<p>Hey, as the title says, my family's EFC is just about $0, and I wanted to know whether Fordham could accomodate for that need. My UW GPA is about a 3.86, my SAT's are CR-720 M-640 Wr-690, and I have good EC's with a few state and national awards, so I might possibly have some merit aid coming my way, but for now, I just wanted to know whether there was any hope. Thanks!</p>
<p>Well I dont (and nobody here does, except Fordham Admissions Director Peter Farrell who sometimes pops in) speak for Fordham Admissions or Financial Aid.</p>
<p>All Fordham Applications are considered for Merit Aid when they come in the door. Fordham does not promise to meet 100% of need, but they spread their financial assistance to as many families as they can. If your EFC is so low it may well mean you are Pell Grant eligible. </p>
<p>Fordham is reasonably generous. It also looks sometimes like the early bird gets the worm, so applying early is very much in your favor.</p>
<p>Your SAT stats are wonderful and very much in the "admit" pile I believe. Again I dont speak for them. But whether they are enough to get significant merit aid is another matter. Generally you have to have a 1400 core SAT score to get substantial aid. But Fordham is not needs blind either...and your financial picture may well come into play both for merit aid as well as financial assistance. So go for it.</p>
<p>Your SAT is 1360. Fordham's 25% to 75% is 1200-1330. Since your GPA is also stellar, I can see you getting some merit scholarship (probably up to $10,000). Right now, Fordham is in desperate need of increasing its average SAT and selectivity so they NEED students like you. I applied in 2004-2005 back when it was relatively easy to get into Fordham. I scored a 1350 on the SAT exam and my UW avg was about 89 (3.4) or so. I received $4,200 in merit scholarship and around $2,000 in loans but my EFC was like $43,000. I wouldn't be surprised if you get subsidized loans (interest-free loans). Since Fordham's recruiting is amazing, you would not have to worry about getting a job upon graduation and paying off these loans. Work-study of around $5,000 maybe is also a strong possibility (I do not know if you want to do that). I also wouldn't be surprised if you get some grants. All in all, if you consider everything, I think you should be in a decent shape.</p>
<p>Are you thinking about commuting? Where do you live?</p>
<p>I live in Maine, so I'll definitely be living on campus, thanks for the reassurance!</p>
<p>""Fordham is reasonably generous.""</p>
<p>I have never heard of Fordham as having the reputation of being reasonably generous when it comes to financial aid. As a matter of fact, they were one of the worst packages we received and I'm an Alum with a top ranked student - the kind of kid they would want on campus but who they totally discouraged when other schools showed so much more interest in her. Perhaps it's because I live in the NY area and they are not interested in recruiting local students as much as they are interested in recruiting from out of state and across the country. Locally, no one thinks of Fordham as generous when it comes to financial aid.</p>
<p>Alum: Times they are a changing. We also know that Fordham tries to spread the money around so that more kids get aid, but perhaps a bit lower than other schools. I dont know what happened with your daughter, a pity from Fordham's perspective I suppose.</p>
<p>They are recruiting students from all over the country now and are being more aggressive, both with scholarship money and financial aid (grants in aid). </p>
<p>For us, Fordham's package wasnt the best either, but I also note that one school that offered more money back then (Furman) has now had TWO sizeable increases in tuition and room/board....so it all evens out in the end. But we werent exactly complaining about Fordham (or other offers) as well.</p>
<p>If someone knew how to figure out admissions/financial aid, they could become millionaires because its a strange process no matter where you live or where you go. I could tell you stories that boggle the mind for kids I know at Dartmouth, Tufts, Duke. All sorts of weird stuff. It just happens.</p>
<p>The key thing is that a student is happy and thriving. Could they be better and offer more in these times when the cost of a private college education is getting pretty ridiculous? Of course.</p>
<p>I just think the OP should apply, apply early admission...and see what happens.</p>
