<p>My daughter was accepted to her dream school, Middlebury, but their financial aid offer was way off what the calculator on their site came up with. (She applied EDII)</p>
<p>Long story short, we asked them to reassess, but they haven't gotten back to us yet. If they don't come close to what we need to be able to afford for her to go to M the other schools she applied to have deadlines for CSS and FFASA tonight. My daughter neglected to tell me about this deadline until she got out of school. Had I known I would have called Middlebury today. </p>
<p>Anyone with any experience with this? Dare I be hopeful that they will come close to the estimate using their calculator? There is a huge difference between $27k and 7k.</p>
<p>Sounds like your D must meet those other deadlines. Since she hasn’t yet formally accepted the ED II since money matters weren’t settled, I don’t think she’s breaking any rules.</p>
<p>Since you’re talking about a $20k difference, it’s unlikely that this school will work out UNLESS there was a HUGE mistake made. Usually when people ask for a reassessment, any add’l monies are small…like a couple thousand. For the school to now give $20k more per year would require a huge mistake. </p>
<p>What do you think is the cause of the huge difference? Are you self-employed or have work-related deductions? Is there a non-custodial parent? Do you have unearned income or home equity?</p>
<p>There was another poster recently who was accepted at Swarthmore ED. Her financial aid package was well short of the NPC. Even after submitting additional information, Swarthmore did not increase her aid. She was released from her ED acceptance.</p>
<p>If it were me, I would submit the forms to the other schools ASAP. You must have decent estimated you can use from your 2012 earnings.</p>
<p>Yes, I am self employed, but hubby isn’t. I do think that’s probably what made the difference even though my business had a loss this year and I didn’t pay myself.</p>
<p>Important question: If I didn’t have a small business and our income was the same, would she qualify for more aid? Let’s say our income is under 100k.</p>
<p>Middlebury does meet full need, I believe. With a $100,000 income, your FAFSA EFC would be approximately somewhere between $25,000 and $33,000 for the year depending on your assets. The cost of attendance at Middlebury is about $50,000 for the year, so you would be paying roughly half of that yourselves…at least that would be my guestimate. Run the net price calculator.</p>
<p>You do need to know that those NPC are NOT accurate for those who are self employed.</p>
<p>If you had a small amount of business income that was offset by business expenses, the school may be suspicious about that and may be counting the income without crediting all the expenses. Particularly if your business expenses included things that other families pay for with after-tax income (computer, vehicle, phone, travel, etc.)</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your contributions. We did fill out the FAFSA and CSS last night.</p>
<p>While I’m asking questions, I have another one. Do colleges look at your finances every year you are in school or are all 4 years of aid based on this one year?</p>
<p>They look at your finances each year. ← with the caveat that some schools are more likely to reduce your aid if your financial situation improves than to increase it if your need increases…</p>
<p>That’s what others have reported. Aid often decreases as income goes up, but aid may not increase much when income goes down. That’s why people talk about the importance of the “base year” (the first year).</p>
<p>Meets full need generally does not mean practically free ride - if the offer is close to the NPC estimate-with adjustments for owning business - the offer wont get much better. Financial aid provides enough to make attending possible but generally requires you to dig deep and sacrifice. Middlebury’s endowment is good but not great - so their financial aid offers will be the same.</p>
<p>It sounds like there was a $20k difference from the NPC and the actual pkg. If that $20k difference is solely because of the mom’s money-losing business, that seems strange unless the mom took in $80k+ in income, but expenses were higher than that. </p>
<p>Very unlikely the school is going to close a $20k gap in any satisfactory manner. </p>
<p>now it sounds like they’re considering discontinuing the business while the student is in college so that future years’ pkg will be better??? </p>
<p>I do wonder about the original $7k expected contribution. Is the OP saying that her H’s income is modest enough that the family only has a $7k contribution, but with her money-losing business, there is a $27k contribution?</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids, I don’t even know where to begin… No, I didn’t have 80k in income. I didn’t pay myself at all this year. If you had a business losing money, would you not consider getting rid it if it didn’t make money when the economy improves? I’m not a bottomless money pit.</p>
<p>I also have a son who is several years younger to plan for. </p>
<p>It is my understanding that the estimated contribution is based on 2011 income. However, our income is less that it was last year.</p>
<p>No, I’m not expecting a free ride. I am hoping to be able to afford it somehow.</p>
<p>I think the question wasn’t whether the business paid you 80K but whether the business had 80K in gross income, which was then offset by more than 80K in expenses? Keeping in mind that schools may not consider all of the expenses “valid” even if they are deductible for tax purposes. </p>
<p>Have you tried the net price calculator again with your 2012 numbers?</p>