<p>mamag2855 Congratulations to your daughter! I am very confused after all the discussion of the change in grant awards for OOS. I am happy for you though. I am wondering how many students did not apply due the change that was announced… maybe they could have received enough financial aid after all? </p>
<p>Maybe W&M admissions can weigh in? It would certainly be a shame if students felt that they had no chance for enough aid and did not apply.</p>
<p>@mamag2855, what are you hoping we weigh in on. We did provide some info a while ago on this thread regarding the changing in packaging that was announced in 2013 (yes we do cap out-of-state grant aid at 25% of the cost of attendance). We generally advise families that have questions regarding aid to contact the Financial Aid Office. Aid is very complicated and they are happy to answer individual or general questions.</p>
<p>My OOS DD’s offered grant totals 28K, which is more than 25% COA, which contradicts statement above, hence the general confusion. Are the grants my DD was offered also merit based because she is a Monroe Scholar? Or is what she was offered not considered “out-of-state grant aid”, and is something else entirely?</p>
<p>@mamag2855, without knowing the individual grants your daughter received we cannot answer that question. We suggest calling the Financial Aid Office as they are familiar with your daughter’s package and can outline exactly what she was awarded and why.</p>
<p>Thanks, I will check with them next week and report back.</p>
<p>Our D was accepted into the Monroe Scholars, we are out of state and don’t qualify for Fin Aid. The out of state tuition for next year '14-15 has not been set yet, so appears to be a moving target, and tuition is raised every year by a different percent, so hard to plan for the expenses. D has other very good options with merit scholarships, but wants to go here. Will W&M offer her anything else or should we tell her she can’t go here?</p>
<p>I received the following response when I asked for more information about the 28K grant received for Fall '14 by my OOS daughter. As I suspected, she was offered the grant aid because we have need (W&M calculated $39K) and because my daughter, as a Monroe Scholar, also qualified for merit reasons. Grant aid for the vast majority of OOS students, regardless of actual need, is capped at $13,500. If you are an OOS Monroe Scholar without need, no grant aid will be offered.</p>
<p>From W&M financial aid: “Our website is correct. Out-of-State students have a grant cap of $13,500 this year. Your student’s aid package is different because of her Monroe Scholars award. This type of aid consideration is unique to our most exceptional students (students offered Merit funds), we will cover the remainder of their need despite their domicile. If your EFC is to increase next year then the aid coverage would change.” </p>
<p>Wow, that’s great. We have contacted financial aid and we don’t qualify for anything. We also contact admissions to let them know that she had other merit aid offers and there is nothing else available. We ran the numbers out for 4 years for the other two private schools (Whitman and Scripps) with merit aid and also W&M. We think the gap is $30-40k for 4 yrs. W&M being more. The bigger question is whether or not it is worth the expense and the cross country travel. Her major is Environmental Science.</p>
<p>I feel sorry for the people who fall into the gap - they make too much to get aid and the only option is plus loans. Must hurt to get accepted at W&M, be told that you can afford it than have to send your kid somewhere else. To be fair W&M is not the only college like this (UVA #2?) but VA schools are bad because US News and Reports ranks them so highly …</p>
<p>Shame the whole thing is so complicated. </p>
An ideal thread for a worrying topic. I am absolutely frazzled (hehe…) by this question. Question is twofold: my EFC is 33500. Someone was speaking about a sweet spot for EFC’s at around 32k. Will my entire aid be met. Is W/M still giving 80% demonstrated need grants to applicants, or can someone explain to me this 25% aid-cap rule? Can someone ballpark what my aid would be? If it’s 80%, along with my 10k a year scholarship from my school district, I’d be paying 27k, which is my second-cheapest offer (McGill is 25k a year). I have an offer from GWU for 30k if this doesn’t work out…
Also, W/M is holding out on my aid package until I submit FY-2014 tax returns. We do extensions every year, and can’t submit these before May 1 due to the nature of my mom’s job. W/M office of aid won’t budge. What should we do about this? Be hostile? Negotiate?
@Wamp;M Admission
Have you run W&M’s Net Price Calculator? That should give you a decent idea. https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/wm
Helpful hint: never be hostile when you want a favor or special treatment. W&M’s website clearly says that students entering in the fall must have all documentation submitted by March 1st for priority in determining aid eligibility, and adds:
W&M has a limited pot of money and a limited amount of time in which to disburse it. You have some great opportunities at other schools. Good luck!
Does anyone know if the financial aid award/package has been sent yet?
@jjjj16 D rec’d hers around 4/10. That was with all documentation submitted before 3/1.
When we hadn’t heard anything, D emailed the FA office. They were very responsive. 
@Catmatmc Ok, thank you!! I had some issues with my fafsa, and they were fixed last week. I don’t know if that significantly delays the process for me.
@Otlichnik Hello! After using collegeconfidential for so long I finally decided to sign up for an account, so that I can reply to your post. I will attend William and Mary this year as an incoming freshman. Just a week ago, I was probably thinking about going to UVA. I didn’t know too much about schools, but it was just feeling that UVA is bigger, and funner that made me wanted to go. The same thing happened to me with UVA as yours was that they want my parent’s tax transcript, which I couldn’t submit before the deadline May 1st. Meanwhile, WM does not require that form, so I got my aid decision and the package is really good. I wasn’t a forced decision at all, after I have done my research about WM. I think it is a fate thing, and no matter where you go, it will be part of you, just live it to your fullest you wouldn’t regret the decision you’ll make. As I will never imagine myself a week ago I will accept WM offer over UVA, I am sure there is uniqueness about the school you will attend that will make you proud.
Lastly, after seeing all these complaints about the financial aid office, I feel like I should stand up for them. In my opinion, the staffs are really effective in their end as long as you did everything properly, follow the instruction carefully, submit anything that is required. I wasn’t thinking about going to WM so didn’t submit everything in time, as matter of fact some documents I submitted was at late March. But I faxed it to them, and they processed it in one day or two it is indicated as received in mywm banner. I never met them in person, all communication was made through email. I would really like to thank them, haha, hope staffs can see this! Thank you all! A big hug~
“funner” ?