<p>I love W&M but the FinAid package I got was just plain terrible. $5,000 in loans. They offered me a total of $5000. In loans.</p>
<p>As an OOS student, this is going to be impossible for me to pay without burying myself in debt.</p>
<p>Anyone have any ideas as to how to lighten the burden as an OOS student? Any ways to fix the original FA pack that actually work? (i.e. calling in and appealing / trying to bargain using a scholarship from another good school)</p>
<p>If you don't mind my asking, what was your EFC on the Fafsa? Because now you've got me worried!</p>
<p>I'm so sorry that happened :( Money matters are so frustrating.. especially with colleges you really want to go to! I'm afraid I've heard the bargaining thing usually doesn't work..</p>
<p>I've heard that about bargaining too -sigh-</p>
<p>My EFC was around 30K [which I think is way too high for me, but that's another rant for another time]. Which means a 100% need school w/ W&M's tuition would have given me about 10K. They didn't even give me that in loans..</p>
<p>This is one of the common drawbacks of state schools. Even very good ones just don't have the resources to provide the kind of FA you'd expect from a comparable private school. I believe that W & M recently began a more aggressive FA program for lower income students - but with an EFC of $30K, the school wouldn't consider you in that category. And I don't know how generous state schools ever are with OOS students.</p>
<p>I hear you on the EFC! It's small comfort that almost everyone thinks "they can't be serious" when that figure pops up, regardless of financial circumstances. </p>
<p>I urge you not to "bury yourself in debt." It's almost never worth doing that for an undergraduate degree. You may find an adjustment is made if you (or preferably a parent) request a conference with a finaid officer, if there are circumstances that the FAFSA doesn't address (health issues, job issues, family issues). I don't think that most schools adjust upwards if a student has a scholarship offer from another college, though I know that's a scenario that's occasionally presented on CC.</p>
<p>I'm a little confused. If your EFC was around 30k and oos costs are just under 35k, why would they give you more than 5k?</p>
<p>Quick response as a parent of an OOS student. Few things are against you for expecting for any change. The biggest is that the Gateway program is for instate only and for those with much much lower EFCs. (Actually with incomes hovering around your EFC) Second, W&M only meets around 76% of unmet need of OOS students. Meeting need includes loans FIRST. So, if the cost of attendance is around $35,000 (including transportation/personal expenses) subtract your EFC from that and you get $5000. Add taking 76% of that $5000 and they actually gave you more. The only thing you might barter with is making a combination of freshmen year direct loan ($ 3650??? someone can correct me on that) and maybe the balance with workstudy but even that is questionable. Sorry but an EFC of $30,000 whether you agree with that number or not, is not going to get you much financial aid.</p>
<p>collegestudent2b: The OOS costs this year, quoted from the letter I got from the school, are $37,109.</p>
<p>bluejay: Thanks - that was the news I didn't want to hear, but I appreciate hearing it. Yuck. I should have applied to more schools with generous merit aid.</p>
<p>Not to add more bad news but the price quoted in the letter is probably for this year's expenses. As next year's (2008-2009), I doubt has been determined yet. But I'm sure the price is not going down. State school prices for out of state students are rarely a bargain.</p>
<p>It still seems like a bargain to me - the cost of attendance at Vanderbilt, for example (including books, fees, insurance, and transportation allowance) is over $50K this year. So we find $37K more manageable - or as manageable as it gets, I guess.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with you, Frazzled. </p>
<p>Also, the price quoted in the letter probably (if not definitely) IS next year's expenses.</p>
<p>maea,</p>
<p>My son is in the same boat. Our EFC is $31,000 and we are in Calif. The package they sent us was this...</p>
<p>$10,000 College merit award
$ 1,750 unsub stafford loan</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is more than we can afford. I just don't think this whole EFC thing is right. I don't understand how families are expected to pay almost 1/3 of their income on college tuition.</p>
<p>guitars: You probably don't realize how lucky your son is to receive that 10,000 merit award. What exactly was it called? W & M does not really give out many merit awards. Even Monroe Scholars only get a $3000 dollar stipend for research but that doesn't change their tuition bill. Colleges do not expect families to pay that amount out of current income. The expectation is that it comes form multiple sources: current parental income, savings, loans, student income ... For an out of state student $21,000 for W&M is awesome.</p>
<p>guitars: I totally agree. My parents would laugh at me if I asked them to pay more than 15K per year. </p>
<p>bluejay: It said specifically that it was next year's expenses.</p>
<p>That's at least some good news. Usually the Board of Visitors does not meet until the spring and at that time sets the rates for the next school year. At that time there is a message on the opening website. Someone please let me know if I missed that. On the actual financial aid page it only reports this year's costs.</p>
<p>Good news in that at least you know what numbers you're dealing with.</p>
<p>I got nothing and I am OOS...</p>
<p>I really don't know much about it, but there are some reciprocal agreements between some states for in-state tuition - for example, Virginia participates in the Academic Common Market, which includes a number of other states in the region - but it seems to be rather restricted - that is, it seems to be restricted to degree programs <em>not</em> available in your home state. Still, might be worth doing a little research on this (and other similar programs.) </p>
<p>Unfortunately, as has been pointed out, as a state school, there's precious little aid available to anyone, in-state or out, and this thread might be the first mention of merit aid being offered that I've ever seen ... :(</p>
<p>It's one reason W&M isn't higher in the rankings, lack of endowment.</p>
<p>Squiddy, thanks for the link, but it apparently only applies to me if I plan to major in American Studies..</p>
<p>The EFC is not W&M's determination -- it is by formula developed by the U.S. Department of Education and it is the same for any school you may attend. The difference comes in how much difference there is between the EFC and the school's tuition. Just about everyone feels as though their EFC is beyond their means, regardless of the school or state. It used to be worse when the value of your home was included. </p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at W&M, out-of-state (Delaware). University of Delaware is a great school, but it is the only really good choice in our state, we live only five minutes from the campus so it was "too close," half of his high school would be going there, and it was too big (16,000 students) for my son so an in-state public was not really an option, so we were looking at private or out-of-state public. I attended W&M 25 years ago as an in-state. When I checked the historic tuition info on the W& M website, it turns out I am paying for my son 10 times what my parens paid for me. </p>
<p>W&M, UVa, and Va Tech are the big three of public institutirons in Virginia. They are top notch schools very much in demand by both in-state and out-of-state and are limited by state law in the percentage of out-of-staters that may make up their student populations (used to be 70% must be in-state, 30% could be out-of-state - not sure if the formula is still the same). They can charge more for both in-state or out-of-state than other Va public institutions and than other states' public schools. The reality is that their competition is private schools (the Ivies and other first-tier privates such as Duke, Emory, Georgetown, etc.) that run in the $48K-50K per year range. When my son was choosing, W&M's low $30s (at the time) was a bargan compared to Princeton and Penn at $45-46K. (Of the other schools he considered, all would have been less expensive than W&M - American U., U. Maryland, Ithaca College, and, of course, UD). Consequently, there is very little merit aid at W&M, partly because they don't really have it (declining support from the state and limited endowment) and partly because they don't have to offer it if their competition costs $48-50 per year.</p>
<p>The poster who got $10K in merit aid and $5k in loans got a bargain. W&M for $20K per year for out-of-state is a phenomenal deal. Do what you can to make it happen.</p>
<p>Good luck with whatever decision you make.</p>
<p>K9Leader
W&M Alum and Parent</p>