<p>Okay, so for those that have received packages, were they good as far as financial aid, or was there a lot of gapping and too much in the way of loans included in the package? One poster stated that his older D attended COW and aid was good, but for his younger D the package was pretty weak with lots of gapping and loans. He felt that FA at this school has really gone downhill over the past few years. Thoughts? How happy were you with your financial package?</p>
<p>COW was the first to send us a package which included at $17,500 scholarship every year for 4 years. There was also a $5,500 loan included. Considering this was the first we received it looked pretty good. Other schools haven’t offered as much, however one school’s tution is lower so it evens out. </p>
<p>We’re trying to decide between the honors state college which will save us around $10,000 a year and COW. Ds can play a sport at COW and enjoy smaller classes and better course offerings in his field of interest.</p>
<p>i got a $32000 package total, which leaves about $10000to be accounted for still…theyre prettyyyyy good</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies.</p>
<p>suzukimomto2, was your son gapped and by how much? Gap means, if for example your EFC is 20,000, they left you to pay something more than that after scholarships and the 5500 loan offer.</p>
<p>mattman, may I ask if you mean that your efc was 10k, or were you gapped 10k more than your efc? I assume that they met your full need, but am I wrong about that? Also, was the 32k full of loans and work study? What % of your need was met as grant money if you know. If you feel more comfortable, you can send me a PM. Are you going to go to Wooster? Did you apply to any instate NJ schools? We are from NJ too.</p>
<p>I didn’t get a very good aid package from Wooster. I was under the impression that it would be stellar, but it wasn’t. My EFC is 0 and if I go to Wooster (without outside scholarships, etc.) I must take out $20, 500 in loans. I had a gap of $13, 000, got a $12, 000 merit scholarship, several grants, and a bunch of loans (God, I hate loans). Things are tight these days.</p>
<p>sharper, thanks for posting this. I am so sorry that Wooster’s package was not good. I have read that this year, the money just has not been there for a lot of accepted students and this is why I asked the question. I just wanted to confirm what I was reading. Do you mean that you were asked to take out about 7k in loans for freshman year, and you need 13k in private loans to reach the 20k in loans? I strongly suggest that you do NOT go into that kind of debt!!!</p>
<p>I don’t think Wooster is alone in its approach. As of a few years ago there
were still a dozen or so LACS accessible to lower income students who didn’t
have the stats to get into the elites. Beloit, Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, Clark
come to mind. However the situation has now changed. Outside of the elites,
almost all other LAC’s have gone to high loans and gapping when it comes
to low income students. With 0 efc, probably the best you can do is a 5500
loan, 1500 work study and a payment of say 3500. That’s for the first year.
It’s upward from there. That’s around, with interest on the unsubsidized Staffords,
about $29,000 in loans. The final year gapped payment will be around $7,000 -
which means plus loans for parents. The problem is, of course, that it defeats
one of the prime reasons to go to an LAC, especially a strong academic one like
Wooster - you can’t afford to go to grad school! Unfortunately, the Federal gov
has some blame here - when they raised the limits on unsubsidized Staffords, it
gave the privates the opening to pass along the $2,000 loans to the students. It
helped the colleges, not the students. At least Wooster will still let you in - this
year especially, other colleges will discount for higher paying customers so aggressively,
that they will have no interest in low income students. Even with the raised loan
limits and gapping and the increase in Pell grants, many LACS are getting under
$15,000 for low income enrollees - that’s probably a loser for them. With money so
tight, it’s tempting to eliminate the loss even if you risk empty chairs. It will be
interesting to see what the SAT stats are for Wooster, will they fall, and also what
the final enrollment stats are. If scores go down and enrollment falls even 5% or 6%
we may see some changes in the strategic plan. I suspect it’s too late for this year
though.</p>
<p>It sounds like mattman got a good package depending upon his efc.</p>
<p>speedo, I do agree about the increase in Stafford loans not helping students, but helping colleges. This just assures that tuition increases and more students (upper middle class ones in this case) go further into debt.</p>
<p>I do not think that SAT/ACT scores will decrease. They will remain the same IMO. There is a correlation between increased family income and higher scores. Schools will accept high income students. Schools have always tended to accept students with marginal stats, IMO, if they were not applying for financial aid. In this economy that surely won’t change. Perhaps you were thinking that they will accept more students with lower stats this year? Perhaps, but I do think that they will draw a line and create a long waitlist for these students. This way they don’t lower their standards unless higher stat students with less money don’t matriculate to the school.</p>
<p>I did read even before our economy changed, that they were looking to lower financial aid by 5%. This was in their strategic plan.</p>
<p>my efc was 10k, yes</p>
<p>Looks like Mattman did ok, but not a low income student. keep in mind
though that W doesn’t meet EFC so next years cost will increase
4% - 5%, that adds up over 4 years, but pretty standard these days</p>
<p>speedo, I know. This is why something has to give. Someone posted another thread about a possible bubble that is about to burst like in housing. I thought it was going to happen a few years ago. It simply cannot continue. Some schools are solving the problem by enrolling larger classes. This will change the LAC as we know it if schools get too large. Someone asked about Denison increasing their enrollment. I don’t know anything about that, but I know of some lower tier schools that are doing this.</p>
<p>I wish Wooster would have worked out for me. 
