<p>I am working on PFS and it ends up with some worries. With my income, estimated FA is $33,000 from the school web-site but I cannot afford more than $3,000. From SSS, it comes up with $10,000 for the parent contribution from PFS report. Do you have any idea to get more FA from school </p>
<p>We are single income family due to the illness of my wife and we cannot afford more than $3000. Should I have to contact financial officer of the schools we're applying for? (Andover, Exeter) Income is near 90k.</p>
<p>Any advice will be really appreciated and good luck to all of you.</p>
<p>I think you should wait for your child to get admitted and see what your package looks like before you contact the schools. They may pleasantly surprise you. And also you dont want to seem pushy asking about aid before you know your kid is in.</p>
<p>I agree with mhmm. Wait until you see if this will even be an issue. Andover and Exeter are both very generous with aid but also extremely selective in admissions. There is a place on the PFS for you to make notes. You can explain your unique financial situation there, but I would leave it at that.</p>
<p>Once either of these schools has offered admission, they will work with you as far as they are able.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! By the way, do you recommend me not to leave a note about financial situation in PFS? Do I have to remove my notes? I will wait until the admission package is delivered as you recommend.</p>
<p>I agree with others that the “wait and see” approach is wise. Not to be a downer, but I will say that it’s important to be realistic. We were initially very excited that our EFC recommendation was honored, but there have been more hidden costs (books, airfares, activities, other child expenses, etc.) than we anticipated and it has been harder than we planned. We’re looking at second jobs. Worth it? Yes (we have no local options) but once the initial excitement is over it can be hard. If you have good options, that is something to consider.</p>
<p>If there is a big difference between parent contribution and EFC, would this hurt the chance of admission to BS? I put $3000 and EFC says $10k. Should I have to increase my contribution in PFS to reduce the gap with EFC? $3000 is not a lowball for my family though. By the way, education expense in PFS means the tuition posted from the school? My D is applying for Bording and school website says that tuition is about $41k. Do we have to include additional cost inclduing travel cost and other school expenses? Could this lead to lower the parent contribution in EFC if I add the additional education cost? Thanks</p>
<p>Remember that most, if not all, schools offer a monthly payment plan through a third party. It helps us. </p>
<p>The most expensive thing for us is travel. Even though we are within a 5 hour drive, it’s too much to do all in one day with just one driver so I usually end up having to stay over the night before a pickup and the night after a drop off. Even using priceline for cheap hotels (and you can get some great deals), it still ends up costing between 100 - 200 each way with gas and food and such. Mulitply that by 14, add it to an already stretched budget, and it can be difficult.</p>
<p>There was a thread last year on the hidden costs of boarding school that I think is worth a read for any family for whom tuition is a stretch - with or without FA.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. We’re 13 hour driving distance from BS and I expect it’ll cost us a lot for the travel back and forth to BS. I may have to discuss with school later how to deal witht this situation.</p>
<p>We’ve had some new medical costs that I included in our PFS. Due to my son’s chronic illness, I also lowered my anticipated contribution with a note explaining that I cannot anticipate what his medical costs might be this year (new diagnosis), so I was deliberately withholding several thousand. All true, and needed to be explained in the notes section, imo.</p>