<p>Anybody know how likely it is that Vanderbilt will adjust my financial aid package by "negotiating"? They favor the CSS Profile over the FAFSA, and the CSS Profile neglected a lot of information that FAFSA considered in our EFC. Basically, if they go off our EFC I would get $20+k, but they only offered $6k. I'm really crossing my fingers they'll negotiate and hear me out when I explain our financial situation, but I also don't want to get my hopes up for nothing.</p>
<p>Hi! As another incoming freshman who requested aid I found this regarding negotiation at the school’s website:
" Will Vanderbilt match financial aid packages that I have received from other schools?</p>
<p>Vanderbilt University does not “negotiate” or match financial aid awards from other universities. It may be that another university is offering scholarships based on factors such as merit, and not demonstrated financial need. If, however, the other school has information about your family’s financial situation that you did not share with us, or if you have reason to believe we have made an error in our evaluation, please contact us to discuss a possible re-evaluation."</p>
<p>It’s pretty straightforward and it didnt apply to me, so I didn’t request a reevaluation. Your situation might be different though and you may want to contact the financial aid office.</p>
<p>Ya, I saw that too. Hopefully they’ll be willing to re-evaluate mine, but I don’t know. Is anyone else in the same situation where their FAFSA was more accurate than the CSS Profile?</p>
<p>I had a great experience this week working with the Financial Aid group at Vanderbilt. My FAFSA overstated my EFC for 2012 because there was a non-taxable withdrawal in 2011 that was being treated as income. I called Vandy on Friday to discuss and they couldn’t have been more helpful. The Financial Aid person agreed that the item should be excluded from the calculations and immediately gave me a new figure for their need-based grant for 2012-3. Let’s just say that I was MUCH happier with the new amount. Give them a call and see if you they can work with you.</p>
<p>The thing that worries me here is that you say the FAFSA takes things into consideration that the Profile does not. Actually, it is the other way around. Profile collects additional information, and it often results in an EFC higher than the FAFSA EFC. DoreDad most likely had an equally high FAFSA EFC. </p>
<p>Your aid will not be increased just because you think the EFC is too high. If there is a particular reason you feel that the EFC is too high, you can discuss that reason with the aid office. If you just think it is too high, though, that won’t fly. So before you call, get your ducks in a row … if you have real reasons that you think certain items are being considered that should not be, you need to be able to speak to those items directly.</p>
<p>I actually can speak to my concerns directly, I just didn’t want to reveal too much of my personal financial situation online.</p>
<p>Basically, the CSS Profile ignores net losses in businesses. My mom owns her own business and in this economy she’s actually had a net loss of nearly $40k just this year and even more over the past 2 years. The CSS Profile completely ignores that, but FAFSA considers it. Based on other research I’ve done, I’m not the first one to have encountered this problem either.</p>
<p>I’m also a student so I don’t know all the financial terminology, but this is just the overgeneralized way my parents explained it to me.</p>
<p>Also, my Dad has already spoken briefly with the FA office and they are willing to discuss it more once we send in our final tax papers. Whether or not that means they’ll adjust my package, I don’t know, but I guess I’ll find out soon.</p>
<p>Both FAFSA and Profile collect the information necessary to let the school know that your mom had a business loss. In addition, you gave your mom’s tax return to Vanderbilt, and they looked at it. The thing is, schools like Vanderbilt do not allow many of the deductions that lead to business losses … they intentionally add them back in. The complaints from people reflect that conscious decision on the part of Profile schools to disallow certain deductions. You can certainly discuss your situation with Vandy … just do not be surprised to hear that they stand by their decision.</p>
<p>I do see that you haven’t sent your final tax papers yet … so it is possible that your parents’ return may yield information that Vandy has not yet seen so hasn’t been able to take into account. You may want to wait until you have sent the paperwork before you contact them again. Anything you would ask them now would only lead to a hypothetical response. They will most likely tell you what they told your dad … to send the paperwork.</p>
<p>Yup, that’s our plan. My dad sent the papers in Friday, so he’s going to set up a time to speak with them tomorrow. What I don’t understand though, is how a school can’t consider a $40k loss in the decision to give FA. I’m not asking for a full ride or anything, and I know there are people out there with much more strenuous situations, but $64000 to attend a school is a lot more than my family can afford, especially considering my mom now not only not making an income, but has a loss.</p>
<p>The truth is, many “losses” claimed by people on their taxes are more paper than real. Tax laws allow a lot of write-offs that reduce income for tax purposes but don’t actually impact the amount of money available to the person. There are people who are experts at reducing their income! It sounds like this may not be the case for your family, and once you submit the paperwork, they will be able to tell. </p>
<p>I worked in financial aid and verified the file of someone I knew personally (didn’t know it was them when I was doing it, because I never paid attention to names … noticed it at the end). The father had a successful business, and the family had plenty of money for many things … yet they qualified for a Pell grant. I was at a FAFSA-only school. I know for a fact that a Profile school would have made adjustments so that … while they would still qualify for Pell because it uses the federal formula … they would not have received as much school-based grant money as they would have expected.</p>
<p>Okay thanks! That makes more sense. I’ll keep my fingers crossed then that they understand the losses really have put a strain on my family’s financial situation.</p>