<p>I totally agree the OP should apply and see what happens. The point of my post is to let prospective students/parents know that they shouldn't expect Fordham, or any school for that fact, to meet their EFC. I know a kid with much lower stats than my d who got nearly a $30,000 Dean's scholarship (based on grades and financial aid) and several kids with straight A's and scores over 1500 who got only $10,000. I have found that this whole college application/financial aid process is a crapshot - apply to plenty of schools you have a shot to get into and hope for the best. But the fact is Fordham has limited financial aid and they are not being more aggressive with scholarships. There has been no increase in the amount of scholarship money to top students. If you are at the top of the incoming class or did well on your National Merit Exam (and plenty of these kids are not at the top of the incoming class), the best scholarships Fordham has to offer are a $10,000 Dean's scholarship, a $10,000 Dean's scholarhip plus financial aid added to this number (anything above $10,000 for a Deans is financial aid) or a full ride National Merit/National achiement scholarship. They also have lower $$ amount scholarships, but in my opinion $10,000 doesn't put much of a dent in the tuition bill and $3,000 to $8,000 won't help much either. Notre Dame offered my d more than double what Fordham offered, as did Georgetown. Top students will continue to turn down Fordham if they are not able to compete with the packages of better schools. That's just a fact. Unfortunately, with their endowment, Fordham simply can't afford it. So to the OP, yes there is hope for a scholarship and financial aid, but make sure you apply to plenty of other schools who give scholarships and aid, just in case you don't get as much aid as you need from FU.</p>
<p>Okay...I think we are on the same page.....I thought my remark "reasonably generous" was saying just that.....they arent stingy, but arent flooding your mailbox with money either. Perhaps my choice of words was not the most illuminating. </p>
<p>Fordham states that they award scholarships with some financial need in mind. I dont speak for them or work for them. It is a crap shoot. I also agree that Fordham will lose top students if their aid package is significantly less than what other schools are offering. I wish it was more consistent and more just, but it isnt. College admissions are very quirky as you know.</p>
<p>I know people who got rejected at Georgetown and Notre Dame who CLEARLY should have been admitted, and they admitted instead legacy or celebrity kids with much lower scores, or minorities with hideously lower scores. So it happens everywhere. That your D got hammered (relatively) on financial aid at Fordham is most unfortunate and I am sure was painful for you since you are an alumnus. </p>
<p>But I also know kids at Fordham last year who were TOP STUDENTS who got essentially full rides.....some from Westchester and some from distant OOS. </p>
<p>We applied RD to Fordham. It wasnt even top 5 in our books on our original list. Then my D's world collapsed when her dream school rejected her for inexplicable reasons (binding ED) ....just an incredible miscarriage of justice in my view. She was a PERFECT fit and ONE professor told her "you are PRECISELY the kind of student we want to recruit." Blah blah blah. It happens. She dried her tears and went to work, scrambling. She got some wonderful offers from several schools. We really thought we were headed to Furman University, until we visited at Fordham that rainy April weekend and it was an Epiphany for her. She had to compromise on some issues....but that took incredible courage and maturity to do so...and frankly she still has pangs about it. (music related.....Fordham's music dept and orchestra are not what they need to be, whereas Furman's is amazing.) But deep down she knew that it was the right decision career wise, whereas music is a passionate hobby. In other words there are more important things than money sometimes, or a particular avocation. That is subjective, to be sure. For your D, clearly it affected her decision, but I am sure that she knows that she ended up at the place she was meant to be. If Fordham had matched Georgetown or Notre Dame in financial aid, would she have made the same decision? I suspect maybe so. But I dont know her obviously.</p>
<p>Looking forward, Fordham has need for improvement in several areas. (name a school that doesnt!) Notre Dame has HUGE revenues from its sports programs. Both Notre Dame and Georgetown have huge alumni giving rates...from VERY wealthy alumni. So we take steps at a time.</p>
