ED decision shot down by financial aid?

Paying for College
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<p>You would only get this if your EFC were low enough to justify it at a school that meets full need. Perhaps your sister’s school does. Bucknell doesn’t…I don’t think. If you were thinking “full tuition scholarship”…those are very few and far between. There are not a lot of free tuition rides out there merit wise.</p>

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<p>The calculations for EFC include an assumption that this will be paid out of past earnings (savings), current earnings (income) and future earnings (loans). You don’t put what your family income is but 1/4-1/3 of your family’s gross income (depending on assets) is just about what everyone’s EFC is.</p>

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<p>don’t forget to factor in the rise in COA over 4 years. </p>

<p>Bucknell tuition for 2008-2009 is just under 40K
assuming a 3.5% per year increase (and be happy if that is what it is)</p>

<p>2009-2010 40850
2010-2011 42279.75
2011-2012 43759.54
2012-2013 45291.12</p>

<p>You say that you can only comfortably pay 3K out of savings?? that seems really low for someone that I guess has and EFC of 20K (am I close on that?)</p>

<p>Also, why do people leave money in the stock market that they will need in the short term. I do not understand that. You might as well have taken it out and gone to a casino and bet it as double or nothing.</p>

<p>[Scholarships</a> and Grants || Financial Aid || Bucknell University](<a href=“http://www.bucknell.edu/x571.xml]Scholarships”>Theatre and Dance Events at Bucknell | Lewisburg, PA)</p>

<p>based on what I see here, you got a nice award from Bucknell, probably 28-30K, that is very generous of them.</p>

<p>here is there listing for 2009-2010
[Frequently</a> Asked Questions || Financial Aid || Bucknell University](<a href=“http://www.bucknell.edu/x581.xml]Frequently”>http://www.bucknell.edu/x581.xml)
The 2009-2010 estimated costs are:</p>

<p>$40,850 Tuition
$ 220 Student Activity Fee
$ 5,250 Room (depending on actual room)
$ 4,000 Board (depending on actual plan)</p>

<p>$50,320 Estimated Total Comprehensive Fee (compared with 48,380 for 2008-2009)</p>

<p>In addition to these estimated direct costs, students should be prepared to meet expenses for books, supplies, personal, travel, etc. A typical amount for these costs range from $1,500 to about $2,000.</p>

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<p>I know I must be the only person who doesn’t understand, but an EFC that is equivalent to a quarter of your family income seems like a very large asking price. If the savings aren’t there, why wouldn’t the EFC go down to reduce loan cost? I can’t pay that high an EFC. I’m not poor, but I’m not that rich.</p>

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<p>And yes, the award is nice, don’t get me wrong. But still, I just needed a little bit more. We could argue for days about what my family and I could have done, but as of now, my loan total is going to be over $70,000. </p>

<p>Unless, of course, they haven’t passed out merit aid, or they don’t do that for a while. If they have already passed out merit aid, then I don’t feel attendance is possible. If there is still merit aid left to give, then I’ll certainly try to wait on that. I hope they’ll let me delay my attendance decision until all the money is given out.</p>

<p>I love getting $28,000, but the remaining cost of Bucknell is still more expensive than the sticker price of a lot of LAC’s (not the ones on US News Rankings, but others), and we couldn’t afford the sticker price of those out of pocket either.</p>

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<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid) this doesn’t have next years tables yet.</p>

<p>An EFC that is a quarter of your income is not unusual at all. In fact, my EFC of 11K is 1/3 of my NET pay (after taxes) and my AGI for last year was just over 50K with about the same amount of assets</p>

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<p>be happy Bucknell doesn’t include home equity. You haven’t said what your parents income (from work and investments is) or what your EFC is from running the calculator, but if it’s in the 20K+ range, you are going to have a hard time finding colleges willing to ‘cover’ that part for you. </p>

<p>Maybe find a lesser know college that really wants you and will give you lots of merit aid without regard to your EFC. But you should expect to take out the stafford loan and your number of being about to pay 3K a year out of savings is really low. Are your parents still working, won’t they make more money next year???</p>

