<p>Has anyone gone through the appeal process and been successful? Any advice? It'd be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I believe there was a student who posted on here last spring who appealed her FA pkg and received slightly more aid (i.e ~$5000 in grant aid) but it was enough along with her other aid to make the school feasible for her.</p>
<p>Given that all you received was an unsubsidized Stafford (and everyone who files a FAFSA is eligible for one of those), the FA dept perceives your family as being able to pay the full cost. If you feel you need substantial aid (in the $10,000+ range) to attend UR, an appeal is unlikely to garner you that unless you have something really unusual in your family’s financial situation.</p>
<p>(BTW, most private colleges & universities expect up to 1/3 of the a family’s pre-tax income to be used for college costs. It comes as a shock for most people.)</p>
<p>Your best recourse is to prepare a strong argument about why your CSS doesn’t accurately reflect your family’s finances. Do you have high medical bills that aren’t covered by insurance? A special needs sibling? An unemployed parent? A parent who lives somewhere other than the primary residence for employment reasons? An insurance award for injuries that’s being held in trust?</p>
<p>Collect your documentation, including copies of of the pertinent expenses, prepare a spread sheet and make your best argument. Stick to the facts and go light on the emotional appeals.</p>
<p>FWIW, some of the arguments that the FA dept will not consider include: a lack of savings for college; a high cost of living where you live; private school costs for siblings; a step or non-custodial parent who will not contribute to education costs.</p>
<p>Thank you so much WOWM. We are currently compiling papers to back up our argument. We are definitely looking for much more than the 10,000 dollar range… as we are currently being asked to contribute more than half of our pretax income. Your advice is greatly appreciated.
On another note, is there any way to defer for a year when accepted ED? Or to have an extension on sending in my denial/acceptance of admission? I’m currently expected to decide by January 15th, and I am not holding out hope for more need-based aid. Instead, I am thinking of applying for more outside scholarships, or potentially working for a year to save up money. Rochester is my dream and I’m having trouble letting go of it just yet, just trying to find more options.</p>
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<p>At the end of the day, it’s just one college. Work with them , but be firm in that if they can’t make it possible for you to go, you will find a different school. Taking a year off or hoping for outside scholarships is a sucker play. Think of taking a year off as costing you a year’s worth of whatever your starting salary will be when you finish school. That’s real money that you will lose by delaying college. It’s just not worth it for one school, there are others. A school is not a dream, a successful, productive and happy life is a dream. There are many paths to find your dream. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I have to agree with ClassicRockerDad.</p>
<p>While it is likely you can defer your admission to UR for a year, it’s highly unlikely that you will be able to find sufficient outside scholarships to make UR doable for you in the next year. (Many, many scholarships require the student immediately attend college in order to receive them. Also most outside scholarships are for small amounts–typically a few thousand $-- provide only 1 year of assistance so you’re right back where you started after your freshman year.)</p>
<p>And unless there are some serious errors in your CSS submissions, you’re going to find that your FA pkg for next year won’t be substantially different than this years.</p>
<p>One question: does your family own a small business by any chance? Small business owners are treated very unfavorably by CSS and things that would normally be written off as business deductions (including insurance costs, self-employment/Social Security taxes, retirement contributions and most depreciation expenses) are not allowed by CSS. There has been a lengthy discussion of this in the Financial Aid forum.</p>
<p>UR is great school. My D2 has had a very positive experience there, but NO SCHOOL is worth going into major debt for. (D2 is there on substantial merit aid or she would be attending our state flagship…)</p>
<p>Find a college you can attend whose costs are doable for your family.</p>
<p>WOWM - Do you have a link to the CSS - small business issue in the Financial Aid Forum? I can’t seem to find the thread.</p>
<p>Chowdy Cat–</p>
<p>here’s the link </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1013184-shocker-pre-read-ivy.html?highlight=early+read+Ivy[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1013184-shocker-pre-read-ivy.html?highlight=early+read+Ivy</a></p>
<p><a href=“BTW,%20most%20private%20colleges%20&%20universities%20expect%20up%20to%201/3%20of%20the%20a%20family’s%20pre-tax%20income%20to%20be%20used%20for%20college%20costs.%20It%20comes%20as%20a%20shock%20for%20most%20people.”>quote=WayOutWestMom</a>
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<p>I agree with the “shock” part of your statement. But, I did have a few of follow-up questions…</p>
<p>(1) How is this “expectation” affected when a family has more than one child in college?
(2) Do you think that applying ED affects the aid package? If so, how?
