<p>Was anyone surprised by their F/A? My son was accepted to all his top schools, and Vassar was one of his top choices but when the F/A package came in it was so much lower than either their online calculator or the other packages that he had to immediately cross Vassar off the list. He has other fantastic choices but it was dissappointing. I have a second child who would love to apply to Vassar but I am very hesitant after the poor F/A. Any insight?</p>
<p>That is interesting because for both of my sons Vassar’s financial aid was the best of all the schools each was admitted to. So one is graduating in May and the other starting in Sept. What schools are you comparing it to?</p>
<p>I and others received excellent financial aid.</p>
<p>Yeah, that surprises me too. Vassar’s FA package was the best by far out of the three schools I was accepted to (I was Early decision).</p>
<p>Vassar gave me a great financial aid package considerably better than Notre Dame or Michigan (in-state). For that and many other reasons, I will be attending Vassar in the fall.</p>
<p>I hope you asked them to review the decision and pointed out any reasons why you think it was out of line with other awards. This is only anecdotal evidence but I’ve found Vassar to be astonishingly generous in three instances of family members. The Princeton Review did a more thorough inquiry and placed Vassar in its most recent top 10 for financial aid generosity.</p>
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<p>Source: [Financial</a> Aid Rating Press Release](<a href=“http://www.princetonreview.com/financial-aid-rating-press-release.aspx]Financial”>Best Colleges 2024 | College Ranking List | The Princeton Review)</p>
<p>since 2007 Vassar has become very accommodating in its packages</p>
<p>Same here - excellent financial aid. However, two points:</p>
<p>(1) While Vassar meets the entire need amount based on the formula of expected parental contribution (and therefore winds up being more generous than the many colleges that don’t),</p>
<p>(2) they do not give merit scholarships at all (because they believe that everyone they accept is, by definition, at a very high level of academic excellence so they are not “recruiting” via their financial aid packages). Therefore, if the other schools your child was accepted to are giving that sort of scholarship, Vassar’s package may seem to fall short.</p>
<p>I also agree with previous posters that it is entirely appropriate for you to call them and discuss the package with them.</p>
<p>(Different issue, but after we received our aid award for freshman year we called them to tell them of some unexpected medical expenses we incurred after the submission of the original application, and they immediately increased the award.)</p>
<p>Vassar was significantly lower for us than Williams, Bard, U of Chicago, and Wesleyan. DS would not have been able to attend. </p>
<p>The honor roll is nice, but it’s by self-report, so Vassar students are very happy with their aid.</p>
<p>DS persisted in thinking it was an error, but since he had another favorite, I didn’t pursue it.</p>
<p>He loved Vassar, btw, any Vassar folks reading this.</p>
<p>OP-
Its probably too late at this point, but a call to the FA office for clarification and a reconsideration based on your competing offers would have been appropriate.</p>