<p>Shortly before Christmas, my son received a letter telling him what he could expect in terms of financial aid, and it's about $15K less than what we were counting on based on the financial aid calculator on the school website. We had used another calculator on a different college website, and there too we thought he'd get about $25K in aid. Of course, I'll call the FA Office in January, but in the meantime I was wondering if our experience was typical. Maybe I did not fill out the CSS Profile correctly?</p>
<p>I take it your son is an ED admitted student? And the financial aid office is closed til after New Year’s? And the other schools where he might want to apply have January 1 deadlines? I’m not sure what they expect students in this situation to do. If it’s truly unaffordable I don’t think your son should miss the Jan 1 deadlines at other schools.</p>
<p>Actually, electronblue, I was more curious about the discrepancy between the estimate from the finaid calculator on the school website and the estimate sent by the FA office. Is this a common occurrence? What are possible explanations? Could I have messed up the CSS Profile? Someone working in the financial aid office of another school had guided me over the phone to use the financial aid calculator, and we had also come up with roughly $25K in FA.</p>
<p>We did not anticipate receiving any kind of FA after the freshman year because our family income will go up considerably in 2011 since I’ll start a F/T job on Jan. 3, one that will pay me about 3 times what I have been making working from home over the past 20 years. The estimated loss of $15K is a one-time event – but if our 2011 income had been in line with our 2010 income, even a $25K package would have been inadequate. We would have told our son to forget about Williams (and other schools that offer needs-based only). So, as things stand now, we’ll stick with the ED acceptance at Williams.</p>
<p>Hello Pat01, I have a pretty similar situation, I was admitted under ED and I’m international student, and on Tuesday U receive an email saying that my family had too much money and that they wouldn’t help me with any money at all, and that was a hue mistake I need a lot of aid to be able to attend, and pay for my airplanes tickets so I email the office of FA right away and they asked me to review my forms and see if any mistakes were made and so I did, and in fact several mistakes were made at the moment to fill the forms, so the dean asked me to re-send the forms and on Jan 3 they’ll re-review my case, so my only advice now is to sit down and very carefully review your forms and llok for any mistakes, and even if you don’t find any email or call them, because in my case even with the mistakes I made it’s pretty unfair not to offer me any aid… I truly hope for both of us that these are just mistakes, I don’t think the office of Financial aid would be so unfair!! Happy new year and wish you the best</p>
<p>You’re right, esdienti, I should go back to the profile… as much as I hate the thought of going over those questions again since I found them not fun to deal with, to say the least. I’m told FAFSA is a piece of cake, by comparison. At any rate, good luck to you, esdienti. I hope that your revised forms will translate into a good package for you.</p>
<p>And, no, duncanLV – we live, work, freeze or sweat depending on the season, and pay taxes in the USA:-)</p>
<p>Call them. I think they are always available and open to negotiations. Williams is generous. If you have worked hard for it, you deserve it. Don’t let money get into your way.</p>
<p>I would definitely call the FA office after January 3rd, but I would not expect them to increase your aid signifigantly. Two links you may find useful:</p>
<p>Williams offered my son a good FA package, and as expected, it exceeded his sister’s package at another top LAC. They were attending at the same time, so theoretically, the packages should have been the same.</p>
<p>Bear in mind too, that Williams does not have out of pocket expenses. Textbooks are covered by FA.</p>
<p>Sorry, none of this helps you esdienti. I sincerely hope you are able to attend, but I don’t know what you mean by “fair”. Formulas are followed. And their is no promise to give enough money so all can attend school.</p>
<p>Pat01, if you disclosed the projected income for 2011 I think they may have taken that into consideration. While financial aid is primarily based off the prior tax year the Profile does ask projected 2011 income. It may be helpful to you to use the Tuition Management payment and make 10 monthly payments instead of two lump sums. And on a positive note, as Mythmom said, there are minimal out of pocket costs at Williams. My daughter spends about $50/semester while in Williamstown.</p>
<p>I do take issue with the timing of this year’s financial aid letters for ED admits. It’s not fair to have letters arrive after the office is closed for winter break. These kids are supposed to withdraw or not submit other applications and they’ve got no one to discuss the money with until after the other schools deadlines have passed. This is one office that shouldn’t take part in the campus shutdown.</p>
<p>Thank you, all! I’ll let you know what happens!</p>
<p>I do think the monthly payment plan will be helpful. It is very decent of Williams to offer that option interest-free, with just a $50 fee.</p>
<p>Gibby, thank you for the link to the NY Times article. It does put things in perspective. Knowing what we know now, my son would still not trade his spot at Williams for one at Amherst or Duke (had he applied and been admitted) (<g>).</g></p>
<p>Hey everyone!! I just wanted to tell you that I recieved my new financial package and it´s awesome, it completely meets my family´s need. I think the poeple who work in the office are great, and also would like to tell the students who read these posts not to belive in comments like I doubt you will get a better aid or don´t try this or that because you never know what good outcome you may get until you try!! best for all and I hope Pat01 that your son also get a great FA packge.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at 3 liberal arts colleges that claimed to meet demonstrated need – Davidson, Wellesley, and Williams. The FA package from Wellesley arrived first, and I thought it the lowest, so I appealed, and it was raised significantly. Davidson’s FA was comparable to the revised Wellesley offer. The Williams FA package was the best of the three. </p>
<p>I will qualify this by saying that the FASFA forms and the CSS Financial Aid profile are not entirely comprehensive…so if you have unique circumstances, your individual financial aid package may vary based on the individual college. Some colleges only look at the FASFA calculation. That said, it is definitely worth contesting a package that you don’t think is equitable.</p>