(3) How/when is merit-aid factored in?</p>
<p>I realize every case is unique, I am just trying to get a sense what other think based on experience.</p>
<p>I double checked and our estimated EFC on the Rochester website was approximately $10,000 higher than the CSS, and the CSS was a couple of thousand higher than FAFSA.</p>
<p>This really isn’t an issue for us since we expect to be full pay anywhere other than the few Ivy schools with more generous aid to families in our income range. Even though at a CSS school we may get some money most of the schools will offer loans to meet that need or perhaps work-study so in my mind that is basically full pay.</p>
<p>I think it is really important to understand that until you have a definite offer in hand there is no way to be totally accurate-these are estimates. To have the EFC different by $25,000 though indicates to me something is wrong. </p>
<p>This is why we didn’t apply ED-we cannot afford to be a full pay at any school. The schools can tell us what they say we can afford-that is their right-but just because their formula says it doesn’t make it true in our situation. I caution everyone to check out the threads about the college loans bubble. It’s like when we went to refinance our mortgage several years ago. The underwriter kept trying to talk us into taking out a bigger mortgage than we applied for-after all, he said, rates were so low we could take the money and invest it in the stock market! We several times declined and finally had to tell him just finish the paperwork. Can you imagine if we had done that! First, the stock market crashed-goodbye to all that money-then the housing market collapsed-goodbye home equity. I can see why so many people got into trouble because they did things they were told they could afford. The reality is they couldn’t afford it-just like the reality is a lot of people are going to end up in debt for a college education they could not afford. </p>
<p>This issue isn’t specific to Rochester-it affects every college and every family involved. It can get very emotionally charged and upsetting and I do feel for this situation-but sometimes in life we have to know when something is beyond our ability to have.</p>
<p>My S loves this school but can only go if he gets significant merit aid. He understands that and accepts it-doesn’t mean he has to like it. I would like nothing more than to have a blank check so he could go here-but I don’t. </p>
<p>I think is also important to realize that this process is a good way to teach kids financial responsibility and the reality of how expensive life is and how choices need to be made. We can’t have everything we want-it is a hard lesson to learn like this but it’s the truth.</p>
<p><a href=“1”>quote</a> How is this “expectation” affected when a family has more than one child in college?
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<p>Can’t answer that because while I did have 2 in college at the same time for 1 year, D1 attended our state flagship under the Lottery Scholarship program. </p>
<p>But you must remember that most US colleges and universities do not meet full need and will ‘gap’ you so even if your EFC=1/3 your pre-tax income, your actual costs may be much higher.</p>
<p><a href=“2”>quote</a> Do you think that applying ED affects the aid package? If so, how?
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<p>Have no clue because I did not allow either of my children to apply ED anywhere. (EA and rolling decision–yes; binding ED–no.)</p>
<p>Both were eligible for NM’s Lottery-Success Scholarship. (Free tuition for 4 years at any state U. And since the state flagship is here in town-- they basically had free room & board too. Both could go for the cost of books, lab fees and parking pass. Hard deal to pass up.) My husband and I required our kids to consider cost when choosing where to apply. They each had a budget to work within. For D1 this meant applying to programs under WUE as well as for merit scholarships. For D2, this meant applying for merit and outside scholarships everywhere. This was very important since DH had stage 4a cancer at the time D1 was applying and had passed away by the time D2 was applying. Both my DH and I strongly felt the gift we most wanted to give to our kids was an education for which they didn’t incur debt. And we’ve managed to do that.</p>
<p><a href=“3”>quote</a> How/when is merit-aid factored in?
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<p>Merit should come with the FA pkg at acceptance–except for special awards that require separate applications. Those notifications came in early spring–around March IIRC.</p>
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<p>Amen to that! I’ve always told my kids when they complained they didn’t have this or that that if they spent their lives being unhappy because someone had more than they did, they were going to spent their entire lives being very unhappy. No matter how much you have–someone is always going to have more.</p>
<p>And Pepper03–D1 graduated from the state U and I really cannot say that her opportunities and education quality was in any way substantially different that those her sister has at UR. I think in the long run their life outcomes are going to be equally successful. It really is the kid and not the school that makes the difference. Roses can bloom anywhere you plant them.</p>
<p>I don’t want to directly contradict the advice of anyone else who is posting in this thread, as their experiences are likely far more typical. As an exceptionally high need student, I can say that U of R’s aid package was incredibly generous, and when I filed an appeal with supporting documentation, it was considered and approved. I think you should file the appeal with as much documentation as you can, but don’t be surprised if it works out where you get denied. As a transfer student who had to leave her first college after a financial aid problem there, I can say that some schools are going to be out of your reach and some schools aren’t going to be very good with appeals. I think it’s circumstances and luck of the draw.</p>
<p>Really insightful discussion here, it’s been very helpful to read. My family does have an atypical circumstance, so hopefully the appeal process will be beneficial. Writercat, thanks for a little good news on Christmas. It’s nice to see you’ve had a positive experience with the FA office; I’m still hoping for the same.</p>
<p>CLN592… This thread and others have been insightful. Perhaps I can ask one of our Financial Aid Counselors to have a presence on CC. </p>
<p>I also HIGHLY recommend contacting your admissions counselor to discuss merit-based scholarships. If we are aware that Rochester is a “dream” of yours, we will do as much as we can to make it an affordable option for you. I can’t make any gaurantees, but I think it is worth calling and speaking with an admissions counselor.</p>
<p>When is an admissions counselor assigned-so far when he or my husband have called they have not talked to the same person.</p>
<p>Pepper03, here’s the link to the staff directory.
[Admissions</a> Staff Directory](<a href=“http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/staff.shtm]Admissions”>http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/staff.shtm)
If you scroll down, you’ll see the admissions counselors for the various regions of the US.</p>
<p>Thanks! We also can see what Mike looks like! :)</p>
<p>Haha… I’m not terribly photogenic! When you call the office don’t hesitate to ask for the counselor that reads for your high school. He/she may not be available, in which case any one of our counselors is happy to help, but it never hurts to ask.</p>
<p>MConklin you photograph very nicely-don’t sell yourself short! :)</p>
<p>I am going to suggest my S call next week and talk to his counselor-it is the man he had his interview with in October. It’s up to my S now. I told him this last night-if you want something in life you need to go get it-time for him to step up to the plate.</p>
<p>He knows exactly what we can do for him financially-and he knows what kind of debt he will be allowed to take on-so he knows what gap must be filled by a job and merit aid. </p>
<p>Thanks for the tips and insight-it is great having you here to guide us through the process.</p>