<p>An interesting piece by Liz Weston, "Colleges Trick Parents on Financial Aid Awards," highlights a series of financial aid pitfalls caused by incomplete information. </p>
<p>One frequent "oversight" is missing information about actual costs to attend. One NYC school failed to mention the cost of actually living in that ultra-expensive city in its financial aid offer.</p>
<p>"Front loading" of free aid is another. The first year may be affordable, but not subsequent years when grants are reduced or eliminated.</p>
<p>Even those colleges who do follow the format of a financial aid shopping sheet, may occasionally be a little stingy in what their true costs are. Compare offers between colleges, especially their soft costs–airfare, books and supplies personal expenses. If one school is underpricing those costs, you are the one who pays the extra…and that is in addition to what you are already expected to pay.</p>
<p>Thank you for posting this article. I’m seeing “front loading” at a few potential colleges and that’s been exactly what I’ve been afraid of as this was a common practice years ago as well. The suggestion to check College Data and specifically Money Matters is great! Very enlightening. This likely accounts for some of the “lower than expected” graduation rates. You can’t graduate if you can’t afford to attend.</p>
It’s pretty rare. There are some scholarships from places like the Stamps Foundation that cover all direct school expenses plus provide a stipend that can be used for travel or other personal expenses. But I am not aware of very many scholarships directly from the schools themselves that go that far. Full ride of direct expenses (tuition, fees, room, board) is usually the max. But there are some exceptions. The Hainkel Scholarship at Tulane, for example, is administered by the school and covers all that plus a (relatively) small stipend. They give out two a year and they are for Louisiana residents only. Actually there could be a foundation or some similar entity behind that one too and I am just not aware of it. In any case, a full ride to any college is a fantastic deal. Hard to complain about airfare and books not being covered if they are picking up all the rest.</p>
<p>It is absolutely so very sad that the article got written and that it saw the light of day. Nothing but a puff piece to push the college services and the book by the author and the man featured in the article. Their whole big premise is that its way too much math for a family to separate straight forward gifts from the loans to come up with the number they have to pay, hence they need the services of professionals, or a presidential act. I realize that America is becoming a nanny state at an alarming rate, but give families some credit for mental abilities. </p>
<p>@mhmm I had a totally different take. Then again, I read through the info and found the links needed to access the type of information I need to see, so I never even noticed it was written by someone looking for business. How on earth a service organization writing about their services ties into the “nanny state” comment, I have no idea.</p>
<p>Some financial aid offers are very straight forward and clearly distinguish between scholarship/aid/grants and loans and student and/or parent contribution, but most are not. It takes a bit of time reading through to see what the actual out of pocket costs will be. What’s included in their total cost of attendance can be even sketchier. The math isn’t hard, it just takes a bit of time researching and tallying and subtracting… But the warning about the first year possibly being more generous than subsequent years is priceless.</p>
<p>The families who can pay a professional to do the calculations for them are probably not needing to quibble over a couple thousand one way or the other. Nothing wrong with getting financial advice and saving some time if you can afford to do so.</p>
<p>This article makes me think that even if you can negotiate a better deal for the first year, is it really to your benefit if the 2nd year’s assistance is likely to be even less than originally offered for the first year. </p>
<p>Is the cost of living in NYC really something that needs to be examined when choosing a school? I assumed since you wouldn’t have to actually pay rent/for food there it wouldn’t be that bad, but is a city’s cost of living really something to consider as a college student?</p>
<p>“I assumed since you wouldn’t have to actually pay rent/for food there it wouldn’t be that bad”
Huh?
Why would you assume that?
All students need somewhere to sleep and food to eat and the cost of eating out or buying food [ which is not covered by financial aid to transfer students at NYU ] in NYC is incredibly high and much higher than it is in most other parts of the country. ! </p>
<p>@Debbie7452 lol sorry! I also read an article on the NYT website…lol I confused the 2. Call it “spring of senior year brain” and I’m the parent!</p>
<p>@SpringGarden2013 Our financial aid package calculated these costs as a part of the need. So, the package included estimates for these, as balanced by expectations for the student’s contribution (campus and summer jobs), student loans, and the parent contribution.</p>
<p>Actually the cost of food for NYU students us much lower than you’d think. Many cheap options and stores like trader joes nearby. All depends on choices you make. I don’t think it’s NYU’s responsibility to estimate cost of living because the range is so wide. D does not spend a lot of money beyond fixed costs. </p>
<p>PTigerMomAlum and SoMuchtoLearn both explained my comment better. When you get your offer for your college, there is a list of all the costs that make up the “Total Cost of Attendance” to a college. And some universities are very thorough and upfront about what all those costs are. And other universities leave rather major line items off the list (like any airfare). </p>
<p>Really, it is just very helpful to know how much money you are on the hook for. And it does not mean the college is meeting 100 percent need because they give a true picture of their costs. A person could get a very tiny loan and and still receive that list of Total Cost of Attendance. </p>
<p>@springGarden2013: Yes, Not many but yes. IVY’s will cover total cost of attendance plus expenses based on your need. Top LACS (Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Grinelle, Berea College etc… does especially to students whose EFC is 0 and have no other means of attending the college, let alone flying out there.
I must say, the numbers are smaller for Residents compared to International students, when considering full cost of additional expenses like you mentioned.</p>
<p>The take-away to avoid becoming road kill at the hands of the FA office is to get everything in writing regarding what is permanent merit aid, good for one, two, three, or four years–and what the conditions are for receiving it yearly. Some of the conditions are onerous and crazy, so that is one way you can lose merit aid in subsequent years. The second take-away is to recognize that need-based aid can change every year AND the change if it is lower may mean your child WILL NOT be returning to that institution unless you find the money to cover the short fall. In my experience, need-based aid is not what YOU think you need, but what THEY decide you need. This also requires patience to work through every detail with them. How did they arrive at the figure for the need-based aid? With the economy the way it has been, your $200K house may be under water and yet they’ve calculated your aid on the higher value. Yes, this happens. You must question every assumption on which they based their figures. Another little trick they don’t tell you about is that if your child gets a scholarship from some outside source, they may elect to reduce your aid by that amount. Universities generally have a ceiling on how much you bring in before they ding you, but be aware that outside scholarships don’t necessarily give you some relief from loans or other ways of financing your child’s education. Just remember that need-based aid can fluctuate wildly and cause heartache for your child and you.</p>
<p>Somuch2 learn, what did you mean by your last remark that it is " to your benefit" if the second years offer is less than the first? is that what you meant? Did I read that wrong? please elaborate, thanks</p>
<p>@Ctclemmons Sorry that I wasn’t clear enough. I was asking a question of whether it would be a benefit to renegotiate the first year’s aid if the 2nd year would be even more unaffordable than the first. I’ve heard of many families of prospective freshman asking colleges to reconsider their financial situation and offer more aid. Often the colleges do offer them additional grant money, but it’s specifically for the first year only. </p>
<p>I wrote “This article makes me think that even if you can negotiate a better deal for the first year, is it really to your benefit if the 2nd year’s assistance is likely to be even less than originally offered for the first year.”</p>
<p>Receiving less aid the second year is something to avoid. </p>