<p>Aside from 25k merit …we only got loans…no work study either…we also will have 2 in college and one in law school…gulp here as well.</p>
<p>@dolphinlvr6, we are also waiting to hear on the tuition exchange. Quite nervous as Tulane is D’s first choice but she knows we can’t afford it without the TE. Appears she didn’t get any merit. Did your son?
We too are really curious about the criteria for TE. She got into 4 schools so far (one is the one where my husband works- and of course she absolutely doesn’t want to attend) and did not get TE at the other two, so waiting on Tulane and to first hear anything about three other schools she applies to. Assume in a few weeks we’ll have all the info and I just hope there will be a few real options financially.
Good luck to your son as well, hopefully we’ll both hear good news soon!</p>
<p>Each school sets their own criteria for awarding TE. I’m hoping all the other TE applicants got DH or PT,lol! Fingers crossed for both of us :)>- </p>
<p>We are still waiting to hear from financial aid with fingers crossed…Tulane is DD’s first choice hands down but without substantial aid it just won’t be possible. I’m trying to remain calm and pray for the best. Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>We are extremely stressed. D was admitted EA and she thinks Tulane is her top choice. I say “thinks” because we haven’t yet visited. She did not receive merit aid up front, nor did she receive any scholarships (She applied for the PT and CS). We used the net cost calculator to determine aid and were told she would receive $20K in scholarships and grants, in addition to the usual Stafford, etc… I know this is only an estimate but I would think Tulane’s calculations would err on the side of conservative with these projections. D received an email indicating financial aid info was available but the only thing there is the Stafford loan, nothing else! We are trying to remain hopeful, thinking that perhaps the financial aid is based off of FAFSA (and we knew we would not qualify) but perhaps institutional aid has yet to be determined? It does appear they’ve received/reviewed all of the supplemental info that went with the CSS application according to the site so that is worrisome. </p>
<p>D is a solid student, 4.0 uw GPA, APs (only three because she attends a small private school that doesn’t offer many, but she also took a college class over the summer and earned an “A”), year round athlete and wonderful volunteer resume. Her SATs are probably the weak link at a 1990, but still 90th percentile. She was accepted to the scholars program at University of Maryland and at nearly a third the cost, that may be her best option. It just makes me sad because she is so excited about the prospect of Tulane and we had a trip planned for next month. She has reached out to her admissions rep and financial aid office for more information. I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under us. Anyone have a similar situation, or able to offer a reason to hold out hope? </p>
<p>I am a bit surprised the NPC would be so far off, but then I have very little experience with this. I think you are doing all you can by reaching out to the FA office for clarification. Especially given her perfect GPA perhaps they can reconsider. You are right the SAT is the weak spot, since there is little she can do about not having AP courses offered by her school. Just to be clear, when I say weak spot it is only relative to A) the applicant pool for upper level schools like Tulane and B) especially as regards merit aid. Actually her SAT is only somewhat below the average for Tulane students, not that far off really. I seem to remember the average for Tulane being around 2020 or something like that.</p>
<p>Having said that, odds are the aid probably won’t change or change enough to close the gap with UMD much. I cannot determine the value regarding Tulane versus UMD Honors as anyone else sees it, but if I were in your shoes I would be picking the state school and banking the difference for my child’s future. At least that is if my assumption that the $$ difference (assuming the FA offer doesn’t change) is meaningful to your family, i.e. that you are not in a situation where that kind of money can be spent without impacting your financials significantly. If this is a borderline decision, then perhaps the trip to Tulane and New Orleans is still worthwhile so you can sit down afterwards and make a considered decision between you and your daughter.</p>
<p>Most importantly, try not to be so stressed. I fully appreciate this is an important decision, not to mention a disappointing situation whereby an option your daughter had wanted to be able to have and had probably idealized to some extent seems far away right now. And of course you want to be able to give it to her. But be assured that UMD Honors would provide her with both a fine education and, no doubt, a great college experience. Perhaps Tulane would be better for her, but not at any cost. The top Mercedes is a better car, but I cannot afford that so I pick something else. I don’t mean to imply that cars are as important as colleges, the former is far more about utility. College is a much more nuanced and complicated decision, but it still involves value judgements.</p>
<p>Sorry not to be more hopeful, and perhaps a visit is still worthwhile since you could sit right across from a financial aid officer. At the least it would make a nice mini-vacation to NOLA, which is never a bad thing. But otherwise that is just my humble opinion based on what you have presented. I hope it helps a little, because I hate to see people get so stressed about this when it almost always turns out just fine. She has a good option in UMD, and that is worth focusing on. </p>
<p>I, too, would be contacting FA about the absence of ANY merit from Tulane. That’s weird, and FC certainly knows this as well as anyone on this forum. It smells of clerical error. If you look back thru the posts to Tulane forum and compare your D’s stats to the stats of students accepted with merit, you will see just how weird it is, I think. Comparing is always dangerous work, but in this case it might strengthen your point when you speak to the FA advisor. But as FC said, the chance that Tulane is going to come up $$ to equal UMD’s costs is extremely small. The top merit award (outside the competitive ones) is only (ONLY?) 30K. And UMD is a very fine school where your D could find everything Tulane has to offer and weekend laundry service 
</p>
