Fin Aid In

<p>We recieved notification this morning. My D is crushed, nothing but loans with an EFC of under 15,000. I almost feel it has to be a mistake based on her other offers. What a blow. She so wants to go there. I hope it works out better for everyone else, such a great school!</p>

<p>I hope they reconsider - your daughter deserves better. I am so struck by the randomness of financial aid offers. We thought my S would get the most money from Willamette because he had very high stats in relation to the student body - he got the least from them - definitely more from more select schools (he was relieved- didn't want to go there). Same with a classmate of his -she's headed to MIT. Go figure. My current theory is that schools want that geographic diversity. If you live in the same region, you'll get less.</p>

<p>I doubt geographic diversity is an issue. I live in New York and received a financial aid package that contained solely loans. I spoke to the financial aid office and they said they will not reconsider financial aid packages until after student enrollment.</p>

<p>I don't think geographical diversity has anything to do with financial aid. I live an hour away and I got a half-ride even though I have no financial need.</p>

<p>Arizonamom- appeal your financial aid, especially since it sounds that is your D's first choice. If your EFC is $15,000 and they only gave you loans, it is not because Pepperdine is mean...it is because Pepperdine made a mistake. If you don't appeal and your D goes to another school, she will always wonder what could have been....So APPEAL!!</p>

<p>I called, they won't make a decision until AFTER school starts, you need to enroll first. We can't afford the risk with 2 in college. Maybe it is not meant to be, I told my D maybe God has other plans. She said How could God not want me to go to Pepperdine?!!!! With others who recieved solely loans what was your EFC? You don't have to answer if you don't want. I am just trying to see if this is truly an error or just their style.Thanks</p>

<p>Hey everyone! Just got my financial aid info today. It came to me via email and I was able to check it over the net. Just thought I would give everyone a heads up to go ahead and check their emai if they havent already gotten something in the mail. Got pretty much what I was getting from other schools so I am happy.</p>

<p>Great news cast128 !! UCLA, I think yours was a scholarship vs need based grant as your stats are pretty high. My D just had a 1320, or 29 ACT with 3.77 GPA. Her strengths were her many leadership roles, varsity sports and extra curriculars so she didn't recieve the scholarship. Thing work out for a reason so we are off to visit 3 other schools now and figure this out. Good luck to all who are going, it sounds like a wonderful opportunity and a quality education.</p>

<p>Hey, I found out Friday also via email and they're offering 13,000 in scolarships/grants-money that I don't have to pay back. I feel like that's pretty generous. Cast if you don't mind I was curious how much financial aid you received just so I can get some sort of perspective on how much money is alot relative to what they give many students. And it seems real unfair and frustrating that you cannot repeal awards until you enroll...alot of my friends have called their colleges and worked an extra thousand or two from the financial office...seems sorta sheisty that Pepperdine would do that.</p>

<p>Ya no problem. I got just over $12,000 in grants/scholarships. They gave me a small allumni scholarship but the big one was a christian service award for all of my community service.</p>

<p>Thanks, that's awesome. Congrats man. Are you def going to go next year?</p>

<p>Ya, I am almost positive I am going there. It would either be there or University of San Diego but I think I have pretty much decided of Pepp. What about you? Are you gonna go there next year?</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm def going to go there. I was admitted to the theater program so that sort of decided it for me. You can't beat the location...both the awesome campus and it's conduciveness to what i want to do-be an actor.</p>

<p>We just got home from the Malibu reception day at Pepperdine, a time to completely fall in love with the whole Pepperdine experience, academics, dorms, people, atmosphere, etc...to open the mail to a $1500 workstudy and the rest in loans, with an EFC of $9000. So our situation is similar to Arizonamom's, son loves Pepp but virtually impossible to go there, esp with the whole "wait until enrollment" on financial aid. Congratulations to those able to attend Pepperdine, what an amazing place. Yes, conservative socially, culturally and politically...and we loved it!</p>

<p>how were they culturally conservative?</p>

<p>Brownsurfer, somewhere on these CC boards, I read a description of Pepperdine as "gorgeous campus but socially, politically and culturally conservative"...and I thought, SO? Sounds good! Another time, I read that someone wrote "Pepperdine is being pulled kicking and screaming into the 20th century" which sounded good, too...because not all modern things are good or wholesome or helpful to people's morals, lifestyles or relationships. </p>

<p>So, my impression of the school, both from website, catalogs, reading these boards, and visiting last Saturday for the Malibu Reception: </p>

<p>A unique, caring community of students, faculty, staff and alumnia known as the "Pepperdine family"; happy, friendly, welcoming people with larger-than-life goals of making all-around people who can achieve, lead and serve in this life; God is present and acknowledged and revered on this campus in all aspects; there is respect for people and respect for property (the buildings are immaculate). </p>

<p>A dry campus with curfews in the dorms for the opposite sex...strong Christian morals and attitudes towards self & others....an expectation of service & leadership from all...challenging academics and a national reputation but not snobby intellectuals. </p>

<p>A balanced student body with students of various colors, backgrounds and experiences...pride of self but respect for self & others as well (shown by dress & appearance, no huge displays of skin or tattoos or saggy guy pants showing shorts)...dorms have resident advisors plus spiritual life advisors (for advice, Bible studies, prayer, etc)...</p>

<p>Professors and staff who DO attend church services and try to live out what they read in the Bible (unlike the majority of college professors, from what I have read in recent newspaper articles)...protective, ambitious parents who care about their children's education and life choices and college environment...a balanced range of political ideas, I saw Bush bumper stickers as well as ones like Amnesty International and Free Tibet bumper stickers...</p>

<p>So...all in all, a college campus experience that appears to be pretty darn unique compared to the majority of college campuses where pretty much anything goes morals-wise, lifestyle-wise, etc. If this fits you...if you feel called to Pepperdine...as one mom told me, maybe this is where God wants you. There are many small Christian schools in the US, but other than Notre Dame and Pepperdine, I don't read about many of the nationally ranked universities/colleges actually living out a mission of educating people in such a wide scope for lives of purpose, leadership and service. </p>

<p>Just my thoughts and impressions.</p>

<p>I have been looking for information about where Pepperdine sends most of their seniors. Mainly, where do most go to grad school for those who do go?</p>

<p>And do most people at Pepperdine seem to regard self expression and culture as lack of self respect and pride of self?</p>

<p>"A balanced student body with students of various colors, backgrounds and experiences...pride of self but respect for self & others as well (shown by dress & appearance, no huge displays of skin or tattoos or saggy guy pants showing shorts"</p>

<p>?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?</p>

<p>Brownsurfer, you have to remember I am a 42 yr old mom looking at a campus with "mom eyes"! To the older generation (who do most of the hiring so do have a little influence), pride of self but respect for self IS shown by how you dress...cleavage hanging out & butt cracks showing may be an expression of self to one person but disrepectful to another...and like I said, my post was MY impressions and thoughts. </p>

<p>Regarding your other question, somewhere I came across a statistic of a very high % of Pepp graduates going on to grad school...MBA stuff, I was assuming, since so many are business/comm/marketing majors. There is a really good site full of stats on CA schools you could check out, CaliforniaColleges.edu.</p>