<p>Nor is Fordham alone in its financial aid foibles....I hear that from a lot people with kids at a lot of different schools. The most economical decision is to go to a state school. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Oh, and I completely forgot that Fordham also offers the Presidential Scholarships, full ride scholarships to the top students. A very nice perk if you can get one - don't remember the number, but I think it's around 15 that are offered. Most of the Presidentials go to kids who are already eligible to receive the full tuition National Merit scholarships, so in reality FU is offering most of these recipients an extra $10,000 for room & board over the national merit scholarship funds. There are probably a handful of student who get this who were not eligible for the national merit. And further, most of these kids get into top Ivys. With the top Ivys offering incredible financial aid to any family who makes under $180,000, once again Fordham cannot compete. Of course, top students will enroll, but it's quite a small percentage compared to other top schools.</p>
<p>"""I know people who got rejected at Georgetown and Notre Dame who CLEARLY should have been admitted, and they admitted instead legacy or celebrity kids with much lower scores, or minorities with hideously lower scores. So it happens everywhere. That your D got hammered (relatively) on financial aid at Fordham is most unfortunate and I am sure was painful for you since you are an alumnus."""</p>
<p>Nocousin, this is what really bugs me about Fordham. I've posted before, my family has an incredibly long history with Fordham. Both I and my dh are alumni. We have so many family members that either graduated from FU or the Prep, or worked there for 30+ years.</p>
<p>When schools like Cornell, Notre Dame and Georgetown showed so much more interest in my d, to say that it was a bit annoying that our alma mater didn't would be an understatement. That's another area I believe Fordham needs to work on - the importantance of supporting alumni children's applicants. Maybe then their endowment will increase. Notre Dame got that one down!!</p>
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<p>Well.....I dont work for Fordham. I just have a kid there. I dont quite understand your comments. While it is unfortunate your D didnt get offered MORE than 10k a year in scholarships at Fordham, she did get into Notre Dame and was offered 20k. So it really worked out well for her and your family. I am just trying to assist people on this board and give them my anecdotal commentary, trying to be positive. </p>
<p>My remarks about Notre Dame and Georgetown are factual and frankly, I have heard commentary that it happens a lot over there. That it worked out for you should be a point of pride, but not something to get upset with me about. (If I read your post correctly.) Your family history at Fordham is wonderful and also a source of pride. I am sorry your d could not afford to go there or chose to attend somewhere else because she felt offended.</p>
<p>And I dont know many schools that can afford to compete with the Ivy League on scholarships/financial aid. Yes, endowments are critical for helping incoming students. </p>
<p>I know a person who got into Dartmouth with 1350 SATs, who appeared on paper to be low income (relatively...like below 60k in family income) and who got TONS of financial aid from Dartmouth...but whose grandparents are LOADED.....millions, and paid for this kids private prep school education for 12 years, but its not on the FAFSA, so presto! Is that fair? I dont know. Depends on how you look at it. My point is that stuff happens. </p>
<p>But Fordham is still a great school and I want to encourage people who have an interest to go there. Obviously I have ZERO control on admissions or financial aid.</p>
<p>Nocousin, it's just a conversation about my experiences with the admissions process and financial aid at FU. It's not a big deal and no one is upset with you. I have no idea where you got that from. And d did not make her college choice because she was offended. She top ranked schools to pick from, but that is not the point. My dh & I are the alumni and have ties to the school.</p>
<p>I know 100% your remarks about Notre Dame & GU are factual, that is why I replied. To put it in plain English, schools like Notre Dame, whom Fordham strives to emulate, take care of their alumni/alumni children, and so should Fordham, in my opinion. This is just my simple opinion - that's all. That is how you continue to build dedication and loyalty to a university. :)</p>
<p>Okay, agreed. Notre Dame does take care of its families. Fordham is changing. I recommend you call Fr. McShane on Monday and have a sit down with him and explain your feelings and frustrations.</p>