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<p>So how far in debt is acceptable for a college education?</p>

<p>Yes they will make more money, but a lot of the income is already tied up in expenses. Again, I understand that the savings are low, but they are low because we JUST got done paying for my sister’s college, and then the market crashed and our savings got cut in about half or more.</p>

<p>I don’t have a problem with paying money. I am not expecting a full ride or even no debt at this point. But, considering the savings going down so much, I thought out EFC would be reduced as well. I wasn’t asking that my EFC be covered, but I was wondering why it didn’t reduce at all hardly?</p>

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<p>Your EFC is adjusted somewhat with regard to your savings…but I have to say…from what I’ve seen the vast majority of the calculation for financial aid rests on your income from the previous year. And the assumption that it will be similar for the upcoming year. </p>

<p>Our EFC was also 1/3 of our gross income. We have two adults working FULL TIME professional jobs. ONE complete income has been dedicated to college tuition for SEVEN years now…every penny of that income (and it’s a decent one). </p>

<p>Lots of people find that their EFC is more than THEY think they can reasonably pay. If that is the case, they look for less expensive options. Your EFC will not be reduced much by savings reductions (unless you had a HUGE savings). </p>

<p>Am I the only one reading these ED/Financial aid threads that is concerned because there seems to be a trend here on CC (ok…maybe that’s an exaggeration…but there have been a number of similar queries) of students who applied ED without doing the necessary “homework” with regards to finances? They expected the advantage of an ED application but not the commitment that goes with such an application? Schools are accepting you ED because they want you AND you have made a pledge to attend. In some cases (and the OP admits this was the case)…you had an admittance “edge” because of your ED application. But it’s OK for YOU to back out. I’m sorry, but I’m having trouble with this concept. It is very easy to plug numbers into a finaid calculator and at least get a guestimate of what your family’s obligation might be. I personally think that applying ED for the admission edge with the intent of backing out if finances don’t work out…is not the right thing to be doing. If finances are an issue and you NEED to compare financial aid offers or look for price value…apply RD.</p>

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<p>These “expenses” are viewed as choices if they are consumer debt (high mortgage, car payments, credit card debt…even college loans for other siblings).</p>

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<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf&lt;/a&gt; this is the formula/worksheets for the upcoming year.</p>

<p>Personally, I would shoot for keeping debt for you and your parents to less than 30K TOTAL for all 4 years. that would put your payments in the ballpark of 300 a month for 10 years. Do you want to start your adult life making $1000 payments for 10 years or even worse to have to take 15 or more years to pay off your student loans. It will hard to be in your mid 30’s and still paying off your education from 10+ years ago.</p>

<p>If the market crashed and cut your savings in half, then you’re saying you would have felt comfortable paying $6000 a year. Still very low for most private colleges. Maybe your parents can cut expenses, especially if one child has graduated and is on her own now.</p>

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<p>When we talked with the admissions staff, I was under the impression that I could apply since it was my first choice college, and I was sure that I would attend as long as I could afford to go. I promised I wouldn’t back out unnecessarily, and we made it abundantly clear to the admissions staff that our financial aid was a major factor in the decision. They still said that it was alright to apply ED if Bucknell was really where I wanted to go, and that we would decide what we could afford to pay. </p>

<p>Now, just to be clear, I’m not backing out yet. I’m planning on calling the admissions and financial aid department to see if there is more money available.</p>

<p>Honestly, I’m surprised that you aren’t more upset about your financial aid package. If a working parent has to sacrifice their entire income for your college education, don’t you think that is a bit excessive?</p>

<p>And in response to sueinphilly, we lost about a year of savings while my sister was in college as well due to stocks. It has been taking slow and steady hits for a while, it just kind of got a big one this year.</p>

