MY S is a junior. He is most interested in Wake Forest. I wonder how is wake with need and merit based aid. In a presentation at our school, they discourage those with need from applying ED. i assume that they are not generous, and don’t want students with need to have limited choices with their awards. Can y’all share what you know about wake and aid? Do they meet need? Are their awards heavy on Loans instead of scholarships? Is their small endowment a problem? Is it harder for students with need to be admitted? Any insights would be appreciated.
Thanks
bump?
@BigPapiofthree I second the Wake Forest presentation. I think it is not wise to apply ED to any schools if financial aid is definitely a deciding factor in the college choice. A) You could end up feeling that the manner in which aid is met (even when schools like WFU commit to funding 100% of demonstrated need it could be with lots of loans), B) It can be emotionally really hard to not get to go to a school you are excited because of finance and C) youcan diminish your opportunities at other schools by being wrapped up in ED. ED is great if it’s possible, but, I’d encourage your son to take his chance in the regular application pool.
PS, good luck to him wherever he ends up. My college experience was positive so I hope his is just as positive.
thanks for your insights CKDEAC. appreciate the time for a response…
If any others have insight to Wake way with Financial Aid, please chime in as well
My son got into Wake for Fall 2014. At the time, the total cost was $62,600. He was given a grant for $27,000 and then they offered $14,000 in loans, $2000 in work study and then we were supposed to contribute the remaining $21,400. To give this some perspective, we never qualify for any financial aid, only loans! Umm, no thank you! He ended up choosing University of South Carolina Honors College which is absolutely fabulous!
Warrior21, I am unclear, was the grant from Government or institution? isn’t a grant like a scholarship. no repayment.
I am assuming it is from Wake. Under the sub category that says Grants and Scholarships (gift aid) It says College Scholarship $27,200.
My EFC was 0 and I am paying 9k/year in subsidized loans. The rest is covered via gift aid, Pell grants, and a work study. So this is completely anecdotal but my experience with Wake financial aid has been very positive.
I posted this a few months ago. Now that Financial Aid awards were just announced, I was hoping some new admits could share their financial aid experiences… How did Aid compare to EFC? How did it compare to the online college board estimate? Was it loan or grant heavy? Were you happy? I am looking for insight, as this is a top choice, and have a low EFC, due to loss of employment.
I think Wake Forest has been exceptionally generous and Financial Aid Services has been wonderful to work with… My son has merit and financial aid, plus he works as an RA. Our contribution was maybe $30k the first year and less than $20K the second. For comparison, that is less than the cost of going to our flagship state university which gives zero aid… not even loans.
Wake was my dream school for almost 8 years. The FA prevented me from attending this Fall. My family lost a majority of our (lower end) income to hospital bills in 2015 (my father had cancer), and Wake expected my family to pay $34,000 after $27,000 in scholarships and $10,000 in loans. They even noted that they had adjusted my aid due to the hospital bills. Very unimpressed. I would have left with about $90,000 in loans and a very stressed out family. Despite all of this, I still love Wake and my Demon Deacon sports, but I am happily attending NCSU next year.
I would like to note that they provided much better aid to a few friends, who did not come close to needing aid like my family does. It seemed very strange, particularly because said friends were rejected by lower tier schools.
My daughter is a freshman(class of 2020). We are happy with our financial aid. Our EFC was $21,120. She received a merit scholarship of $10,000 a year and need based aid from the college making our net cost $20,912. A loan was also offered. Work study was not included. Wake was less expensive than our state colleges. I used the net price calculator for Wake and it came up with appox. net cost of $28,000.