Does anyone have legitimate complaints about Financial aid?

<p>I’ve read in other forums that AU might decrease one’s grant or merit money as one progresses into an upperclassman. Is this true? Also, is most need met for someone with an EFC of 0? Thanks</p>

<p>While I have heard this as well, my own experience is different. At the beginning of my sophomore year, something in my FAFSA had triggered a reduction in my aid. One of the counselors at financial aid went over the whole thing with me, worked with me to submit a whole new copy, and suddenly I had everything back, and even an additional 2k “AU grant” that I didn’t have initially, and has been re-given every year since. Then my senior year (which I am currently in) I received an additional 6.5k scholarship for “academic excellence”. What I mean with those quotation marks is not that my grades aren’t good (they’re pretty good), but that I did not even specifically apply for this scholarship, I just got an email informing me of the award. Every time I’ve had a problem, the folks at financial aid, and now AU Central, have been very helpful, even when the fault is my own (such as when I had messed up my FAFSA). So ultimately I have about 8k more aid than when I enrolled 4 years ago, which has more than matched any increases in tuition.</p>

<p>wow thank you that’s definitely reassuring. Do you have any information as to how much of demonstrated need is met through grants? I’ve looked at their website and a link in this forum but have yet to find a specific answer.</p>

<p>squirrel - e-mail Financial Aid and ask them. I just did trying to find out about Merit Scholarship amounts and they e-mailed back almost immediately. There was a special e-mail address for prospective students if I remember correctly.</p>