<p>Every school has its unique qualities and aspects, hence the room for value assessments. Tulane is smaller and will have smaller classes the vast majority of the time; it is in New Orleans which UMD of course cannot replicate, unlike UMD the students will not be mostly from Maryland; the winter weather will be generally warmer, etc. One or more of these kinds of factors may be completely unimportant to an individual, while being very important to another. I am sure someone very familiar with UMD could tick off a list that accentuates the positives for UMD, or at least what they perceive as positives. Certainly each school will provide the opportunity to receive an excellent education.</p>
<p>Thanks FC and JK for your responses. I’ve been reading these threads for months but this is the first time I felt compelled to share. I agree that comparing is dangerous but it’s so hard not to when you personally know less well-rounded students who received merit offers from Tulane and they aren’t planning to attend. It just adds insult to injury. I will let you know what type of response my D receives. We are not trying to close the gap completely between Tulane and UMD, just trying to narrow it to something more manageable. $61K, when we are hoping to help with graduate school, is too much of a stretch.</p>
<p>
My point exactly. I do hope Tulane can do something for you, but if not she will do great at UMD I am sure. Let us know.</p>
<p>I have never posted on here before, but I want to share a similar story as @summer20. I have a 4.0, but like @summer20, I did not receive merit aid in my initial offer. I applied, but didn’t get, the the PT, DHS, or CS scholarships. I still thought Tulane would be a possibility because the net price calculator estimated I would get $22,000 in scholarships/grants and the standard government loans. Additionally, you should know that I will have three siblings in college next year (two of us will be at Tulane hopefully), so I was sure financial aid would come through for me. My EFC according to FAFSA in $24,000, but like you, my financial aid package currently reflects the standard government loans and nothing else. I really don’t understand how I got this financial aid package. If I don’t get any additional aid, my parents college expenses will be more than their total income before taxes! I will reach out to the financial aid office and to admissions to discuss this and hope these are just preliminary numbers. </p>
<p>This is beginning to sound as if something might be amiss. It will be interesting to see what the two of you find out. Your case especially, @smiley99, with an EFC of $24K seems like something is missing. Let us know.</p>
<p>Just so you know, that EFC was from FAFSA. Obviously, the institutional calculation will be slightly different. That’s why I let you know what the Tulane net price calculator showed as well. I left a message with financial aid earlier today. I’ll be sure to post when I hear anything. I have my fingers crossed because Tulane is my top choice!</p>
<p>I’m glad we applied early, FC. I wonder if the well has run dry (for later applicants?).</p>
<p>I am cutting and pasting part of the reply received from the financial aid office:</p>
<p>“The $20,000 (Grant or Scholarship) is an estimate of either need based aid or merit scholarship given by the Admissions Office. Given your families tax information we could not offer need based aid. I cannot be 100% sure of the information you entered into the Net Price Calculator such as GPA and other variables. However, there might have been a change in how “grades or merit” was being calculated for 2013-2014 vs. 2014-2015 by the admissions office.”</p>
<p>It doesn’t make sense that admissions would change their calculation thresholds, yet continue supplying information based on the old values. It is certainly disappointing to learn that this is Tulane’s standard approach for providing public information regarding admissions and the administration of financial aid. I find it incompetent and unethical.</p>
<p>Well, they said “might have been”, so it is premature to say they did anything unethical. The FA office doesn’t award the merit scholarships, admissions does. Since it sounds like the book is closed on need-based aid given your financial submissions and barring any drastic changes in those, you should focus on seeing if admissions will tell your child (and it should be your child inquiring) as to whether they could be reconsidered for merit aid. You probably saw this posting from Jeff in admissions since it has been mentioned several times, but just in case you didn’t:</p>
<p><a href=“http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2012/12/dear-tulane-send.html”>http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2012/12/dear-tulane-send.html</a></p>
<p>You probably realize this but given the tone of your last post, I feel I should say that going in angry won’t get you anything. Keep an open mind and see what they have to say. Your D sounds like she could make a decent case for being reconsidered for merit money. Certainly nothing to lose. She shouldn’t be shy about playing up her strengths.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard back from financial aid yet, but I have to agree with @summer20. Admissions and financial aid should both provide input into the net price calculator. While I realize that the net price calculator is just an estimate, parents and students should be able to rely on this information as a reasonably close estimate. I am not mad, just really disappointed. If financial aid doesn’t come through I will appeal to admissions for additional merit consideration. </p>
<p>Hang in there Smiley, I will hope for a positive outcome for you! Thanks FC for the sound advice. I have always thought of you as a voice of reason on these threads. I have read Jeff’s blog and under ordinary circumstances, I would agree 100%. All communication (to this point) has been between my daughter and admissions. Unfortunately, I needed to share my frustration and since I was the person who input the data for the NPC (2/5/14 in case anyone is interested in the timing), I felt like it should come from me. I did copy D’s admissions rep and I acknowledge the risk. At this point, I feel like we have nothing to lose. </p>
<p>Hard to disagree that the NPC should be as accurate as possible. Never having used one I will defer to those that have more insight. As far as you doing some of the communicating with admissions @summer20, I didn’t mean to say that you shouldn’t at all. Absolutely if you feel there is something really wrong with the process, either technically or philosophically, one needs to speak up. I just meant the request for merit aid, and a recitation of the reasons for reconsideration, should come from your daughter. Complaints about the admissions part of the NPC should rightfully come from the parents. It is your money, after all.</p>
<p>@dolphinlvr6, just got an email from the school that we did NOT get the Tuition Exchange. Very sad as this means D will not be attending Tulane :-(.
Hope you got better news at your house!</p>