Financial Aid Appeal

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
1

<p>I was accepted into the NU.in program at Northeastern, and despite acceptance into this program being unexpected, I would still love to go to Northeastern. The problem is that I only received 18,000 in aid, with a measly 5,400 dollars in a grant per semester and the usual federal loans and grants. There is absolutely no way that I could afford to go to Northeastern. My mother is currently unemployed (although searching her face off everyday in front of a computer screen), is a single mother, supports two children, pays for my HS education, and only has about 10,000 in savings. I don't mean to make this sound like a sob story. I just want you to understand how shocking the poor financial aid was when you take these (probably not infrequent) circumstances in to account.</p>

<p>I've done some research and while the likelihood of getting any sort of addition money in form of grants or scholarships is small, I really see myself at Northeastern for five years. Because of this, I will fight as much as I can to try to get additional aid. </p>

<p>That being said, if any of you or your children have appealed a financial aid decision, how did you write it? How did you send it in? What did you include in the appeal? Would it be best to write it under the supervision of a very knowledgeable guidance counselor? Or would it perhaps be possible to meet with my allotted Financial Aid Counselor from NEU?</p>

<p>Thank you to anyone who can answer any of these questions, as many of them as they are. I hope others can get help from my thread as well!</p>

2

<p>I called the Financial Aid office a couple weeks ago and talked w/ my counselor. He pulled up my file right then and there and after a couple minutes, said that there wasn’t anymore he could do to get me more aid. :confused: I just basically told him my situation (my EFC’s a really low number, yet I didn’t get a lot of aid from the school… really wanted to attend NEU but UMiami gave me a LOT more money) and asked if there was anything I could do. He said there’s nothing that anyone of us can do based on my file, and that it might be a good idea for me to go to a college that’s giving me more so I wouldn’t have a lot of debt (at least he’s honest). He did say he marked me down for asking for more aid though… have a feeling that’s not gonna do anything…</p>

<p>Ofcourse, my financial situation’s not exactly like yours, so hopefully you’ll have better luck than I did! Good luck and hope it works out for you in the end!</p>

3

<p>It is a real problem. Our EFC was small but we are paying upwards of 32K after scholarships and loans. We really had to think long and hard over this. The deciding factor was the co op program. This opportunity is priceless. The ability to work 3 different places before graduation is wonderful, and job placement is very high, even in a bad economy, at least in Engineering. We will delay our retirement by years but feel this sacrifice is worth it for our son.</p>