They will provide the $20, 500 but it will be in loans. I do not think it would be a good idea to accumulate that kind of debt. It’s overwhelming. I was so frustrated when I recieved my package. I called the fin. aid office to verify and they basically said, “that’s all we’re going to give you.”</p>
<p>i know some of the other posters who have been around on this forum know my financial aid story pretty well. i was lucky last year to get what amounted essentially to a full ride, even with the loan i had in it, from COW. for personal purposes, i decided to request the remaining max amount i could get on my loan, and the excess will transfer to help pay for next year. it was nothing comparable to the dismal package i recieved from Wittenberg, which had two loans for a total of 5500, and STILL had a gap of about 10k…</p>
<p>i feel extremely lucky, sad for this year’s incoming class, and scared for myself hoping i don’t lose too much :(</p>
<p>Northeastmom-
My son received his financial aid offer from COW, and there was no gap. Our EFC is mid-range, and the remainder was covered by the Dean’s Award, a grant, and the usual $5500 in Stafford loans. No extra loans. They did offer a small amount of work study.</p>
<p>So far, the private schools where he was accepted have not gapped. Still waiting on a couple, though. </p>
<p>However, as I said on another thread, the amount FASFA thinks we can afford and what we actually can afford are two different things.</p>
<p>I’m an international, so that must be different, but I got 20000$ (18000 grant + 2000 on-campus job). Which leaves me about 15K short and therefore (sadly) not affordable.</p>
<p>I am international student
my FA package was 22k (grant) and 2000 (on-campus job), but my family can’t afford the rest. Is there any chance that they could reconsider my situation and give me more grant? I need about 2-3k more</p>
<p>$2-3K is probably an amount you are expected to earn during the summer and contribute toward educat expenses.</p>
<p>i agree with nyc about the 2-3k expected to be earned/contributed towards your expenses.</p>
<p>however, since there’s little over a month left until the national decision deadline, i would contact Financial Aid about…early middle of April (say 8th-13th) and let them know what your dilemma is. if they can’t do anything for you then, wait until after the deadline, then recontact them sometime in May (not a day after the deadline, more like the early to middle of the month, just like i suggested for April) and see if there’s anything then. sometimes a little more aid will become available after the “summer melt.” i’d also keep up a search on scholarship websites such as fastweb.com in the meantime. if i hear of anything that may be of help to you (and other students as well), i’ll try and make sure i post it here.</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>With the economic crisis, and the kids’ college funds taking a hit, we were anxious to receive this year’s financial aid letter. We had already been advised that tuition was increasing for 2009-2010.</p>
<p>To keep it brief, our EFC was about the same as a year ago – and the Wooster package was also similar. We’re very pleased.</p>
<p>Good luck to all. It’s a great school.</p>
<p>Same here, ici. When I filed our FAFSA for this year, it originally said our EFC was 4 bucks shy of 3k. However the Office corrected it, and our EFC is now 0.</p>
<p>My aid package went up to be a total of $45,650 for 2009-2010. We caught it EXTREMELY lucky.</p>