Financial Aid package - when can i expect to see it?

<p>Just check the FA award, it is much better than expectation and almost half the cost compare to the state public university. Thanks Amherst.</p>

<p>spiritualwitch, this is what I see when I go to that page:</p>

<p>"Welcome to the Amherst College Office of Financial Aid student portal. Using the portal, you may – </p>

<ul>
<li>Check the status of your application </li>
<li>View a list of documents we’ve received from you and those still outstanding<br></li>
<li>View your financial aid award
Comprehensive information about Amherst’s financial aid program is available at <a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/offices/financialaid/[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/offices/financialaid/&lt;/a&gt;. </li>
</ul>

<p>Documents
Your Documents
Document Status
Free Application for Federal Student Aid Received<br>
CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE 2010-11 Received<br>
~ 2009 Federal Tax Return - Parent Received<br>
~ 2009 Wage Statement (W-2) - Parent Received" </p>

<p>There is no specific FA info given, and nothing to click that gives me anything different. The one link shown just gives you general info. Have any of you found specific FA info??</p>

<p>On top of the “welcome XXXX!”, there are 4 tabs “Home”, “Awards”, “Documents”, “Messages” . Click on the “Awards” tab and you should see your awards.</p>

<p>I am getting the same message as MaineLonghorn. I only have 2 tabs- Home and Documents.
I hope this does not mean I did not qualify for financial aid because my EFC was not that high.</p>

<p>I’m in the same boat oneric. What’s with the delay?</p>

<p>You will be able to access it via NetPartner online by tonight if your financial aid package has been calculated. Have a good day!</p>

<p>Office of Financial Aid
Amherst College</p>

<p>I emailed FA office a couple days ago and that is what they said^^^^.</p>

<p>I also can’t see anything about the award yet. Can the people who have their awards already post them, if they don’t mind of course.</p>

<p>My son’s finally came up. Sigh. Our EFC was already ridiculously high, and our package still left us with a 9K gap! I don’t understand.</p>

<p>Maine, I don’t think it’s so much a “gap” as that many private colleges only use the FAFSA EFC to determine a student’s eligibility for federal financial aid. Schools that use the CSS Profile or similar forms of their own use that information to determine the family’s contribution using their own formula. In many cases it can be higher than the FAFSA EFC, in occasional cases it can be lower. In ours it was about exactly the same, but we have no assets except some equity in our funky little house.</p>

<p>cookie4college, the only tabs i have are “home” and “documents”</p>

<p>…is something wrong?!?</p>

<p>yahoo! full financial aid :D</p>

<p>Maybe they release by wave. Just guessing!</p>

<p>Gah, my status still isn’t up.
Though They did not get a few of my financial aid documents for a while, meaning that they got it only like last monday.</p>

<p>@Vergil</p>

<p>Full financial aid, as in $55,000? If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your financial situation? I ask you this because if I can get more, I would certainly like to get more.</p>

<p>I was awarded $46,000, considering I was low-income for the 2009-2010 year (mother lost her job in the recession), bringing household income to 30k.</p>

<p>Seebo, as far as I know a student contribution will always be part of your aid package; workstudy and a contribution from summer earnings. Some students get outside scholarships that relieve them of the student contribution piece, but I don’t believe Amherst’s own institutional aid would cover that barring some special circumstances that makes it impossible for a student to work at all.</p>

<p>@'rentof2</p>

<p>Thanks for responding. I figured as much, but Vergil’s declaration that he received full financial aid implied that he received all $55,000 required, which made me a bit curious, because my work study totals to $2,000, which is already included in my package.</p>

<p>I really wish they would update my status already! I am sick of the waiting game that has been this week.</p>

<p>For the last two years my son’s work study award has been $1800, so it looks like they’re upping it a bit in response to the college’s own financial pressures. Still, it’s a reasonable amount of workstudy. They also increased the summer earnings contribution last year. It gradually goes up each year you’re in college, they tell you that, but it went up even above the expected normal increase last year. Still manageable, but you can see modest efforts like that where the college is making adjustments because of the losses they were hit with in the economic meltdown. It’s a great place to be though. Having a part-time job on campus during the school year isn’t like some terrible thing.</p>

<p>That’s very true. I wouldn’t mind having a part time job.</p>

<p>Since your son currently attends, do you mind if I pester you for just one more question? I noticed you said they increased the work study award and the summer earnings contribution. So, I’d like to ask, overall, did you notice a huge spike in your family contribution?</p>

<p>My sister was accepted elsewhere, with good financial aid, but after the first year, it declined very sharply, to perhaps 50% of what it was, previous. Can I expect the same from Amherst?</p>

<p>Thank you for being so helpful.</p>

<p>My goodness they’re slow!</p>

<p>^^ Tell me about it!!</p>