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<p>That is our choice. With two incomes, our EFC was almost $50,000. Both kids got merit aid that was not linked to EFC. It wasn’t a huge amount but every penny helps. There was nothing to dispute…our EFC was very accurate. We are very careful about our spending. We don’t amass a lot of consumer debt, drive older cars, and feel it is well worth it to spend this money on our kids’ educations. AND we made that decision BEFORE we let them send in any college applications.</p>

<p>If finances had been our primary issue…we would have made it clear BEFORE any applications were sent. Neither kid applied ED…both applied EA. </p>

<p>And I do NOT believe that I am “sacrificing my entire income…or that it is excessive”. I knew the costs of attending these schools when my kids applied. </p>

<p>Having said that…I’ll be delighted when the last one graduates!!</p>

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<p>anyone can tell you that ALL money that will be needed in the next few years should NOT be in the stock market. Your parents did not head that advice. They should not have been keeping money they were planning on using for college expenses in the stock market. </p>

<p>Remember the rabbit and the hare story. Slow and steady wins the race.
Money for college should have been taken out of the market and put where it was safe, in cds or cash. Nobody that has those investments (me) has lost any money in the market. </p>

<p>Let us know if Bucknell comes up with more $$$. How much more do you think you need in ‘free’ money for this school to be doable for your family under the current circumstances.</p>

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<p>I am not sure exactly. Our current debt load isn’t really doable, but I guess 20k-30k would seem more manageable. My parents of course would love 0 debt, but I’ll just have to see what happens. I’m calling this week to see what our options are, because we did make an agreement, which I would like to uphold if at all possible, but I’m just going to have to wait on stuff and see what is going on. Then I’ll just have to talk to my parents and everything to make sure the arrangements are okay. But I don’t want to pay $1,000 a month for college loans during my first job.</p>

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<p>If they give you Merit they may reduce the FA by the same amount.</p>

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<p>thumper1, I’ve paid for 2 years now, 2 more to go. Thankfully my son was born with the words “only child” on his forehead. </p>

<p>And maybe, just maybe I’ll get to experience ‘disposable income’ for the first time EVER in my life after he graduates. I was laid off when he was born (literally 2 weeks after) and went back to work over a year later making 13K (in 1991), I now make about 65K (my AGI is around 50K because I put alot of pre-tax dollars into retirement account and get the tuition and fees deduction for 4K - I am not married and will not inherit any money from parents) and have enough for the rest of my EFC in CASH. No loans for me. Son will graduate with about 25-27K in debt and I think that is plenty of ‘skin in the game’ for what will amount to an education worth over 200K.</p>

<p>I have done this without ever getting a dime of child support.</p>

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<p><<finances were=“” a=“” big=“” issue,=“” and=“” we=“” made=“” it=“” clear=“” before=“” sent=“” my=“” application=“” in=“”>></finances></p>

<p>did you have to give them financial information??? If so, they know how much your parents make and have in the bank. The school calculates what they think you can pay. If they calculated 20K and you say 3K, then there is a big disconnect</p>

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<p>We said 3k in savings, and we sent in the CSS profile. And I know what my parents have said they are able to pay. I know there is a disconnect, and that is why we’ve been talking over options and stuff, and kind of why I was disappointed in my package. It was not what I was expecting, or what my parents were hoping for.</p>

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<p>Irish…did you run your Profile figures through an finaid calculator? </p>

<p>Honestly, I think MOST people wish their financial aid packages are MORE than what they get. Private colleges are expensive. But it’s not a surprise what they cost…and with all of the finaid calculators out there…it should not be a surprise what the parent contribution MIGHT be. </p>

<p>I hope you get some answers from Bucknell soon.</p>

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<p>We are going to call them and see what happens. Whatever does, it doesn’t change the fact that at the moment I can’t afford $23,000 a year. It just isn’t going to happen currently, regardless of what we could or should have done. </p>

<p>I’m going to call and see if the merit aid happens. I’m glad they accepted me and for the money I’ve gotten so far, but I am ready to done with everything. I’ll post what happens on Monday after I’ve called and my parents and I have talked to the admissions staff.</p>