this board and in person who are struggling to come up with the acceptance deposits and are worried about getting to the school if it’s a distance away. A family I know with many kids and a home business, finds it very difficult to get their child to a “free ride” school 7 hours away. They are on that close of a margin. </p>
<p>So when managing enrollment, there is the mix of getting the most desired kids and also making the money go the farthest. When there is not enough money to meet all of the students a school want to accept, there are going to be kids who are gapped. The scary part of all of this is that there are many parents and students who are gapped who are taking out huge loans that they cannot afford under any logical, reasonable scenario because they so want a particular option and the loans are out there to take. You are wise not taking that route.</p>
<p>This is like quantum physics!</p>
<p>Nope. And the admissions directors are no way as qualified as quantum physicist, IMO.</p>
<p>Ana1, what luck if any did you have when you asked the schools to match your child’s best package?</p>
<p>^When I called to ask, the receptionist/who ever answered the phone, immediately asked me what the schools were. It was clear that they were only interested in the same level schools because those were the ones that they were asking details about but asked me to send them all offers. They matched everything. As others wrote, do not expect a full ride merit scholarship from school B to be matched at school A. School B gives you the merit scholarship because you are a top applicant for them. School A will match a need based package from School A1, A2, etc.</p>
<p>we noticed that a school said they will only look at offers from privates, not publics.</p>
<p>[A</a> New Tool to Compare Financial Aid Offers - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/a-new-tool-to-compare-financial-aid-offers/]A”>A New Tool to Compare Financial Aid Offers - The New York Times)</p>
<p>I hope this link will work. It is from the NYT Blog, The Choice, and is very helpful. The tool is from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and lets you compare 3 financial aid offers, and basically tells you how good they are.</p>
<p>I had already used the College Board’s, but this one was more revealing – appropos of the other comments in this thread, it really gave us a sense of how badly each school wanted our student.</p>