EFC of 0 and no university grant.

Paying for College
1

<p>I recently got my financial aid package from Boston University and they didn't give me a grant, even though my EFC is 0 and there's no conceivable way either me or my family can pay for college without assistance. According to the letter, my academics are too weak. I applied with a 3.2 GPA, 720/540/680 SAT, and a reasonably strong resume - not that great, but apparently good enough to gain admission. I figured that they would factor my living in abject poverty above my mediocre grades when deciding on an award, at least. </p>

<p>Is this a mistake, and should I appeal it? I heard that BU is well known for giving generous need-based aid, and the few people I've talked to about it have told me that I should be getting something.
I got waitlisted on two of my other schools and rejected from two, so BU is my only option right now.</p>

2

<p>Do you not have a back-up safety school for sure admissions?? How terrible about lack of grant . I did not realize that University Grants were contingent of one's GPA at high school from BU .</p>

3

<p>Did you call FinAid office? You're running out of time quickly. Call right now and let us know what they say. So all they offer is loans? This would be the worst FA I've ever seen. Maybe there's an error on BUs end.</p>

4

<p>BU is pretty straight up front about stating;</p>

<p>**Your academic record is an important factor in deterniming your eligibility for Boston University scholarships and need-based grants. Key indicators such as high school GPA, rank in class, and standardized test scores are considered with the strength of your academic program and extracurricular activities. </p>

<p>High school GPA of 3.6
High school rank in the top 8%
SAT I composite score of 1327
ACT score of 29</p>

<p>If your credentials place you at or above this profile, your chances of receiving Boston University scholarships or grants are likely to be excellent or very good, particularly if you have calculated need.* If your credentials place you below this level, your chances of receiving University grants and scholarships, or of having your financial need fully met with these awards, are reduced.* **</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/prospective/possibility2.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/prospective/possibility2.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I hate to say it, but this is what happened to you, because your numbers were below the average, your chances of getting aid were greatly reduced.</p>

<p>You said yourself that the school told you **my academics are too weak. I applied with a 3.2 GPA, 720/540/680 SAT, and a reasonably strong resume **</p>

<p>Based on their chart, based on where your SAT scores are (you did not state how you ranked) only 43% of student who scored the same as you (but were in the top 12 thru 29% of their class would have gotten aid).</p>

<p>Because your grades/stats are a bit lower than the average stats that BU presented, this could be the reason why they did not give you any money (essentially giving you an admit-deny, you may have made the minimum threshold to be admitted, but they are not giving you enough money to attend).</p>

<p>This advice is attributed to Calmom:</p>

<p>A college that does not meet 100% need in all cases typically is giving the best aid to the strongest applicants. It is best to apply to colleges where the student is at the top of the applicant pool, as the non-100% schools almost always leverage their aid, giving the most money to the strongest applicants. Boston University has a good chart that shows how financial aid levels correlate to academic stats here: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/prospective/possibility2.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/prospective/possibility2.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>sybbie719 thanks for that info. Learn something new here every day. </p>

<p>I thought if you were good enough to get admitted to a school then there would be aid based on EFC (not necessarily 100%). </p>

<p>This entire college process is tough to figure out even for smart people. God help those that don't find this forum. Just gotta ignore the HYPS syndrome here and there's lots of good info underneath.</p>

6

<p>Thanks sybbie719, that's mostly what I figured. I called their financial aid office and they just told me to submit an appeal, but judging by that information it wouldn't do me any good.
Would it be worth it to take out a loan to pay for the first year, focus on my academics, and hope that they'll give me decent award for my sophomore year and on? Do most colleges ignore your high school record once you've taken classes with them, or am I totally off track here?</p>

<p>My safety - Suffolk - accepted me, but I haven't heard anything about FA from them yet, and I was sort of discounting them because they're not that great of a school.</p>

7

<p>Suffolk, I hear is pretty good for business. It is in a nice section of Boston. I know someone who teaches there. He just happened to mention that a student of his was thinking of transferring from Suffolk to Northeastern, so something like that may be a possibility after one or two years. He also says that Suffolk is very nice, and he mentioned that it is well equipped for the classes that he teaches.</p>

<p>I looked Suffolk up a long time ago, and at that time I thought that their aid was pretty poor, so you might want to check that out more. I think that housing after freshman year is also somewhat of an issue. I guess you can find an apartment in Boston though.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Would it be worth it to take out a loan to pay for the first year, focus on my academics, and hope that they'll give me decent award for my sophomore year and on?

