Well, we went to admitted student day at one of the schools in question and I had a chance to speak with FA. After talking in circles for awhile, and asking the same question 5 different ways I was eventually told that they purposefully do not tell families what the CSS profile EFC was calculated at. They simply list direct costs, then your aid package, and it is up to the family to estimate their own indirect costs and do their own math based on the figures they come up with to determine what they will need to pay. She said, “we do not release that information-we do not meet 100% need and we do not publicize what percentage of need we meet. So, yes, you have a gap, and no we don’t reconsider aid packages.” Okay…so that conversation wrapped up quickly. I didn’t even get to the point of asking for more aid as she made it pretty clear that our conversation was over. Interestingly, this school first showed up on my radar when I spotted it on a list of schools that meet 100% need. I guess the source was inaccurate.
So in the end it doesn’t matter how much of the cost is EFC and how much is a gap-I have to pay it, and she certainly was not open to reevaluating either. I was actually taken aback by how rude she was about it.
I’ll name a specific school. My DD was acceoted to University of San Diego, and Santa Clara University. These are peer schools. USD is FAFSA only. SCU uses the Profile. We went to acceoted student day at both schools. USD was first. We made an appointment with FA. All we wanted to know was if any additional aid was possible. The financial aid officer came into her cubical. We asked that one question…and she replied that USD does not ever reconsider financial aid awards…and then she got up and left. Yep…we thought that was mighty rude.,she just upped and left us sitting there. No goodbye. No statement that we were done. She just left.
You can bet we wrote a lengthy critique of this using the persons name. It was just plain rude.
Next up was SCU. After USD, we didn’t have our hopes up for any additional money. The aid officer was so nice…amazingly nice. They explained the billable costs to us, and then shockingly gave our kid both a Perkins loan and work study. No…it wasn’t additional free money…but it was a good gesture…and an odd one since we really didn’t qualify for need based aid…and were not low income. We think it’s because that was the one year we has two kids in undergrad school at the same time.
@thumper1 lol, maybe that USD FA Officer is now working at a LAC in PA! My S has decided to attend, but I am really having a hard time shaking the experience. The school has a reputation for being for the socio-economic elite, and I was certainly treated like a beggar at the castle door, so I can’t help but wonder if that experience was just the tip up the iceberg, or if this particular FA Officer just happens to be a miserable person?
Hmmmm…perhaps that was a new hire fresh off their last job at the DMV?!
I think the answer was already hit upon. OP wants the EFC to know if it is “ballpark correct” and to know how to approach an appeal. And CSS schools want to avoid that conversation!!
It is a shame that one person can impact the whole vision of a school for a kid/family. I’d say it’s unfair, but the school chooses to put them out there. And if they are having a “bad day”, then they may lose a bad day’s worth of applicants:(