<p>has anyone received the fA package yet?</p>
<p>Weren’t you early action2? I think most of us got those in February…</p>
<p>My son was EA II and the financial aid package is dated Feb 19th. You definitely should have received something by now. We also got an updated one a few weeks later. I’d say it’s time for a phone call or email.</p>
<p>merit aid came shortly after the acceptance - we did not apply for FA but if you filled out the FAFSA forms and have not heard from WPI re FA you should contact them</p>
<p>yea i was EA II and hav been waiting, i guess i’m going to call then…</p>
<p>yes, you better call… I was RD and got my financial package Feb. 4th… I didn’t hear anything from one college I applied to, and after a classmate who applied a day before the deadline got her acceptance letter and financial package, I called. The person I talked to said that my application had not been been reviewed yet, and asked what I was planning to study. When I told her Mechanical Engineering, she said “oh, that class has already been closed out. Is there something else you’d like to study”? My application was sent in the middle of November. Good thing that I only applied because I got a free priority application and it was a no effort app. I was the last school I would have gone to anyway so i just told them to forget it.</p>
<p>the lady said they probably will get to me soon because a few wks ago they requested some additional info from me. while they wait, they probably moved on. so they’ll get to me soon i guess…
i can wait, for another 2 weeks ~</p>
<p>was everyone satisfied with the aid they received? Approximately how much were you rewarded?</p>
<p>I was not really satisfied with my financial aid package. I received approximately 31000 in aid, with 9000 being loans. </p>
<p>My EFC changed a fair amount due to my father’s unemployment when I updated my FAFSA recently. I plan on appealing to tell the office my circumstances, and to ask them to re-evaluate my financial package with these facts.</p>
<p>Is there a special form I need to fill out before an appeal? Or should I call, or do an e-mail, or what. . .? WPI is my first choice, and I really want to go there, but I can’t afford it especially with my father out of work. . . </p>
<p>Thanks so much for people who respond!</p>
<p>im still waiting… though i’m not sure if i’d go to WPI even with a full ride… but when it comes down $$, anything’s possible…</p>
<p>Bump 10char.</p>
<p>xAmortenti - if you really think you are deserving of more than $31K per year in aid (and only $9K/year having to be paid back), then by all means call or write to them. I assume part of this is work/study related, but even so you are probably in the $17K/year range for scholarship which is substantial. </p>
<p>Also consider applying for other scholarships outside of WPI. There are a lot out there and most are need based. All those “little” $1-3K scholarships add up quickly. Go scholarship websites and see what you can find.</p>
<p>Call or email WPI with your situation - both to financial aid and to admissions - and see what they can do. What’s the worst they can do? If it’s really your first choice, then it’s worth pushing on them. Good luck and let us know how it goes!</p>
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<p>Not bad advice, but I’d advice you to also look at some of the bigger scholarships out there that provide for most of your expenses in exchange for some period of work after graduation. </p>
<p>I know that the NSA offers such a program for math majors, and Northrop Grumman has a 10k scholarship.</p>
<p>Ren, seriously… #1 in our class applied here, near perfect SAT scores, and ZERO efc. After his scholarship, grants, he still would have over $20/ year left over in loans He’s going to Dartmouth for free. So, stop dreaming and stop ragging on WPI… so, it’s your safety school? That makes you so much better than who? Sounds like you screwed up on where you applied thinking your SAT scores and 0 EFC were your golden ticket. Sorry you got declined and wait listed on your top two schools, and the other ones are giving you squat, but please stop the condescending attitude. Even if you came here, you would never make it.</p>
<p>“All those “little” $1-3K scholarships add up quickly. Go scholarship websites and see what you can find.”</p>
<p>When you say this I think of Fastweb scholarships containing essays, which I consider a total waste of time because there’s tons of students applying for them. And what engineering major has time to write essays on the side?</p>
<p>"After his scholarship, grants, he still would have over $20/ year left over in loans "</p>
<p>Do you mean that he was going to have 20$ extra(over the full cost)?
or $20 short of the full cost? If you meant that he would have been $20k in debt each year then WPI’s financial aid really sucks.</p>
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<p>Okay, so WPI is 50k a year. I got a 20k scholarship, and from your description this kid would be much more desirable to WPI then I am. </p>
<p>So if he only got 20k in financial a year, and his parents can pay 10k per year, then I’d suppose that he could rake up 20k in debt every year.</p>
<p>Hold up, I’m IM-ing the kid now. I’m going to copy and paste what he’s sending</p>
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<p>So, $28,600 in items that don’t need to be paid back. So, that leaves him about $22 in loans. al600 - i don’t think someone with an EFC of 0 is going to have parents who can pay $10k year- and he is a legitimate EFC of 0. (Father died, mother has a muscular disease and living with elderly grandparents who are not healthy). This kid works just to help pay for basic things like food. His guidance counselor bought him new clothes and drove him to Dartmouth for interview. There are good people in this world!</p>
<p>^? Excuse me? I like to keep my options open. Yes WPI was my safety, but how was i condescending?
I wouldn’t even apply to WPI in the first place if I didn’t like it; I didn’t even bother to its peer institutions, such as RPI, RIT etc
What’s wrong with me attending one of my top choices over WPI, even if with a free ride? That’s my business, not yours.</p>
<p>I think everyone is tired. This decision process and the “how the heck are we going to pay for this all” is getting to us… So, can we all take a deep breath and relax a bit?.. </p>
<p>xAmortenti - I feel for your situation. I was in a similar, though not as dire, position 30 years ago. I opted for an Air Force ROTC scholarship and never looked back. It ended up being one of the best decisions I made. Not that you should look at that, but definitely look at other options for finances. Is there a local tech company that you could go to and ask for employment in return for some help with school as was mentioned? You may be able to turn your problem into a solution for both - and end up with a co-op job and maybe even an MQP out of it. Unfortunately decision time is looming, but some companies are looking for interns for the summer. Check on Monster and go drop in on local companies with a resume and cover letter in hand. You really never know until you try. And give that counselor a big hug from us… </p>
<p>I do have to admit, I think $28K+ in merit aid per year is very high and I would be dancing on the roof (and I hate heights!) if my son had gotten even close to that. I know you are looking at the remainder in bills, but do think about how you can pay those bills with extra summer work and a co-op semester or 2. It isn’t easy, but it’s also not impossible. While you are calling financial aid and admissions, give the WPI career center a call and see if they can help you out or tell you what they would be willing to do for you. </p>
<p>As for the comment on little scholarships and essays… If you did multiple essays for your college applications and have been doing essays for school, with a 5 minute edit on something you’ve already done you can apply for a lot more than you think. (Trust me, my son hated this in the beginning, but now he sees it as a game…) Yes, there are a lot of kids applying for some of them, but some get little to no attention because they are “small” or very local. And 90% have some sort of “need based” requirement that knocks out a good portion of the competition. Check with your local Elks Lodge, Rotary, Toastmasters and Chamber of Commerce. A lot of little local banks also have scholarship funds that don’t get advertised. I’ve sniffed out a lot of these for my son to apply to, but the financial need requirements have knocked us out of applying to most of them. (I guess a good “problem” to have, but I can’t help but feeling annoyed that because we scrimped and saved to put money away for college we are now being penalized for it…)</p>
<p>thanks for the clarification wpirpi. Now I need to cross my fingers for some decent aid…</p>