[/quote]
No -- I don't know about BU, but very few schools increase aid levels after the first year. All you are doing is tieing yourself up in debt and setting yourself up to have to drop out midway through because of lack of funds. </p>

<p>Is community college with a later transfer an option for you? That is one way to "repair" a low high school GPA.</p>

9

<p>It's an admit-denial. alot of schools do this: They do need blind admissions, but when the fa people get you, if you're not at the top of the list, there's only a limited amount they can give you. If they look at your need, and it's below a certain amount, they won't give you anything because they figure, "Hey, even if we gave her $10,000, she still couldn't afford it, and she'd take out way to much loans, so let's give her nothing".</p>

<p>It's pretty wacky logic, but you have to wonder if even that small amount ( don't know what it is, just making up numbers) would make it ok for you to go for four years. What's bu now? 40k?</p>

10

<p>Sybbie,
What about schools that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need and do not give merit aid--does GPA etc. matter? Take Cornell, for example. Although I could not find substantiating information about this on the Cornell website, on the College Board profile about Cornell's aid, it says
" Need-based aid
determined by:
Academics
Leadership "</p>

<p>Is this false, or does this mean their distribution ratio of loan versus grants is what is affected by merit?</p>

11

<p>Cornell actually does give merit aid in the form of their Cornell Presdiential Research Scholars program</p>

<p>*An anonymous gift to the university created the Cornell Presidential Research Scholars (CPRS) program in 1996. CPRS provides undergraduates demonstrating superior academic potential and intellectual curiosity significant research support over four years. Open to students across all academic disciplines in all seven undergraduate colleges, CPRS enables its students to collaborate with faculty mentors of their choosing in designing and planning an individualized program of research—a degree of collaboration usually unheard of in the undergraduate experience. Magnifying the power of this dynamic student-faculty partnership, **CPRS provides each scholar with a generous $8,000 research support account (RSA) and annual need-based loan replacement of up to $4,000. </p>

<p>Research Scholars use their RSA’s to pay for academic year wages, summer research and living expenses, research-related travel, and research supplies. Additionally, scholars can conduct research outside of their own college or major using any of the university’s resources.** Scholars can choose faculty mentors from any college and major regardless of their own affiliation. </p>

<p>The Cornell Presidential Research Scholars program, providing up to 50 scholars each year with as much as $24,000 in financial support over four years. </p>

<p>The opportunity to pursue research within the biological and physical sciences is one aspect of the Cornell Presidential Research Scholars program. But, students also pursue research in the social sciences and humanities and are enrolled in all seven of Cornell's undergraduate colleges:</p>

<p>**Summer Expected Savings Replacements (ESR)
Expenses incurred during the summer may make it difficult to meet Cornell’s savings expectation from summer earnings. ESRs provide a replacement if you have worked in a research-related position at least 35 hours a week for eight weeks during the summer. </p>

<p>Students are chosen for the CPRS program as incoming freshmen. **</p>

<p>Current Cornell sophomores, who were not chosen as entering freshmen to be in the CPRS program, may apply in the spring of their sophomore year to be admitted into the program at the beginning of their junior year. Sophomores who wish to apply must: 1) have at least a 3.0 GPA; 2) have done at least one semester of research at Cornell; 3) be nominated by a faculty member (preferably the faculty with whom the student has done research). Nomination materials for faculty are available in spring semester.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p><a href="http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/CPRS/joining.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/CPRS/joining.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Each year approximately 45-50 incoming freshmen are chosen to be Cornell Presidential Research Scholars.</p>

<p>Students who are chosen demonstrate superior academic potential and intellectual curiosity and may have previous research experience.</p>

<p>Research Scholars are enrolled in all seven Colleges at Cornell and work in the areas of social sciences and humanities as well as biology, natural, and physical sciences.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/CPRS/pdf/paperwork/generalinformation.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/CPRS/pdf/paperwork/generalinformation.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Monetary Support
Loan Reduction: Students eligible for financial aid may receive up to $4,000 per year in loan reduction.</p>

<p>Research Support Account (RSA): Each Cornell Presidential Research Scholar has up to $8,000 in a Research Support Account (RSA) that can be used (with approval from CPRS staff) for research-associated expenses, including wages during the academic year, summer research and living expenses, research-related travel (such as to present at a conference or to visit another research site), and up to $500 per semester for supplies. For Research Scholars on work study, part of these funds will be used to pay the portion of wages not covered by federal funds. </p>

<p>Students have the choice of conducting research for wages or for credit,
but they may not receive both pay and academic credit for the same work.
Students are encouraged to discuss with their mentor an overall plan for how to use this money to support their research endeavors. Students are required to get prior approval from CPRS for most purchases or expenditures.
Expected Savings Replacement (ESR): After one summer of research, the program will provide each student with funds to cover the University’s expected student contribution at the end of summer. This ESR is disbursed via financial aid, with ½ paid in the fall following the summer of research, and ½ in the spring. Only full-time registered students can receive this money. To be eligible for this additional contribution, students must work at least 280 hours, provide documentation of how the RSA monies were spent, and receive a positive evaluation from their summer mentor.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/CPRS/pdf/paperwork/facultyhandbook.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.commitment.cornell.edu/CPRS/pdf/paperwork/facultyhandbook.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>